CHC adds option for online interviews

Each year at the Family Reunion Festival, the Cultural Heritage Center hopes to add to its collection of heritage interviews with Tribal members. This year, staff at the CHC is also implementing a new tech incentive program for members to conduct interviews online.

2024 Honored Families

The 2024 Honored Families are Darling, Hardin, Higbee, Levier, Lewis, Nadeau, Negahnquet, Pambogo and Smith.

Lewis family history

Intertwined with the Bergeron family history, the Lewis family history is one of endurance and leadership in the face of removal. Wesley Lewis worked to establish the first schoolhouse, post office and cemetery near present-day Wanette, Oklahoma, and his descendants continued to develop infrastructure in the area, serve as community leaders and preserve Potawatomi history.

Artist shares new paintings and star knowledge

Constellation stories are tied to the Potawatomi way of life and relationships to nature, and Potawatomi artist Minisa Crumbo Halsey reflects these teachings in her paintings. Crumbo Halsey hopes her art will encourage Potawatomi to embrace the traditional star knowledge Nishnabé people have relied upon for hundreds of years.

Higbee family history

To highlight some of the CPN Cultural Heritage Center’s archival holdings, the Hownikan is featuring photographs and family history of every founding Citizen Potawatomi family. The Higbee family traces its roots back to the St. Joseph River Valley and has a long legacy serving as teachers, medical professionals, CPN employees, Tribal leaders and more.

Anishnabé star knowledge

The first in a series by Minisa Crumbo Halsey that focuses on traditional Anishnabé star knowledge, this article tells how the Nishnabé arrived upon Sekmekwe (Mother Earth) by descent from the Mdodosenik, the Seven Sisters-Pleiades Constellation.

Language Update: March 2024

The March 2024 Language Update features a new beginner class, the annual Winter Storytelling event and a new class for Elders.

Tescier family offers Potawatomi history to local museum

A discussion at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Family Reunion Festival has motivated members of the Tescier family to ensure that Potawatomi history is included in a Harrah, Oklahoma, historical society’s museum. The land for the town’s original site was donated by Tribal member Louis Navarre, who was first to arrive at his allotment in the 1870s.

Language Update: February 2024

The February 2024 update from the CPN Language Department highlights a new beginner class starting on March 5, and the upcoming Winter Storytelling event on March 13.

Hardin family history

To highlight some of the CPN Cultural Heritage Center’s archival holdings, the Hownikan is featuring photographs and family history of every founding Citizen Potawatomi family. The Hardin family has a long history of service to the Nation, through elected and volunteer leadership, military service, trades and more.