S moke S ignals
JULY 1, 2016
11
Pawn store visit sparks donation to Chachalu
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
Sometimes you’re just in the right
place at the right time.
Tribal Post Treatment Counselor
Chris Holliday can attest to that
and if Cultural Collections Supervi-
sor Veronica Montano has anything
to do with it, others will do the same
in the future.
“Chris did exactly what we hope
everybody does in the Tribe,” said
Montano. “His awareness that we
had a museum and then being able
to go out and advocate for the items
to come home is kind of ideal.”
What Holliday did was by chance
happen upon a large portion of the
Kenneth Nelson Russell Collection
while visiting with friends at Cap-
ital Pawn Shop in Salem. Holliday
has no affiliation with the Tribe’s
Culture Department or Chachalu,
the Tribal museum; he just knew as
a Tribal employee that there was a
museum.
Holliday encountered 84-year-
old Norma Yeater, the daughter of
Kenneth Nelson Russell, purely by
coincidence.
Holliday said he was visiting with
friends when a nice elderly woman
entered the shop and talked about
a collection of Native American
artifacts. He said she made it clear
that she did not want money for the
collection, but just to have it go to
the right place.
The pawn shop owners knew
that Holliday worked for the Grand
Ronde Tribe and had Yeater speak
to him.
“I told her I work for the Tribe
and that I can put her in contact
with one of our people who works
at the museum. They would more
than like to talk to you,” said Hol-
Yeater said her father
grew up on 10 acres in
Turner near Salem and
that almost all of the ar-
rowheads were collected
on the family property.
“He started to find ar-
rowheads at a very young
age,” said Yeater. “He
had an eye for it. It was a
love of his. From the time
he was little, when they
plowed the fields he was
out there looking. I’ve
been really concerned
about daddy’s collection.”
Yeater said a series of
unusual circumstances
led her to Capital Pawn
that day. She said she
started the day with a
rare visit to her safety
deposit box.
“I had some rings my
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
husband
had given me
These are just a few of the more than 300
so when I was going by
projectile points and arrowheads recently
the pawn shop I thought
donated to the Tribe by Norma Yeater. They are
well I’m going to go in
now being housed at Chachalu Tribal Museum
and see what these things
& Cultural Center.
are worth,” Yeater said.
“Somehow we started
liday. “She said she had had her
talking about Native American
dad’s artifact collection for many
artifacts. I don’t remember exactly
years so I put her in contact with
how.
the museum. She was really hap-
“So you see this all progressed
py.”
into something wonderful hap-
Yeater agreed to have her fa-
pening. That’s the story. Isn’t that
ther’s collection of more than 300
amazing? Nobody could be happier
projectile points and arrowheads
than I am that the collection is fi-
donated to the Tribe. She said her
nally where it should be.”
father was a farmer and beekeep-
Yeater said she knows she was in
er, and that he began collecting
the right place at exactly the right
arrowheads when he was only 5
moment.
years old.
“I’ve found that so many times
Kalapuya points were made of
these things that happen are not
obsidian, petrified wood, basalt rock
happenstance; they were meant to
and agates.
be,” said Yeater. “I am just totally
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thrilled.”
Montano said she was happy that
everything fell into place allowing
the Tribe’s Cultural Collections
Program to acquire a large portion
of the collection.
“She was very excited to get this
collection back to the Tribe,” said
Montano. “All of these artifacts are
from an area that was our ceded
lands. With this collection, this
woman can tell us on a map where
they came from. Knowing that they
all came from here makes it a spe-
cial collection.”
Montano said she wanted to
thank Holliday for his efforts.
“This is the perfect example of
what should happen when it comes
to potential donations of artifacts
and even historic documents,” said
Montano. “We want everybody to
know what we do in our collections
program and that we are available
to answer questions regarding
these collections.”
Holliday said he is so happy that
everything worked out.
“It’s just a beautiful collection,”
said Holliday. “I was just elated to
know that it went to the right place.
It made my year just to be a part of
helping her because she was really
stressed. It’s a wonderful thing that
it all worked out and it was just a
wonderful experience.”
Yeater said she is so happy to
have her father’s collection in the
hands of the Tribe that it makes
her emotional.
“I absolutely did the right thing,”
said Yeater. “I’m just delighted; just
absolutely delighted. It was on my
heart for a long time. I cry every
time I even think of it because it
means so much to me that they are
there.”