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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2007)
NOTICES Whitlow Donates Documents, Books to Siletz Tribe, Library Some Date as Far Back as 1866 by Laurel Johnson \ few days after Christmas, the Siletz Tribe received a rare and invalu able gift from a 1957 Siletz High School graduate. More than 50 years have passed since Leonard Whitlow Jr. discovered a large collection of Siletz Tribal docu ments and historical publications in a decaying building that was located on Government Hill. "There was a lean-to type room on the back of the old hospital and the records were all over the floor up there. I often went up there because Ada (Jim Collins) would tell me stories about the early reservation and of her trip down the coast with her grandmother back to the Rogue River country." he said. “I had played up on the hill from sec ond grade on up. All the buildings were open except the ‘Recreation Hall' that was built from lumber when they tore down some of the boarding school." Upon his discovery of the Siletz rec ords, Whitlow realized their importance. “My dad loved history. I think he passed that on to me," he said. “When I looked at dates on some of those records, to me they were old. old. old. I knew lots of the old Indians and I may have tried to get someone to ‘care,’ but that didn't happen. I just knew they were worth keeping." Whitlow collected the records from the building and took them home to preserve them. With his recent move because of illness and the need to downsize his storage space, he decided to give the records to the people who would most benefit from their histori cal value. On Dec. 28, 2(X)6. Whitlow and tribal representative Tina Retasket signed a legal agreement to make the records available for research by both Indians and non-lndians. Whitlow indicated that his actions in presenting the records to the tribe stem from his love of history. After graduating from Siletz High School in 1957, he worked as a his tory teacher for 30 years, teaching at Oceanlake Elementary School in Lin coln City in the early 1960s, and later at U.S. Grant High School in Portland. Other than teaching. Whitlow has other interests within the field of history. “I have so many history-oriented hobbies. My family genealogy, my wife's family genealogy, and I used to work very hard on Siletz Indian gene alogy,” he said. In regards to the gift he has pre sented to the Siletz Tribe. Whitlow of fered these words to tribal members: “Be proud of your local Siletz/Rogue River heritage and preserve it for fu ture generations. Don't let your culture be watered down by dress and tradi tions of the Great Plains Indians.” The documents Whitlow gave to the tribe include publications dated as far back as 1866 and cover such topics as government buildings in Siletz, jour nal records of tribal agency actions, and miscellaneous correspondence. One interesting item included in the papers, said Siletz Tribal Cultural Di rector Robert Kenttä, “was a stationery memo/invoice sheet from Frank Carson's ‘Red Front' Blacksmith Shop in Toledo dated 1908. Carson was a tribal member who had a business in Toledo and the Siletz Agency apparently used his business.” Under Kentta’s supervision, the records will be housed in the Siletz Tribal Cultural Center and upon its completion, in archival storage in the tribal museum. Concerning his gift of a collection of books on American Indians to the Siletz Public Library in late December. Whitlow noted, “My illness made me realize that I had to downsize my large library (teachers love to collect books). I had spoken to the library about it over co 1Reb jfront Jßlachsmitb Sbop F. W. CARSON ALL BILLS OUE AND PAYABLE ON £>r. FIRST OF EVERY a year ago. My stipulation with them was that the books had to remain together as a collection and that I reserved the right to borrow books back if I needed them. Some of my books there will be on shelves and the more valuable books will be in a locked case. Most of the books will not circulate. Their use will be in the library only. I have some more books to give them, (but) I just can't wean myself away from them yet.” He added. “I enjoyed reading about Indian history, so I picked up Indian books wherever I went and friends gave me books. I picked books up at estate sales and Kitty Geddes, who had more estate sales than any one else in Portland, usually gave me MONTH Student Art Competition The Office of Indian Education announces the Third Native American Student Art Competition, themed Edu cation: A Gift Beyond Boundaries. The 2007 competition requires par ticipants to register their entries online at www.indianeducation.org/sac or call I-X88-747-4994 prior to submitting their iirtwork to receive a confirmation number. For more information, please con tact Paula Arevalo at 1-888-747-4994 or e-mail parevalo@kauffmaninc.com DOE’s Tribal Energy Program Internships Invoice from Frank Carson’s Red Front m a little package at Christmas of Indian books that had not sold at her sale." Whitlow indicated that among the books he donated to the Siletz Public Library. “|t]here are some things there that would be Siletz Tribe-specific. But not too many. The stirring of the Rogue River tribes and then the suppression of their traditions at the end of the 1800s made it difficult to find specific- books on the various Siletz tribes. “I think probably reading every thing one can get their hands on about the Yurok and Karuk Tribes in North ern California is very close to the life, dwellings, and traditions of the Rogue- River tribes that were moved to Siletz." Art Competition, Internship, Financial Aid Available to Students The postmark deadline for the 2007 competition is March 14, 2007. P roprietor THE Leonard Whitlow Jr shows the collection of documents and historical publica tions to Rud Lane, Tina Retasket, and Robert Kentta. The U.S. Department of Energy's Tribal Energy Program is offering sum mer internships to American Indian stu dents who are interested in renewable energy and currently are college upper- classmen or graduate students. To be considered for the 2007 sum mer program, applications must he re ceived by Feb. 23, 2007. For more on the program, see www.eere.energy.gov/tribalenergy/ internprogram.html. For questions, contact Sandra K. Begay-Campbell. Sandia National Laboratories, at 505-844-5418 or skbegay@sandia.gov. Federal Student Aid January marked the start of the sea son for new and returning college students to apply for financial aid. Students are encouraged to file for a share of the more than $80 billion in federal grants, loans, and work-study assistance. To further publicize the availability of federal aid. the U.S. Department of Education is launching a public aware ness campaign with the message, “The most costly education is the one not begun." For more information, please go to http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov/. February 2007 • Siletz News • 13
