Archives West Finding Aid

Oral history tapes, transcripts, and interview notes; 1994-1995. Research materials are related to Erikson’s dissertation, "Encounters in the Nation's Attic: Native American Community Museums, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Politics of Knowledge-Making". These cultural anthropological documents relate to the history of the Makah community, its museum, and the history of the Ozette archeological excavation. The multi-locale project was based primarily out of the Makah Reservation at Neah Bay, Washington and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. Researcher conducted both formally recorded oral history interviews and more informal (non-recorded) interviews with Makah elders, Ozette archeologists, anthropologists and designers involved in the establishment of the MCRC, and tribal museum training personnel.

Interviews (recorded and non-recorded) with the following individuals are represented in the collection: Isabel Ides, Ruth Clapanhoo, Festus “Batch” LaChester, Donna Wilkie, Steve Brown, Kirk Wachendorf, Jean Jacques Andre, Mary Lou Denney, Richard Daugherty, Edward Clapanhoo, Gary Wessen, Minerva “Muzzie” Clapanhoo, Meredith Heilman, Margaret Allabush Irving, Sadie Johnson, Shirley Ward Johnson, Ted Noel, Irene Hunter Ward, Helma Swan Ward, Miriam “Mimi” Washburn Curtis.