Grand Valley partners with city entities to preserve oral histories of Native Americans

Grand Valley, Grand Rapids Public Library, and Grand Rapids Public Museum signed a memorandum of understanding May 18 that will preserve more than three generations of Native American urban histories.

This collaboration is a part of the Gi-gikinomaage-min (We are all teachers) Project. Key Grand Valley partners in this endeavor include University Libraries’ Special Collections & Archives, Kutsche Office of Local History in the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Native American Advisory Board, and Office of Multicultural Affairs.

As Levi Rickert, editor of Native News Online and a member of GVSU’s Native American Advisory Board said, “This agreement sets a plan for working together for years to come.”

Alex Forist, curator at the Public Museum, said the current content is on VHS and reel-to-reel tapes, making it nearly obsolete.

Later this year, this project will reformat the materials in the Native American Oral History collections of the Grand Rapids Public Library and Grand Rapids Public Museum, as well as collect 50-60 new oral histories from Native American elders in West Michigan. These materials will all be made available to the public via a common website.

Lee VanOrsdel, dean of university libraries, said library faculty and staff members are proud to have a role in preserving the voices of Native Americans in West Michigan.

Nancy Richard, university archivist, said digital preservation initiatives are relatively new for the Libraries' Special Collections team and can be quite expensive, making collaborations such as this necessary.

"This collaboration with local Native American communities, the Kutsche Center, and historical curators to preserve and share generations of stories of our first people in their own voices, emphasizes just how essential the technology is to the understanding of our culture," Richard said.

Having these oral histories available through one portal is important for providing broad access to the community as well as for researchers, said Tim Gleisner, head of Special Collections at the Grand Rapids Public Library.

“The mission of the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies is to connect diverse interdisciplinary communities and cultivate innovative liberal learning. This collaborative agreement captures the essence of the Brooks College mission,” continued Anne Hiskes, Dean of the Brooks College.

Grand Valley will not publish any materials that may violate the United States Copyright Law or that do not have required release forms.