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The Urban Indian Culture Keepers program at ALA was sponsored by the American Indian Library Association.  The description stated: Meet librarians and Indian community members who keep the Indian ways alive in urban Indian country. Learn how librarians and communities collaborate to create innovative programming that creates library services that are relevant and vibrant. Listen as people share intergenerational connections that bring Indian culture to life. Hear from modern day culture keepers.

The program started off with a welcome from Gordon, a local who sang and drummed for us. It is always nice to hear songs wherever we are.

First Voice Shared Through Museums and Libraries

The first presenter was Joe Podlasek (Ojibwe, enrolled at Lac Courte Oreilles reservation in northern Wisconsin).  Joe is the director of the American Indian Center of Chicago, the nation’s oldest urban Indian center.  He spoke about the need to tell our stories–and not have us be studied and then our story told by someone else.  The center is a community driven process, in which everyone is welcome. They stress the importance of being proud of who you are, what you have, and making the best of it.  They have generated board-certified curriculum about Native Americans for Illinois. One way they think libraries could improve would be to include more Native authored books, and to provide readings and book signings by Native authors so that Native Americans are exposed more to Native authors.  The center worked with the Field Museum to created the 50 Years of Powwow traveling exhibit that shows the history of powwows in Chicago.  In addition to an annual powwow, the center hosts a Native grad ceremony each year as well as wellness, education, and arts activities. They also recently opened Trickster Gallery, the only art gallery in Illinois owned and operated by Natives.

Relationship Between the Archive and Community

The second presenter was Scott Stevens (Akwesasne Mohawk from New York.
), director of the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian History at the Newberry Library.  He said that it is important for people working in archives to articulate the relationship between the archive and the community it represents.  The collection at the Newberry represents one of the largest collections of American Indian information.  One of the main areas for concern is access: archives are not always inviting, and may need to rething what the initial experience is.  Archives may need protocols for assisting people with content.  The written word has not always been nice to Native Americans, and they may ask, “Why is our history in your library?” Archives must be culturally literate and culturally sensitive to the communities they serve.

Scott suggested two ways to provide better services: (1) Bring together wisdom keepers with the written word, exposing them to the richness of information and learning about how they think the information should be used, and (2) better knowledge of contemporary Indian culture by libraries and librarians, because they can’t provide a taxonomy or description if they don’t understand the context.  Bringing Native Americans into libraries and archives can help in determining the content, and also provide information to communities, so that both the institution and the community can benefit, and that we should also make sure not to get caught up in the education pedigree of the users.

Unearthing Museum Archival Materials for Public Education

The last speaker was Elizabeth C. Babcock of The Field Museum.  She spoke about a project to remaster the film In the Land of the Head Hunters (1915) by Edward Curtis. It was the first feature length film to exclusively star Native North Americans,which documented the Kwakwaka‘wakw. The film was released as In the Land of the War Canoes in 1970s. Material which had not been seen since 1915–such as the original black and white film from the early 1900s, field recordings, and the original score–were found in 2006, and a project began to restore the film and to provide supplementary programming with the film that explores the Kwakwaka‘wakw perspectives on the film, as well as its cultural content and historical context.  The activities included a panel about how it felt to see their great-grandparents in a film, and the representation of them in the film.  An extensive website hosted by Rutgers explores the project in-depth and the activities surrounding it: Edward Curtis Meets The Kwakwaka‘wakw: “In The Land of the Head Hunters”.

Closing and Reception

The closing of the program included a dance exhibition by two Natives from Chicago who are active participants at the American Indian Center of Chicago. Again, it’s always nice to see dancers and singers who are involved, especially in an urban environment where it can be hard to stay connected to your roots. After the program, we had a wonderful AILA reception hosted by Camila Alire in her suite, with amazing, sweeping views of Chicago and Lake Michigan.

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