The Statehouse File: Eiteljorg welcomes visitors for a virtual look at museum exhibits. “Even though the doors of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art are closed because of COVID-19, its online access allows visitors to enjoy the experience while remaining safe at home. The Eiteljorg Museum’s artworks from collections such as the Native American, Western and Contemporary are now accessible… The digital and interactive experiences allow families to stay at home and still see and learn about the museum’s exhibitions.
Native American culture
Expert: It would take hundreds of years to digitize records at Seattle National Archives (MyNorthwest)
MyNorthwest: Expert: It would take hundreds of years to digitize records at Seattle National Archives. “When officials from the Washington, D.C. office of the National Archives and Records Administration met with a handful of tribal representatives at the National Archives in Seattle earlier this month, one solution that was offered was digitization. That is, since access to the materials now stored in Seattle will be more difficult once those materials are moved to a NARA facility in California roughly four years from now, D.C. officials suggested that scanning the priceless photos, maps, and documents before they’re moved could help minimize any difficulties created by the surprise closure. Very little of what’s stored in Seattle has been digitized — perhaps far, far less than even one percent, according to some estimates.”
KVAL: UO museum works to digitize collection of fragile Native American baskets
KVAL: UO museum works to digitize collection of fragile Native American baskets. “Close up and through a camera – that’s what’s happening quietly behind the scenes at the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History….Teams from the museum are digitizing the UO’s entire collection of historic Native American baskets, a project made possible through grants from the State Heritage Commission and other sources.” There’s a video news story that goes with this — about two and a half minutes — that’s worth watching.
Spotlight on Collections: Expanding Both What We Know and What’s Available Online (Smithsonian)
Smithsonian: Spotlight on Collections: Expanding Both What We Know and What’s Available Online. “The National Museum of the American Indian has taken a major step toward making our collections more widely available: We have posted all of the museum’s ethnographic and contemporary art collections to the Smithsonian’s online collections search center. Last week, records for some 38,000 objects and sets of objects were available on the search site. Now, more than 122,000 records are available.”
South Dakota State University: SDSU Extension Releases Dakota and Lakota Traditional Games Resource Guide
South Dakota State University: SDSU Extension Releases Dakota and Lakota Traditional Games Resource Guide. “SDSU Extension recently released a resource guide on traditional Dakota and Lakota games. The free, downloadable guide contains six traditional Dakota games and six traditional Lakota games, including photos, instructions on how to play and how to craft the game pieces.” Not the largest resource I’ve ever mentioned, but not the kind of resource I see very often, either…
Lexington Herald-Leader: Collaboration key to assembling Native American photo trove
Lexington Herald-Leader: Collaboration key to assembling Native American photo trove. “Of the roughly 1,000 images of Native Americans from the 19th through the early 20th century, Eric Hemenway kept returning to one: a lone woman hoeing potatoes in a Michigan garden. The director of archives and records for the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians was poring over boxes of photos in the Clements Library of University of Michigan, which acquired the rare trove from a collector. Others might be drawn to Sitting Bull staring into the camera lens, or Geronimo posing with this elite band before capture. But for Hemenway, the picture of Viola Assinaway, an ancestor through marriage, is commonplace yet compelling: It offers visual proof of his people’s continuous presence.”
VT: Police hunt Instagram couple who vandalised 8,000-year-old Native American site
VT: Police hunt Instagram couple who vandalised 8,000-year-old Native American site. “Police are currently hunting for a pair of Instagrammers who allegedly vandalised an ancient, 8000-year Native American site. The sacred ground, which is called the Council Overhang, is a waterfall in the middle of the woodland Starved Rock State Park in the state of Illinois.”
