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Preserving and disseminating the written words of Native peoples

Newsletter

No. 8                                                     January 2009

 

25th Anniversary Celebrated at 8th Symposium

 

              The Sequoyah Research Center celebrated twenty-five years of operation on October 16, 2008.  Marked by a dinner attended by local supporters as well as others from around the country, the event commemorated the establishment in 1983 of the center's collections and the beginning of efforts to disseminate information on expression in contemporary Native communities.

              Those who attended the dinner, held at the Little Rock Club on the 30th floor of one of Little Rock's banks, were treated to an after-dinner auction of Native American art, all of which had been donated by artists whose works appear in the Dr. J. W. Wiggins Collection of Native American Art, one of the SNRC's major features.

              The celebration kicked off the Eighth Annual Sequoyah Research Center Symposium, held on October 17-18 on the UALR campus.  Guests were housed at the Hilton, a few blocks from the university.  As always, the symposium provided all attendees with an informative and memorable forum for discussion and dialogue among intellectuals, artists, and other professionals from various area of contemporary Native America.

              After a welcome by UALR Chancellor Joel Anderson, J. Diane Pearson and Cristina L. Azocar (Upper Mattaponi) spoke in a session on research and writing about Indian Country.  This was followed by Frederick White (Haida) and Elgin Jumper (Seminole), who read from their poetry.  Then Richie Plass (Menominee) talked about the power of words in protest, followed by Dustin Tahmahkera (Comanche) and Loriene Roy (White Earth Anishinaabe), whose topic was "More than Beads and Feathers."  Warren Petoskey (Waganakising Odawa) and Linda LeGarde Grover (Bois Forte Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) finished the Friday program with their thoughts on tribal storytelling.

              Saturday's program opened with Donna Akers (Choctaw) and Patricia Wade (Chickaloon) speaking on indigenous history and pre-history, followed by Jennifer K. Wagner, John Sanchez (Yaqui-Apache) and Kathleen Ratteree of the University of Wisconsin, all of whom identified and discussed issues in Indian Identity.  A lunchtime program on American Indian art was provided by Dr. J. W. Wiggins, followed by a discussion of 21st century Indian affairs led by Dan Lewerenz (Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska) and Vicki Black Bishop (Creek/Choctaw).  The symposium closed with a visit to the new facilities of the American Native Press Archives and the Wiggins Gallery of Native American Art.

Name Change Reflects Center’s

Scope and Status

 

With repositories of information about contemporary and historic Native American communities narrowing their attention to a particular state or region, the Sequoyah Center remains the premiere organization that actively solicits materials on a national level.  In fact, the scope of our work includes the North American continent, as many of our collections include holdings from the First Nations of Canada and Metis communities.  As this policy seeks to include systematically North American materials, it becomes more valuable to researchers interested in a comprehensive view of Native expression in this part of the world.

 

This fact has not been lost on researchers, including graduate students engaged in writing theses and dissertations as well as scholars writing on a variety of Native topics.  Word has spread that the Center and its collections is an indispensable resource for work of this nature.  Researchers from the U.S. may be found working here on any given day, and several have made their way here from Europe to spend a week or more among these unique resources.  In addition, hits on our web site indicate that thousands of patrons access materials from every continent except Antarctica every month.

 

In recognition of the extent of our holdings and of the recognition by serious scholars and students from various parts of the country, the Chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has designated a name change for our facility, henceforth to be called the Sequoyah National Research Center.

 

Researchers Use Center’s Unique Collections

 

Recently, the Sequoyah National Research Center has seen visitors from various regions here and abroad researching its collections.  Mark N. Trahant, author and editorial page editor for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, consulted the newspaper files for an article he his writing.

 

Ingela Sjogren and her daughter, Carolinne K. Roundface, both of Stockholm, Sweden, spent several days here photographing pages from Native newspapers, and taking notes on their content.

 

Members of the National Trail of Tears Association, including 43 researchers from Wisconsin, Kansas, Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Tennessee spent a week in Little Rock working on various aspects of Indian Removal.  The SNRC has the largest collection of records concerning Indian Removal in existence outside the National Archives in Washington.

 

Visitors from Arkansas included a research team from the Department of Arkansas Heritage and Historic Preservation were in the building consulting the collections, as was Jodi Morris of the Arkansas Post National Monument.

 

 

Significant Additions to Archives, Art Works

 

Since our last newsletter, we have received significant contributions to the Center.  Valuable archives materials were donated by John Berry (Choctaw), Roy Boney, Jr. (Cherokee), Paulette Molin (White Earth Ojibwe), Paul DeMain (Oneida), Joseph Erb (Cherokee), and Richie Plass (Menominee).

 

Contributions in the form of art works were donated by Roy Boney, Jr., Sallyann Paschall, America Meredith, Roger Broer, Robert Taylor, Gwen Coleman Lester, Victoria Mitchell Vazquez, Linda Greever, Murv Jacob, Todd Bordeaux, Virginia Stroud, Anna Mitchell, Bill Glass, Joseph Erb, Tony Tiger, Paul DeMain, and Patty Stueber.

 

 

The Kindness of Strangers . . . and Friends

 

The Center reminds its patrons and friends that it is looking to acquire new material for its collections.  We take into our care books by Native American writers; newspapers, newsletters, and other publications of Indian organizations, tribes, and individuals, past and present; films, DVDs, CDs, and music recordings by Native artists.  If you happen to have any of these items and are looking for a good home for them, please contact our director, Dan Littlefield, who will help you make that happen.  He may be reached by email at dflittlefiel (note there is no “d”) @ualr.edu or by phone at 501.569.8336.

 

Of course, monetary gifts are welcome as well.  Your tax-free donation will be used to help finance the annual symposium, purchase archival supplies and equipment, and, if you so stipulate, scholarships for deserving students.

  

 

Web Site Added

 

The SNRC has added a second web site to offer patrons easier access to information.  http://anpa.ualr.edu/ will remain our research-oriented site.  It is here that you will find guides to the collections, the digital library, information on the Trail of Tears and Indian Removal, information concerning the Dr. J. W. Wiggins Collection of Native Art, and other research carried out by the organization.

 

The new site, http://ualr.edu/sequoyahcenter/ will furnish contact information, information on upcoming symposia, and news about people, initiatives, new acquisitions, etc.  Contact Bob Sanderson at resanderson@ualr.edu with comments.

 

 

Work on Art Preservation

Grant Begins in Earnest

 

In August, work on a $224,500 grant to preserve and disseminate materials in the Dr. J. W. Wiggins Collection of Native American Art began in earnest.  The grant, from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council, provides funds to document the collection through photography and the establishment of an archive that supports the artistic pieces in the collection.

 

The Wiggins collection at present numbers some 2,033 pieces, and as Dr. Wiggins is still an active collector, the total rises continually.  Included are paintings, drawings, prints, pots, feather and bead work, and sculpture.  A portion of the collection is always on display in the art gallery in the Center; the introductory show is due to come down soon, at which time it will be followed by examples of ledger art and later, by an exhibit of the iconography of the Native American Church.

 

A major part of the documentation is the photographing of each piece, be it a painting, sculpture, beadwork, or other work of art.  This is being done on our premises rather than removing the pieces to a photographic studio or other location in which case damage in transit might occur.  Photographer George Chambers is doing the photography.  When this work is finished, images of pieces in the collection will be available on our web site as well as through other media.

 

Tony Rose is in charge of organizing and setting up a fully searchable data base with the photographic images as the key component.  Tony's work ties each image to the artist, media, and the subject.  The cultural identification of each artist becomes a part of the record, as does the media in which the art is produced, as well as the subject portrayed.  This last bit of information may seem apparent, but when the cultural context is taken into account, a simple scene may become rich in religious or symbolic significance.

 

Rose has a background in history, but he has had to do research in Native art and art history in general in order to set up the database to serve researchers' needs.  The materials for his work were originally for Dr. Wiggins' private use; but now, Rose has to try to put this information to broader use, both as an aid to the casual viewer and to the more rigorous demands of the serious art researcher.  An added responsibility is the fact that due to the collection's comprehensive nature, its accompanying documentation has become a resource for the general study of Native art, not only for this group of art works.

 

This responsibility is shared by Amanda Paige, who is in charge of organizing an archive of supporting materials.  As part of her work, she is also developing finding aids for the use of researchers and organizing an extensive library of art books.  The archive consists of materials collected over the years by Dr. Wiggins, including serials such as art quarterlies; mailings and other information sent out by art galleries and museums; correspondence between the collector and the artists and between the Dr. Wiggins and museum and gallery personnel; loan agreements; and exhibition brochures and catalogs.  Paige, who has a background in history, has taken particular pains to anticipate the needs of those who will be consulting the archives.  She intends for it to be searched by artist, locality, exhibition, tribal affiliation, mention in publications, and in other ways.  "The possibilities are endless," she adds enthusiastically.  Those interested in tracing the provenance of a particular work will be able to do so by using the finding aids Paige has developed.

 

Rose and Paige expect their work to be completed by July 1, 2009.  At that time, the fruits of the labor will make an appearance on the SNRC's web site.

 

 

 

You Can Help

Enclosed is my check for $___________ to support the work of the American Native Press Archives and the Sequoyah National Research Center     

Name:      _______________________________________________

Address:  _______________________________________________

    _______________________________________________

Please make checks payable to “UALR Foundation,” and write “Sequoyah National Research Center” on the memo line.  Please mail your donation to the address below.

 

Sequoyah National Research Center

University Plaza, Suite 500

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

2801 South University Ave.

Little Rock, AR 72204-1099

 

 

 

 

 

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