SpilyayTymoo
Warm Springs, Oregon
September 23, 1999 3
"By Hand Through Memory"
An introduction of the little known journey of the Indian nations of the Columbia River Plateau as they traveled from
reservation confinement to the computer age.
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Beaded buckskin dresses.
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Fishing tools belonged to Hank Palmer.
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Baskets used for picking huckleberries.
Tommy Thompson, third generation artifacts.
High Desert Museum held the Grand Opening
of the new Henry J. Casey Hall of Plateau Indians
and its inaugural exhibit, By Hand Through
Memory. The long-anticipated event represents
many years of planning, scholarship, tribal
consultation and fund raising following the gift
of the 7000-item Doris Swayze Bounds
Collection to the Museum in 1990.
By Hand Through Memory, a title taken from
a poem written by Warm Springs author Elizabeth
Woody, will tell the story of how the Native
Americans of the Columbia River Plateau region,
through memory, adaptation and spiritual
tradition, transformed reservations in the 20th
century from places of confinement to sanctuaries
of cultural exchange and empowerment. The
exhibit is a walk-through experience emphasizing
the personal lives of Plateau individuals,
authentic artifacts and memorabilia, rare historic
photography, live salmon and sturgeon habitats,
displays of traditional and contemporary artwork,
and a video theater featuring work by native
videographers.
The National Endowment for the Humanities,
a major donor to the $6.2 million exhibit wing,
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has called the exhibit a project of "uncommon
value" and a "model for other museums." The
new hall, along with an enhanced entryway and
visitor lobby, comprises a nearly 10,000-square-foot
addition. The centerpiece of A New Plateau
campaign, a $20 million fundraising effort begun
in 1994, the hall is the largest single expansion
project at the Museum since the completion of
the Earle A. Chiles Center of the Spirit of the
West in 1989.
By Hand Through Memory will introduce
visitors to the little known journey of the Indian
nations of the Columbia River Plateau as they
traveled from reservation confinement to the
computer age. The exhibit will show the process
of cultural change as the peoples of the Plateau
nations, the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs,
Yakama, Spokane, and Colville and others made
the passage to modernity. It will present the first
serious study of a distinctive cultural group and
the broad story of the twentieth century
reservation experience. To tell this complex
story, the exhibit will depart from traditional
depictions of Native Americans and portray them
as active historic players whose practical efforts
to retain cultural memory enabled them to retain
their ethnic identity.
Featured in the exhibit will be the Doris
Swayze Bounds Collection, a major collection
of Native American artifacts donated to the
Museum in 1990. Amassed over a period of 80
years by Doris Bounds, the late chair of the
Board of Inland Empire Bank, the Bounds
Collection reflects both purchases by her and
gifts given to her by Native Americans in
recognition of a lifelong respect for their culture.
A soft-spoken woman, she had many friends
among the North American tribes. She was an
adopted member of the Blackfeet, and had deep
connections with the peoples of the Wasco,
Walla Walla, Sioux, Navajo, Umatilla, NezPerce,
Yakima, and other tribes. Born in Indian Territory
in what is now Muskogee, Oklahoma, she moved
to Oregon as a young child, growing up in close
association with the people of Umatilla
reservation.
Continued on page 8
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Root diggers in ceremonial digging clothes.
Spilyay Tymoo photos by Selena Boise
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Beaded bag.
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