LEGACIES AND 

LANDMARKS 

OF THE HIGH 

PLAINS NATIVE 

AMERICANS

THE KLALLAM 

DICTIONARY 

AND 

ELECTRONIC 

TEXT ARCHIVE

BDOTE 

MEMORY 

MAP

PLATEAU 

PEOPLES’ 

WEB 

PORTAL

THE FRONTIER 

OF NATIVE 

AMERICAN 

LITERATURE

 National Endowment for the Humanities

PRESERVING NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
Greetings,

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is a federal grant-making agency that awards 

competitive grants to institutions and individuals for humanities-focused projects. NEH grantees 

are from cultural institutions such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public 

television and radio stations. NEH-funded projects vary from seminars for teachers and scholarly 

publications to digital apps and documentary films.

This report highlights five NEH-funded projects designed to support Native Americans and 

their communities. The projects featured in this report demonstrate the diversity of the agency’s 

work and the many strategies for supporting Native Americans throughout the country. These 

projects preserve Native American history and serve tribal communities by engaging them 

through the humanities. These are just a few examples of how NEH funding fuels innovation, 

increases communication, and strengthens communities. Some initiatives, like the Klallam 

Dictionary and Electronic Text Archive, preserve ancient languages by creating digital audio and 

video collections. Other programs, like the Bdote Memory Map, use interactive websites to make 

Native American history more accessible to educators and the public. 

I am proud to say that the content of this report was produced entirely by student interns at 

the NEH. The layout, graphics, and design of the pages you are about to read are the product 

of a student practicum at the Washington, DC campus of Boston University’s Center for Digital 

Imaging Arts. Because of the students’ hard work, the NEH was able to compile these reports 

without the use of taxpayer funds. I hope that you will share this report with your staff, 

constituents, and colleagues.

Sincerely,

Courtney Chapin

NEH White House Liaison and Director of Congressional Affairs
TABLE OF CONTENTS

2

1

3

4

5

6

7

Building communities 

through the humanities. Assisting Potential Grantees

Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal

Preserving and Circulating Native 

Knowledge and Culture

Legacies and Landmarks

of the High Plains Native Americans

The Klallam Dictionary and 

Electronic Text Archive

Bdote Memory Map

The Frontier of Native 

American Literature

Conclusion 

Bdote Memory Map event and Projects in Process
1 ASSISTING POTENTIAL 

GRANTEES

NEH Grant Programs

The Native American communities in our 

country serve as invaluable resources for 

our nation’s history and traditions. The 

National Endowment for the Humanities 

leverages federal dollars to explore, 

uncover, and preserve Native American 

history from across the country. Included 

in this report are examples of grants 

that represent the NEH’s commitment 

to Native American communities and 

their rich histories and traditions. 

Grantees have used NEH grants to 

support a myriad of initiatives, including 

preservation, access, education, and 

research projects related to Native 

Americans. 

The following represent a small sample 

of the many NEH grant programs that 

support the goals of projects related to 

Native American culture:

Documenting Endangered Languages

In 2005, the NEH and the National 

Science Foundation established a 

joint special initiative, Documenting 

Endangered Languages. The initiative 

supports projects to document, record, 

and archive information related to 

endangered languages worldwide 

that are on the verge of extinction—

including hundreds of American Indian 

languages. It is estimated that 3,000 of 

the world’s 6,000-7,000 current spoken 

languages are on the verge of extinction. 

Since FY 2005, NEH has supported 

83 projects and awarded nearly $7.5 

million, including over 50 projects on 

endangered American Indian languages. 

In each project, academic linguists work 

closely with native speakers to record 

the language for future generations and 

wider public audiences. All products 

(e.g., dictionaries, websites, archives) are 

made available to the tribal community. 

Interested applicants can find more 

information here: http://www.neh.gov/

grants/preservation/documentingendangered-languages. 

Challenge Grants

NEH Challenge Grants help institutions 

and organizations secure funding for 

long-term humanities programs and 

resources. All Challenge Grants are 

matching grants, meaning that the 

institution must match the grant with 

private donations. Grants may be used 

to establish or enhance endowments, 

ongoing programs (like film series, 

annual lectures), or for institutional 

improvements. Challenge Grants may 

also support the procurement of longlasting objects, such as acquisitions for 

archives and collections, the purchasing 

of equipment, and the construction 

or renovation of facilities needed for 

humanities activities. Grantee institutions 

may also expend up to 10 percent of total 

grant funds to defray fundraising costs. 

Because of the matching requirement, 

these NEH grants also strengthen the 

humanities by encouraging more private 

support. Interested applicants can find 

more information here: http://www.neh.

gov/grants/challenge/challenge-grants.
Investing in Tribal Colleges

The NEH provides two grant 

opportunities specifically for Tribal 

Colleges and Universities: one for faculty 

researchers and the other for institutional 

development. The Awards for Faculty 

Grant program provides grants designed 

to meet the unique needs of scholars 

at Tribal Colleges by supporting faculty 

research efforts for their publications. 

These research projects often yield 

classroom enrichment and public 

programs. Interested applicants can find 

more information here: www.neh.gov/

grants/research/awards-faculty-tribalcolleges-and-universities.

The Humanities Initiatives Grant program 

is intended to strengthen and enrich 

humanities education and scholarship 

at Tribal Colleges and Universities. The 

grants may be used to enhance the 

humanities content of existing programs, 

develop new programs, or lay the 

foundation for more extensive endeavors 

in the future. Interested applicants can 

find more information here: http://www.

neh.gov/grants/education/humanitiesinitiatives-tribal-colleges-and-universities.

Preservation Assistance Grants for 

Smaller Institutions

Preservation Assistance Grants help 

small and mid-sized institutions—

such as libraries, museums, historical 

societies, archival repositories, cultural 

organizations, town and county records 

offices, and colleges and universities—

improve their ability to preserve and 

care for their significant humanities 

collections. These may include special 

collections of books and journals, archives 

and manuscripts, prints and photographs, 

moving images, sound recordings, 

architectural and cartographic records, 

decorative and fine art objects, textiles, 

archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, 

furniture, historical objects, and digital 

materials. Interested applicants can find 

more information here: http://www.neh.

gov/grants/preservation/preservationassistance-grants-smaller-institutions. 

How NEH Can Help

NEH staff members are available to help 

potential applicants find the right grant 

program for their project and to help 

them navigate the application process. 

Please reach out to NEH Congressional 

Affairs staff to find more information for 

your constituents. The remainder of this 

report highlights recent grantees that 

demonstrate how successful applicants 

use NEH funding. The featured projects 

support Tribal Colleges, improve public 

understanding of Native American 

culture, and preserve tribal history.

Documenting Endangered 

Languages grantee the 

Archive of the Indigenous 

Languages of Latin America

Tribal Historian Larry 

Aiken, participant in 

Humanities Initiatives at 

Tribal Colleges grant to 

Leech Lake Tribal College
2

Introduction

The Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal is a gateway to cultural materials held in Washington 

State University’s Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections; the Museum of 

Anthropology; the National Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian Institution; and 

other museums and archives. The five tribes represented curated many of the artifacts 

displayed in the web portal. Tribal administrators provided information and personal 

materials to expand the archival record of their history and culture. Each piece of content 

incorporates tribal knowledge, already-existing catalogue records, and added links to audio, 

video, and narrative comments.

How It Works

The Plateau People’s Web Portal’s 

expansion was made possible by 

a grant from the NEH’s Division of 

Preservation and Access to make 

thousands of artifacts and articles 

on Native American life accessible. 

Tribal administrators provided 

additional background information, 

edited the existing information, and 

added new visual content. Using 

the administrative side of the portal, 

tribes can upload their own artifacts 

to the portal and decide the level 

of access to their private collection. 

Tribal consultants worked together to 

decide on the appropriate categories 

for classifying their materials. Users 

can explore maps of areas in which 

historical objects were collected and 

listen to the recollections of presentday community members, while 

also organizing materials into their 

own collections at the same time. 

This project aims to create not just 

a digital portal to view content, but 

also a different model for the curation, 

distribution, and reproduction of Native 

peoples’ cultural materials.

PLATEAU PEOPLES’ WEB PORTAL

PRESERVING AND CIRCULATING NATIVE KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE

exist for users to browse: Architecture & Dwellings, Artistry 

& Artifacts, Ceremony, Economy/Economic Development, 

Education, Government to Government Relations, Lands, 

Language, Lifeways, Natural Resources, Religion, and 

Wars/Military Conflict

displayed in the beta version of the Portal

represented: Yakama, Umatilla, Spokane, 

Colville, and Coeur d’Alene nations

12

categories

5

nations

1,100

collection

items
This project is an inspiring model 

of how university repositories 

can successfully collaborate with 

tribal communities to curate and 

enhance collections with tribal 

voices and histories.

– University Librarian

The portal provides a mutual 

knowledge exchange with no 

hierarchy of expertise. The 

academic benefit is expanding 

the scholarly record, and at the 

same time cultural materials 

are repatriated to tribes and 

narrated by them.

– Tribal Curator

“

“

”

”
represented and subsequently 50 implemented programs colleges

LEGACIES AND LANDMARKS 3 OF THE HIGH PLAINS NATIVE AMERICANS

the Pawnee, Ponca, and Winnebago 

tribes – by tribal scholars, historians, 

language experts, documentary 

filmmakers, and innovators in other fields

with programs implemented 

from this workshop

Introduction

In the summer of 2012, Central Community College 

(CCC) in St. Columbus, Nebraska, presented 

“Legacies and Landmarks of the High Plains Native 

Americans,” a six-day workshop that studied the 

Pawnee, Ponca, and Winnebago tribes. The workshop 

focused on three overarching themes: the culture 

of these tribes prior to the migration of AngloAmericans; interventions by the U.S. government 

leading to dispossession and the creation of 

reservations and Indian schools; and current tribal 

structure and efforts to preserve cultural identity. 

The workshop is one of many funded each summer 

by the NEH’s Division of Education Programs.

How It Works

A combination of CCC faculty and visiting scholars 

hosted a series of panel discussions, lectures, 

landmark visits, and literature and film analyses 

to discuss the themes of the course. The series 

welcomed fifty participants, including educators from 

around the country from fields as diverse as English, 

anthropology, archaeology, history, humanities, 

sociology, religion, and philosophy. The course 

was designed to expand curricula and enrich each 

educator’s teaching skills. The educators returned to 

their home institutions and developed courses based 

on their experience at the workshop. 

3

tribes 

profiled

16 

states
The workshop was excellent — I plan 

to use the material I discovered in 

both my English 1301 and English 

1302 classes. I would like to create a 

Native American component in these 

American Idea and American Dream 

classes. Both classes would offer this 

fascinating material to many first 

generation college students. 

– Visiting Scholar

This week has provided 

a quantum leap in my 

understanding of the 

Native cultures in the 

Nebraska region.

– Professor

A semester worth of 

information in six days.

– Faculty Member

“

“

“

”

”

”
Introduction

Klallam is an American Indian language of the Salishan 

family spoken on three reservations on Washington’s 

Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island in Canada. The 

NEH funded the production of the first full dictionary 

of the Klallam language along with a digital audio and 

video collection of transcribed and translated speech in 

various genres. The dictionary and website are accessible 

to Klallam language learners and scholars interested in 

language and culture.

How It Works

The Klallam Dictionary was made possible by a 

Documenting Endangered Languages Grant from the NEH 

Division of Preservation and Access. The Documenting 

Endangered Languages program is a partnership between 

the NEH and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to 

develop and advance knowledge concerning endangered 

human languages. Klallam is highly endangered, but 

the dictionary and electronic text archive preserve the 

language for both the Klallam people and current and 

future scholars interested in the Klallam language and 

culture. The project director, Timothy R. Montler, is 

a linguist with years of experience working on Salish 

languages in general and with Klallam in particular. He has 

a strong working relationship with the Klallam community, 

which asked him to collaborate on the proposed dictionary. 

The last two elders who spoke the Klallam language 

participated in this project as consultants.

THE KLALLAM DICTIONARY & 4 ELECTRONIC TEXT ARCHIVE

of 60-to-90-minutes in Waveform 

audio format included in the 

digitized archive

texts recorded in 1992 on VHS video, 

converted to digital Audio Video Interleave 

format for archiving

digitized, transcribed, 

translated, and analyzed

within the Klallam Dictionary, an outline of the 

language’s grammar, numerous indexes, and 

a wealth of cultural information. It is among 

the longest books published by the University 

of Washington Press

140

audio 

recordings

200+

Klallam 

texts

9,000

entries

contained

20

Klallam 

languages
It’s working. We have 

turned the corner, 

where the language is 

going on into the next 

generation. Now we just 

have to keep it going.

– Language Scholar 

It holds so much, 

every word in 

there brings 

back stories and 

relationships. 

It’s a whole 

different world.

– Tribal Member

I just wish our 

elders who are 

gone could see 

this day. My 

mom and my dad 

probably wouldn’t 

even believe it.

– Tribal Member

“ “

“

” ”

”
BDOTE MEMORY MAP

Introduction

Over time, Native Americans in Minnesota and the Plains States were displaced from their 

indigenous homeland. This has endangered the preservation of their sacred and historic 

sites. The Minnesota Humanities Center created the Bdote Memory Map, a multimedia 

constellation of resources designed to preserve the history of these ancient sites and educate 

Native Americans, students, and enthusiasts about their value. The Minnesota Humanities 

Center is one of many NEH-funded state humanities councils preserving American history 

using modern, interactive software.

How It Works

This interactive map of the Dakota 

Indians’ homeland invites visitors 

to add their stories of traditional 

Dakota sites to the map as an ongoing 

effort to compile the history of the 

region. The map actively encourages 

residents of Minnesota and the 

plains states to visit important sites 

in Dakota history. The increased 

exploration of Dakota history brings 

together the Dakota people and the 

non-native residents of the area to 

better understand Mni Sota Makoce 

(the Dakotas’ tribal homeland). The 

website features resources designed 

for teachers, students, scholars, and 

enthusiasts. 

The Minnesota Humanities Center 

co-sponsors workshops and events 

dedicated to K-12 educators and 

the public on issues concerning 

Native Americans. The Center uses 

the map during teacher training 

sessions. Many teachers incorporate 

the map into lesson plans to enrich 

their students’ understanding of 

the history and significance of sites 

throughout Minnesota. 

5

from Saint Paul Public Schools will participate in a Bdote 

training field trip thanks to a small grant from Education 

Minnesota. They will receive instruction from Dakota elders, 

classroom materials, & transportation funds to bring their 

own classes on a Bdote field trip

20

6th-grade

teachers

The Dot.Org Awards honor Minnesota nonprofits 

on the cutting edge of new technologies and 

communications methods

have been guided by the National Park 

Service on canoe trips to the Bdote sites 

during a large-scale summer program called 

Urban Wilderness Canoe Adventures in the 

past two years

17,000

students

2011

Dot.Org

Award

Recipient
For both American Indian 

students and their nonIndian classmates, the 

Bdote Memory Map placebased approach connects 

them to this place, to each 

other, and to themselves.

– Project Organizer

“

”

‘Place’ is a useful 

lens for learning, 

particularly about 

people indigenous to a 

given area. The Bdote 

Memory Map website 

suggests issues 

of history erased, 

justice denied and 

stewardship needed.

– Project Director

NEH-Funded State Humanities Councils 

The NEH funds 56 humanities councils located in all 

U.S. states and jurisdictions. The councils support local 

humanities programs and events—like book festivals, film 

screenings, discussions, and traveling exhibits—and many 

provide grants to local organizations, scholars, and citizens 

to create humanities programs and products. The state 

humanities councils receive the majority of their funding 

from the NEH through the Federal/State Partnership Office. 

They supplement this funding with support from private 

donations, foundations, corporations, and, in some cases, 

state government. Stories about the work of state humanities 

councils are located at http://www.neh.gov/divisions/fedstate.

I visited Minnehaha 

Falls this past autumn 

after my interest 

was sparked by the 

Memory Map website.

– Minnesota Resident 

“

”

“

”
attend Diné College

and six community centers

2,000

students

2

campuses

Introduction

Over the course of 2007, Diné College (the oldest tribal 

college in the United States) hosted a series of seminars 

that examined Native American literature and how it can 

advance learning across disciplines. Selected from three Diné 

College campuses, fifteen interdisciplinary faculty members 

conducted video-conferencing seminars over two semesters 

that explored Native American literature and the ways in 

which it can help students develop their critical writing skills. 

The NEH is committed to supporting Tribal Colleges and 

Universities and the historical and cultural perspectives they 

provide.

How It Works

During the seminars, faculty participants read foundational 

works in Native fiction and literary theory, seeking a greater 

understanding of Tribal Colleges’ complex relationship to 

Native literature. The workshop brought together the college 

faculty who teach at centers and campuses across the Diné 

College system (which serves the Navajo Nation across 27,000 

square-miles). The seminars allowed for greater cohesiveness 

and communication among faculty who have little opportunity 

for intellectual interaction. The courses sought to build better 

understanding of the role that the humanities can play in 

creating a vibrant and challenging intellectual climate for a 

community of learners. Through the dialogue between two 

visiting experts in Native American literature, the discovery of 

seldom-read texts, and contributions from influential scholars, 

the seminars strengthened America’s oldest Tribal College 

and Native American scholarship at large.

THE FRONTIER OF NATIVE 6 AMERICAN LITERATURE

which culminated in a portfolio 

that reflects findings and offers 

suggestions for incorporation into 

classroom teaching

8

seminar 

meetings
The Diné College Humanities 

Division at Tsaile strongly 

encourages and supports 

all efforts and activities that 

contribute to the development 

of an intellectual environment 

among faculty and students and 

which promote the advancement 

of student learning. ‘The 

Frontier of Native American 

Literature: Imaginative Paths to 

Knowledge,’ addresses both of 

these areas. – Faculty Participant

As a humanities instructor 

at Diné College, I am excited 

and eager to participate 

in ‘The Frontier of Native 

American Literature: 

Imaginative Paths to 

Knowledge.’ For some time 

now I have been interested 

in developing a dialogue on 

the issues in Native American 

literature among my fellow 

colleagues. 

– Diné College Professor

“

“

”

”
Yup’ik Historical Narratives and Traditional Tales: 

Stories for Future Generations 

The Calista Elders Council (CEC), a nonprofit organization representing the 

Yup’ik people, is creating a collection of oral histories and traditional tales 

from the Yup’ik people of southwestern Alaska. The anthology will include 

the stories in Yup’ik and in English to serve native speakers, linguists, 

anthropologists, and general readers. It will be published with a companion 

website that features audio recordings and transcriptions of the tales – a 

sample of the website is online now: http://surrealstudios.com/cec.

Projects In Progress

This report features only a small selection of 

NEH-funded initiatives that engage Native 

American communities. NEH funding often goes 

toward the early developmental stages of a 

project. Florentine Films/Hott Productions’ Rising 

Voices/Hothaninpi documentary and the Calista 

Elders Council’s Yup’ik Historical Narratives and 

Traditional Tales: Stories for Future Generations 

are long term projects nearing completion. Both 

projects represent the NEH’s commitment to 

funding projects that find innovative ways to 

present history in documentaries and online.

7 CONCLUSION

Rising Voices/Hothaninpi

The NEH awarded a grant to the Lakota Language Conservancy for the 

development of a documentary film that will explore the Lakota people’s 

lives today and their efforts to revitalize their language. Rising Voices/

Hothaninpi (which means “they will have their say”) will reveal to wide 

audiences the growing problem of language extinction and prove why 

endangered languages are worth preserving. Award-winning filmmaker 

Lawrence Hott directed the 90 minute film that will air on PBS in Fall 

2013. He and his film crew recorded the Lakota Language Conservancy’s 

language recovery classes. Lakota filmmakers and artists created five short, 

creative films about the Lakota language to demarcate the film’s thematic 

sections.
Conclusion

The National Endowment for the Humanities endeavors to make the rich 

history of Native American communities accessible to the public while also 

increasing scholarly resources available for academics and tribal organizations. 

NEH-funded programs explore ways in which technology can help uncover, 

organize, and share artifacts, language, and cultural practices. These projects, 

specifically those directed by tribal organizations, have begun to redefine 

traditional ideas about scholarship and research in the field. These additions 

to historical research and public outreach enrich Americans’ understanding of 

Native American history. These projects not only explore the lives of present 

day Native Americans, but also sustain the traditions of the past.

The projects showcased in this report are examples of how private 

organizations and individuals can develop engaging humanities programs in 

collaboration with Native American communities with relatively low levels 

of funding. Not only can your constituents become involved in many of the 

programs included in this report, but they can also create new, local versions 

of these programs. Please connect your constituents with the NEH or any of 

the organizations featured here to bring these educational opportunities to 

your community. The NEH is proud to support a diverse set of cultural centers 

and organizations, including NEH-funded State Humanities Councils, in an 

effort to support Native American culture through the humanities.

Design Credit — Daphne Kiplinger

The graphic design layout of this and the other 3 reports issued to Congress on the impact of NEH funding was 

designed by Daphne Kiplinger, a graduate student at Boston University’s Center for Digital Imaging Arts in DC.

Photo Credits

Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal: Photos Courtesy of the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal

Legacies and Landmarks of the High Plains Native Americans: Photos courtesy of Diana Parmley

The Klallam Dictionary and Electronic Text Archive: Illustration by James Gilchrist Swan; Photo courtesy of the 

Library of Congress

Bdote Memory Map: Photos Courtesy of the Minnesota Humanities Council

The Frontier of Native American Literature: Photos courtesy of Diné College
About the NEH

The National Endowment for the 

Humanities (NEH) is an independent 

federal agency created in 1965. It is one 

of the largest funders of humanities 

programs in the United States. 

Because democracy demands wisdom, 

NEH serves and strengthens our 

republic by promoting excellence in 

the humanities and conveying the 

lessons of history to all Americans. 

The Endowment accomplishes this 

mission by awarding grants for toprated proposals examined by panels of 

independent, external reviewers.