Image provided by: Oregon Historical Society; Portland, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2003)
Page 10 Spilyay Tyrnoo, Wqrrn Springs, Oregon January 23, 2 0 0 3 ABOVE: An assortment of sally bags. RIGHT TOP: More vibrant colored sally bags. MIDDLE RIGHT: Rock bowls, used for cooking by filling with heated rocks and two-thirds water. Food was cooked directly in the water. BOTTOM RIGHT: Intricately beaded “Pathlpas,” ceremonial hats for women. Photos and story by Shannon Keaveny T g ■ n a dimly lit room, with lights pointed towards the ceiling, Museum at Warm Springs Curator: Natalie Kirk turns a rotating door-handle and a hallway lined with shelves opens up. “These are the cornhusk bags,” she says. A glimpse into the vault reveals an assortment of elaborate baskets of dif ferent sizes donated or sold to the mu seum mosdy by tribal members in the last ten years. When the shelves are closed, dam aging light is blocked out. When they are opened, the light is minimized and indirect. Another attached room contains a file cabinet with long narrow drawers donated by contractor Steve Ander son. As Kirk slides the drawer open, more treasures are unveiled. Long necklaces made from white shells, carefully interspersed with shots of colored beads — yellow, blue and green — are carefully lined parallel to each other. Each Wampum necklace is tagged appropriately. “About 90 percent of our artifacts come from tribal members,’’ Kirk as sesses. “We’re unique because we buy di rectly from our tribal members through the accession process,” she says of the museum’s vast collection. The museum houses, over 5,000 artifacts from the Warm Springs, Wasco and Paiute tribes. The artifacts range from Wampum shell necklaces to wil low huckleberry baskets, cornhusk bags to cedar baskets and vibrandy-colored beaded buckskin dresses, “That could be a conservative num ber,” says Kirk of the amount of arti facts. “Many items can be split into sev eral artifacts, but come in as one.” ■ , For instance, traditional regalia may come in as an outfit that includes a hat, moccasins, accessories and a dress. Artifacts are purchased annually by a Warm Springs Accession Committee that includes Emily Waheneka, Gladys Jim and Maxine Switzler. The group appraises objects and comes up with a price. As elders, they also provide their historical account of an item. Kirk also utilizes the group to ask questions about items, which are cho sen for purchase according to their workmanship, age and stability. Impossible to exhibit all at once, the artifacts are stored in a special room with ideal conditions to maximize their preservation. Chosen artifacts are rotated out to the permanent museum exhibit a few times a year for the public to see. Upon return, tribal heirlooms are put in a freezer to kill any bugs or molds designs a padded hanger two feet wide, eliminating any tension in the shoulders. She is in the process of making hang ers for each individual dress now. In other hallways, baskets sit deli cately on a foam coil covered in a fab ric. Kirk creates the coil according to the size of each basket. All information about an item is re corded in a computer program called Past Perfect software. Details such as bead size, the family the object came from, colors, design, picked up on the way. Artifacts remain Artifacts shouldn’t be rubbed. Kirk what the handle is made from, and if at about 0 degrees for up to. three days. handles them with white gloves. They there is lining, are recorded. Bug traps are put near shelves to are placed on the shelf systematically Once in the computer system, en ensure that moths, mites or larvae don’t and spaced so as to provide proper ven tering the accession number will dis infest the artifacts. tilation. play all information about the item, “We try to eliminate anything that “They need to be easily accessible, including a scanned photo. will eat away or contribute to the de identified, and overall there needs to , Kirk says if the museum had ample cay of an artifact,” Kirk says. be a sense that the piece is stabilized,” funds and time’, the jirôjpdt çoüld be As curator, she is the human influ explains Kirk. completed in five years. '.?A ence ensuring artifacts are stored prop “My main objective is to not handle But with limitations on time , and erly. the object but to create support and money, Kirk estimates the project will Currently, the artifacts are being stabilize the pieces,” she explains fur be finished in about 10 years. overhauled and updated with the latest ther. .Each item takes about half a day to preservation techniques. Kirk uses conservation materials properly register, in order to create an The museum has developed a sys according to the products’ needs. She ideal setting that achieves the long-term tem based on a Smithsonian Institute uses her professional knowledge, ac- goal of the museum’s preservation methodology. Thè system includes an quired through Smithsonian workshops, project. accession number with notes about the and practice, to decide what each arti- Until then, a system has been set up item. Curators are trained to find solu facTfjeeds. where all items are stable.»' tions to problems. -T improvise,” she says of her work. Kirk, who started o ff in the Ideally, each artifact needs to be its , » Part of that improvisation is mak Museum’s gift shop, enjoys coming to own unit, says Kirk. ing larger hangers for the buckskin work each day. She points out a huckleberry basket dressés. Kirk understands that on the “I feel good about working here and with a small plastic bag attached. En current standard-size padded hanger, knowing that I am ,not harming the closed in the bag is a dried huckleberry tension in the shoulders could mount objects. I have learned a lot about the as old as the basket itself. from lack of support. tribes.” Baskets and other artifacts are The result could be that beads start Kirk welcomes tribal members to cleaned minimally. popping off in the shoulder area after stop by the museum when they have “We don’t want to wash the history many years of stress. time to take a look at the artifacts or off items,” says Kirk. To counteract that possibility, Kirk even to volunteer. “M y main objective is to not handle the object but to create support and stabilize the pieces.” Natalie Kirk Curator, Museum at Warm Springs
