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NOTICES Oregon Heritage Grant Applications Available Applications for the 2005-2007 Oregon Heritage Grants are available. These grants support projects that con serve, develop, or interpret Oregon’s heri tage resources. In the past, supported projects have included conservation and cataloging of archival and museum collections, devel opment and interpretation of historic sites, and education about community and state history. Descriptions of several past projects are available on the commission’s Web site at www.oregonheritage.org. The Oregon Heritage Commission has declared a focus for this cycle on col laborative projects that promote excel lence in conservation or interpretation of significant heritage resources. A total of $200,000 is available to be awarded. Grants provide up to 50 percent of project costs. Awards in the previous cycle ranged up to $20.0(X). All awarded projects must be completed by Feb. 28, 2007. Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations, agencies of local govern ment, and federally recognized tribal gov ernments located in Oregon. Individuals; religious organizations; for-profit organizations such as partner ships, companies, and corporations; state agencies; school districts; state-supported colleges and universities; and federal agencies are not eligible to apply. The deadline to apply for this cycle of the Oregon Heritage Grant program is 4 p.m. on Oct. 4. The next opportunity after this cycle is expected to be the sum mer of 2007. Heritage grant application informa tion and application forms can be ob tained by calling the Oregon Heritage Commission at 503-986-0673, requested by sending an e-mail to heritage.info@ state.or.us, or downloaded from www. oregonheritage.org. The Cherokee Nation, a History by Robert J. Conley Reviewed by Murv Jacob and Deborah L. Duvall Ten-plus years and several chiefs ago, Robert J. Conley set out, with Principal Chief Wilma P. Mankiller’s blessing, to write a history of America’s greatest and probably most maligned tribe, the Cherokee. This long-awaited volume is now the fastest-selling book published by the University of New Mexico Press, with more than 1 ,000 copies ordered before the first printing was made. The 263 pages cover the Cherokees’ amazing journey from prehistoric times to the last election for principal chief in 2003. To our knowledge, this is the first really complete and current history of the Cherokees, per se, and the only one writ ten by a Cherokee author. If you’ve ever been put off by dull, dusty old history books and go out of your way to avoid them, we dare you to try Conley on for size. First, go to the table of contents and look at the chapter headings (like these): "What Nation or People Am 1 Afraid Of?” “Let Him be Wary,” “A Pipe and a Little Tobacco,” “Hundreds of Babies Died,” and for you locals, “What Do They Want with This Old Building?” If your history book jitters are still with you, open to any page and read a few lines, like these about the concentra tion camps where hundreds of Cherokee people awaited their Trail of Tears: “The summer heat made the camps almost un bearable, and people began to die. Then traders came with illegal whiskey, ready to take anything in exchange for their wares.” We found this interesting reference to Cherokee Beloved Woman Nancy Ward, revered by many as a brave woman warrior (and claimed as an ancestor by half the people we know), but who spied on her own people, then hurried off to warn encroaching white settlers when her kinsman Dragging Canoe planned to at tack their settlement. Conley writes, “Is it any wonder that white recorders of history have made a monster of the patriot (Dragging Canoe) and a heroine of the ‘friend of the whites’? United States history, as well as popular fiction, is full of examples of ‘the good Indian’ who is a friend to the whites: Uncas, Pocahontas, Shabbona, Sacajawea, Nancy Ward - Tonto.” Did we mention that this is the first history of the Cherokees actually written by a Cherokee? Expect your lessons to be dished up from a Cherokee point of view. This book is readily enjoyed by the casual reader, yet it offers up a treasure trove of information to the hungry researcher. Each chapter is followed by a detailed source list and a glossary. The appendi ces include a brief synopsis on each prin cipal chief of every Cherokee band since 1721 and a chronological list of all the treaties made with the United States, through April Fool’s Day 1900. If you want pictures, you'll see 21 pages of black-and-white photos, depict ing chiefs and other important people, places, and things. Finally, you'll find a thorough and very usable index to quickly locate references. As you will note in the final chapters, some unforgettable things happened in the Cherokee Nation during the past 10 years while Conley fought to get this book into print, and they are included here. We re ally enjoyed reading about those recent historic events, and you will too. Jacob and Duvall live and work in Tahlequah, Okla. Valley of the Butterflies on Display at Museum of Indian Arts SANTA FE, N.M. - The third annual exhibit in the Arnold and Doris Roland Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture is now open with sculptures by Doug Hyde entitled Valley of the Butterflies. The exhibit runs through March 26, 2006. Known for his portray als of Native culture in stone and bronze sculp tures, Hyde had been a resi dent artist in Santa Fe for many years before moving to Prescott, Ariz., where he maintains a studio. Exhibi tions as far away as in the United Kingdom and Ger many have given Hyde in ternational recognition, but he is regarded as one of the United States’ premier artists with a long record of awards and prizes, significant commis sions for public and private works, and exhibitions in major museums. He was among the small group of American Indian artists included in the exhibit Honoring Native America at the White House in Washington, D.C. An early commission in Phoenix, a monu mental sculpture commemorating Navajo code talkers, signaled his professional prominence. Hyde was born in Oregon, inheriting his tribal identity from his mother - Nez Perce, Assiniboine, Chippewa - but grew up on the Nez Perce Reservation in North ern Idaho. He was among the first graduates of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, and returned to the Northwest before enlisting to serve in the Vietnam War, where he was seriously wounded. At his retirement, Allan Houser in vited Hyde, his former 1AIA student, to return to the school to teach as his replace ment on the faculty. Hyde’s sculptures are included in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution. Heard Museum in Phoenix, Los Angeles Southwest Museum, Gilcrease Institute in Oklahoma, Amon Carter Museum in Texas, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indiana, and the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe. among many others. He was honored with the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in New Mexico, received the highest award for sculp ture at Santa Fe’s SWAIA Indian Market, and many more honors during his lengthy career. For more information about the exhibit, please call 505-476-1271 or visit www.miaclab.org. Sculptures by Doug Hyde at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe, N.M., on exhibit through March 26, 2006 October 2005 • Siletz News • 13
