Native Americans in the Midwest: An NEH Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges Project

FAIN: ME-50031-13

Ohio History Connection (Columbus, OH 43211-2474)
Molly Uline-Olmstead (Project Director: August 2012 to November 2014)
Rebecca Trivison (Project Director: November 2014 to June 2016)

A cooperative agreement for a three-year faculty and curriculum development project on the history of nine midwestern Native American groups for thirty-six community college faculty and academic administrators in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

A cooperative agreement for a three-year faculty and curriculum development project on the history of nine midwestern Native American groups for thirty-six community college faculty and academic administrators in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Noting that the removal of midwestern Indians is not as well known or studied as the southern Trail of Tears, the Ohio Historical Society (OHS), in partnership with Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, received support for a three-year project on the history of the nine Native American tribes removed from Ohio in the nineteenth century. Faculty and administrators from community colleges in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma - states through which these tribes traveled and in which they resettled - participate in a series of conferences and webinars designed to help them include the history and cultures of these groups in their courses. The project begins with a conference at OHS on Ohio's Native American history. In addition to content sessions with scholars John Bowes (Eastern Kentucky University), Randal Buchman (emeritus, Defiance College), Linda Sue Warner (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College), Stephen Warren (Augustana College), Melissa Rinehart (Miami University), Dawn Marsh (Purdue University), and Sharon Dean (OHS), participants also visit prehistoric mounds at Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, discuss ways to teach Native American history, and conduct research in the Ohio Historical Society's collections. The second conference takes place in Miami, Oklahoma, and features sessions on the removal of midwestern tribes. Other experts would join the scholars from the first conference: George Ironstack (University of Miami) and tribal representatives, including Glenna Wallace, chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Seneca-Cayuga language preservationist Paul Barton; and Wyandot artist Richard Zane Smith. Conferences are supplemented by webinars led by scholars and tribal representatives on a variety of topics, including working with primary sources related to Indian history, tribal governance, Native American arts, and the challenges of language preservation. Finally, participants share the outcomes of their projects at a closing conference. Participants work with a range of primary sources--maps, treaties, letters, diaries, artifacts--and read secondary works by project scholars and other historians, anthropologists, and linguists.

Media Coverage

Grant Allows Increased Education on Native History in the Midwest (Media Coverage)
Author(s): ICTMN Staff
Publication: Indian Country: Today Media Network.com
Date: 3/15/2013
Abstract: Overview of the project and a call for participants. It features quotes from Randy Buchman and Sharon Dean.
URL: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/15/grant-allows-increased-education-native-history-midwest-148207

Professor to teach other profs about Midwestern tribes (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Keri Rursch
Publication: Augustana College News
Date: 3/13/2013
Abstract: Discusses Dr. Warren's participation in the project.
URL: http://www.augustana.edu/x56352.xml

Augustana professor helps increase knowledge about Midwestern Native American tribes (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Keri Rursch
Publication: Quad-Cities Online Dispatch
Date: 3/13/2013
Abstract: Discusses Dr. Warren's participation in the grant.
URL: http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=630676

Appointments, Honors, and Activities (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Purdue University
Publication: Purdue University News
Date: 3/8/2013
Abstract: Describes Dawn Marsh's participation in the grant.
URL: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q1/appointments,-honors-and-activities7.html

OSU-OKC professor to develop classes based on American Indian research (Media Coverage)
Author(s): KANDACE TAYLOR
Publication: The Oklahoman
Date: 9/28/2013
Abstract: Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City humanities associate professor Dennis Smith began his fall semester in Columbus, Ohio, fulfilling year one of his three-year commitment to a project on American Indians in the Midwest.
URL: http://newsok.com/osu-okc-professor-to-develop-classes-based-on-american-indian-research/article/3887439

Native Americans in the Midwest (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Newark Earthworks Center
Publication: Newark Earthworks Center's Blog
Date: 11/14/2013
Abstract: Overview of the project and the recent additions to the website.
URL: http://newarkearthworkscenter.blogspot.com/2013/11/native-americans-in-midwest.html

History Professor to Help Increase Knowledge about Midwestern Native American Tribes (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Karen Lynn, Editor
Publication: EKU Update
Date: 3/18/2013
Abstract: Dr. John Bowes, associate professor of history, has been selected to serve as a faculty member for an Ohio Historical Society project designed to increase and share knowledge about Midwestern Native American tribes with community college educators. The project is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
URL: http://www.prm.eku.edu/Update/?issue=194&department=0&article=2869

News: Ted Bolak (Media Coverage)
Author(s): n/a
Publication: Auburn Hills English Department
Date: 8/28/2013
Abstract: Ted Bolak has been accepted into the Native Americans in the Midwest: Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges program, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project works with faculty and academic administrators to increase their knowledge of existing research and scholarship on the history Ohio’s Ten Historic Tribes and their removal; introduce faculty to contemporary Native American cultural experiences; and facilitate a community of learning and research through course development and enhancement.
URL: https://www.oaklandcc.edu/ah-eng/

Celebrate the Good News With Me (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Linda Lee Greene
Publication: In Good Company
Date: 3/10/2013
Abstract: Blog post with an overview of the project.
URL: http://ingoodcompanyohio.blogspot.com/2013/03/celebrate-good-news-with-me.html

Ohio Historical Society receives NEH grant for Native American project (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jenny Reolfi
Publication: Defiance College Alumni
Date: 4/16/2013
Abstract: Overview of the project, special mention of Randy Buchman.
URL: http://alumni.defiance.edu/news/122480/

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