Smoke signals., May 01, 2008, Page 10, Image 10

Smoke Signals
Tribal Cuitttmire Coimnmiitftee foirieiredl on
statewide efforts to colDect stories, history
10 MAY 1,2008
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The Tribe's Culture Committee
received briefings on April 14 about
two statewide efforts to celebrate
Oregon's 150th birthday in February
2009 and to compile its history on an
Internet Web site.
What both efforts have in common,
said Culture Committee Vice Chair
man and Tribal Elder Bob Tom, is
the need for Oregon Tribes and Tribal
members to participate.
"Unless we contribute, it is going to
be a very white celebration and a very
white encyclopedia," Tom said.
Tom was referring to, firstly, the
Oregon 150 effort to celebrate state
hood's sesquicentennial anniversary
on Feb. 14, 2009.
Aili Schreiner, Oregon 150 project
manager, and Wallace Carson Jr., a
retired Oregon Supreme Court judge
and Oregon 150 board member, dis
cussed the effort.
Schreiner keyed in on the Oregon
Stories Project, which encourages
state residents to write autobiogra
phies about what being an Orego
nian means to them.
"We want to see stories coming
from every culture and every cor
ner of Oregon," Schreiner said, as
she showed off the effort's Web site,
www.oregonl50.org.
"No one knows Oregon your
county, your town, your Tribe, your
jobs and your family as well as
you and your neighbors do," Oregon
Story Project materials say.
Schreiner said people, so far, have
been most inspired to submit family
histories.
She suggested Grand Ronde Tribal
members submit stories about a
variety of topics, from education,
history and heritage, work, culture
and community, service, songs, and
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Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Culture Committee members, from left, Vice Chairman and Tribal Elder Bob Tom, Culture Committee Chair and Tribal
Elder Pat Allen, Tribal Cultural Resources Manager David Lewis and committee member and Tribal Elder Carol Logan
attend a meeting with Oregon 150 and Oregon Encyclopedia representatives on Monday, April 14.
people and places.
Schreiner said the Web site in the
near future will possess the ability to
upload submissions. People also will
be able to submit photos and sound
files with their written entries.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for
individuals to tell stories of their fami
lies, Tribes or Bands," Tom said.
Schreiner said Oregon 150 will
collect personal stories through Oc
tober 2009 and selected stories will
be aired on radio stations through
out the state. The stories will then be
sent to the Oregon State Archives.
The Grand Ronde Tribe, as part of
the Oregon 150 effort, also is work
ing in conjunction with the four other
Western Oregon Tribes to create a vid
eo telling the stories of the Tribes from
time immemorial to present time.
The other project, The Oregon En
cyclopedia, is more historical.
Bill Lang, a member of the Portland
State University History Department
and one of two editors-in-chief of the
Encyclopedia, said the goal is to create
an online encyclopedia of history and
culture of Oregon that is significant,
authoritative, accessible and concise.
He said the process is just starting
and the Web site, www.oregonency
clopedia.org, is adding new entries
weekly. The goal is to have 2,500 to
3,000 entries by September 2009 and
eventually publish a book in 2010.
Selections will range from 200-,
400-, 750- and 1,000-word entries,
and longer essays for larger topics,
such as Native American trading
networks.
The Web site already features an
entry on Chinook Jargon written by
Henry Zenk, a consulting linguist
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Representatives from Oregon ISO show slide on Monday, April 1 4, during a meeting with the Tribe's Culture
Committee, showing some ideas of how the Tribe could participate in the Oregon 1 SO effort to celebrate the state's
1 SOth birthday i.t February 2009.
with the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde.
Lang said Oregon's Tribes play an
important role in the collection pro
cess because current histories leave
out many sources, including those of
Native and minority communities,
rural areas and women.
"You'd be shocked at the areas that
are covered poorly or not at all in
current textbooks," Lang said. "For
some, the history of Oregon is the
Oregon Trail, World War II and the
Trailblazers.
"We're outreaching, taking the
effort to communities. ... An entry
about a Native community should be
written by a Native member."
Tom said Tribal resources can be a
"great contributor" to the Oregon Ency
clopedia effort by providing information
from a different perspective.
Tribal Cultural Resources Man
ager David Lewis, who sits on the 23
member Oregon Encyclopedia board
of directors, said the board agreed
to accept multiple perspectives on
historic events, such as the arrival of
European settlers in Native lands.
ng said Portland State is com
mitted to 10 years of support in aim
piling the Oregon Encyclopedia.
"I don't see the Oregon Encyclo
pedia dying," Lang said. "I do see it
going through periodic revisions."
Linda Tamura. also an editor-in-chief
of the Oregon Encyclopedia ef
fort and staff member at Willamette
University, spoke nhout the educa
tion side of the effort, from making
it available for use by grade school
children to creating curriculum ma
terials for use by teachers.
Tom suggested the Grand Ronde
TriW, as it prepares to celebrate its
25th anniversary of Restoration,
collect its Tribal history and submit
some of that information to the Or
egon Encyclopedia for an entry.
That way, he said, it will guar
antee the state's history isn't just a
whitewash. .
Also attending the meeting were
Culture Committee Chair Pat Al
len nnd committee members Carol
Logan and Linda Brandon, and
Cultural Resources Department
employees Eirik Thorsgard. Tony
tohnson. Bobbie Merrier and An
ccllrt MiCallisler.