Here’s the daily schedule for the NEH Summer Institute, “Discovering Native Histories along the Lewis and Clark Trail.”  Please plan to arrive on June 30th in Billings and head home from Bismarck on July 21.  Nothing else is plaPPnned for those two days, other than travel.J

PRINT OUR CALENDAR-AT-A-GLANCE

• Sunday, June 30, 2019, Billings, MT (Travel Day/Arrival)

Montana State University, Billings. Site of our introductory seminar.

Logistics:  NEH Summer Scholars will arrive in Billings under their own power from their various sites of origin around the country.  They will to take up residence at the dormitories at Montana State University-Billings, where they will be lodged for five nights. See this map, building 4, “Petro Hall,” for the dorm location.  We have reserved single rooms at a rate of $34/night. The Institute Director, Dr. Stephanie Wood, will be at the dorms to welcome you with some snacks and answer questions. The closest food options are:  406 Kitchen and Taproom (a great place to watch the women’s soccer game on Tuesday), which is just west of campus on N. 27th. Slightly south of that is the City Brew Coffee, which has breakfast sandwiches and pastries to serve with the coffee. A couple of blocks further south you will find fast-food in abundance (Burger King, Hardee’s (Carl’s Jr. equivalent), KFC, etc.  You might want to go in with others on a shared taxi to get to a restaurant, although it’s only about a mile to walk it.  Some off-campus options are:  Bistro Enzo, Oktoberfest German Restaurant, or Ciao Mambo.  Less expensive: Crazy Mary’s Fish, La Tinga Mexican, TopZ Sandwich Co., and Red Rooster Café.  If you like independent cinema, there is the Art House Cinema and Pub (beer and wine and snacks with your movie), at 109 N. 30th St.  While out, you might want to purchase some food for making your own breakfasts and lunches in the dorm (there are kitchens on every floor), given that the cafeterias are closed this week.  You are also welcome to make lunches in the Native American Achievement Center, which also has a kitchen. There is a refrigerator in our classroom, Room 122 in the College of Education building.  Our host in the Achievement Center is Reno Charette, who will also give us a presentation in the library.

Readings to prepare for July 1:  Please be familiar with the Honoring Tribal Legacies volumes, the HTL website, and the Essential Understandings of Montana’s Indian Education for All law, and prepare to discuss on July 1.

Questions for discussing the HTL project and the Essential Understandings:  What are the objectives of these new directions in curriculum design?  Be prepared to discuss how you might embrace this challenge in your own classrooms.

 

• Monday, July 1, 2019, Billings, MT (Introductory Seminar)

INTRODUCTORY SEMINAR

Logistics: We will continue in the MSU dorms. Unfortunately, cafeterias on campus are closed this week. But the dorms have kitchens on each floor, and we have access to the Native American Achievement Center’s kitchen at lunch. To purchase groceries, Some people might have vehicles, and so there could be help in getting to a supermarket. Dinners could be off campus, again walking or sharing taxis.  For our introductory seminar, we will meet in the MSU classroom, Room 122, in the College of Education building, which is number 15 on this map.

9:30 AM. Presentation/Q&A: Institute Director, Dr. Stephanie Wood, will welcome you to the Institute and explain the intellectual rationale for the program of study, reviewing the syllabus themes, readings (digital and our mobile library), journaling assignment, and lesson plan (“Teachings”) assignment. We will also review the itinerary of the road trip, the academic nature of the planned stops, and begin to prepare for the journey by considering community etiquette/protocols and new ways for approaching reservations, museums, and parks.

10:30 AM. Opening Words from Tom Smith, Educational Specialist, Lewis and Clark Trail (National Park Service) and a partner in this Institute, will introduce the history of the Corps of Discovery, the purpose of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, as well as the emergence of the Honoring Tribal Legacies (HTL) project, explaining partnerships between tribes and parks that grew out of the Bicentennial, and how the project seeks to spur an “Epic Journey of Healing.”

11:00 AM.Short Break. Stretch your legs, perhaps get a drink of water?

11:15 AM. Opening Words from Erik Holland, Educational Curator, North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum, and a partner in this Institute.

11:30 AM.  Opening Words from Ron Lancaster, Master Teacher, about how to make the most of the educational journey and what his role will be in stimulating discussion and helping teachers envision their new lessons.

11:45 to 1:15 PM. Lunch Break.  You can go to the Native American Achievement center to make a lunch and eat, if you brought food, you can sit outside to eat, or go back to your dorm kitchen to make something, or you can find food off campus.

1:15 PM. Circle of introductions. NEH Summer Scholars will introduce themselves and describe their goals for this institute (in a lightning round, 2 minutes maximum per participant).

2:15 PM. Short break. Stretch your legs, perhaps get a drink of water?

2:30 PM  Discussion/Q&A: If time allows, Ron Lancaster will lead a very brief discussion of your impressions of the Essential Understandings of Montana’s Indian Education for All law.  Questions for discussing the HTL project and the Essential Understandings:  What are the objectives of these new directions in curriculum design?  Be prepared to discuss how you might embrace this challenge in your own classrooms.  (15 minutes)

2:45 PM. Presentation/Q&A: Dr. Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke) will provide an introduction to Native histories in our region of study, diverse in their cultures and experiences.

4:00 PM.  Break for the day. Summer Scholars are invited to relax, perhaps do some reviewing of the assigned readings, and be on their own for dinner.

Readings to prepare for July 2:  These readings will be discussed with leadership from Prof. Barraclough on July 2: 1) Goeman, “From Place to Territories and Back Again;” 2) DeLucia, Introduction to Memory Lands: King Philip’s War and the Place of Violence in the Northeast (link forthcoming); and, 3) Pulido/Barraclough/Cheng, “Introduction to a People’s Guide to Los Angeles.”

For the discussion with Stephanie Wood, please also read: Ronda, “Introduction to the Bicentennial Edition,” of Lewis & Clark among the Indians; and as much more as your interests might lead you to read.  Questions for discussing Ronda with Dr. Wood on July 2:  How does he put Jefferson’s motivation for the L&C expedition in a nutshell (p. xi)? What were Ronda’s own motivations for writing Lewis & Clark among the Indians and how was his approach timely when it was first published (p. xii)? How could Ronda extract “native voices” from the expeditions’ journals which he “repeatedly came back to” (p. xiv)? What had Ronda learned in the nearly two decades since this volume was first published when he wrote the Introduction to the Bicentennial edition (which you are reading here)? As you read more of the Ronda book, do you think Ronda has fully understood how the “expedition story [is] an emblematic moment in the larger history of the continent”?  What did he understand in his day, and what does the volume perhaps still miss?

• Tuesday, July 2, 2019, Billings, MT

Logistics: We will continue in the MSU dorms. Unfortunately, cafeterias on campus are closed this week. But the dorms have kitchens on each floor, and we have access to the Native American Achievement Center’s kitchen at lunch.To purchase groceries, Some people might have vehicles, and so there could be help in getting to a supermarket. Dinners could be off campus, again walking or sharing taxis.  For our introductory seminar, we will meet in the MSU classroom, Room 122, in the College of Education building, which is number 15 on this map.

“‘I marked my name and the day of the month and year,’ wrote Captain William Clark in his journal on Friday, July 25, 1806.” (On a stone pillar 28 miles from Billings.)

INTRODUCTORY SEMINAR, cont.

10:00 AM. Presentation/Q&A: Professor Laura Barraclough (Yale) will present, “Thinking about Power and History through Place,” suggesting how we might begin viewing our study of power, history, and the Lewis and Clark Trail as a “place,” from the point of view that she uses in her studies of other national historic trails.

11:00 AM. Short Break. Stretch your legs, perhaps get a drink of water?

11:15 AM. Discussion of Readings with Prof. Barraclough, who will be with us for a few days at her own expense, studying our approach to Native cultures and their histories along the Trail. She will lead a discussion of Goeman, DeLucia, and Pulido/Barraclough/Cheng. (See the Readings page, July 2, for details and links.)

12:00 to 3:15 PM. Lunch Break. You have a much longer lunch today than usual, because some wanted to catch the U.S. women’s soccer game from 1-3 PM.  You can go to the 406 Kitchen and Taproom on N. 27th if you are interested.  The Native American Achievement center will also be open for you to make a lunch and eat, if you brought food.  Or, you can sit outside to eat, or go back to your dorm kitchen to make something, or you can find food off campus at another venue.  If you are interested in studying during this long break, the head librarian will be preparing a classroom where we can study.  She will assemble some books that might be of interest in that classroom.

3:15 PM. Discussion of Readings, with Stephanie Wood, of at least the Introduction of the Ronda book.

4:00 PM. Library Visit.  Please meet at the library’s Special Collections to see ledger drawings (take a peek here, beforehand) and hear a bit about them from Reno Charette (also called Sees the Circle Rainbow; Apsáalooke, head of the Native American Achievement Center on campus).

5:00 PM.  Final break for the day.  Summer Scholars are invited to be on their own for dinner, and to relax and study for the evening.

Readings to prepare for July 3:  Please read: Conner, “Our People Have Always Been Here” (85–119) and as much as you can of the Josephy volume, Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes, for discussing on July 3.

Questions for discussing Conner’s essay with Dr. Wood: What glimpses does the Conner essay provide of the climate of the Bicentennial and the Tent of Many Voices? In reading other parts of the Josephy volume, Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes, please be prepared to discuss: Who are the authors of these (greatly varied) essays and how does that authorship set this book apart from the other major works about the Lewis and Clark legacy? Some have seen in his work an emphasis on abuses and victimization; would you agree? When Pulitzer Prize winning author N. Scott Momaday writes about the expedition as “a vision quest,” and “the visions gained being of profound consequence,” what does he mean? One reviewer calls this book a “study of survival.” Would you agree? What sense of “history” do we get from these authors? How does this Josephy volume compare to Ronda’s book? What are its objectives and where does it succeed or fail?

Please also review and prepare to discuss: Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Corps of Discovery.

Questions for discussing the Jefferson letter with Ron Lancaster and Stephanie Wood:  Consider what we might glean from this document to better understand the Native histories of the Trans-Mississippi West.  What were Jefferson’s objectives regarding the expected interactions between Lewis and Clark and the tribes they would meet?  Was this a military expedition?  A missionary expedition?  A settlement party? What was their assignment with regard to researching natural history, mapping, and ethnography, and were they successful?  What was the nature of communication and diplomacy? To what degree did the Corps of Discovery come to understand these cultures and their situation in the bigger picture?

A few short years later, in 1830, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act and President Jackson explained his position on Indian affairs (both documents are in the National Archives). Did the Corps of Discovery presage this major development? Despite policies and treaties that were detrimental to tribes, histories about Native Americans have evolved from portraying violent “savages,” to “victims” or “noble savages,” to “sovereigns” (according to historian Jeffrey Shepherd at the University of Texas at El Paso). Can we find, in histories by Native Americans, evidence of how tribes have retained some measure of sovereignty and self-determination? Another historian, Pekka Hämäläinen, suggests we consider accommodation and resistance. Would you agree, if so, how?

Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to Capt. Meriwether Lewis, 1803. Public domain image.

• Wednesday, July 3, 2019, Billings, MT

Logistics: We will continue in the MSU dorms. Unfortunately, cafeterias on campus are closed this week. But the dorms have kitchens on each floor, and we have access to the Native American Achievement Center’s kitchen at lunch.To purchase groceries, Some people might have vehicles, and so there could be help in getting to a supermarket.  Dinners could be off campus, again walking or sharing taxis.  For our introductory seminar, we will meet in the MSU classroom, Room 122, in the College of Education building, which is number 15 on this map.

INTRODUCTORY SEMINAR, cont.

10:00 AM.  Discussion to be led by Stephanie Wood, of Conner, “Our People Have Always Been Here” (85–119). If you have time to browse other chapters in the Josephy volume, Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes, we will welcome a discussion of other parts of the volume. Finally, please prepare to discuss (with Ron Lancaster and possible input from Stephanie Wood) how you might teach Jefferson’s letter to the Corps of Discovery.

Questions for discussing the Jefferson letter with Ron Lancaster and Stephanie Wood:  Consider what we might glean from this document to better understand the Native histories of the Trans-Mississippi West.  What were Jefferson’s objectives regarding the expected interactions between Lewis and Clark and the tribes they would meet?  Was this a military expedition?  A missionary expedition?  A settlement party? What was their assignment with regard to researching natural history, mapping, and ethnography, and were they successful?  What was the nature of communication and diplomacy? To what degree did the Corps of Discovery come to understand these cultures and their situation in the bigger picture?

A few short years later, in 1830, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act and President Jackson explained his position on Indian affairs (both documents are in the National Archives). Did the Corps of Discovery presage this major development? Despite policies and treaties that were detrimental to tribes, histories about Native Americans have evolved from portraying violent “savages,” to “victims” or “noble savages,” to “sovereigns” (according to historian Jeffrey Shepherd at the University of Texas at El Paso). Can we find, in histories by Native Americans, evidence of how tribes have retained some measure of sovereignty and self-determination? Another historian, Pekka Hämäläinen, suggests we consider accommodation and resistance. Would you agree, if so, how?

11:00 AM. Short Break. Stretch your legs, perhaps get a drink of water?

11:15 AM.  Presentation/Q&A. Professor C. Adrian Heidenreich (adopted Apsáalooke) will speak to us about his tribe’s perspectives on the coming of Lewis and Clark and the colonization process that their expedition got started.  His book is recommended, but not required reading: Heidenreich, C. Adrian (Dúxxiileeitche/Goes to War in a Good Way), Smoke Signals in Crow (Apsáalooke) Country beyond the Capture of Horses from the Lewis & Clark Expedition (Billings, MT: Artcraft Printers, published by the author, 2006).  First part, middle part ,end part.

12:15 to 1:45 PM. Lunch Break.  You can go to the Native American Achievement center to make a lunch and eat, or you can sit outside to eat, go back to your dorm kitchen, or you can find food off campus.

1:45 PM. Presentation/Q&A: “Clark and the Yellowstone.”  Cartographer, historian, and Lewis and Clark aficionado, Ralph Saunders, will give an illustrated presentation about a scientific inquiry involving a canoe camp and a crossing point on the Yellowstone River that involved part of the Corps in the early 19th century.

2:45 PM.  Short break. Stretch your legs, perhaps get a drink of water?

3:00 PM. Presentation/Q&A: Digital resources about the Lewis and Clark Trail and Native histories, with an eye to curriculum design, and the introduction of themes that will arise in tomorrow’s excursions, including pictographs as historical sources and cross-cultural relations as exemplified by Chief Plenty Coups. (With Dr. Stephanie Wood)

4:00 PM. Break for the day. Summer Scholars are invited to study and be on their own for dinner.

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development:  please see this Smithsonian page about contemporary ledger art.  And, recommended for further reading (not required): an article by Tom Rust and Ralph Saunders.

Readings to Prepare for July 4: On pictography and petroglyphs, please go to the themes section of the Readings web page and look at the various excerpts we have under Writing Systems/Record-Keeping/Pictography/Petroglyphs; be sure check out this blog about rock art/depictions/records on the Lewis and Clark Trail; watch this short Vimeo video made with indigenous input in Alaska (granted, this is a different environment, but consider how pictographs and petroglyphs on the Northern Plains might compare); and, please read two short articles, Frederick C. Krieg, “Chief Plenty Coups: The Final Dignity,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 16:4 (Autumn 1966), 28–39, and one by Molly Holz, about “Chief Plenty Coups State Park,” Montana Traveler, Spring 2000, 88–89, which would be helpful to review prior to our excursions tomorrow. The Chief Plenty Coups State Park provides a curriculum guide.

 

• Thursday, July 4, 2019, Billings, MT (BEGIN EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY)

“…we passed a high Clifts of Rocks on which was painted the pickture of the Devil on South Side of the River.” (John Ordway, June 5, 1804. This is not the exact site we will visit, but similar.)

ANCIENT HISTORY AND PICTOGRAPHY

Logistics:  Today we will have our final night in the MSU dorms. The excursion bus will pick us up this morning at 9:00 AM for two nearby excursions. Our first stop, en route, will be Albertson’s supermarket, 2334 Central Ave., Billings, so that NEH Summer Scholars may purchase their own picnic items for the lunch hour.  We will be eating lunch at the Plenty Coups State Park picnic area. We will return to the dorms in the mid-afternoon, and NEH Summer Scholars will have time to read and work on their journals and photographs.  You will be on your own for dinner.

Pictograph Cave State Park. Public domain image.

Pictographs in the cave. Public domain image.

Pictograph Cave State Park

• THEMES: early human painted or carved expressions (pictographs and petroglyphs); ethnozoology (over 2K animal remains recovered here: bison, elk, reptiles, amphibians, and birds); archaeology; long-distance trade (shells from Pacific Coast tribes and caribou horn from the Innuit).
• Admission:  $4/person (to be paid by the Director).
• Presentations/Q&A with Dr. Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke) and Tom Smith (NPS).
• Excavations of the three caves (Pictograph, Middle, and Ghost Caves) were begun at this site in the 1930s. The caves are especially significant for containing ancient paintings and archaeological remains. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. 30,000 artifacts were found in the caves, helping to identify the people and the timing and evolution of the caves’ occupation.
• “In the Northern Plains some rock art is believed to be associated with bison jumps and kill sites. It is generally acknowledged, however, that in prehistoric social environments the role of rock art as a means of communication varied with its social context. The places where it was produced are usually understood to have had special meanings and functioned, along with myths and stories, to maintain social cohesion.Despite difficulties in the accurate dating of rock art, it is known that some of the oldest rock art in the Plains is found in the Black Hills of western South Dakota, eastern Wyoming, and the Wyoming Basin. These areas have rock art thought to predate 10,000 B.P. and also contain sites ranging through the Archaic period (7500.2000 B.P.). The art is primarily on exposed vertical cliffs and at the base of canyon walls. Zoomorphic figures, usually wapiti (elk) or mountain sheep, are the predominant representations. Some depictions of hunting are found, such as game nets or corrals and the spearing of animals by humans. Some of the most heavily varnished petroglyphs depict apparent hoof prints, vulvas, and grooves. Pictographs depicting orange to light red finger lines and handprints in central Montana are believed to be more than 3,000 years old.” Excerpt from Plains Humanities, University of Nebraska Lincoln, Rock Art.
• A wonderful short documentary on petroglyphs in Alaska can be seen on Vimeo, here.
• A loop trail takes the visitor past three caves (Pictograph, Middle, and Ghost Caves); the Pictograph Cave has over 100 rock paintings, over 2,000 years old; images of animals, warriors, even rifles. Colorants include black, red, and yellow (important colors in the historic palette of most Native American tribes).
  Recommended: bring binoculars for enhanced viewing of the pictographs.
• Rangers: Jarret Kostrba, jkostrba@mt.gov and Richard Tooke, rtooke@mt.gov
• Directions: A 15-minute drive SE of Billings, at 3401 Coburn Road; open daily 9 AM to 7 PM (visitor center open 10 AM to 6 PM). http://stateparks.mt.gov/pictograph-cave/

INDIGENOUS LEADERSHIP AND TRADITIONAL INDIAN GAMES

Plenty Coups State Park. Public domain image.

Chief Plenty Coups State Park

• THEMES: Indian games; land tenure (the federal Indian Allotment Act); indigenous-Euro-American cross-cultural relations; alliances pitting tribes against each other; the meaning of visions and dreams; tribal leadership requirements.
• Presentations/Q&A with Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke) and Tom Smith (NPS).
• This vast park once belonged to Chief Plenty Coups (also known as Alek-Chea-Ahoosh) and his wife, Strikes the Iron, and it is a memorial to their achievements. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1999. The site includes the only museum of Apsáalooke culture in the United States.
• This park is part of the Crow Indian (Apsáalooke) Reservation, South-Central MT.
• For viewing: a log home, farmstead, and sacred spring of an Apsáalooke chief whose “leadership and vision helped bridge the gap between two cultures.” The sacred spring is still used for healing.
• There is a shady picnic site and ¾ mile trail to explore.
• Open daily in the summer, 10-5 PM (even open Fourth of July).
• Rangers:  Aaron Kind, AKind@mt.gov, and Emily Tyler, Emily.Tyler@mt.gov
• Directions: 1 Pryor Road, Pryor, MT (Hwy 416 south; right on Hwy 418), 42.6 miles, about a 45-minute drive from Billings.

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development: Plenty Coups State Park has provided us with a list of educational programs. NEH Summer Scholars might inquire for more information about the “Fur and Hide Trunk,” the “Crow Astronomy Trunk,” a “Life Cycles” unit about animal lives, a “Food Webs” interactive science unit, a “Pollution Solutions” unit about sacred springs, a “Tan Your Hide” unit about the many uses of the bison, a “Symbols in Society” unit about ledgers and winter counts, a “Survive with Your Tribe” unit about competition vs. cooperation, and games called “Capture the Butterfly,” “Crow Coups Relay,” and “Traditional Games.” For more on winter counts, see the Smithsonian’s online interactive, “Lakota Winter Counts.” this site produced by South Dakota Public Broadcasting, PBS Learning Media, a Teacher’s Guide, a later-elementary lesson plan, a South Dakota State Historical Society Education Kit, and this Slide Player presentation. For rock art/records/depictions, consider J. D. Keyser, G. Poetschat, and M. W. Taylor, eds. Talking with the Past: The Ethnography of Rock Art.  Portland: Oregon Archaeological Society, 2006. This anthology has multiple studies of early American pictographs and petroglyphs, useful for contextualizing and understanding the rock art/records we will see as we travel across Montana and North Dakota. Also, for the games theme, view Arleen Adams (Salish & Pend d’Oreille), “Traditional Salish Games,” (4.5-min. video), Sarah Wahl (Salish & Pend d’Oreille), “Stick Game” (2-min. video), Nellie Boyd (Mandan/Hidatsa), “The Toys and Games of Children,” (3-min. video). Be prepared to discuss the life lessons that games can include and the philosophies and religious beliefs they might illustrate.

Readings to prepare for July 5:  For tomorrow, please stream this 15-minute PBS view on Custer’s Last Stand. so that we might compare the point of view of the video with the point of view we get in the field tomorrow.  Please also read an article about the grave markers, featuring the librarian we will meet on the Crow reservation.

 

ARMED CONFLICT: MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES

Little Bighorn Battlefield. Public domain image.

“…towards evening a number of Indians visited our Camp…one of them informed us that he had killed 2 Indians on this ground in a battle some years ago as they were at war with Some nations to the Southward.” (John Ordway, April 17, 1806. This provides an example of the intertribal conflicts that could occur; this is not about the Little Bighorn Battle, which came later.)

 

• Friday, July 5, 2019, Billings, MT, to Hardin, MT (Moving Day and Excursion)

Logistics:  This morning, you will prepare your bags and check out of the MSU dorms. We will board the charter bus at 9:30 AM, stop for picnic supplies at the supermarket, and drive one hour to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.  We will backtrack a bit in the mid-afternoon in order to check into the Homestead Inn & Suites in Hardin, MT, 201 W. 14^th st., Hardin, MT (tel. 800-536-1211). Restaurant suggestions for dinner:  3 Brothers’ Bistro, Four Aces Bar and Lounge, and Ranch House Grill. There are also various fast-food choices.

Little Bighorn Battlefield (National Monument, NPS)

• THEMES: reservations; cross-cultural communication difficulties; the demise of the bison; Great Sioux War of 1876–1877; how to examine events from many perspectives; Custer as a celebrity; memorials and healing; “Peace through Unity.”
• Presentation/Q&A: We will meet for two hours on site with Rose Williamson (Apsáalooke), who will tell us about the history of the site, and perhaps something about Native perspectives on Western expansion and the reservation system.
• Discussion of the PBS video and our readings about the battle might come up during out picnic lunch.  We will hope for a consideration of the way the battle is represented, guided by Ron Lancaster and Tom Smith (NPS), who worked here for many years.
• This is the site where the U.S. Army’s 7^th Cavalry (Lt. Col. George A. Custer and 263 soldiers) died fighting several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors in the summer of 1876. It is known as both the Battle of Little Bighorn and George Armstrong Custer’s “Last Stand.” It was also the last stand of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Wooden Leg, even though they won the battle. The conflict came in 1876, but it relates to the Lewis and Clark story because it shows the state of affairs more than two generations later, with advancing colonization. It provides us an opportunity to consider the violent aspects of cross-cultural relations from different points of view.
• Directions: A 20-minute drive, 16.3 miles from Hardin. Interstate 90 Frontage Road, Crow Agency, MT, 59022. Open all year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years.

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development: see the primary sources about Little Bighorn prepared by Carol Buswell of the National Archives; “Red Horse’s Pictographs: An Indian Perspective” (7-min. video); 21-minute video summary of the Crow people’s “Untold Indian Story of Custer’s Last Stand,” with Dr. Herman J. Viola, Curator Emeritus of the Smithsonian; Sitting Bull’s great-grandson, Ernie Lapointe (Lakota), tells the family oral history about the battle of Little Bighorn (12-minute video); Yvonne Fox and Lena Malnourie (Arikara) speak about Little Bighorn from the point of view of some Arikara ancestors who were scouts that worked for Custer (3 ½- minute video) and another 4-min. video; Conrad Fisher (Northern Cheyenne) speaks about Little Bighorn (1½ min. video); Rose Williamson (Crow) narrates what happened at Little Bighorn, 37-minute video; a fictionalized Hollywood version of Custer’s life can be seen in Errol Flynn’s 1941 Hollywood blockbuster, They Died with their Boots On. Here’s a 3-minute clip where Custer sees American Indians buying rifles and men acting rowdy in a bar; a 4-minute clip of his farewell to his wife; and a 3-minute clip of Custer’s death; an article about Little Bighorn; and two more short videos (of about 3 min. each): https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/photosmultimedia/multimedia.htm .

Readings to prepare for July 6: In preparation for tomorrow, please review the indigenous-made documentary: The Pow Wow Trail: The Songs,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3itr_5N0HbI; and read: Bill Ganzel, “Revitalizing Native Cultures: Pow Wow Culture,” Indian Country Diaries (PBS), Sept. 2006, http://www.pbs.org/indiancountry/challenges/powwow.html.

 

CULTURAL PRESERVATION THROUGH SONG AND DANCE

“…after night a circle was formed around 3 fires and those Indians danced until late, the Chiefs looked on with great dignity” (William Clark, August 30, 1804. This is prior to getting to what is now North Dakota.)

“Made a large fire for the Indians to have a war dance, all the young men prepared themselves for the dance. Some of them painted themselves in curious manner… Some of the Boys had their faces & foreheads all painted white &C …a drum was prepared, the Band began to play on their little Instruments, & the drum beat & they Sang… the young men commenced dancing around the fire.  it always began with a houp & hollow & ended with the Same….”  (John Ordway, August 30, 1804.)

 

• Saturday, July 6, 2019, Hardin, MT (Excursion Day: Lodge Grass Powwow)

Logistics: We will continue in our motel in Hardin, but the bus will pick us up at 9:30 AM for our day-trip/excursion. We will stop at the supermarket for picnic supplies and then head to the Lodge Grass Powwow, a 33-minute drive, where we will meet Megkian Doyle (and children, who will be a part of the parade we will watch).  We will picnic and possibly check out the flea market and art market.  Since the Grand Entry (launch of the powwow) is not until evening, we will travel from Lodge Grass to Lame Deer in time to catch the 2:00 PM Grand Entry there.  Lame Deer is in the Northern Cheyenne reservation.  We should be back in Hardin by later afternoon.

• THEMES: cultural continuities, revivalism, and innovation; music, song, and dance; spirituality; social bonding; social structure; gender roles; art; indigenous views of, and relationships to, the U.S. nation.
• Discussion: Either on the bus trip or after we arrive (where we might find a shady spot to do this) we want to prepare you for what you will see in the way of songs and dances, as well as the protocols for our best behavior while observing what will be at least partially a sacred event (please only take photos if given permission). Please consider the readings, the video, and what we will observe first hand. How do songs and dances relate to religious belief and to history or memory-keeping? How do they compare to oral tradition? Does live performance add to meaning? What are some of the themes that come to light in the video? What are “no-word” songs?
• While at the powwow, please watch for classic features such as Grand Entries, flag ceremonies (including the presence and the local meaning of the American flag), the carrying of staffs of authority, roles for men and women, the nature of prayer, evidence of warrior culture, use of indigenous languages, singing in vocables vs. specific words (and why), processions, the types of regalia and their meaning (e.g. fancy shawls, jingle dresses, bustles), feasting on culturally-defined foods and beverages, and teaching.
• We will be attending only the third and final day of this powwow, so we might not see all the classic features.  The website about this “Valley of the Chiefs Powwow” says that the three days offer “a rodeo, parade, Indian dancing, authentic costumes, teepee camping, and a parade & dance through the village on the last day.”

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development: Here’s a YouTube video of a boys’ dance at Lodge Grass.  Remember that powwows will vary by culture. From North Carolina’s Museum of History, one can find a Native American article about the “Contemporary Powwow,” by Marvin “Marty” Richardson (2005), https://www.ncpedia.org/culture/powwows; “The Pow Wow Trail” is a series of 47-minute videos on YouTube with two additional episodes (also made from indigenous points of view), The Drum and The Fancy Dance; additionally, view the historic photos by Edward Curtis (1908) of Arikara medicine dancers and their Bear Rattles at the Library of Congress: https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.img.loc.3b30540r and https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.img.loc.3b30540r ; Catlin Sitting Bear (Mandan & Hidatsa), “Men’s Traditional Dance” (5-minute video from the Tent of Many Voices).

• Sunday, July 7, 2019, Hardin, MT (Day of Rest)

Logistics:  We will continue in our hotel in Hardin for this day of rest, journaling, and reading.

If you are looking to wash clothes and our motel’s facilities are overwhelmed by our group, here is information showing how to get to a laundromat from our motel.  You can share taxis or ask Stephanie for a ride, if she’s available.

Readings to prepare for July 8: Stream this 7-minute introduction to Deer Medicine Rocks. with Northern Cheyenne leadership and a visit to the Bailey household. It would be a good preparation for our visit tomorrow.  What do we learn about petroglyphs and history here?  And this is another 3-minute video about Deer Medicine Rocks, made when it was inaugurated as a National Historic Landmark.  Please be prepared to discuss what we learn from these videos when we have our lunch tomorrow. In the first video, notice how this sacred landscape is part of the private property owned by the Bailey family.  What is the relationship the Baileys have maintained with the Northern Cheyenne over the years?  What artifacts does Bailey keep in his house?  In the second video, the first speaker shares a prophecy involving Sitting Bull; how does that prophecy relate to what we saw on Friday?  Who is the second speaker, the one who wears the cowboy hat?  What kind of spirituality is he expressing?

 

SPIRITUALITY AND LANDSCAPE IN CHEYENNE & LAKOTA CULTURAL HISTORY

• Monday, July 8, 2019, Hardin, MT (Excursion Day: Deer Medicine Rocks)

“Several men of their nation was gorn to Consult their Medison Stone …to know What was to be the result of the insuing year— They have great confidence in this Stone and Say that it informs them of every thing which is to happen, & visit it every Spring & Sometimes in the Summer…haveing arrived at the Stone give it Smoke and proceed to the wood at Some distance to Sleep…the next morning return to the Stone, and find marks white & raised on the Stone representing the piece or war which they are to meet with, and other changes, which they are to meet” (William Clark, February 21, 1805. This is a reference to another set of “medicine rocks” farther east of the one we will visit.)

Deer Medicine Rocks. Near Lame Deer. NPS.

Logistics: Today’s excursion will be to Deer Medicine Rocks, near Lame Deer and near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.We will be returning to our hotel in Hardin this afternoon. At 9:00 AM the excursion bus will pick us up at our hotel, stop at the supermarket for picnic supplies, and drive to Lame Deer (about 55 minutes). We will return to Hardin in the afternoon with time for study. The Director will be available at the hotel for consultations on readings and to back-up your photographs. You will be on your own for dinner.

Deer Medicine Rocks National Historic Landmark

• THEMES: meaning of “medicine” to the local tribes; visions; prophecy; pictography; the Sun Dance of the Lakotas; the Great Sioux War of 1876–1877; Sitting Bull
• Presentation/Q&A with Conrad Fisher (No. Cheyenne), who has permission to take us into this sacred site (which is on private property owned by the Bailey family), and explain its sacred significance to us.  Please be prepared to ask questions about the meaning of these rocks during Mr. Fisher’s presentation. Our picnic site is a bit up in the air.  We might have to eat our lunches on the bus, or perhaps we’ll find a park.
• This site of natural beauty, with an outcropping of large sandstone rocks, has deep significance for the Great Sioux War of 1876–1877. Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa) had a vision of a battle with soldiers and prophesied the victory at Little Bighorn, and the vision is carved into the rocks in pictographs.
• Only three percent of National Historic Sites are honored by being chosen as a “Landmark,” and this one is on a par with the Alamo, Mount Vernon, and the Empire State Building, according to the Superintendent at Little Bighorn.
• Directions: This will be about a 55-minute drive, as it is 57 miles from Hardin, on the north side of Hwy 212, near Lame Deer.

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development: Here is one explanation of the term “medicine” that might be worth considering. The formation of this historic landmark and its meaning to the tribes are explained in these online articles: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/sioux-cheyenne-celebrate-new-historic-landmark/article_d993a22f-7add-53ce-8bf2-5b0fcce4a57e.html and http://www.american-tribes.com/Articles/ART/DeerMedicineRock.htm . Here is a free online slide show about Deer Medicine Rocks. Here is a poem about petroglyphs from a California indigenous poet.

Readings to prepare for July 9: Our speaker will be giving us a bibliography about Apsáalooke women and gender readings, but we might read this short article in anticipation of Dr. Pease’s presentation (about her aunt):  “The Education of Josephine Pease Russell;” additional short readings that will prepare us for tomorrow are: 1) a news piece about the Apsáalooke special collections at Little Big Horn Tribal College (LBHC) donated by Stuart Conner, and 2) another piece about Joseph Medicine Crow’s library also being donated to LBHC.

 

APSAALOOKE (CROW) CULTURE, HISTORY, and EDUCATION

• Tuesday, July 9, 2019, Hardin, MT (Seminar Day)

Logistics: We will be continuing our stay at our motel in Hardin, returning in the afternoon.  Please have a picnic ready and prepare to board the bus at 9:15. You will have time in the afternoon for journaling and reading, and you will be on your own for dinner.

Little Bighorn Tribal College. Permission pending.

Little Big Horn (Tribal) College, 8645 S. Weaver Dr., Crow Agency, MT 59022

9:30 AM to 11:30 AM.  Programs Room, Library.
Presentations/Q&A with Dr. Janine Pease about Apsáalooke women in the family and community, historically and in contemporary times, with Q/A.

12:00 to 2:00 PM. Lunch and Library Tour.  Summer Scholars will divide into two groups one getting a library tour with Tim Bernardis, Librarian at the Little Big Horn Tribal College, while the other picnics, and then the groups will switch.

2:00 PM to 3:15 PM. Programs Room, Library
Presentation/Q&A with Professor Tim McCleary of MSU-Billings, who will speak to us about Apsáalooke rock art/depictions, astronomy, and horse gear.

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development: To expand upon Professor McCleary’s presentation on Crow horse gear, check out this Pinterest page.

Readings: Nothing required, as tomorrow is a travel day.  But, here is a very short introduction to Medicine Rocks State Park, which we will see briefly on our way up toward the border with North Dakota.  Mr. Conrad Fisher (No. Cheyenne) was interviewed about this site for this article.

• Wednesday, July 10, 2019, from Hardin, MT, to Sidney, MT (Travel Day)

Logistics: Today is a long travel day, as we will have one cultural stop on the way, before turning north. We will check out of our hotel in Hardin, departing at 9:00 AM, stop at the IGA supermarket (901 N. Center Ave., Hardin) for food to snack on aboard the bus and for a possible picnic when we get to Medicine Rocks State Park (for those who can wait that long to have lunch). Medicine Rocks State Park is a drive of about 3 1/2 hours.  If necessary, we will stop to use bathroom facilities en route, perhaps in Miles City at the Riverside Park (an hour and 50 minutes from Hardin). Upon departure from the state park, we will drive 2 1/4 hours to Sidney, MT, and stay one night in the Best Western Golden Prairie Inn, 820 S. Central Ave., Sidney, MT. Tel. (844) 641-8059.

Medicine Rocks State Park

We will stop for about an hour to see the sacred rock formations at this state park.

• THEMES: the meaning of “medicine”; Western scientific explanations for the site
• Introduction: This is another sacred site that has been visited by people for hundreds or thousands of years. Plains Indian tools (e.g. scrapers), weapons (e.g. arrowheads), and tipi rings have been uncovered by archaeological excavations here. The Western scientific explanation for this site is that ancient seas filled what are now the Plains, and more than 60 million years ago the rock formations were sand dunes. As the seas retreated, salt laden rivers helped shape the sandstone that developed where there had been dunes. Wind also contributed. Some of the dozens of sandstone pillars rise 80 feet above the prairie floor, and they contain fossils of turtles, fish bones, crocodile teeth, small mammals, mollusks, and even palm trees embedded in the stone.  U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt called this site, “As fantastically beautiful a place as I have ever seen.”
• A Lakota man, Charging Bear, described this site as a place “where the spirits stayed and medicine men played.” Scholars James D. Keyser and Michael A. Klassen state, “In Native cultures, these powerful locations emphasize the sacred relationship between people, nature, and spirits.” Rituals that have been conducted at these sites “reaffirm this connection.” One of the most important spiritual acts was the “vision quest, through which individuals tapped the power of sacred places.” (Plains Indian Rock Art, p. 55)
• Park charges no fees.  There is a group picnic site, for those who wish to use it. We must pack out whatever we pack in.  There are vault toilets at the campground.
• Park is located 11 miles north of Ekalaka, MT.
• Park Manager: Chris Dantic, cdantic@mt.gov   Telephone:  (406) 377-6256

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development:  The Billings Gazette published a story about a group that recorded the petroglyphs at this site in 2012.  Here is a short video of a slide show about Medicine Rocks State Park.  The state park ranger gave us a PPT about the science of Medicine Rocks.

Readings to prepare for July 11: In preparation for our coming visit to the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, please search the word “river” in the Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.  How many “hits” do you get?  What did rivers mean to the Corps of Discovery?  See also the Ambrose book for references to rivers. Then, to turn out attention to frontier forts, read the brief account of Natawista Iksina (Medicine Snake Woman) who married a trader and lived at Fort Union in the mid-19^th c. and served many years as a cultural intermediary.

Medicine Rocks State Park, MT

 

• Thursday, July 11, 2019, from Sidney, MT, to Watford City, ND (Excursion Day)

“Traded with the Indians, made 3 Chiefs and gave them meadels & Tobacco & Handkerchif & knives, and a flag & left a Flag & hand kerches for the great Chief when he returns from war….” (William Clark, September 23, 1805. An example of active trading.)

FRONTIER FORTS: TRADE AND MILITARISM

Logistics: We will check out of our Sidney hotel at 9:30 AM, stop for picnic supplies at the IGA or the Reynolds Market, and begin our trip to Watford City, ND, stopping at three historically significant sites along the way, accompanied by our guide Erik Holland, Educational Curator, North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum.  The first leg is 30 minutes, taking us to Fort Union Trading Post; then to Fort Buford, three miles from Fort Union; then we’ll go another half mile to the Confluence Center. This latter site has a picnic ground, but we might be able to eat before we get there, or we might change the order of our stops.  Our final leg, to Watford City, will be almost an hour’s drive. We will check into the Comfort Inn and Suites, 600 3^rd Ave. SW, Watford City, ND (tel. 480-568-6940), where we will be lodged for four nights. This will be a full day, and so late afternoon and evening will be time for rest and reflection with no assigned readings. Optional free dinner buffet.

George Catlin’s Painting of Stu-mick-o-scks,
Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe, at Ft. Union, 1832.
Smithsonian.

Fort Union Trading Post. Public domain image.

Fort Union Trading Post (a reconstruction)

• THEMES: indigenous-Euro-American interaction/interdependence; women as intermediaries (e.g. Medicine Snake Woman); economic activity; the politics of the fur trade and bison; tobacco; trade and epidemiology (fur traders bearing germs); selective adoption and adaptation of new material items; archaeology; ethnographic art.
• Presentation/Q&A: Our companion guides, Erik Holland and Tom Smith, will help us interpret this historic trading post (reconstruction), along with the park rangers, perhaps including Historian-Interpreter-Ranger Loren Yellow Bird, who might share additional perspectives on the trading post from the viewpoints of the nine tribes that interacted with this post. Yellow Bird had an important linguistic role in the 2016 Oscar-winning film The Revenant.
• This is touted as the most important trading post on the upper Missouri until 1867. It was built at the request of the Assiniboine nation in 1828; sold to the Army in 1867; declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961; acquired by NPS in 1966; reconstructed 1986–89 (seeking to recapture the period of the early 1850s); the site offers living history reenactments; and, there is a gallery with archaeological collections currently on display. Assiniboine and six Northern Plains Indian tribes exchanged bison robes and smaller furs here for goods from around the world: cloth, guns, blankets, and beads; annually more than 25K robes, $100K in merchandise.
• Ethnographic artists who were here include: George Catlin, Prince Maximilian of Wied, Karl Bodmer, and John James Audubon (with his assistant artist, Isaac Sprague). The National Parks offer a history of Fort Union on line.  You can also view this video about the fort and the fur trade on Facebook.  Loren Yellow Bird is one of the speakers on this 10-minute documentary.
• No entrance fee; open 8 AM to 6:30 PM daily in the summer. Picnic tables are available under the trees.
• Directions: It is about a 30-minute drive from Sidney up to Fort Union, located on the Upper Missouri; 15550 Highway 1804, Willison, ND 58801; tel. (701) 572-9083

Fort Buford. Public domain image.

Fort Buford State Historic Site (afternoon stop)

• THEMES: the militarization of the frontier; the meaning of “forts” such as this to the local people; the concept of indigenous people as “hostiles;” wars between the Hunkpapa Lakota and the garrison; treaties and their meaning; fake news of the 19^th century (a massacre hoax); riverine transportation.
• This is a state historic site, a fort built by the U.S. Army in 1866 at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers in Dakota Territory. It is famed as the site of the surrender of Sitting Bull, who relinquished his rifle in 1881 and, according to Dennis Pope, became a prisoner of war until 1883.
• Directions: 15349 39^th Lane NW, Williston, ND 58801; tel. (701) 572-9034. The fort is three miles east and a bit south from Fort Union trading post.

“G. Gibson was Sent back One Days Journey to See if the Indians came there with Liberty that was Sent for them to come to a Treaty with Captn. Lewis & Wm. Clark….” (Joseph Whitehouse, August 1, 1804. This passage shows the different meaning of “treaty” in that period.)

“Some of them have Seen bearded men towards the ocean, but they cannot give us any accurate [account] of the ocean but we have 4 mountains to cross to go where they saw white men which was on a river as we suppose the Columbian River.” (John Ordway, September 4, 1805. An example of an oral tradition about possible contact earlier with Europeans in Oregon.)

Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence from the interpretive center. Permission pending.

Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center (afternoon stop)

• THEMES: Corps of Discovery; fur trade; riverine transportation; and, art.
• This interpretive center has as its focus the important rivers of the region, their natural history, human history, geography, and geology. Rivers played a central role in the movements of people, whether the Native peoples, the fur traders, the Lewis and Clark expedition, or subsequent settlers and visitors. The Center features museum exhibits on these topics, but also the Missouri River landscape paintings by Col. Philippe Régis de Trobriand (1860s). Optional video of two possible lengths (30 minutes or 1 hour).
• Presentation/Q&A: Loren Yellow Bird will come over from Fort Union to speak to us here about Arikara language revival and identity on the Northern Plains.
• Discussion: We are renting an air-conditioned meeting room ($75) here for Yellow Bird’s presentation and for a discussion to debrief the three sites visited today.  We will pay no admission fees given that we are renting the meeting room, and tours of the Confluence center and Fort Buford are included in the room rental, too.
• Contact person: Kerry Finsaas, Site Supervisor, Ft Buford State Historic Site and the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center.  Tel. 701-572-9034.   kfinsaas@nd.gov
• Directions: ½ mile east of Fort Buford; 22 mi. SW of Williston (Hwys 1804 and 58); tel. (701) 572-9034. Interpretive center open 9 AM to 6 PM daily, and it offers a picnic area, campground, walking trail, and bird watching. Free tours with the room rental. The hotel is about a 55-minute drive from the Confluence Center (our final stop of the day).

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development: About Fort Union: https://www.nps.gov/fous/index.htm ; and see, especially, all of the educational materials at:  https://www.nps.gov/fous/learn/historyculture/fort-union-50th.htm , plus the Indian Arts Showcase at Fort Union, https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=9D6FFCE6-155D-4519-3E3EAD052422B394 . On Fort Buford: http://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/buford/index.html and https://www.americanheritage.com/content/fort-buford .  For the way newspapers reported on American Indians, there is a book by John M. Coward, The Newspaper Indian (1999). A new book about frontier forts, with a focus on Fort Laramie is: Douglas C. McChristian, Fort Laramie: Military Bastion of the High Plains (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2017); a biography about Sitting Bull from the American Experience series on PBS, Sitting Bull and the Lakotas’ Last Stand; “Report on the Death of Sioux Chief Sitting Bull, 12/15/1890,” in the National Archives’ DocsTeach site; and, see the excerpts from D. Pope, Sitting Bull: Prisoner of War (2010), on the flash drive. On the history of the Confluence: http://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/mycic/index.html . This is a good time to explore the archaeological method, too. We recommend two books in our bibliography, Archaeology of the North American Fur Trade (2015) and Archaeology of Colonialism in Native North America (2012).

Readings to prepare for July 12: In preparation for tomorrow, please read or skim Thomasma’s small book about Sacajawea.  We have scanned it in two parts: first part, second part. This is NOT the Hidatsa version of the story of Sacagawea, but one that would be interesting to compare and contrast with the story you will hear. What is also useful about this little book is that Thomasma has excerpted passages about Sacagawea from the journals of Lewis and Clark (primary-source material).

 

• Friday, July 12, 2019, Watford, ND

“…one of the warrirs would git up in the centre with his arms & point towards the different nations, & make a Speech, telling what he had done, how many he had killed & how many horses he had Stole &c” (Joseph Whitehouse, August 30, 1804. An example of oratory.)

TRIBAL HISTORIES, ART ETHNOGRAPHY, AND SAKAKAWEA

Logistics: We will continue our stay in Watford City, taking a break from being on the road, and have Calvin Grinnell, a Mandan/Hidatsa elder, come speak to us in a conference room at our hotel.

Presentations/Q&A. Calvin Grinnell will give us two presentations (from 9 to 10 AM, and then from 10:20 to 11:20 AM, because he had to adjust the original times), both before lunch, in a conference room at our hotel. He will speak about tribal histories (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, the Three Affiliated Tribes) and what we learn from oral traditions and art such as that left by George Catlin. He also wishes to speak about Sakakawea (local spelling), the guide and interpreter who traveled with Lewis and Clark, sharing her story from the Hidatsa point of view. Feel free to ask him questions based on the other point of view about her that you might have read in the Thomasma book, such as:  Why are there different indigenous viewpoints about the life of this woman (whose name is spelled variously)? What impact did her presence have on the fate of the expedition?  Do some indigenous people criticize her (and if so, what, in their view, did she do wrong)?

Mr. Grinnell is the direct descendant of Chief Four Bears (Mandan/Hidatsa), c. 1784–July 30, 1837. Also known as Ma-to-toh-pe, from mato “bear,” and tope “four,” he was the second chief of the Mandan tribe to be known as “Four Bears,” a name he earned after charging the Assiniboine tribe during battle with the strength of four bears. For more about his story, see this profile and scroll down at this website.

Mr. Grinnell has worked with the National Museum of the American Indian in D.C. on the Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1851, and he has spoken in London, England, at the National Portrait Gallery about George Catlin’s influence on the Three Affiliated Tribes.

If you would like to make an appointment in the afternoon with Stephanie, Ron, Tom, or Erik to ask for assistance with your curriculum design ideas, please let us know.  You have the entire lunch and afternoon to study and rest.

In the evening, Watford City will have music and food from 7 PM to 1 AM in a street festival called “Homefest.” It will also be happening tomorrow night (July 13).  https://www.beautifulbadlandsnd.com/pec-events/homefest-2019-watford-city-north-dakota-2/ 

Readings to prepare for July 13: Please read Alysa Landry, “Theodore Roosevelt: ‘The Only Good Indians are the Dead Indians,” Indian Country Today, June 28, 2016; and Gilbert King, “Geronimo’s Appeal to Theodore Roosevelt,” Smithsonian Magazine, Nov 9, 2012 (especially the part about Geronimo in the parade and his interaction with Roosevelt).  Recommended readings: an introduction to Theodore Roosevelt and his growing concern about conservationism; along with a short PBS article about Theodore Roosevelt that has some information about his impact on the West.

 

• Saturday, July 13, 2019, Watford City, ND (Excursion Day)

TWO THEMES:  SETTLER COLONIALISM, ETHNOZOOLOGY

Logistics: We will continue in the Comfort Inn in Watford City, but we will have an excursion today to the  nearby Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The bus will pick us up at 10 AM, we will stop at a large supermarket for picnic supplies, then take the 15-mile drive to the North Unit of the park. If it is easy to do with the bus, we will stop at the Visitor’s Center briefly.  We will then drive to the Juniper Campground to find Erik Holland, have a picnic, and prepare to meet the ranger Gianna Farrell at the amphitheater at about noon for a short introduction to the park.  Gianna will then get on the bus with us for a guided tour.  Finally, it is our plan to give you some time to explore on your own.  We hope to return to the Comfort Inn in time for some journaling and reading.  Remember, too, that tomorrow will be a day of rest.

“Snakes are not plenty, one was killed to day large and resembling the rattle Snake only Something lighter—… I walked on Shore this evening … in Pursueing Some Turkeys I [s]truck the river…Musquitors verry troubleson.” (William Clark, August 5, 1804.)

Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Ekblom Trail. NPS.

North Unit, Theodore Roosevelt National Park

• THEMES: ethnozoology; horses; bison; understanding natural landscapes and habitats for humans and animals, and their relationships; ecology; conservation; national parks; settler colonialism. For those who choose this optional excursion, we will discuss some of T. R. Roosevelt’s words about the West.
• This landscape (“the badlands”) had a profound influence on the U.S. president for whom it is named, a man who fell in love with “the West,” hunting bison, and seeking “perfect freedom,” and who therefore helped shape the national and romantic view of colonization of the West in the second half of the 19^th T. Roosevelt (died 1919) also played a major role in establishing conservation policies, creating national forests and national parks, but his view of Native territorial rights is worth examining.
• Admission is $10 per vehicle. Restrooms only near the park entrance.
• We must bring our own food, water, and binoculars (e.g. for bison viewing, deer, and wild horses, if we are fortunate). There are 186+ species of birds possible to view, including golden eagles, sharp-tailed grouse, and wild turkeys. Bison, white-tailed deer, and bighorn sheep are all occupying this space; if we are lucky, we will see some wildlife. Animals here can be dangerous and are best viewed from a distance (and not fed).
• The North Unit Visitor Center offers museum and photo opportunities.
• We will drive into the park stopping at the visitors’ center, Cannonball Concretions, and go as far as the River Bend Overlook. Picnic possibility at Juniper Campground. We are seeing the lesser-visited northern unit of the park.  It has a 14-mile scenic drive (which we will take and return the same way, 28-miles roundtrip).
• North unit driving map: http://images.statemaster.com/images/motw/national_parks/theodore_roosevelt_north.jpg
• Hiking trails map: https://i1.wp.com/scoutingmag.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/TRNP_MAP_R.jpg
• Directions: 15 miles south of Watford City; off Hwy 85; Jeff van Hoose, the NP ranger, says the 14-mile drive through the park is “14 miles of joy.” Laura Thomas and Alexander Rechlin are other park employees with whom we have been in contact. The park is open until 7 PM on summer days.

 

Contemporary Painted Buffalo Hide, by Daniel Long Soldier.
Omaha, Nebraska (Photo by S. Wood)

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development: see the book by Philip Burnham, Indian Country, God’s Country: Native Americans and the National Parks (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2000); see our bibliography for a book about Roosevelt’s Indian policies; ethnozoology: buffalo/bison: see the PBS clip, “The Slaughter of the Buffalo” on YouTube; see William H. Hornaday, The Extermination of the American Bison (Washington DC: National Museum, 1889); search “buffalo” and “bison” in the Tribal Legacy video archives to find a number of resources, including Wales Bulltail’s (Crow) four-part series, “Hunting Buffalo,” among others; see these photos mountains of buffalo skulls from the 1880s; try a Google Books search of the terms “ethnozoology” and “turkey” (together), to find the publication Ethnozoology of the Tewa Indians (pp. 34–35); “Wild Turkey Fact Sheet” (PBS); see our July 9^th entry for resources on horses. Consider this photo of “the great hostile Indian camp on River Brule, near Pine Ridge, S.D.” from 1891 (in the National Archives). See Buffalo Lesson Plan.  Consider: how does the caption compare to the image?  What kinds of animals do you see in the photograph, and what does this suggest about the local economy of that time?

 

• Sunday, July 14, 2019, Watford, ND (Day of Rest)

Logistics: We will continue our stay at the Comfort Inn in Watford City this one last night, departing tomorrow for the Knife River Indian Villages and a motel in Stanton, ND.  This is a day designated for rest, journaling, and reading.

If you are looking for a laundromat for washing clothes and the motel’s facilities are overwhelmed by our group, you can consider this option. You can share taxis or ask Stephanie for a ride, if she’s available.

• Monday, July 15, 2019, Watford City, ND, to Stanton, ND (Travel and Excursion)

“…found their lodges in this village about 60 in nomber and verry close compact… in a round form large & warm covered … first after the wood is willows and Grass. Then a thick coat of Earth &.C…except the chimney hole which Goes out at center & top…” (John Ordway, October 10, 1804. This is apparently a reference to a village in what is now North Dakota.)

AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS

Reconstructed earth lodge at Knife River. NPS.

Logistics: We will check out of the Comfort Inn in Watford City and board the bus at 8:30 AM for a quick stop at the Cash Wise grocery store  off Main Street for picnic supplies, and then proceed to our excursions sites. Later in the afternoon, after our two stops, we will check into the Coal Country Inn, 312 Harmon Ave., Stanton, ND (tel. 701-745-3000).  The shared double rooms here will cost $38 per person per night. Unfortunately, breakfast is not included, but there is an attached restaurant. NEH Summer Scholars will be on their own for dinner and have three choices: either order a pizza at the front desk, dine at the Bistro restaurant of the Coal Country Inn, or walk east on Harmon Avenue to Sakakawea Park on the Knife River for a picnic supper.

Knife River Indian Villages NHS

• THEMES: dwellings and architecture; ethnobotany (demonstration garden); ethnozoology (horse); significance of agriculture for sedentary life; semi-sedentary moving within a territory; intertribal conflict and its impact; the female interpreter, Sakakawea.
• Presentation: Park educational interpreter Alisha Deegan will give us a presentation (and/or we might see a video) about Buffalo Bird Woman and agriculture/gardening.
• Knife River was a farming community that summered in earth lodges near the river (we will take a hiking trail to reach the ruins) and wintered in tipis in the woodlands. This one and other community remains we will see here on the Northern Plains on the Upper Missouri River in North Dakota illuminate a semi-sedentary lifestyle, with agriculture that supported a dense population (and a diverse one, with Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara coexisting). These peoples hunted bison, too, and Knife River was a trade center for hundreds of years prior to the arrival of fur traders in 1750. It was also the site of intertribal conflict, often with a focus on horse raiding.
• Directions: Hwy 22 South and 200 East, 124 miles. A 2-hour, 20-minute drive from Watford City.  Location: 564 County Road 37, Stanton, ND 58571. Summer hours:  9 AM to 5 PM.  Picnic site.

George Catlin. Mandan village. Public domain image.

Fort Clark Trading Post (archaeological site)

• THEMES: epidemiology; furs and alcohol as trade items; ethnography and art; archaeology.
• Presentation/Q&A: about the history of the fort that was here and the Mandan and Arikara settlements, with archaeologist Erik Holland.
• Steamboats brought massive amounts of trade goods, including liquor, to this trading fort (also called a “factory”), beginning in 1832. This first fort was visited by ethnographer/artists George Catlin, Karl Bodmer, and the German Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied in 1832–33. Steamboat passengers inadvertently introduced smallpox in 1837, which spread throughout the Great Plains and killed 90% of the Mandan inhabitants here. The Arikara tribe then settled here, and another trading post was built in 1850. Diseases again struck in 1851 (cholera) and 1856 (smallpox), and this second fort was attacked by indigenous warriors in 1861. This all led to its abandonment.
• This is a vast archaeological site that includes earth lodge depressions, an unmarked cemetery with more than 800 graves, ruins of houses, etc. Free admission.
• The site offer restrooms and a picnic area.
• Return to Hwy 200 and go east; a 13-minute drive from Knife River Indian Villages.

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development: 

Earthlodges: On Knife River Indian Villages, see: https://www.nps.gov/knri/index.htm and watch the PBS video, “Earth Lodges,” (3 min.), with Amy Mossett and Terrence L. O’Halloran, https://opb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/e1d7f13d-8940-4e8f-b088-50efcb99816e/earth-lodges/?#.WkhBDbT82MI .

Then view the image collection from Getty images relating to “Dwellings” from Native American Civilizations, https://opb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/native-americans-imagegallery1-pbslm/dwellings-native-american-civilizations-american-history/?#.WkhC27T82MI .

The National Parks provides an online lesson about the Hidatsa Earthlodge. See this Knife River lesson plan online:  https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/1knife/1knife.htm . In fact, the NPS offers 21 curricular materials with a focus on Knife River Indian Villages.

If you have interest in a transportation unit about the Bull Boat, here are a brief lesson and PPT. We also offer a series of photos of a bull boat project in Nebraska, some bull boat diagrams prepared for the Sioux water festival, and a considerable transportation curriculum from South Dakota.  On Fort Clark, please see:  http://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/clark/

Readings and Viewings to prepare for July 16:  In the National Archives there is a list of the gift items Meriwether Lewis acquired in 1803 to give to the tribes he met on the expedition; at Fort Mandan, the Corps developed a long and close relationship with the local people. In preparation for tomorrow’s site visit, go to the Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and search the word “Mandan” to read about visits made both as the Corps headed west and later returned, heading east. Please also watch a 5-minute video with Gerard Baker (aka Yellow Wolf), “A Time of Listening,” in the Tribal Legacy video archive.

 

• Tuesday, July 16, 2019, Stanton, ND (Excursion Day)

“…a great nomber of the Mandans came to Trade with us.  they Brought us corn Beans Squasshes, also Some of their kind of Bread which they make of pearched corn and beans miexed to gether & made in round balls… they have a Sweet kind of corn which they Boil considerable of it when it is in the milk & drys it which they keep through the winter Season.”  (John Ordway, December 30, 1804. This quote comes from what is now North Dakota.)

“I visited the Chief of the Mandans in the Course of the Day and Smoked a pipe with himself and Several old men.” (William Clark, March 20, 1805.  Again, North Dakota.)

Logistics:  We will sleep again tonight in Stanton at the Coal Country Inn for a second and final night, but we will board the bus at 9:30 AM today to visit two historical sites, stopping beforehand at Krause’s SuperValu supermarket in Washburn for picnic supplies. In the late afternoon, we will return to Stanton, and NEH Summer Scholars will be on their own for dinner, with the same options as last night.

 

THE ENCOUNTER: CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGE

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

• THEMES: ethnobotany (examples of the 200+ maize varieties); river transport (canoe example); childrearing (cradleboard example); women’s roles and status; ethnographic art advantages and drawbacks; recorded oral traditions.
• Presentation/Q&A: Archaeologist Erik Holland will speak to us about the information about Upper Midwest American Indians that Karl Bodmer and Maximilian left in the way of drawings and notes.
• Discussion: We will watch a film about Buffalo Bird Woman and Dr. Wood will lead a discussion of the film and our readings in her book.
• The L&C Interpretive Center promises to have a demonstration garden with varieties of corn and other crops of ethnobotanical importance, although it might not have produced its fruits by the time of our visit. Nevertheless, they will introduce and explain to us the dried maize they have of a number of local varieties and let us taste it.
• This center provides information about Lewis and Clark and indigenous lifeways in the region; offers Bodmer prints and watercolors and Maximilian’s written descriptions from the 19^th of the Native communities here.
• Interpretive Center’s website: http://lewisandclarktrail.com/section2/ndcities/BismarckMandan/InterpretiveCenter/index.htm
• Directions: South on Hwy 31 to Hwy 200, and then to the east until the intersection with Hwy 83 north in Washburn, 20 minutes from our hotel.

Fort Mandan replica. Public domain image.

Fort Mandan (replica)

• THEMES: the nature of U.S. diplomacy with the tribes; efforts to claim the territory for the U.S.; differing conceptualizations of property; alliances with some tribes against others; competition with the British/Canadian traders; map making as part of colonialism; Sakakawea’s role (interpreter, cultural intermediary, female peace keeper, note how the spelling of her name varies).
• Presentation/Q&A: Archaeologist Erik Holland will speak to us about the history of this site, while we are having our picnic in the shade, and lead the discussion of the description of the Corps’ interaction with the local tribes that we can glean from their journals.
• The Corps of Discovery built a fort on the Missouri River somewhere near this site, where the party spent the very cold winter of 1804–1805. The existing buildings are replicas, intending to match as closely as possible the nature of the fort at that time. The fort was intentionally located near the five villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa, and the ensuing interaction (social and diplomatic) holds a high significance for the nature of the expedition and what would follow.
• Fort Mandan website: http://lewisandclarktrail.com/section2/ndcities/BismarckMandan/fortmandan.htm.
• This site offers picnic tables, but we may have eaten already by the time we get here.
• The fort visit is included in admission to the L&C Interpretive Center.
• From the Interpretive Center, go west on 8^th; it is a 5-minute drive.
• 838 28^th SW, Washburn, ND 58577; tel. (701) 462-8535

Karl Bodmer’s Painting of a “Magic Pile” of the Assiniboine, c. 1836.
(Public domain image.)

Additional Resources for Curriculum Development: To enrich our knowledge of the life and legacy of Buffalo Bird woman, there is an open-access digital version of Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden, originally called Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian Interpretation, published by Gilbert Livingstone Wilson, in 1917. One can also see how a Native woman and her daughters replicated Buffalo Bird Woman’s garden in this 3-minute YouTube video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gc-DlNTiMM . A powerful two-minute extract from Ken Burns and Stephen Ives’ film series, The West, with a focus on Buffalo Bird Woman, can be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8_moWiV948 .

Readings to prepare for July 17: Please read the Three Affiliated Tribes’ (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara/Sahnish) history: https://www.ndstudies.gov/threeaffiliated_historical_overview ; this short Mandan origin story associated with Painted Woods: scroll down to Mandan origin stories on this web page;  and, the short history of Double Ditch Indian Village, http://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/doubleditch/doubleditchhistory.html .

 

“…a miss understanding took place between the two inturpeters on account of their Squars, one of the Squars of Shabownes [Charbonneau’s] Squars being Sick, I ordered my Servent to, give her Some Froot Stewed and tee at dift Tims which was the Cause of the misundstd…” (William Clark, January 20, 1805.)

• Wednesday, July 17, 2019, Stanton, ND, to Bismarck, ND (Travel, Excursion, Seminar Orientation)

Logistics: We will check out of the Coal Country Inn and board the bus at 9:30 AM for our 1-hour and 10-minute drive to Bismarck (not counting the stops we will make along the way). Our first stop will be Krause’s SuperValu supermarket, one last time, for picnic supplies. When we arrive in Bismarck, we will check into our lodging at America’s Best Value Inn, 1505 Interchange Ave. (tel. 877-737-9275), where share double rooms will cost $38.15/night per person, including breakfast.  Summer Scholars will be on their own the rest of the afternoon and for dinner. Please take time to begin thinking about a curricular project.

ORAL TRADITION:  ORIGIN STORIES

Flaming Arrow

• THEMES: oral traditions; origin stories
• Presentation/Q&A: Alisha Deegan (Mandan/Hidatsa) and perhaps another person from the Three Affiliated Tribes will speak to us about the meaning of this site in their origin beliefs.
• This archaeological site dates back to 1100 C.E. The Awaxawi (“Village on the Hill”) people, one of the Hidatsa groups, recall living in the earth and climbing to the surface on a vine. Here’s the fuller story: https://www.nps.gov/knri/learn/historyculture/hidatsa.htm.
• In Washburn, just off Hwy 83/1804 near Hwy 200.
• “Flaming Arrow Ranch” is described here: http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/ranch-offers-dose-of-history/article_cb5e737b-9792-5dc3-aa86-61aabd4a846e.html.

Painted Woods Creek

• THEMES: oral traditions; origin stories
• Presentation/Q&A: Alisha Deegan (Mandan/Hidatsa) and perhaps another person from the Three Affiliated Tribes will speak to us about the meaning of this site in their origin beliefs.
• This is a significant site for indigenous people’s origin stories.
• South on Hwy 83/1804.
• Here is a website with some additional local lore: http://dev5.sendit.nodak.edu/storytelling/2012/12/05/legend-of-the-painted-woods/.

Double Ditch Indian Village

• THEMES: archaeology; agriculture; intertribal warfare; defensive architectural constructions
• Presentation/Q&A: Archaeologist Erik Holland will speak to us about the history of this village, with input from Alisha Deegan (Mandan/Hidatsa) and perhaps another person from the Three Affiliated Tribes.
• An archaeological site once occupied by the Mandan (c. 1490 to 1785 C.E.). This was one of seven to nine villages that were all occupied near the mouth of the Heart River. The population is estimated to have been 2,000 at its peak. Trade with other tribes and with Euro-American traders occurred here. A massive smallpox epidemic struck the Plains between 1781 and 1782, drastically reducing the population here and leading to the abandonment of all the Mandan villages near the Heart River mouth. Survivors moved farther upriver.
• South on Hwy 1804 toward Bismarck, along the Missouri River; free admission; interpretive signage; walking paths; no facilities. (701) 328-2666.
• Note the circular remains of the earth lodges, now familiar from other sites we have visited. What is different here is the double ditch fortification system that included a moat and a palisade (wooden-post wall), suggestive of the need to defend villagers from more mobile, warring tribes. Also watch for the midden mounds, some reaching ten feet high, around the edges of the village. These former piles of household refuse (animal bones, broken pottery, and ash from hearths) date, at the oldest, to from between 1550 and 1650.
• Website with Double Ditch history: http://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/doubleditch/index.html.  Fern Swanson, “Update on Double Ditch Indian Village State Historic Site Stabilization Project.”

 

Dakota Goodhouse Speaking about Winter Counts
(see the video)
Image permission pending.

CONCLUDING SEMINAR

Logistics:  We will continue in America’s Best Value Inn through the concluding seminar in Bismarck, with departures meant to take place on Sunday, July 21.  We have to give up our bus on Thursday morning, July 18^th, so Erik Holland will obtain a state van to shuttle you to and from our lodging and the Heritage Center these last few days. Professor Robert Haskett and Tom Smith (NPS) will also have vehicles and are willing to give people rides.

The location for our concluding seminar will be the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum in central Bismarck, which, because of Erik Holland’s collaboration, offers a complementary classroom space for us and a large “Innovation Hall” with a focus on Native cultures and their histories from time immemorial up to the present. We will divide our time listening to local faculty and Native speakers in the mornings and spending time in the afternoons working up new lesson plans (with people on hand to help answer questions or take you into the galleries to show you relevant materials). NEH Summer Scholars will sort through their journals and photos and review the salient themes we have studied, with the goal of seeing them coalesce into outlines for lessons or units for classroom use.

Themes addressed in the Innovation gallery include: language and identity (including revitalization); communication (including sign language); record keeping (ledgers and painted robes); sedentary living and agriculture; architecture (tipis of bark, hide, and cotton); earth lodges; conical, linear, and animal-shaped mound cemeteries; cosmology, pottery; long-distance trade (maize, shells, guns, beads, etc.); transportation (rivers, dog sleds); ethnozoology (dogs, birds, bison, horses); ethnographic art; indigenous art (past and present); spirituality; dance and song. These are all topics that could be developed into lessons. The faculty/staff will assist by fielding questions and suggesting resources as the curriculum topics begin to gel.

We will cross the street to have our lunches in the State Capitol building. Some coffee and light snacks might also be obtained from the café in the Heritage Center. Also during these days, Summer Scholars will be getting a free breakfast at the hotel, and they will be able to make their own choices for dinners around Bismarck.  Some restaurants will be within walking distance, and some of you may share taxis to go farther away.  Recommended, economical restaurants include: the Blarney Stone Pub, Sickies Garage Burgers & Brews, Fireflour Pizza, the Texas Roadhouse, Peacock Alley, and La Carreta (Mexican), among others.

North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum

• 612 East Boulevard Avenue, Bismarck, ND 58505; tel. (701) 328-2666; open M-F 8 AM to 5 PM; weekends 10 AM to 5 PM
• Erik Holland will be our host.
• Email: histsoc@nd.gov
• https://statemuseum.nd.gov/ , http://www.history.nd.gov/exhibits/ , and http://history.nd.gov/archives/

• Thursday, July 18, 2019, NDHC, Bismarck

9:15  Homeroom session with Ron Lancaster and Stephanie Wood

9:45  Brief break

10:00  Dr. Carmelita Lamb, “Setting the Framework: Honoring Tribal Legacies”

11:00  Erik Holland, “Access to Vetted Classroom Content”

12:00 Lunch break

1:00–4:30  Curriculum development and hands-on activities

• Friday, July 19, 2019, NDHC, Bismarck

9:15  Homeroom session with Ron Lancaster and Stephanie Wood

9:45  Brief break

10:00  Representative Ruth Buffalo (Three Affiliated Tribes and North Dakota Legislature), “Issues Facing Contemporary Indigenous Women”

11:00  Dakota Goodhouse (Hunkpapa Lakota/Yanktonai), “Traditional Cultural Geography and the Lakȟóta Map Project: Makȟóčhe Wašté, The Beautiful Country”

12:00 Lunch break

1:00–4:30  Curriculum development and hands-on activities  (some of you are organizing an independent visit to Standing Rock; the NEH itinerary was approved a year and a half ago, and changes like this must fall outside of official NEH activities; but we hope those who stay in Bismarck will take advantage of the time to work on new lessons)

• Saturday, July 20, 2019, NDHC, Bismarck

9:15  Homeroom session with Ron Lancaster and Stephanie Wood

9:45  Brief break

10:00  Dr. Michael Taylor (University of Mary), “Educational Experiences and Learning During the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests”

11:00  Dakota Goodhouse, “The Winter Count Tradition: Waníyetu Wowápi Wičhóȟ’aŋ”

12:00 Lunch break

1:00–3:30  Curriculum development and hands-on activities

4:00–9:00  Erik and Susan Holland will host a farewell reception in the Holland House garden, 222 West Avenue C (optional attendance but we would like to know if you are not attending, so we know how much food and beverage to prepare)

Indigenous Language Revivalism, HoChunk Example.
(note gendering of greetings; note body position affecting greetings)
(Photo by S. Wood at Little Priest Tribal College, Nebraska)

Dr. Lamb, Dr. Wood, and the entire leadership team will also actively encourage the design of curriculum that takes a conscious look at sources and methods, consulting on the Honoring Tribal Legacies methodology that was the foundation for the design of the demonstration Teachings aimed a K-14 social studies classrooms. Erik Holland will take us to visit the state archives, where we will have the opportunity to see rare books, photographs, and manuscripts, and primary-source research will be our focus.

Readings and Additional Resources:  For our concluding seminar in Bismarck, please review: North Dakota’s “Native American Essential Understandings,” a document that was sent to every school in the state in 2015 (on the Institute website), along with the Lewis & Clark website’s “Using Primary Sources” (Introduction, Document Analysis Guide, and Object Analysis Guide). Please also take a close look at two educational approaches to the Westward Movement that have been prepared by the National Archives: 1) “Evaluating Perspectives on Westward Expansion: Weighting the Evidence,” which starts with a scale and two interpretations on either end, “Expansion was necessary for the nation to grow and prosper, despite the negative impact on Native Americans,” and “The impact on Native American tribes was not worth expansion,” and offers an array of primary sources that will help learners weigh the evidence that might support one side or the other; and 2) “The Impact of Westward Expansion on Native American Communities,” again, with a variety of documents to help learners understand the effects (and, in this case, with a temporal focus after the Civil War). You also have the Honoring Tribal Legacies curricular materials that can serve as models.  In Arizona, there is a series “Honoring our Children” that includes a high school-university partnership for collecting oral traditions.  It asks the question, “How does oral history value and validate local and community knowledge?”

The NEH library for Discovering Native Histories will continue to be available in the afternoons.  Erik Holland will also make some of his books available for your consultation.  For those interested in the Lakotas and in education (a topic that Prof. Taylor will address) or Native narrative, we also recommend reading Josephine Waggoner’s boarding school experience, Witness: A Hunkpapha Historian’s Strong-Heart Song of the Lakotas (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013); a copy might be available while we are in Bismarck (ask, if you are interested in this).  For those interested in indigenous record-keeping systems, such as the winter counts, we recommend Ron McCoy’s essay in American Indian Art Magazine (2004), which we will also try to locate for you (let us know). The Smithsonian provides a wonderful online resource for teaching about Lone Dog’s Winter Count. South Dakota prepared a PowerPoint based lesson to share with students about winter counts. For those considering creating a lesson that examines art-ethnographers, we recommend exploring the Smithsonian Institution’s, “Campfire Stories: George Catlin and His Indian Gallery,” (2003), https://2.americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/catlinclassroom/cl.html, the Edward Curtis collection at Northwestern, http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/, and reading Bruce Watson, “George Catlin’s Obsession” (2002),which we will put on the Readings page. Erik Holland has a deep knowledge of these artistic sources and will be an excellent guide for those wishing to develop this topic for a new lesson.  A great many more topics are illuminated by additional readings found in the Institute bibliography.

In light of all of these educational materials, and reviewing all we have learned and observed over the preceding weeks, the concluding seminar will help NEH Summer Scholars go home with concrete plans for fleshing out and completing the lesson plans or curricular units that they will submit by September 30^th. These will be proofread, lightly edited, possibly revised, and finalized for posting in open-access on the Institute website by the end of the year.

North Dakota Heritage Center, Bismarck, ND. (Site of our concluding seminar.)                          Image permission pending.

 

• Sunday, July 21, 2019, Bismarck, ND (Travel Day/Departures)

All NEH Summer Scholars will make their departures out of Bismarck, by land or by air. Summer Scholars will arrange for their own transportation out of the lodging; perhaps some can share taxis. Some airport runs will be offered by Erik (in a 15-seat van), but he has a book signing event to run at 2 PM.  It turns out that Stephanie and Bob have to depart in the morning for Billings.

 

 

 

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