Publications, 2008

Summary

This accession consists of a reference set of the following National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) publications: "When the Rain Sings: Poems by Young Native Americans;" "The Land Has Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Native Landscapes, and the National Museum of the American Indian;" and "Meet Christopher: An Osage Indian Boy from Oklahoma." "When the Rain Sings: Poems by Young Native Americans" was created in partnership with Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers and includes writers from Wordcraft's Mentoring Initiative, a national program created to cultivate the writing abilities of Native youth. Lee Francis (Laguna Pueblo), founding director of Wordcraft, felt that their words should be introduced to a broader audience and approached NMAI about the possibility of publication. In response, the NMAI Publications Department asked Native participants from Mentoring Initiatives throughout the United States to use objects and historic images from the museum's collections to spark their imagination. This book is a compilation of the responses of these poets, who range in age from nine to seventeen. Edited by Duane Blue Spruce and Tanya Thrasher, "The Land Has Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Native Landscapes, and the National Museum of the American Indian" offers images of the museum's natural environment in every season as well as images of the building itself. Essays by Smithsonian Institution staff and others involved in the museum's creation provide an examination of indigenous peoples' long and varied relationship to the land in the Americas, an account of the museum designers' efforts to reflect traditional knowledge in the creation of individual landscape elements, detailed descriptions of the 150 native plant species used, and an exploration of how the landscape changes seasonally. "Meet Christopher: An Osage Indian Boy from Oklahoma," by Genevieve Simermeyer, is the fourth book in the series: "My World: Young Native Americans Today." This illustrated book series is created by Native authors and photographers. Each book celebrates a different tribal culture through the daily life of a contemporary Native American child.

Subject

• Blue Spruce, Duane
• Francis, Lee
• Simermeyer, Genevieve
• Thrasher, Tanya
• Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers & Storytellers

Notes

For a description of the record series of which these materials form a part, refer to the "Forms part of" above.

Organization

Unarranged

Repository Loc.

Smithsonian Institution Archives Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520

Date

2008

Topic

• Landscape gardening
• Museum buildings
• American poetry
• Children's poetry, American
• Endemic species
• Historians
• Authors
• Children's writings, American
• Museums
• Youths' writings, American
• Children
• Society
• American poetry--Indian authors
• Endemic plants
• Indian children
• Indians of North America--Museums
• Indians of North America
• Museum publications
• Osage Indians--Social life and customs
• Osage Indians

Place

Oklahoma

Form/Genre

• Books
• Collection descriptions

Local number

SIA Acc. 09-086

Physical description

0.5 cu. ft. (1 document box)

Full Record

View Full Record