LINCOLN — People with an ongoing history are the focus of a new exhibit at the University of Nebraska State Museum, best known for "Archie" the mammoth fossil and other interpretations of natural history.
The people are Native Americans. The exhibit is "First Peoples of the Plains: Traditions Shaped by Land & Sky." Curator Alan Osborn said it seeks to tell Native Americans' stories in a way that acknowledges they are a people with an ongoing history, not one confined to the past.
The exhibit opened Saturday to the public at the museum in Morrill Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.
Native American groups — with a drum circle, traditional dancing and contemporary American Indian music — participated in an opening celebration Friday night. Judi gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, served as a consultant for the exhibit.
Osborn said an emphasis from Native Americans consulting on the exhibit was "OK. What about us today?"
Thus the exhibit includes photos, video and other material showing how old traditions have been renewed and new traditions developed.
"Unlike the mammoths in the museum, Native Americans are not extinct," Osborn said. "Their population is growing."
He said one hope for the gallery is "to establish new bridges to Native American communities, bring Native American people into the museum and more into the story and start a new chapter.''
"First Peoples" occupies the space of the "Nomads of the Plains" exhibit, which had been in the museum for about 30 years.
One part focuses on traditions in five areas: food, shelter, childhood, clothing and body ornamentation, and travel and transport. Another is devoted to contemporary Native American people. The exhibit also includes Native American artists, poets and photographers.
More than 100 people attended the private opening ceremony Friday. Winnebago and Omaha Tribe drum circles, singers and dancers performed. Among them: O.C. Earth, a tribe member from Winnebago, Neb. He and his wife and seven children performed traditional songs and dances.
After viewing the exhibit's videos on powwows and the people's stories in their own recorded words, Earth declared the gallery good. What he liked best: "That it shows we're still celebrating. We're still here. We're not a myth, just real people."
The exhibit and gallery renovation were funded with donations from the UNL Class of 1987, Dr. Anne M. Hubbard and the Claire M. Hubbard Foundation.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1057, christopher.burbach@owh.com
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