Recent visitors of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center in Shawnee, Oklahoma, have seen progress made on the museum exhibits, including storytelling videos and cultural interactives. One key creative staff member helping to make new exhibits a reality is CHC audio-visual production manager Shawn Barfield, who began contract work with CPN roughly three years Read More »
For thousands of years, the Nishnabe have made baskets out of black ash trees and porcupine quills. One of the most-used images in basketry is the strawberry because of the cultural significance of the fruit. “The Potawatomi word for strawberry is demen, which is directly translated as ‘heart berry,’” said Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Read More »
Along with the traveling exhibit honoring tribal veterans from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center’s Long Room showcases photos of CPN military members on the Veterans Wall of Honor. There is also a case dedicated to each of the wars and conflicts in which tribal Read More »
Kelli Mosteller is director of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center and perhaps one of the most recognizable names representing the tribe. With a roster of impressive awards and a doctoral degree to her name, she was also recently recognized as one of The Journal Record newspaper’s 50 Making a Difference in Oklahoma. The Read More »
Staff at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center is using modern education techniques to captivate younger visitors touring the newly remodeled museum. While the renovations at the center aren’t complete, significant progress has been made toward making the exhibits interactive. Thanks to the CPN Information Technology department, all of the work has been done Read More »
The FireLake Gift Shop art sale continues. If you’re looking for prints, framed or artist-signed originals, you can have your pick! Every time we open a closet door we find a few more great pieces of art stored away. Stop by our physical location inside the CPN Cultura Heritage Center or visit us online at Read More »
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor a direct hit from a tornado or a multi-million dollar, man-made flood could stop the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center from reaching its tenth anniversary. “It’s been an incredibly difficult past couple of years following the flood of 2014, but as we begin to undertake the rebuild of museum Read More »
A recent acquisition that was graciously donated by the Pottawatomie County Museum and Historical Society is a small photograph measuring 2.5” x 4” known as a carte de visite of prominent Citizen Potawatomi member Mary Anderson Bourbonnais. The photograph was made in Topeka, Kan. by photographer James H. Leonard in the 1870s.
Traditional Potawatomi winter stories were used as practical learning tools to stay warm during the cold season. With the Halloween decorations down and the feasting season ahead, Potawatomi are dusting off the fabled winter stories that are only to be told when the air is crisp and the young ones hold out a realistic hope 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 »