Chemawa Prints Project Day 26

I have completed all scanning, editing, and data entry for the Chemawa Prints Project from the Charles Holmes Collection! I will continue to review the metadata from now until the end of my half-day of work tomorrow. Although there is quite a bit more that can be done to ensure the quality of the digital collection, notably de-skewing scans, editing metadata, and removing duplicates, the biggest hurdle is complete.

Many prints that I came across today stood out to me. I do not have many questions; I just wish to note them.

CH 2545 is mysterious. What is the purpose of the female students who stand onstage in matching uniforms and brooms? Why was a "Broom Brigade" needed? CH 2555 shows many smiling young females. Some hold dolls and a few pose with the index fingers to their lips. They all sport short haircuts and low waistlines. Is this the print Sybil mentioned as being her favorite? CH 2556 is a beautiful print showing male students in a workshop.

CH 2567 is a curious one: young males', perhaps students', heads have been cut off and replaced as the head of cartoon musicians.

There are many prints from a powwow, and a few stand out: CH 2570, 2577, 2578, 2579, and 2588. Students dance on the gymnasium floor and sit in the bleachers in CH 2575 and 2584.

There are many children playing in CH 2585. Are they on campus?

In CH 2590 a female student in traditional regalia and a male student in a uniform look at a tree with an engraved stone at its base. Are the female and child in CH 2593 at Chemawa?

CH 2600 was the last print in the collection to be digitized. It shows a group of female and male students and a male faculty member standing for a class portrait on the steps of buildings. They look as if they are laughing.

Thank you to Veronica Montano and the rest of the Chachalu Tribal Museum and Cultural Center staff for permission to work with the Charles Holmes Collection. Thank you to Professor Rebecca Dobkins for the opportunity to work on a project that will have such far-reaching effects. Thank you to the Willamette University Librarians and Archival Staff for the help and facilities and snacks. Thank you to those who have read my posts and kept up with my progress through the last two months. And thank you to the Chemawa Indian Boarding School Native American students pictured in this collection. I have seen a few snapshots from painful and confusing times in their lives, but these students were not only victims of forced assimilation. I have seen them as dancers in traditional regalia, and creators of Native art. They played sports and did work of which they appear to be proud. Many, many Native Americans from many different nations have attended Chemawa over the years. I hope the collection may someday provide healing to the descendants and friends of those photographed.

I look forward to the digital collection being made available to the public through the Chachalu Tribal Museum and Cultural Center's website and through Willamette University's digital University Archives; this should happen toward the end of summer 2017. I look forward to future Willamette students continuing to contribute to the collection as well. I hope to continue to witness how the digital collection can affect change.