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
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Siletz News
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