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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 9, 2008 0:14:25 GMT -5
clw, I think Dietmar is planning to go through them and select some for inclusion on our Links page. He's in Nuremburg for the next couple of weeks but may be able to check in here occasionally. He'll try to make it easier on you!
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 9, 2008 0:08:15 GMT -5
Wonderful! I wish I could see the exhibit, but the book will have to do. Maybe crzhrs can make it since it just opened in New Hampshire.
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 8, 2008 23:24:17 GMT -5
This is an excellent article about the pending death of the Wichita and Arapaho languages. Lakota has a better chance of surviving. The Wichita language, once spoken by thousands, has one remaining voice.
Doris Jean Lamar McLemore, 80, considers it a happenstance that she — the daughter of an Indian mother and white father — has become the guardian of her tribe’s language that is precariously close to extinction.
“Ever since I’ve had a memory, I could speak Wichita,” said McLemore, who was raised by her grandparents. “I never expected to be the last one, though. I can remember when everyone spoke Wichita, and in our home, we didn’t speak English.”
In 1965, McLemore was among 200 in Anadarko, Okla., who had a fluent command of the language. David Rood, then a graduate student, came to the small southwestern Oklahoma city — the “Indian Capital of the Nation” — as an outsider, taking handwritten notes and using reel-to-reel tape recorders to begin archiving Wichita words. The complex language showed stark warning signs that it was headed toward endangerment. Article: www.summitdaily.com/article/20080603/NEWS/170003916
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 8, 2008 18:00:03 GMT -5
The town of Satanta [Kansas] was named after Chief Satanta, a chief and warrior of the Kiowa Indian tribe. It should be pointed out that Satanta is the white man's corruption of Set-t'ainte, the Kiowa word for White Bear.
Chief Satanta was a tall, finely formed man with a very erect bearing and a piercing glance. He was rebellious and brutal as a warrior and Chief but was eloquent in speaking and represented his tribe in many meetings with governmental officials. He could, in fact, speak five different languages fluently -- four Indian toungues and Spanish. (Newspapers reported that those who could not understand a word he said were fascinated by the rhythmic tone of his voice.) Government reports said, "his manly boldness and directness, along with a keen sense of humor, made him a favorite with army officers in spite of his known hostility to the white man's laws and civilization." He was termed, "The Orator of the Plains."
He was among the signers of the 1867 Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty. At the treaty, he spoke: "I came to say that the Kiowas and Commanches have made with you a peace. The word shall last until the whites break their contract and invite the horrors of war. [The white man] once came to trade, now he comes to fight. He once came as a citizen, now he comes as a soldier. We thank the Great Spirit that all these wrongs are now to cease and the old days of peace and friendship are to come again -- You have patiently heard our complaints. To you they have seemed trifling, to us they are everything -- For your sake, the green grass shall not be stained with the blood of the whites. Your people shall be our people, and peace shall be our mutual heritage."
Unfortunately, following that impressive speech, everyone did not live happily everafter. Soon the government withdrew many of their promises. For instance, instead of having all the land south of the Arkansas River promised them for hunting, they were soon forced to live and hunt only on a reservation near Ft. Sill, and that was one of the many agreements the government failed to fulfill. Discouraged by the white man's broken promises, Satanta's people felt they had no choice but revenge. Because of his participation in continued raids in southwestern Kansas, southeastern Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas, Chief Satanta was arrested and imprisoned on three separate occasions. On October 11, 1878 while serving out a life sentence in a prison in Huntsville, Texas, he complained of an injury or that his "heart was bad" (there is some disagreement which) to the prison physician. He was taken to the prison hospital on the prison's second floor, but before treatment could be given the erie chant of the Kiowa death song was heard as Satanta plunged headfirst from the second-story balcony to the ground below, ending his long resistence to the white man's injustice to his people. From "Satanta's Passing Show" by Tom Ungles, Haskell County Monitor-Chief Thursday, May 6, 1982.
In his book Satanta: The Life and Death of a War Chief, Charles M. Robinson III said, "...it would have been in character for Satanta, in his last act as a Kiowa warrior, to deprive the whites of victory by taking his own life. They had his corpse, but not his obedience. And for a warrior, that is an honorable death."
Chief Satanta was buried unceremoniously in Huntsville in a cemetery for deceased prison inmates and those whose bodies are unclaimed. Years later, in 1963, the Kiowa Indians arranged for Satanta's remains to be moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There the chief has one of the cemetery's most elaborate gravesites. Citizens of the community of Satanta arranged for a headstone. Article: www.cattlenetwork.com/Content.asp?ContentID=226030
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 7, 2008 14:02:24 GMT -5
Henri, that's a good reference to have although I don't think clw's beadwork belongs in that group.
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 6, 2008 23:09:07 GMT -5
Kansas Monument site (14RP1)
During the summer of 2007 a geophysical investigation of the Kansas Monument site (14RP1) was conducted by Archaeo-Physics, LLC for the Kansas State Historical Society. 14RP1 is a Pawnee village associated with the Kitkehahki band of Pawnee dating to the late 18th century, with a possible second occupation during the early 19th century. The village is located on the Republican River in north central Kansas USA. Portions of the village were never impacted by agricultural plowing, making this the only remaining Kitkehahki village containing intact archaeological resources (one other Pawnee village associated with the Skiri band in Nebraska also contains intact elements). The Kansas Monument site is owned by the State of Kansas, and is home to the Pawnee Indian Village Museum. Pawnee Indian Village Museum: www.kshs.org/places/pawneeindian/The archaeological website quoted above: www.archaeophysics.com/pawnee/index.html
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 6, 2008 22:51:10 GMT -5
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 6, 2008 0:08:24 GMT -5
I don't have a link to the program yet, but here are two excerpts from an article about a program sponsored by the Smithsonian. I think you'll agree that this project will be invaluable. Five University of Montana graduate students leave Sunday for the nation's capital on a mission to reclaim the history of Montana's tribes.
Officially, they're called “Visiting Native American Scholars” and they will be employed for the month of June by the Smithsonian to copy all documentary materials related to Indians and tribes in Montana and to bring back the information for UM's Mansfield Library.
The project is a multi-year effort to make the nation's archival treasures available to all Montanans, said David Beck, a UM Native American Studies professor who helped arrange and secure the prestigious project.
* * * [Beck] knows for certain the famous archive houses rare field notes produced by John Ewers, one of the nation's foremost scholars of the Plains Indians and the history of the West. Ewers wrote the book “The Blackfeet” in the late 1950s, which is still considered one of the most detailed accounts of the Montana tribe, Beck said.
It is in documents such as Ewers' field notes, diaries, letters and other primary source documents where nuggets of new knowledge sleep - information that never made it into published or public works that can help provide the rich details of tribal eras long gone, Beck said.
“The work these students will do will focus on all the tribes in the state,” Beck said. “But, we may go beyond the state.”
For certain, the information will be captured through digital technology and made available to Montana's tribes, tribal colleges, and anyone else who is interested in the findings.
“The documents we collect will be the kind people use in research,” Beck said. “Instead of having to go to Washington, D.C., to see these documents, researchers can access them through their computer.
“People will be able to study tribal culture and history from a document perspective with much greater depth without having to travel across the country.” Article: www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/06/01/news/local/news05.txt
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 5, 2008 20:19:22 GMT -5
Jin, the photo wasn't showing earlier -- just a little red x -- so I tried to bring up the photo based on the web address you had for it. It may have been a temporary glitch on their site. Thanks for reposting it. It's a great photo.
Crazy, I'm going to take the photos you "quoted" out of your post to save space. I don't think it will affect your comment at all. If you want them back in, go ahead.
Diane
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 5, 2008 15:43:11 GMT -5
Cowan's has apparently removed the first photo. Did anyone save it? If so, please post it or send it to me for posting.
Thanks! Diane
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 3, 2008 22:51:12 GMT -5
Good luck in Vegas, LaDonna! ;D
I'm really glad you found us and look forward to having you post.
Diane
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 3, 2008 22:44:10 GMT -5
I've had a 4-heddle floor loom for several years, and it just sits there, mocking me, daring me to jump in again.
At the time I met Chuck, I was taking weekly weaving lessons in Alexandria, Virginia. There is nothing like selecting the yarns and warping a loom. It's a lot of work but I loved it and knew I would miss it. There are no weaving shops down here, so I put everything on hold for about ten years until a friend offered a loom for sale.
So there it sits, still with the last project in progress, with an owner who is scared to take the project off and try a new one without guidance.
I'm not sure about the sheep and spinning the wool, clw. That part seems like entirely too much work, but I do love home-dyed wools.
Perhaps there's a support group for frustrated, scared, newbie weavers!
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 3, 2008 11:20:47 GMT -5
Thank you, Dietmar! ;D
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 2, 2008 10:12:28 GMT -5
Welcome, conz! Yes, our "big picture" view is to represent tribes throughout the country, including Florida's beloved Seminoles , and those you mentioned. It is likely that the trails will lead into Canada and Central America as well. Diane
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 1, 2008 23:59:06 GMT -5
Thanks to all who have joined us!
Dietmar gets all of the credit for this site. He mentioned to me probably a year ago that he had seen message boards disappear before and that all of the great information on the other board should be preserved.
I've been the hold-up on this project, and for that I apologize. I'm only about half-way through what Dietmar has compiled, but I will be working on it as often as I possibly can.
Diane
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