Exhibits and Programs

Voices of Democracy - The Echo-Hawk's

Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to work, free to follow the religion of my forefathers, and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.           -- Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

Indigenous rights are never freely given - they must be demanded, wrested away, then vigilantly protected. That is the essence of freendom.                  -- Walter Echo-Hawk, Pawnee

*Painting: "Walter Echo-Hawk" by Bunky Echo-Hawk

The Schingoethe Center will present two important Indian activists, father and son Walter and Bunky Echo-Hawk, in the university-wide series, Voices of Democracy. On February 12, attorney Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee, Yakama) will deliver a lecture "In the Courts of the Conqueror: A Native American Perspective". Opening February 18-April 27, the museum features contemporary Native artist Bunky Echo-Hawk (Pawnee, Yakama) in the exhibit, Bullets in the Chest, Arrows in the Back, which explores the themes of leadership and democracy in Indian Country.

In the Courts of the Conquerors: A Native American Perspective

A lecture by Walter Echo-Hawk

 Walter Echo-Hawk is a Native American attorney, tribal judge, author, activist, and law professor. He represents Indian tribes on important legal issues, such as treaty rights, water rights, religious freedom, prisoner rights, and repatriation rights. His career spans the pivotal years when Indian tribes reclaimed their land, sovereignty, and pride in a stride toward freedom. 

As a Native American rights attorney since 1973, Walter worked at the epicenter of a great social movement alongside visionary tribal leaders, visited tribes in indigenous habitats throughout North America, and was instrumental in the passage of landmark laws - such as, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990) and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments (1994). He litigated in many of the epic struggles and has written extensively about the rise of modern Indian nations as a Native American author with first-hand experience, most recently in his new groundbreaking book, In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided (2010).

Wednesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. in Crimi Theater

This is a free presentation and open to the public - reservations are required. Please click here to reserve your spot.

Bullets in the Chest, Arrows in the Back: Democracy and Leadership in Indian Country

Artist in Residence: Bunky Echo-Hawk

February 18 - April 26, 2013

Bunky Echo-Hawk is a multi-talented artist whose works spans both media and lifestyle. A graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts, he is a fine artist, graphic designer, photographer, writer and a nonprofit professional. He is also a traditional singer and dancer.

Echo-Hawk is an artist/warrior. Using paint, brushes and an intense palette, he delivers a modern message about American Indian issues. His juxtaposition of contemporary American icons in traditional Indian clothing brings the historic jarringly into the present, focusing a spotlight on issues important to his culture.

Throughout his career, Bunky has merged traditional values with his lifestyle and his art. He has displayed his work in major exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally in NYC, Chicago, Denver, Santa Fe, and Frankfurt, Germany, to name a few. In 2006, Bunky co-founded NVision, and now serves as its Executive Director. NVision is a nonprofit collective of Native American artists, musicians, community organizers, and nonprofit professionals who focus on Native American youth empowerment through multi-media arts. Bunky currently lives and works in Longmont, Colorado.

Opening Reception: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 4:30-6:30 p.m.in the Schingoethe Center Education Gallery

Live Painting and Lecture: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 7:00-9:00 p.m. in Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures. This is a free presentation and open to the public - reservations are required. Please e-mail us at museum@aurora.edu and include your name and all attendees in your party. 

Unraveling Revelations: Decoding the Prophetic Charts

Winner of the Illinois Association of Museums Award for Excellence and Exhibitions 2012

April 12, 2012 - December 14, 2012

In the early nineteenth century, a man named William Miller, after careful study, came to the conclusion that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, spoken of in both the Old and New Testaments, was imminent. And, in fact, his careful calculations revealed the year this was to take place as 1843. On display are eight of the 36 charts from Aurora University's Jenks Memorial Collection of Adventual Material. The charts were visual aids used at church services and camp meetings to teach about the prophecies, which Miller believed were about to come to fruition. This exhibit, curated by the students in the MST2200 Museum Exhibitions course, also includes photographs, letters, and scrapbooks from the collection.

Opening Reception: Friday, October 5, 2012 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Special Feature: "Unraveling Adventist Prophecy: The History and Meaning of the Millerite Charts" - Lecture by Dr. Susan Palmer, Jenks Collection Curator, on Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. in the Schingoethe Museum

Aztec Stories

A cultural, educational, musically interactive program sponsored by the Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures and LASO

Friday, October 12, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. in Crimi Theater

Early Mexican Chicago: Missing Pages of History

A public lecture by Dr. Antonio Delgado

This program visually depicts Chicago's rich and vibrant history of Mexican presence dating back to World War I. Today, Chicago has the 2nd largest Mexican population in the U.S. The audience will learn about the highly personal nature of immigration and its impact on the development and growth of Chicago. Early Mexican Chicago reflects U.S./Mexican relations, immigration law/policies and the forces that bind two nations together. Learning about Mexican Immigrant contributions will foster a greater appreciation and understanding of the Latino family, community and its place in U.S. society. It makes sense to know your neighbors.

 Delgado holds a PhD in Urban Planning and Public Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  He has been a Smithsonian Institution Visiting Scholar and a guest speaker at various universities in Illinois, New Mexico, California, and Texas.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. in Perry Theater, followed by Q&A

The Impact of the Mexican Revolution on the United States

A lecture for AU students, staff, and faculty ONLY

In this lecture, three major impacts of the Mexican Revolution (1910) on the United States will be highlighted - Mexican immigration to the U.S., the military invasion of Columbus, New Mexico by the troops of General "Pancho" Villa, and the Mexican government expropriation of U.S. oil company properties via the nationalization of Mexico's oil reserves. This Powerpoint presentation includes historical photographs, period images and recorded music.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. in UBH South

Visitors to the Schingoethe Center often ask, "Who lived right here" before European contact? The Center's award-winning display, "Native Peoples of Illinois" provides detailed historical information on the early inhabitants of Illinois. 

Now, this exhibit has been expanded to include displays devoted to the understanding of the "lifeways" of the Woodland tribes in Illinois. A full-scale wigwam and campsite help bring alive daily life in earlier times. Try your hand at assembling the frame and covering of a wigwam -- you'll gain a new appreciation for the skill and foresight of native peoples.

How did they grow up? How did they learn? What did they wear? What did they do, and what did they play with?

Artifacts and photographs tell the story, from prehistoric to modern times. Includes material on the Native American Boarding Schools, toys, clothing, historic photographs, and other artifacts.

Selections from the Center's extensive collection of Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo jewelry, together with the history of jewelry in the cultures of the Southwest tribes. 

Southwest jewelry has ancient roots, leading to an explosion of creative activity in the mid-nineteenth century that resulted in jewelry of breath-taking beauty and power.

This exhibit is located directly outside the Nizhoni Gallery and further showcases the Schingoethe collection of art and artifacts from the Southwest culture area.

The Nizhoni ("beauty" in Navajo) Southwest Gallery, located in the corner of the Main Gallery, offers an enchanting glimpse into the Native American Southwest. Timbered and plastered in a design reminiscent of the pueblo architecture of the Southwest, this new gallery showcases the Schingoethe's extensive collection of materials from the Southwest culture area.

The current exhibit in the Nizhoni Gallery features a large selection of Kachina dolls, both contemporary and historic, along with displays telling the history of Kachina dolls, explaining the Hopi ceremonial cycle, and showing how we know the appearance of the many Kachinas in the Hopi tradition.

"It Was Only a New World to Columbus" - Curator: Meg Bero

An exhibit featuring stone tools and a timeline of human history in the Americas.

All in a Day's Work: The Art of Native American Beading

April 23, 2010 - January 30, 2013

This exhibit was curated by students in the Museum Exhibitions course MST 2200, a part of Aurora University's Museum Studies program.

A Warm Relationship in a Cold Climate: People and Animals in the Arctic 

Open from May 2011 - Present

This exhibit was curated by students in the Museum Exhibitions course MST 2200, a part of Aurora University's Museum Studies program.

Image: Ivory Figure (Arctic)

Alone Together: Objects as the Architects of Our Intimacies

A lecture by Dr. Sherry Turkle

The world of objects - and of course the world of technological objects - proposes itself an architect of our intimacies.  These days, our technologies offer us substitutes for direct face-to-face connection with people in a world of machine-mediated relationships on networked devices.  As we instant message, e-mail, text and Twitter, technology redraws the boundaries between intimacy and solitude.  Sometimes, people experience no sense of having communicated after hours of connectivity.  In all of this, there is a nagging question: does virtual intimacy degrade our experience of the other kind and, indeed, of all encounters of every kind?  This lecture surveys the new "object relations" of contemporary culture.

One of the few researchers in her field, Professor Turkle offers a unique perspective on technology and social interaction and on the psychological dimensions of technological change.  Turkle is the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT and the founder (2001) and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self.  She is also the author of several books, including Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet and Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.

This lecture is part of the Arts & Ideas series

October 11, 2011

Lincoln and His Times: A Pan-American View

A lecture by Dr. Antonio Delgado

During the time of Lincoln, the institution of slavery, territorial conflicts, war, and other national crises occurred in all of the Americas: North, Central, South and the Caribbean.  This Power Point presentation consists of historical photographs, caricatures, maps, and other period images which convey the pan-American nature of these issues and the relations between the US and Latin America.  Comparisons will be made between Lincoln and Mexican President Juarez.

 Delgado holds a PhD in Urban Planning and Public Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  He has been a Smithsonian Institution Visiting Scholar and a guest speaker at various universities in Illinois, New Mexico, California, and Texas.

September 29 - December 29, 2011

A Celebration of Souls: Day of the Dead in Southern Mexico

A traveling exhibition developed by the Field Museum

Each November 1 and 2, on the Christian holidays of All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day, families in villages across Mexico gather to welcome home the visiting spirits of departed relatives on el Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  Mexicans prepare for the celebration - which often includes decorating burial plots, lively family reunions, and the preparation of special foods - for weeks in advance, decorating altars in honor of the deceased.

The 26 stunning photographs in A Celebration of Souls: Day of the Dead in Southern Mexico show villagers immersed in all aspects of the celebration.  The exhibit will include artifacts from the Schingoethe Collection and an altar created by Aurora University Latino students.

Special Feature: Students in Aurora University's Latin American Student Organization (LASO) will create the altar for our display.

Reception & Celebration of the Altar: Tuesday, November 1, 2011 4:30-7:30 p.m.

March 17 - May 27, 2011

History Re-Imagined: The Art of Chris Pappan

21st Century Ledger Drawings, Paintings, and Installation

Revealing portraits of profound insight, contemporary artist Chris Pappan (Osage, Kaw, Cheyenne River Sioux) uses the ledger art form as a platform to reflect on current issues for American Indians.

Corresponding lecture: In Two Worlds: Ledger Drawings of the Plains Indians presented by Meg Bero, Executive Director of the Schingoethe Center

Wednesday, March 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the Schingoethe Museum

Image at right: "Chris-Cross Applesauce," Chris Pappan

February 8, 2011

"Black, Red & Deadly: The Cherokee Frontier Police of the Indian Territory Cherokee Slave Revolt of 1842" with Art Burton

Art Burton is most noted for his research on African Americans and Native Americans who were outlaws and lawmen on the western frontier after the Civil War.  He will speak on this topic as well as the relationship between African Americans and Native Americans in the Indian Territory prior to Oklahoma statehood in 1907.  In addition, he will touch on African slavery in the Five Civilized Tribes, which includes the 1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nations.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 3:15 p.m. (Aurora University students, faculty and staff only) and 6:30 p.m. (public lecture)

January 24-28, 2011

Artist in Residence: William Yellow Robe, Playwright and Poet

William Yellow Robe was the 2010 recipient of the Native American Achiever's Award from the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian for his work in Native American theater.

His two published books are Where the Pavement Ends and Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers and Other Untold Stories.

William Yellow Robe will work with Aurora University theater and creative writing students.

December 18, 2010 - February 27, 2011

IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas

Traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution

This exhibit explores the complex history and contemporary lives of people with a dual heritage that is a little-known part of American culture.

Opening Reception: Thursday, January 13, 2011 4:30-6:30 p.m.

November 4, 2010

"Everything You Known About Indians Is Wrong" with Paul Chaat Smith

Lecture corresponding with Native American Heritage Month.

Paul Chaat Smith, curator at The National Museum of American Indian and leading cultural critic, will discuss his book of memoir and commentary Everything You Know About Indians Is Wrong and the deeply disputed role of American Indians in the United States.

Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 12:00 p.m. (Aurora University students, faculty and staff only) and 7:00 p.m. (Arts & Ideas) in Perry Theatre

Part of Arts & Ideas

October 12, 2010

"Race, Roots & Relations: Native and African Americans" with Terry Strauss, PhD

Action anthropologist Dr. Terry Strauss (University of Chicago) and members of the Chicago African-Native American community will share their efforts to preserve their heritage and determine their future.  Her presentation will reflect her latest book Race, Roots & Relations: Native & African Americans.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 3:15 p.m. (Aurora University students, faculty and staff only) and 6:30 p.m. (public lecture)

September 29, 2010

Aztec Stories

Michael Heralda and his family present a culturally educational, interactive musical performance.  Using traditional hand-made instruments, they sing stories that reveal the history and culture of the tribes of Mexico.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in Perry Theatre

September 21 - December 10, 2010

Celebrating 20 Years: Looking Back, Moving Forward

The Schingoethe Center at Aurora University opened its doors in 1990.  Since that year, tens of thousands of people have chosen to visit the museum to learn about America's first peoples.

The exhibit will be on display in the Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures

Opening Reception: Tuesday, September 21, 4:30-6:30 p.m.

Image: "Turquoise Bear," Tony Da

April 1 - June 30, 2010

Intrigue and Novelty

Contemporary Native American Women artists interpret their world and their place in it through painting, drawing, and photography.

Artists: Christine Caluya, Amber Gunn Gauthier, Nadya Kwandibens, Linda Lomahaftewa, Erica Lord, America Meredith, Rose B. Simpson, Debra Yepa-Pappan, also featuring work by young Native artists.

Opening Reception: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 4:30-7:00 p.m.

Image at right: "Ceci N'est Pas Une Pipe (This is not a pipe)," Debra Yepa-Pappan, 2008, digital media, 15" x 10"

March 17, 2010

"Tecumseh, Native America and the Other American Dream" with filmmaker Ric Burns

Well-known filmmaker Ric Burns will give a talk based on his recent ninety-minute documentary film, which is part of a five-part PBS series on the history of Native America entitled We Shall Remain.  His segment chronicles the story of the life and times of the great Shawnee warrior and politician, from his birth in the Ohio River Valley in the years leading up to the Revoluntionary War, down through his death on the field of battle during the War of 1812.

March 17, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in Crimi Auditorium

February 2 - March 28, 2010

Frida Kahlo Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray

Exhibit of 46 Color Photographs

Nickolas Muray captures famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) in photographs.  Between 1920 and 1940, Nickolas Muray made over 10,000 portraits of such celebrities as Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Eugene O'Neill and F. Scott Fitzgerald.  He began photographing Frida Kahlo in color in the winter of 1938-1939, while Kahlo was in New York attending her exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery, and he continued to do so until 1948.  Muray photographed Frida more often than any other single person.  While married to famous Mexican Muralist, Diego Rivera, Kahlo and Muray had a ten-year affair which resulted in intimate portraits and unlimited access to the artist.

The exhibit in the Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures at Aurora University is part of a national tour over a two and a half year period containing forty-six photographic prints reproduced from the original negatives.

Opening Reception: Tuesday, February 2, 4:30-7:00 p.m.

November 4, 2009

"A Traditional Woman in a Contemporary World" with Marjorie Waheneka

Marjorie Waheneka is a member of the Confederated Umatilla Tribes of Eastern Oregon.  She is the Naami Nishaycht Living History Coordinator at Tamastslikt Cultural Institute in Walla Walla, Washington.  Ms. Waheneka will share some of the challenges of adhering to traditional beliefs in a contemporary world from a woman's perspective.

Ms. Waheneka is a woman of the Long House, where she practices the Natitayt (Indian) way.  She is a food gatherer and preserves all the roots, berries, fish and meat brought into the home for use at the Long House during funerals and special ceremonies.  She is a teacher to anyone who wants to learn about the Indian way.

Waheneka has served on various local and national committees as a tribal consultant for permanent museum exhibits ("By Hand Through Memory" at The High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon), traveling exhibits ("Lewis & Clark and the Indian Country - The Native American Perspective" at The Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois), books relating to the care of Indian artifacts (Caring for American Indian Objects: A Practical and Cultural Guide edited by Sherelyn Ogden, Minnesota Historical Society Press 2004), written articles for special edition releases (Oregon Historical Quarterly FALL 2005 Vol. 106, No. 3 "Indian Perspectives on Food and Culture") and magazines.

October 14, 2009

A Presentation by Ramson Lomatewama

Ramson Lomatewama is a multi-talented Hopi artist from Hoatvela, Arizona.  His life on the Hopi Reservation is at the heart of his art and poetry.  He speaks his native language and is an active participant in his religion.  Ramson is a successful jeweler, glass blower, stained glass artist, poet and traditional style Katsina doll carver.  He lectures all over the country.  Ramson carves his Kachinas the old way using obsidian as tool to work the cottonwood root.  He uses natural pigments in all of his paintings.

He has published three books of poetry: Silent Winds: Poetry of One Hopi; Ascending the Reed; and Drifting Through Ancestor's Dreams.  He is also a consultant in the areas of creative writing, glass art, and cultural anthropology.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

September 22, 2009 - January 3, 2010

Peoples of the Plateau: The Indian Photographs of Lee Moorhouse, 1898-1915

Exhibit of 51 Black and White photographs

In 1898, amateur photographer Thomas Leander "Lee" Moorhouse began recording scenes in and around Pendleton, Oregon.  His 9,000 glass plate negatives are little known today, but they provide a rich and important visual record of the Interior Pacific Northwest as it transitioned from frontier life to the modern era.

Born in 1850 in Iowa, Moorhouse traveled with his family in 1861 by ox-drawn wagon across the Plains and settled in Washington Territory.  As an adult, he was employed as an Indian Agent and became friends with the local Tribes.  One of his most famous portraits is of Chief Joseph.

Opening Reception: Tuesday, September 22, 4:30-7:00 p.m.

April 24, 2009 - January 30, 2010

"From Bark to Beads and Everything in Between"

Curator: MST 2200 Museum Exhibitions Students

From the east to the west, from the north to the south, basket-making was an art form that has been a part of Native American cultures for thousands of years dating from as early as 7500 B.C.  Baskets were used in the Native Americans' daily lives, and each culture area developed different forms, materials, construction techniques, and uses for baskets.

Over time, each region perfected their way of basket-making.  In the Northeast Woodlands region, birch bark became the main material since the birch tree was common to the area.  the Southwest were among the tribes that used glass seed beads to decorate their baskets.  In the Plateau region, splints and roots of cedar were used to make large storage containers.  These baskets from the permanent collection highlight the artistry, history, and importance of baskets in the lives, past and present, of the First Nations.

This exhibit was created and developed by students in Aurora University's Museum Studies program.

March 26, 2009

An Evening with Edgar Heap of Birds

In his presentation, Heap of Birds will discuss his installation "Most Serene Republics" at the 52nd Venice Biennale.  This 2007 piece was sponsored by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

This is a free presentation and open to the public.

To R.S.V.P., please contact the Schingoethe Center at 630-844-7843 or museum@aurora.edu.

February 2 - April 25, 2009

With a Little Help from Our Friends: Gifts and Loans from Local Collectors

Since opening its doors in 1990, the Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures has been the recipient of the generosity of collectors in the area.  Families seeking a good home for their treasures have donated them to the museum.  Others have loaned their collections to help the museum present a particular exhibit made possible only by the loan of materials not in the museum's collection.  We would like to share these artifacts and the wonderful stories of those who collected them.  This is our way of saying a very large thank you!

November 19, 2008

January 31 - April 25, 2008

Weapons of Mass Media

Featuring work by Bunky Echo-hawk (Pawnee/Yakama)

Curated by Meg Bero, Executive Director of the Schingoethe Center

Opening Reception: Thursday, January 31, 2008, 4:30-7:00 p.m.

March 27 - April 27, 2007

"In Citizen's Garb: Southern Plains Indians, 1889-1891," a vintage photography display

March 14, 2007

October 3, 2006

Gwich'in Elder, Florence Thomas

Gwich'in elder Florence Thomas is from the Old Crow reservation in Canada.  Through an informal talk with artifacts from her reservation, she will share her culture.  Florence will be speaking specifically about the drilling for oil in the ANWAR (Alaska National Wildlife Refuge) and its impact on her people and their traditional way of life.

October 5, 2006

Ingrid Wendt and Ralph Salisbury

Born and raised in Aurora, Illinois, Ingrid Wendt has been a three-time Fulbright professor in Germany, and guest lecturer at several international universities.  She is the author of five books of poems, two anthologies, a book-length teaching guide, and numerous articles and reviews.  Winner of the D. H. Lawrence Award, the Oregon Book Award, the Yellowglen Prize, the Editions Prize, and the Carolyn Kizer Award, Ingrid will be reading and discussing the origins of poems from her last two prize-winning books, The Angle of Sharpest Ascending and Surgeonfish: wanderings through the world, through history, and through the heart.  She and her husband, Ralph Salisbury, live in Eugene, Oregon.  Ralph Salisbury, Professor Emeritus at the University of Oregon, is the author of two books of short fiction and eight books of poetry, War in the Genes (Cherry Grove Collections, 2006) the most recent.  He has received many awards, among them a Rockefeller, a Chapelbrook, a Northwest Poetry Award; two Fulbright professorships to Germany and Norway; and an Amparts (USIS) lectureship in India.  He will read selections from his published work and present a talk based on his experience as a Native American poet, fiction writer and storyteller and on his co-translating Sami (Lapp) poetry.

November 6, 2006

Exhibit - A Moment in Time, Curator: Meg Bero

Opening Reception 4:00-6:00 p.m.

Roughly from the time of the Louisiana Purchase (1803) to the official closing of the western frontier (1890), there is a brief period in which the contact of white explorers and settlers coincides with a rising consciousness of cultural differences and the importance of recording the cultural experience of native peoples.  This exhibit displays some of the important work of artists and ethnographers in this period, drawing on the rare book collection of the Schingoethe Center.

Image at left: "Polishing Pottery," H. Nichols Sr., Annual Report 1882 plate XL from the Bureau of American Ethnology, care of the Schingoethe Center's rare book collection

November 6-10, 2006

Native American Film Series

(Titles TBA - call 630-844-5402 after October 15th for details)

November 7, 2006

John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) - Bill Steinbacher-Kemp (this talk corresponds with our exhibit A Moment In Time)

In 1869, John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War Veteran from Illinois, led an epic three-month expedition through the last unmapped section of the continental United States - the canyons of the Green and Colorado Rivers.  After attaining national fame as the "Conqueror of the Grand Canyon," Powell became the architect for the federal science bureaucracy, organizing and leading the U.S. Geological Survey and the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of Ethnology.  This lecture is illustrated and is based on primary source research.  Bill Steinbacher-Kemp holds two MS degrees, the first in History from ISU, and the second in Public Affairs Reporting from the U of I at Springfield.  He has given numerous public lectures and tours concerning Illinois history, in addition to being a fulltime archivist and librarian at the McLean County Museum of History.  His talk is presented through the "Road Scholars" program of the Illinois Humanities Council.

November 8, 2006

Native American Dance Workshop - Lance Tallmadge

(University Banquet Hall) Are you ready to dance?!  Join Lance Tallmadge (Ho Chunk) and his company as he teaches us to dance Native American style.  Lance and his colleagues will share why dance is so important to their traditions, the symbolic meaning in their dances and regalia and the place of the drum in all Native cultures.  Then everyone will join the dance circle!  There is an admission charge for members of the public, and advance reservations are required because of limited space (630-844-7841).

November 8, 2006

Native American Club Supper Meeting - Learning about Powwow Traditions - Rita Reynolds

University Banquet Hall) Following the Dance Workshop: Supper meeting of Dreamcatchers, the Aurora University Native American Club.  Open to the public by advance reservation; there is a charge for dinner (call 630-844-7841).  Supper includes Native American foods and his accompanied by a teaching on the history, traditions, and techniques of dance in the context of the powwow, by elder Rita Reynolds (Dakota).

November 10, 2006

Woodland and Ojibwa Spirituality - Nick Hockings

Nick Hockings (Ojibwa) offers a world view of the Ojibwa and Woodlands people by focusing on the Madoodooswan (Sweat Lodge).  The Sweat is a ceremony done by all tribes for cleansing and healing.  Nick will delineate all aspects of the ceremony and relate them to the spiritual views of his people.  Hockings is a Cultural Consultant and the creator of Was-Wagoning, a recreated village in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin.  Nick is also famous for building the wigwam in the Schingoethe Center!