Events › Special Collections Sampler Open House: National Native American Heritage Month

For the month of November, Special Collections will be highlighting items in our collections from Indigenous creators for National Native American Heritage Month. Celebrate with us by checking out these amazing items!

Join us on Tuesday, November 28 from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm for a special Open House where staff will be available to answer questions as you explore collection items up close; no reservation required.       

Can’t make it? These items will be available for the month of November to use in our reading room (Wednesday through Friday 9:30 am to 4:30 pm). No appointment necessary.       

Items available include:

• Mni Wiconi Water Honoring the Water Protectors Series, 2016-2017. A series of photographs by John Willis documenting protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, including Indigenous women leading frontline action against the Dakota Access Pipeline; Throwing tear gas back at police, November 20, 2016, Back Water Bridge Battle; Pleading with officers to consider water for the health of their children, grandchildren, and all future generations; Prayer ties at the Cannonball River’s edge in the morning mist.
• ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ / The Cherokee Phoenix. Vol. 1, no. 15 (June 4, 1828). Printed in New Echota, Cherokee Nation, between 1828 and 1834, The Cherokee Phoenix is the first newspaper published in a Native American language in the United States.
• Lilawaste Lake Country refuge-to-be? (1937), a map by Iktomi (pseud.). This enigmatic and imaginative map was meant to provoke a conversation around what a refuge for the Lakota people might look like, drawing on both humor and politics to problematize the geography of the “reservation” and narrate the long struggle by American Indians for rights in their ancestral homelands.
  
• Tomo Chachi Mico or King of Yamacraw, and Tooanahowi his Nephew, Son to the Mico of the Etchitas. Mezzotint. (c. 1734) by Engraver John Faber the Younger (Dutch. 1695-1756), after a painting by William Verelst (Dutch. 1704-1752). This is one of a collection of 18^th century prints depicting Native American leaders of Turtle Island, the name for America among Indigenous peoples. The elderly Tomo Chachi Mico, chief of the Yamacraw, part of the Creek Nation (coastal Gerogia) and his nephew and heir, Tooanahowi, traveled to London in 1734 to meet with King George II.

Accessibility Notice: We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, contact specialcollections@bpl.org. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.