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Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council Indian History Project records

 Collection
Identifier: Collection 050

Scope and Contents

Consists of grant requests, correspondence, drafts of the book, maps, printing instructions and costs, Kingman Museum project, drawings and photographs. The drafts are especially helpful in understanding the development of the book's tone, while the photographs not used in the book are also useful in understanding the history, culture and traditions of the Indian peoples of southwest Michigan.

Dates

  • 1982-1985

Creator

Biographical / Historical

The Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council was a non-profit organization servicing the Indian people in southwestern Michigan. The Council was first organized in 1972, and covered five southwest Michigan counties with an estimated (1980) population of about 5,000. The Council sponsored programs in education, employment, nutrition, culture, substance abuse, and Indian child welfare.

The Council, recognizing that "one of the major problems of Indian people is their inability as a group to analyze their own cultural heritage. With the break-up of the extended family, the dispersal of the Indian people throughout the region and the passing away of the elders who understood and lived the culture, Indian people have lost contact with their past. This is particularly true of the youth. At the same time, the non-Indian population does not realize that there are a significant number of Indian people living in the area."

The purpose of the project was to develop a book that would describe the history and current conditions of the Indian people that inhabit southwest Michigan. The book was to assist Indian people in analyzing their own needs in relationship to their own history, culture, and traditions, while helping non-Indian people to understand Indian people.

Extent

1.17 Linear Feet (Three boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council's Indian History Project was designed to develop a publication that would describe the history and current status of Native American people living in southwestern Michigan. The result of the project was the book People Of The Three Fires : the Ottawa, the Potawatomi and Ojibway of Michigan / James A. Clifton, George Cornell, and James M. McClurken. Grand Rapids : Michigan Indian Press, 1986. This collection contains records of the project, along with 247 photographs, some of which were used in the publication.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council, accession number 1987.044

Related Materials

For reproduction copies of images which were once part of this collection, see Coll. 068-1-21

Ask staff for assistance in finding other sources of information on Grand Rapids and Michigan area Native Americans.

Photo Index

Apple Harvesting - 044, 046, 047, 049, 157, 163

Bait Store - 126, 139

Band - 225

Baseball Team - 053, 069, 070, 186

Basket Making - 001-024, 057, 166f, 202, 215, 239, 241, 242, 243, 244

Burt Lake (Mich.) - 182

Canoe Building - 235

Canoeing - 226

Carpenters - 043, 137

Catholic Churches - 057, 063, 131, 132,

Cemetery. Harbor springs (Mich.) - 122

Cemetery. Gogebic County (Mich.) - 204

Cemetery. Muskegon (Mich.) - 212

Chief Blackbird Home Museum - 149

Chief Petosky House - 207

Churches - 057, 063, 131, 132, 184, 189, 193

Classroom. Interior - 185

Confirmation Class - 156

Confirmation Class. Boys - 197

Confirmation Class. Girls - 196

Conservation Department - 123,130

Conservation Department officer - 129

Conservation Department Patrol - 118

Factory. Interior - 120, 143

Fish Nets - 144, 145

Fish Store - 138, 159

Fishing - 035, 117, 217, 221, 237

Fishing boat (gill netting) - 127, 141, 142, 146, 148

Funeral. Peshawbestown (Mich.) - 037

Government payment to Indians - 040, 060

Grand Traverse Band Tribal Center - 140

Harbor Springs (Mich.) school - 185

Harbor Springs (Mich.) School and Church - 057, 184

Harbor Springs (Mich.) School. Baseball Team - 186

Harbor Springs (Mich.) School. Church - 189

Harbor Springs (Mich.) school. Students - 187, 188, 190, 191, 193, 194, 195

Health Clinic - 147

Housing - 135, 170, 172, 173, 1801 199, 200, 233, 234

Housing Tract. Mt. Pleasant Reservation -135

Indian Funeral - 037, 218

Indian Housing - 135, 170, 172, 173, 180, 199, 200, 233, 234

Indian Village. Sault Ste. Marie (Mich.) - 203, 214

Logging - 059, 227

Logging. Indian crew - 039

Logging. Peeling Bark - 045

Monument and markers - 150, 151, 152

Mt. Pleasant Indian School - 068, 069, 060, 071, 073, 074, 075, 076, 077, 078

Mt. Pleasant Indian School Band - 225

Mt. Pleasant Indian School marker - 152

Mt. Pleasant Tribal Center - 136

Museum - 149

Nimkee Memorial Health Clinic - 147

Ottawa Village, Mackinac Island (Mich.) - 065

People. Ahgoson, Robert - 208

People. Alexis, mark - 002, 003, 013, 015, 021, 022, 033

People. Antoine, George - 033

People. Assinarray, Sophie - 179, 180

People. Baby - 229

People. Bailey, Bill - 118

People. Bigboy, Robert - 224

People. Bird, Catherine - 041

People. Bird, Susan - 041

People. Blackbird, Chief - 219

People. Buffalo Bill's double - 174, 175

People. Dumaw Creek - 165

People. Group - 030, 033, 051, 056, 061, 062, 063, 072, 079, 155, 158, 160, 222, 230, 231, 025, 026

People. Hamelin, A. Jr. - 066

People. Harris, Edward W. - 029

People. John, Pope - 030

People. Joneshing family - 206

People. Kawbawgam, Charles - 210

People. Kingbird, Tom - 032

People. Mandoka family - 211

People. McSauby, Rick - 118

People. Miller, Tom - 118

People. Mo-gua-go, Chief - 232

People. Nagonsy family - 031

People. Naumke-ching-um-ie - 183

People. Neganijig, Sandy - 118

People. Ojibway - 213

People. Ottawa Chiefs - 067

People. Pamptopee, Phineas - 205, 223

People. Pay-paw-me-say, Christine - 034

People. Peshaba family - 038

People. Peshaba, Benjamin H. - 042

People. Peshaba, Lucile C. - 029

People. Pigeon, Nancy - 027

People. Pokagon, Leopold – 238

People. Sands, Gladys – 166?

People. Sands, Mary - 036

People. Sands, William - 033

People. Shabonna, Little Smoke - 248

People. Shagnava, George - 169

People. Shogoquett, Mackey - 205

People. Shopnegon family - 216, 220

People. Unidentified - 048, 128, 133, 1531 161, 168, 176, 192, 209

People. Wabigekek family - 180

People. Wabigekek, Mitchell - 1711 177

People. Wayashe, George - 052

People. Wesaw, Julia Alexis - 009F 010, 012, 018, 024

People. Wilson, James Sr. - 028

Peshawbestown Catholic Church - 063, 132

Peshawbestown Community Center Marker - 150

Peshawbestown Fish Store - 138, 159

Peshawbestown Marker - 151

Peshawbestown (Mich.) - 201

Peshawbestown School - 054

Peshawbestown Gas Station - 125

Potato Harvesting - 181

Potawatomi Village, Grand Traverse Bay (Mich.) - 064

Pow-wow - 080-116, 124, 154, 162

Quill Boxes - 247, 248

Quill Designing - 036, 240, 245, 246

Reservation Road Sign - 134

Rice Harvesting - 224

Saginaw Chippewa Campground - 121

Saginaw Chippewa Wood Products Co. - 119, 120, 143

Schools - 054, 057, 068, 069, 070, 071, 073-078, 184, 185

Snow Shoveling - 050

Soldiers - 055

Steam Tractor - 164

Stretching Rawhide - 236

Sugar Camp - 228

Sugaring - 228

Traverse city (Mich.) - 040

Tee-pee construction - 172

Tribal Center - 136, 140

Wild Rice Harvesting - 224

Processing Information

In December 1988, Catherine Baldwin asked that all of the images in Coll. 50, which has been made from her personal collection, be removed and returned to her. The Grand Rapids Public Library and the Grand River InterTribal Council complied with this request. Thus, Coll. 50, Box 2, Folder 20 and contents have been removed from this collection.

Through subsequent research, the Library was able to find other sources for some of the images previously included in 50-2-20. These later facsimiles have been processed as part of the GRPL Native American Photo Collection, Coll. 68, and are located in Box 1, folder 21 of that collection.

For those who have bibliographic references to the original Baldwin prints in 50-2-20, the following images can now be found in 68-1-21:

Baldwin No : Copy Negative number

30 : 1460

31 : 1471

32 : 1472

33 : 1463

36 :

37 : 1473

39 : 1459

40 : 1465

41 : 1455

42 : 1474

43 : 1453

44 : 1454

45 : 1456

46 : 1457

47 : 1458

51 : 1466

52 : 1461

54 : 1464

55 : 1462

56 : 1468

57 : 1467

58 : 1469

59 : 1475

60 : 1476

61 : 1477

61? : 1470

62 : 1478

Title
Finding aid for the Grand Rapids Inter-Tribal Council Indian history project records
Status
Completed
Author
William C. Black
Date
September 1987
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Grand Rapids History Center Repository

Contact:
Grand Rapids Public Library
111 Library Street NE
Grand Rapids Michigan 49503 USA
616-988-5497