PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, OCTOBER 22, 2021
DEATHS: ‘Every bit of information I gained had appended
to it, more questions and mysteries’ Continued from page A1
the lists highlighted missing details and graves. A
map of the Chemawa Cemetery also confi rmed the
likelihood of unmarked graves.
“Every bit of information I gained had appended
to it, more questions and mysteries,” said Reddick,
an independent researcher who volunteered as
a historian at Chemawa for 11 years. “And so it
became necessary to answer those questions and
solve those mysteries and it has never stopped.”
Reddick used government, archival and pub-
lic records, in addition to verbal accounts from
other sources, to compile detailed timelines and
spreadsheets.
“We didn't create something brand new. We
simply took old things and organized them in a
way that would be easy to understand. And we've
been doing this for a very long time. That's what
researchers and archivists do,” said Reddick.
Guggemos began collaborating with Reddick in
2019 but had worked for six years prior researching
the history of the Indian School founded at Forest
Grove in 1880, before it moved to Salem in 1885.
Guggemos’ research took a comprehensive
look at the students, the school and its origins,
Wine
s
pills
happe
n
ABOVE:
A hand-tinted photograph depicting students at Chema-
wa School, standing under its entrance arch in Salem in
1905. Pacific University Archives
OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP:
Students and instructors in the Chemawa machine shop,
1887.
Courtesy Oregon Hist. Soc. Research Lib., 0173G027.
OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM:
Chemawa students in their desks, c.1928.
Courtesy Oregon Hist. Soc. Research Lib., Alice Judd Coll. 492.
but she of her main focuses was always to fi gure
out the location of the Forest Grove students’
graves.
Together, Reddick and Guggemos were able
to correct and fi ll in the gaps in each other's
work. Their fi ndings document the deaths of
300 students and non-students at Chemawa
and Forest Grove. For most of those 300, they
also identifi ed each individ-
ual’s name, tribe, reserva-
tion of origin and the date
When It Does, Call Us
503.884.9681
“We didn't create something
brand new. We simply took old
things and organized them in
a way that would be easy to
understand. And we've been
doing this for a very long time.
That's what researchers
and archivists do.
— SuANN REDDICK, Researcher