Traditional winter tales offer opportunity to teach culture and history

 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 »

CHC’s Dr. Mosteller writes on CPN experience in new book about British colonialism

Between her normal duties as director of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center and responsibilities in overseeing the museum’s reconstruction from damages sustained in the2014 flood, Dr. Kelli Mosteller recently featured as a contributor to a newly published book about the British Empire’s impact on indigenous communities. The book, “Indigenous Communities and Settler Colonialism: Read More »

The Trail of Death

Each year, in the first week of September, my newsfeed and inbox fills with stories and press releases about the Potawatomi Trail of Death. The articles usually consist of a brief synopsis of the turmoil that preceded the removal of the Potawatomi from northern Indiana and the most basic information about the removal itself such Read More »

Creating your own regalia not impossible

Though Family Festival and powwow season are a few months away, the winter months provide ample time to prepare regalia and other traditional dress. Often times, the prices and intricacy involved in Native American regalia can be intimidating for those who only observed from afar. But as CPN Cultural Coordinator Coby Lehman and Dr. Kelli Read More »

CPN secures grants for the Department of Environmental Protection and Historic Preservation Office

CPN’s Department of Environmental Protection recently secured funding for the next fiscal year through a Performance Partnership Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The grant combines funds from EPA’s Indian General Assistance Program and Clean Water Act Section 106 Tribal Water Pollution Prevention Program. DEP will use the funds to conduct monthly baseline surface Read More »

CPN emphasizing the ‘community’ in community garden

Native American culture, at its roots, is centered on tightly knit communities that work together for the good of the community.  Stories from across the continent recount how Native Americans lived off the land, wasting little. Those same principles are being revitalized by Native American Tribes across the country. With more tribes looking to add Read More »

NAGPRA restoring proper resting place to sacred items

  Dr. Kelli Mosteller The Cultural Resources Department staff at Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center is responsible for the care and preservation and of all objects and documents in our possession.   As director of the CHC, I often have the added responsibility of serving as the Tribe’s representative in consultations with federal agencies to Read More »