Collection is open for research.
Materials found in collection; provenance is unknown.
The Lapwai Mission Press was the first printing press in the Pacific Northwest. Reverend Henry Harmon Spalding requested the second-hand press from his fellow missionaries in Hawaii shortly after his arrival at Lapwai, Idaho in 1836. He wished to print materials in Nimipuutímt (Nez Perce), so that he could teach members of the tribe how to read and write in English.
The press arrived in Lapwai in 1839 by way of Honolulu, Fort Vancouver, and the Whitman Mission. Spalding printed primers and biblical texts, translated into Nimipuutímt (Nez Perce) and Tsakaitsitlin (Spokane). Spalding himself did not know the Nimipuutímt (Nez Perce) language, so the translations were conducted by Dr. Marcus Whitman, Reverend Asa Bowen Smith, and Cornelius Rogers, who were also missionaries in the region. Only eight imprints were made on the press during the time it was at Lapwai.
The press was given by Spalding to the Reverend John Smith Griffin in the Willamette Valley in 1848.
Materials in this collection were likely collected by Whitman College and Northwest Archives staff circa 1960s-1990s. Although there are no deeds of gift for these materials identified, archivists made the decision to retain the materials in the collection for their historical significance. Prints made on the Lapwai Press were removed from the archives collection and added to the rare books collection, and were individually catalogued. Those prints have the rare books call numbers: SCA1644, SCA1645, SCA1646, and SCB3248.
The Lapwai Mission Press collection contains images, photocopies and facsimiles of publications, translation notes, and correspondence. The materials date from circa 1836 to 1993. The collection represents a history of the Lapwai Mission Press and provides a glimpse into the creation process, specifically translations from Nimipuutímt (Nez Perce) to English. Correspondence from 1943 to 1993 inquiries about imprints in the collection, reprints, loans, and exhibits related to the Lapwai Press publications.
Schoenberg, W.P. (1994).