MARCH 15, 2003
Smoke Signals 9
reds Of Items Have Been In Storage In London
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For The First Time In Generations Tribal Council members June Sell-Sherer and Cheryle Kennedy were the first Grand Ronde Tribal members in many generations
to see, touch and feel Tribal artifacts that have been kept in the British Museum for over a century. Sherer and Kennedy examined many artifacts, like this harpoon point and elk
bone spoon under the watchful eye of museum curator Philip Taylor.
carver," she said. "He died in 1948.
There's nothing much left, but he
always did it. He called it 'whit
tling.'" THE POWER OF CULTURE
An unusual moment occurred dur
ing the trip, the kind that makes
you wonder. It surfaced when the
purse (shown at left) was un
wrapped. The beaded design on
the purse very closely matches the
design on Kennedy's regalia moc
casins, a design that Kennedy cre
ated long before this Summers col
lection expedition.
Trolan called the effort, "A hum
bling experience." B
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The Trail Grows Cold on Other Parts of the Collection
By Dennis Werth
, The Summers collection as we know it in the British Museum is not
the whole story. When Robert Summers and his wife, Lucia, left their
home in McMinnville in 1881, all evidence shows they took their Grand
Ronde "Indian Cabinet" with them; all their baskets, leather and bone
artifacts, even Lucia's botanical collection and sketches of Grand Ronde
views and people. They moved to San Luis Obispo in California and
lived there the next 17 years.
What happened to Reverend Summers' collection? Some of it made its
way to the Museum of Mankind (British Museum) in London on Sep
tember 6, 1900. The Reverend Selwyn C. Freer of Shropshire was the
vehicle by which this part of the collection became accounted for.
An adopted daughter of the Reverend Summers and his wife made an
unsuccessful effort in 1903 to sell another portion of it to the Smithsonian
Institution. In her correspondence, she described her offering in these
words: The Indian relics consist ofKlikatat (sic) baskets, hats, cowhana,
Ivory and other money purses. About 200 arrow points and spear points.
Dice. Axes. Pestles. Mortars of various size. Olla. Chain bag. Spoons.
Necklaces. Charms. Mat smoothers, etc. etc. Total number of ...relix (sic)
579. She valued this offering at $1,500; the Museum rejected the offer.
There is no record of what happened next. The collection may have
been acquired by another museum. It may have entered private hands.
It may have become dispersed and lost all association. The Grand Ronde
sketches by Lucia may have been destroyed; they may not have. The
may be tucked away somewhere along with her many botanical sketches
and specimens in some science laboratory or museum.
The adopted daughter died in the San Francisco area in 1972, leav
ing no record of immediate heirs. A continued search for this legacy of
the Grand Ronde people might well be focused in this part of California.
Dennis Werth is a Grand Ronde resident with a graduate de
gree in Museum Studies, Anthropology, Archaeology and Resource
Interpretation. His family bought Union Farm in 1909, the farm
that became bounded by the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation
and Fort Yamhill in 1856. He grew up knowing and hearing sto
ries of the ancestors and being familiar with the scenes described
by Robert Summers in his journey. The story above comes from
Werth's graduate level research.