UNL Archives Indigenous History

Jake Borgmann Author

04/02/2021 Added

18 Plays

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The UNL Archives Indigenous History project aims to increase the representation of Indigenous histories within UNL's Archives & Special Collections by making collections containing Indigenous histories more accessible to students, researchers, and the public in general.

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[00:00:01.080]Hi, my name is Jake Borgmann.
[00:00:03.330]I am a senior in the Honors Program at UNL,
[00:00:06.070]majoring in history and ethnic studies
[00:00:08.530]and minoring in English and classics.
[00:00:11.110]This is the results of the second year
[00:00:13.330]of the UNL Archives Indigenous History Project.
[00:00:16.420]The first year of the project ran
[00:00:17.990]from September, 2019 to March, 2020,
[00:00:20.817]and was cut short by the COVID-19 outbreak.
[00:00:23.870]The results of the first year can be found
[00:00:25.930]on UNL's Digital Commons.
[00:00:28.690]The goal of the second year of this project
[00:00:30.900]was to continue making collections
[00:00:32.630]with Indigenous histories more accessible
[00:00:35.040]in order to increase the representation
[00:00:37.160]of Indigenous histories within UNL's archives.
[00:00:40.560]The primary focus of this year has been
[00:00:42.580]the Mark Awakuni-Swetland Papers Collection.
[00:00:45.800]Mark Awakuni-Swetland was, in his words,
[00:00:48.407]"a white boy from Lincoln" born in 1956.
[00:00:51.820]In 1970, Awakuni-Swetland began attending classes
[00:00:55.330]for the Omaha language taught by Elizabeth Stabler,
[00:00:58.170]held at the Lincoln Indian Center.
[00:01:00.540]For the next seven years,
[00:01:01.940]Awakuni-Swetland helped Elizabeth Stabler
[00:01:04.370]create the first of its kind,
[00:01:06.120]an Omaha-to-English dictionary.
[00:01:08.670]Their work culminated in 1977
[00:01:11.650]as the "Umoⁿhoⁿ iye of Elizabeth Stabler,"
[00:01:14.450]and the adoption of Awakuni-Swetland
[00:01:16.560]by Mrs. Stabler and her husband, Charles Stabler, Sr.
[00:01:20.640]According to Omaha tradition, Elizabeth and Charles Stabler
[00:01:24.090]were now Awakuni-Swetland's grandparents,
[00:01:26.520]and Awakuni-Swetland now had numerous other
[00:01:28.870]Omaha grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers,
[00:01:31.670]sisters, sons, and daughters.
[00:01:33.710]Awakuni-Swetland was also adopted
[00:01:36.600]into the Omaha clan system,
[00:01:38.410]joining Charles Stabler's clan, the Iⁿkesabe,
[00:01:41.260]or Black Shoulder Buffalo Clan.
[00:01:44.154]Awakuni-Swetland would go on to serve
[00:01:45.920]as a program coordinator
[00:01:47.300]in Macy Public Schools' culture program,
[00:01:49.870]become a member of the Hethu'shka Society,
[00:01:52.570]and a member of the Tiah-Piah Society.
[00:01:55.490]Following his bachelor's and master's education,
[00:01:58.345]Awakuni-Swetland was hired in 1999
[00:02:00.750]to teach an Omaha language course at UNL.
[00:02:03.750]He would do so from 2000 to 2015,
[00:02:07.040]earning his doctorate in 2003,
[00:02:09.210]as well as pursuing the creation of an Omaha-Ponca
[00:02:12.410]digital dictionary beginning in 2008.
[00:02:15.750]Professor Mark Awakuni-Swetland died of leukemia in 2015
[00:02:19.790]after a 15-year-long battle with the disease.
[00:02:23.150]The Mark Awakuni-Swetland Papers Collection
[00:02:25.570]contains around 70 cubic feet of documents,
[00:02:28.590]mostly consisting of his research and work
[00:02:31.160]for the "Umoⁿhoⁿ iye of Elizabeth Stabler,"
[00:02:33.920]the UNL Omaha language classes,
[00:02:36.320]the Omaha-Ponca Digital Dictionary,
[00:02:38.700]and his other publications.
[00:02:41.610]This project creates a unique opportunity
[00:02:44.370]for a historian to do the work of an archivist.
[00:02:47.800]Both archivist and historian methodologies
[00:02:50.510]are implemented in this project.
[00:02:53.380]The archival methods used during this project
[00:02:55.760]are most reflected in the physical reorganization
[00:02:58.690]and preservation of collections.
[00:03:00.930]For organization, the two guiding principles
[00:03:03.670]are to order documents in chronological order
[00:03:06.370]whenever possible, and when not possible,
[00:03:09.240]maintain the original order as created
[00:03:11.750]by the collection's donor.
[00:03:13.770]For preservation, a variety of tools and materials
[00:03:16.790]must be used to ensure the collection's protection.
[00:03:20.410]All staples and paper clips must be removed
[00:03:22.860]from the collection and replaced
[00:03:24.690]with folded acid-free strips.
[00:03:27.270]Documents that were once cut together
[00:03:29.030]with staples or paper clips are placed
[00:03:31.310]in between the folded acid-free strip.
[00:03:33.820]The strip then separates that series of documents
[00:03:36.540]from other documents.
[00:03:38.530]Also essential to preserving collections
[00:03:40.670]are acid-free folders and acid-free boxes.
[00:03:44.100]The two biggest difficulties
[00:03:45.590]of archival work I've encountered
[00:03:47.630]is balancing available materials with the need to preserve,
[00:03:50.920]as well as balancing time available
[00:03:52.920]with the need to organize.
[00:03:55.130]Historical methods used during this project
[00:03:57.290]are best reflected in a collection's finding aid.
[00:04:00.230]Within a finding aid are sections
[00:04:02.020]for describing the biography of the collection's creator,
[00:04:05.140]the scope and content of the collection,
[00:04:07.150]the subjects discussed in the collection,
[00:04:09.310]and descriptions of the various series
[00:04:11.310]the collection has been divided into.
[00:04:14.070]As a historian, I try to ensure
[00:04:16.080]that these sections of the finding aid
[00:04:18.030]include as much historical context as possible,
[00:04:21.200]as well as information about how the collection fits
[00:04:23.900]into the wider historical narrative.
[00:04:26.720]Specifically as a historian of Indigenous studies,
[00:04:29.770]I also try to provide information
[00:04:32.100]about how the collection does or does not
[00:04:33.820]promote Indigenous sovereignty,
[00:04:35.570]does or does not critique past and present colonial systems,
[00:04:39.260]and does or does not promote a decolonized future.
[00:04:44.230]Thus far, over 25 cubic feet of the Mark Awakuni-Swetland
[00:04:48.250]Papers Collection has been processed,
[00:04:50.470]meaning reorganized for accessibility
[00:04:52.790]and re-outfitted for preservation.
[00:04:55.440]This is roughly 1/3 of the collection.
[00:04:58.010]So far, 15 viable series have been identified,
[00:05:01.010]with plenty more to come.
[00:05:03.030]Documents have so far been found to date
[00:05:05.220]from as long ago as 1855 to as recent as 2015,
[00:05:09.860]with some documents discussing events
[00:05:11.780]from as long ago as the 16th century.
[00:05:15.160]Types of documents encountered unique to this year
[00:05:18.000]so far include 47 floppy disks, a gift of Umoⁿhoⁿ corn seed,
[00:05:23.200]as well as various bundles of sage.
[00:05:27.400]There is still much work left to do.
[00:05:30.030]So far, just 1/3 of the Mark Awakuni-Swetland
[00:05:33.070]Papers Collection has been processed,
[00:05:34.900]and the other 2/3 must be processed
[00:05:37.170]before it is made available to the public.
[00:05:39.980]My sponsor and I have also already identified
[00:05:42.620]other collections pertaining to the project
[00:05:45.000]that require processing or updating,
[00:05:47.490]and we're identifying more and more
[00:05:49.330]collections all the time.
[00:05:51.610]Also in the works is a plan to collect
[00:05:54.579]preemptive historical documents
[00:05:56.545]from current UNL Indigenous students,
[00:05:59.189]in order to increase contemporary Indigenous
[00:06:01.894]representation in the UNL Archives.
[00:06:04.634]The UNL Archives Indigenous History Project will continue
[00:06:07.650]during the Fall 2021-Spring 2022 academic year.
[00:06:13.540]Finally, I'd like to take a moment
[00:06:15.590]to thank Dr. Ann Tschetter
[00:06:17.210]for partially inspiring this project,
[00:06:19.506]Dr. Margaret Huettl for teaching me everything I know
[00:06:22.241]about being an Indigenous studies historian,
[00:06:25.010]and of course, UNL's lead archivist,
[00:06:27.293]Mary Ellen Ducey for sponsoring this project
[00:06:30.128]and teaching me so much over the last two years.

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