The Trail of Broken Histories

  The exhibit “Their Hearts are in this Land: Native Resilience In Western Oregon” at Lane County Historical Society will be up for the remainder of the year. The following is the original text for my statement for the exhibit. Dr. Deana Dartt (professor/curator) informed me on several occasions that her students in museum studies, Spring Term 2017  (UO) were greatly inspired by my writings on ndnhistoryresearch and this informed a good part of the exhibit and exhibit panels. In fact, the title of the exhibit is inspired by one of my OHS talks “Our Hearts are on this Land,” … Continue reading The Trail of Broken Histories

Opening the Coast Reservation: the Oyster Harvest Rush 1863-1866

In 1864, Oregon Indian Superintendent, J. Perit Huntington, was in charge of Indian affairs for Oregon. Huntington was concerned about a recent movement of Americans onto the Coast Reservation. At the time there were federal laws excluding Americans from going onto or settling Indian reservation lands. The tribes of western Oregon, from 1853-1855, signed treaties which sold the majority of their western Oregon land, and in 1855 the Coast Indian Reservation was created by presidential executive order. This reservation stretched from just south of Florence into the Tillamook region, 100  miles along the Oregon Coast, and 20 miles inland from … Continue reading Opening the Coast Reservation: the Oyster Harvest Rush 1863-1866