A short jog down memory lane for a lot of Tribal members and employees in this week’s Way Back Wednesday post, with this photo we fished out of the archives taken of the former Citizen Potawatomi Band Tribal Gallery and Trading Post from around 1983.
This week in Way Back Wednesday we share a Citizen Potawatomi Fact sheet produced by the heritage center staff for a CPN leadership course.
Massaw, great grandmother of Wathohuk [Jim Thorpe], was an influential and distinguished chieftess whose presence carried weight in councils, a right customarily reserved for males. She resided within the village of headman Keewawnay; her cabin reserved for the mediation of both Tribal and American dignitaries. Massaw also played host to popular social gatherings that frequently Read More »
The chaos and flurry of activities that surround Festival and the Gathering of Potawatomi Nations have come and gone, allowing the staff of the CHC the opportunity to turn our attention to new and exciting projects. Foremost on our agenda is putting the museum back in order so we can share the history of the Read More »
Illustrating collaborative efforts between the Cultural Heritage Center and Indiana University is the 1837 painting of the Council of Keewaunay between Indiana Potawatomi and U.S. emigration agents. University staff at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology photographed the paining and provided a digital copy to the Archive and Research division for exhibition and research Read More »
Just one week ago marked 177 years since the the 1838 Potawatomi Trail of Death, which forced the ancestors of today’s Citizen Potawatomi Nation from their homelands in the Great Lakes Region to a reservation in Kansas. CPN has several resources available to learn about the Trail of Death, including a daily journal kept by Read More »
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015 signifies the bicentennial of the Treaty of Spring Wells [September 8, 1815]. Agreed to and signed at present Detroit, Michigan, the pivotal treaty was the last in a long line of peace compacts intent on ratifying previous treaties, formally exonerating the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi for their participation in and alliance Read More »
The below examples are the front and back of a real photo postcard acquired by the CHC archives in summer 2015. Despite the message on the back’s lack of political correctness and cultural sensitivity, the image is a great example of how Potawatomi people were still practicing traditional spirituality near Shawnee as recently as 1912. Read More »
Tribal members and their families are given the opportunity to work on regalia and share techniques with fellow Potawatomi at Festival each year. During Friday and Saturday of the annual event, theCultural Heritage Center hosts regalia making classes where items such as shawls, moccasins, medallions and bandoliers are crafted. “We’ve really tried to make our Read More »
Great Lakes Stickball Player by George Catlin 1835 [Smithsonian American Art Museum.] The first known six-sided dice dates from 3,000 BC Mesopotamia in what is now northern Iraq. The first horse race in America took place in the year 1668. Gambling and sport have been a part of the human identity for as Read More »