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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2023)
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon November 1, 2023 Page 7 Northern Paiute peoples. It affirms and honors their cultural persever- ance and historical tenacity from a deep past through the present and into the future.” Museum: Lifetime and Twanat awards (from page 4) The award honors individuals whose efforts on behalf of Na- tive Americans serve as an ex- ample for all Americans. Both of this year’s recipients were honored for their lifelong work in promoting the history, arts, culture, language and lifeways of the Native peoples of the West- ern Hemisphere; as well as their support of the importance of tribal museums, programs and ini- tiatives throughout the United States. “These years at the museum the word Twanat above the door has been interpreted to me as ‘to follow,’” Ms. said Woody. “It has come to my understand- ing that in order to follow we had instruction to do so from our an- cestors and the One Who Made Us. These are teachings and pre- cepts on the best way to live and care for our little relatives, the tra- ditional foods and the life around us on the precious land. It also means we need guidance and our leadership is brought up at a young age to watch and learn from our leaders.” Ms. Woody says of the Twanat recipients, “Leaders like Roberta Conner and Rick West are descen- dants of great leaders, like Chief Joseph’s brother Ollikut and Soci- ety of Southern Cheyenne Peace Chiefs. “They are the leaders who work for the future leaders that are to come. That is what these two lead- ers embody. They follow the an- cestors and work for our commu- nity today and the future.” Ms. Conner has been the direc- tor of Tamástslikt Cultural Insti- Lifetime achievement Roberta Conner, Twanat honoree, addresses the gathering. tute, the 45,000 square foot mu- seum on the Umatilla Reservation near Pendleton, since its opening in 1998. The institute serves three goals: provide accurate representations of Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla cultures and histories; per- petuate tribal knowledges; and con- tribute to the tribal economy. It is the only tribally owned in- terpretive center on the Oregon National Historic Trail and one of a handful on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Ms. Conner currently serves on the Oregon Historical Society Board of Trustees and Ecotrust, Oregon Community Foundation, and Nixyáawii Community Finan- cial Services Boards of Directors. She is a for mer chair of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian Board of Directors. W. Richard West Jr. is founding director and director emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution’s Na- tional Museum of the American Indian and president and CEO emeritus, ambassador of Native Communities of the Autry Mu- seum of the American West in Los Angeles, California. Mr. West served as chair of the board of directors of the Ameri- can Alliance of Museums from 1998 to 2000; and vice president of the International Council of Museums from 2007 to 2010. His current board affiliations include The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums; Cheyenne and Arapaho Business Development Corporation; Inter- national Coalition of Sites of Con- science; Denver Art Museum; The MICA Group; and UCLA In- stitute of Environment and Sustainability. Ms. West previously served on the boards of the Ford Founda- tion, Stanford University, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. He has been awarded 10 honorary doc- torate degrees. “Tribal museums do not exist to encase objects of dead cul- tures,” Roberta Conner said. “Tribal museums are not red washing the history others have told. Instead, tribal museums are giving voice and venue to living cultures and histories that have not been told or have been omit- ted, erased, sanitized and altered by ‘the victor.’ Museums and li- braries are institutions of public trust and tribal museums are just that. Individual tribal cultural iden- tities are formed in the longhouse, the sweathouse, the hunting grounds, the fishing sites, the dig- ging and gathering places. The tribal museum functions as an in- termediary between the visitors and community that wants to learn about the culture and history and the people who live the culture and continue to make the history.” Eddie Kao/courtesy MAWS Mr. West said, “Built to the de- manding and high standards of the Smithsonian Institution. With the museum’s uniquely powerful and telling architecture, exhibitions, and public programming, the Museum at Warm Springs has always been at the forefront of what tribal mu- seums and cultural institutions can be and the broader public impact they can have. “You and I need to be sure that this gemstone of a tribal museum is protected, for the sake of all of us, for the future. The Museum at Warm Springs, of course, has tre- mendous relevance and import to the Warm Springs, Wasco, and George W. Aguilar Sr. (Wasco) was honored with the museum’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Aguilar is an elder and life- long resident of the Warm Springs Reservation who won the 2006 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction for his book, When the River Ran Wild! Indian Traditions on the Mid-Columbia and the Warm Springs Reservation. The book, which also received the 2006 Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History, has been widely praised for its well-researched and clear-headed blending of tribal tra- ditions and customs, written history, and personal recollections. It is the first book on the heritage of the Warm Springs people to be writ- ten by a tribal member. Aguilar raised his family in Warm Springs, is a Korean War veteran and has worked as a laborer, fisherman, log- ger and construction manager. Eddie Kao/courtesy MAWS W. Richard West and Paul Cash Cash at the Gala.
