Photographs and Memories
Mille Lacs Band Elders Bette Sam and Shirley Boyd looking over photos at the Minnesota Historical Society, Elder Bette Sam said, “I’m surprised they knew who I was. I am famous.” Elder Shirley Boyd said, “What I liked was finding them pictures of my family.”
Helping to enrich history and traditional oral spiritual teachings Preserving, protecting, and sharing the rich history, culture, traditions, and language of the Mille Lacs Band is one of the goals of the Cultural Team of Aanjibimaadizing. Through various projects and partnerships with other Mille Lacs Band departments and outside entities such as Rosetta Stone, the Minnesota Historical Society, and others, the team is incorporating the vast knowledge and experience of Band Elders to guide them in their efforts. Recently, team members and a couple of Elders visited the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul for a sharing of knowledge. The goal was an outreach discussing the possibilities of furthering partnerships, digitization of photos, and sharing information to help facilitate projects which will be mutually beneficial to both the Band and Historical Society.
“It was like an old-fashioned house call,” said team member James Clark. Clark, along with Elders Shirley Boyd and Bette Sam, and Aanji team members Chato Gonzalez and Karen Pagnac, met with Rita Walaszek Arndt (the Program and Outreach Manager) and the rest of her team in the Native American Initiative Department of the Minnesota Historical Society to help correlate some of the museum’s archived collections and photographs.
Part of the day was spent going through old photographs held by the museum. There were photos of the Mille Lacs Reservation including of the old school house where Boyd and Sam attended school before the government center was built. Many of the photos, including the somewhat famous sugar bushing photos, and photos of Maude and Martin Kegg, were taken by photographer Monroe Killy.
Going through the photos and collections was a highlight of the day for Elders Boyd and Sam. They were also able to view a bandolier bag made by Mary Pike, language books, and items of Jim Clark (great-grandfather of James Clark).
“Getting our department and the Elders involved and better acquainted with museum and Historical Society staff is all about relationship building, and trust building,” Clark said. “That trust has to come from all people involved. This trip was very useful in that regard. Not to mention it was fun to view the collections and see the smiles on Bette and Shirley’s faces as they looked through the photos.”
As they looked through the collections, Clark was also gathering ideas for another tier of the Cultural Team projects of adding to the ongoing collection of oral history. Clark is working on collecting oral history of the Band through recordings of Elders as they remember the stories and history as it was told to them, or as they lived it themselves. Some of these recordings can be found on the Aanji.org website under the Culture tab.
“We hope to do more with historical society in the future. They are already working on getting us some materials to put on the website for Band members to enjoy,” Clark added. “We are creating new resources and collecting resources that are very specific to the Mille Lacs Band.”
“This is an ongoing thing with the historical society,” said Karen Pagnac, Aanjibimaadizing Training Manager. “We want to be able to add these experiences with the Elders to incorporate with other resources to add to the cultural website. Any opportunity you have to spend time with the Elders is a blessing. The stories they tell, the things they share about their experiences from their perspective, it is not only fun and educational, but it fills your heart.”
Other tiers the Cultural Team is working on are setting up language tables and spiritual teachings.
The language tables will be a chance for Band members to gather, share food, and go over units of Rosetta Stone as a good way to practice speaking Ojibwe.
They are also coordinating ways of passing on traditions and spiritual teachings. The Anishinaabe have spiritual beliefs that have been passed down by oral tradition. Spiritual beliefs and ceremonies are very important to the people and help guide them through life. Aanjibimaadizing is training a cohort of apprentices to carry on the oral traditions and spiritual guidance. Within the Aanji program are the masters such as Lee Obizaan Staples and Chato Gonzalez. The apprentices are currently Dan Wind, Daphne Shabaiash, Lyndsay Mitchell, and Jada Grapp. The apprentices are guided by the masters in areas of funerals, sweat lodges, midewiwin, dances, ceremonial dances, language, naming ceremonies, and others essential to the Ojibwe culture. “They are all on-call helpers or oshkaabewisag,“ Clark said.
“The cultural team has been working really hard. We are really starting to see a movement in the community with more people being active in cultural activities,” Pagnac said. “With more knowledge, everyone is more connected. And that is good for the whole community.”