GUIDE TO CATHOLIC RECORDS ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE U.S.
Volume 2: Midwest United States
Wisconsin: WI-19

Viterbo University. Archives
900 Viterbo Drive
La Crosse, WI 54601

Phone: 608-796-3262
Email: See website

 

Catholic records about Native Americans:

Inclusive dates: 1896-1954, undated

Volume: Ca. 1 cubic foot 

Description: When reviewed by a Marquette University archivist, 1980, these records were held by the Viterbo University Museum and not organized according to a classification scheme. Consequently, the description is by record type. 

 

/1 "W.P.A. Indian Research Project"

Inclusive dates: 1935-1930s

Volume: .5 cubic foot

Description: The project was funded by a U.S. Works Progress Administration grant, 1935, and implemented by Ojibwa Indians under the direction of Sister Macaria Murphy, F.S.P.A., who taught at St. Mary's School, Odanah. Interviews and questionnaires played a prominent role in the Project. The collection is arranged by subject and was microfilmed by the Marquette University Special Collections and Archives, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1983. Prominent subject headings include: "History of the Ojibwa Indians"; "Chippewa Indian Customs"; "Occupations and Activities"; "Clothing"; "Amusements"; "Recollections and Biographies"; "Legends"; "Military-War Records"; "Treaties and Tribal Claims"; "Folk Lore and Local History of the Bad River Reservation"; and "Chippewa Language, Leaders, and Folk Lore" 

 

/2 Correspondence

Inclusive dates: 1896, 1910, 1915, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1943-1944, 1954

Volume: 13 letters

Description: Major correspondents included Sister Macaria Murphy, F.S.P.A., and Rev. Philip Gordon (Ojibwa) 

 

/3 School publications

Inclusive dates: 1908, undated

Volume: 2 volumes:  

A. Noble Lives of a Noble Race, stories from Ojibwa oral traditions with illustrations by the students of St. Mary's School, Odanah, published in 1908: manuscript and published copy

B. Hiawatha Told Again, by the pupils of St. Mary's School, Odanah, undated

 

/4 Photographs

Inclusive dates: 1907, 1918, 1926, 1933, 1936, 1939, 1941, 1943-1944, undated

Volume: ca. 150 photos

Description: Includes a sequence of prints depicting the construction of a birchbark canoe, which Peter Whitebird used in creating his series of oil paintings.

 

/5 Paintings and Etchings by Peter Whitebird

Inclusive dated: Undated

Volume: 24 oil paintings and 23 etching

Description: Depict scenes from Ojibwa culture, including the building of a birch bark canoe.

 

Unless otherwise noted, the repository on this page holds (or held) the records described here and they are not held at the Marquette University Archives.

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