The Smithsonian Institution, 

National Museum of the American 

Indian (NMAI), opened its doors 

to the public on September 21, 

2004 on the National Mall in 

Washington, DC. The museum, 

which was 15 years in the making, 

is the first national museum in the 

country dedicated exclusively to 

Native Americans, the first to present all exhibitions from a Native 

viewpoint, and the first constructed 

on the National Mall since 1987. 

More than 92,000 people visited 

the museum during the first week. 

The 5-story, 250,000-square 

foot, curvilinear building is located 

between the National Air and Space 

Museum and the United States 

Capitol. The textured goldencolored limestone exterior evokes 

natural rock formations shaped 

by wind and water over thousands 

of years. It features an east-facing 

entrance to catch the rising sun, 

a prism window, and a 120-foothigh atrium called the Potomac. 

NMAI was designed by Jones & 

Jones, SmithGroup in association 

with Lou Weller and the Native 

American Design Collaborative and 

Polshek Partnership Architects in 

consultation with Native American 

communities over a four-year 

period.

The opening day ceremonies 

began with more than 25,000 

Native Americans from more than 

500 tribes and Native communities 

from North, Central, and South 

America, participating in a Native 

Nations procession. According to 

estimates, it was the largest gathering of Native peoples in modern 

history.

Included in the opening ceremony was a presentation of the 

colors by the Hopi Honor Guard 

in honor of Private First Class 

Lori A. Piestewa, who was the first 

Native American servicewoman to 

give her life in overseas combat. A 

song was performed in her honor 

by Black Eagle, a drum group 

from the Jemez Pueblo in New 

Mexico. Remarks were delivered 

by Lawrence M. Small, Secretary 

of the Smithsonian Institution; 

Alejandro Toledo, President of 

Peru; Senators Ben Nighthorse 

Campbell of Colorado and Daniel 

K. Inouye of Hawaii, who introduced the legislation in 1989 that 

created the museum; and founding 

director W. Richard West Jr. 

Approximately 8,000 objects 

from the museum’s permanent 

collection are on display. An art 

exhibit and works of historic and 

contemporary art placed throughout the building complement three 

major exhibits. A welcome wall 

N E W S O F T H E N A T I O N ’ S D I V E R S E C U L T U R A L H E R I T A G E

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Curriculum materials 

available, p. 3

Conferences 

upcoming, p. 17

Grant 

recipients, p. 4 

National Register 

nominations, p. 7

Publication 

of note, p. 17

HERITAGE MATTERS

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Museum of the American Indian Opens to Great Fanfare

Thousands participated in the procession from the National Mall to the Capitol during the National Museum of the 

American Indian’s opening ceremony. Courtesy of Jeff Tinsley. 

The picture depicts 

the Santa Fe of five 

centuries ago: the 

Spaniard Cortés meets 

with Tlaxcaltecan 

nobles. See page 6.
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

page 2

One of the most distinctive buildings on the National Mall, the National 

Museum of the American Indian—pictured from the east—opened on 

September 21, 2004. Courtesy of Jeff Tinsley. 

Left: Interior dome above the Potomac atrium. Courtesy of Marcia Axtmann Smith.

of video screens at the museum’s 

entrance greets visitors in 150 

Native languages, conveying the 

significant presence and diversity 

of Native peoples throughout the 

Americas. This message is again 

reinforced in the Lelawi (leh-LAHwee) Theater, a 120-seat circular 

theater offering a 13-minute multimedia experience, “Who We Are,” 

that prepares museum-goers for 

their visit. “Visitors will leave this 

museum experience knowing that 

Indians are not just a part of 

history. We are still here and are 

making vital contributions to contemporary American culture and 

art,” said West.

“The Smithsonian is honored 

to present this vital new museum, 

created by Native peoples from 

this hemisphere, to the American 

public and visitors from around 

the world,” Secretary Small offered 

during his remarks. “Its importance 

can’t be over estimated; it’s a mustsee for anyone visiting the nation’s 

capital.”

For more information, visit NMAI’s website at

http://www.AmericanIndian.si.edu. 
page 3

“The Trail of Tears” 

in the Classroom

Yolanda Montalvo

National Park Service, CRDIP Summer 

2004 Intern

Teaching with Historic Places 

(TwHP), a program within the 

National Register of Historic 

Places, provides classroom lesson 

plans that introduce elementary 

and secondary students to the rich 

history embodied in our nation’s 

culturally diverse historic sites. 

It recently launched its 118th lesson plan, “The Trail of Tears: The 

Forced Relocation of the Cherokee 

Nation.” Focusing on three historic 

sites, this lesson plan chronicles the 

events leading up to the relocation 

of the Cherokee tribe, the march 

itself, and its devastating aftermath. 

During the late 18th and early 

19th century, tribes across the 

eastern United States began surrendering their lands to the Federal 

Government in return for monetary compensation. This compensation rarely came to fruition, 

leaving most American Indians 

homeless and destitute in new territory. The election of renowned 

Indian fighter Andrew Jackson as 

president, the discovery of gold 

on Cherokee lands in Georgia, 

and the 1830 Indian Removal Act 

sealed the Cherokee’s fate. About 

100,000 Cherokee, Chickasaw, 

Choctaw, Creeks, and Seminoles 

were removed from their traditional lands. Although the Cherokee 

were among the last to leave, they 

eventually packed their belongings and headed west in the fall 

of 1838. An estimated one-fifth of 

the Cherokee Nation perished on 

their journey to the newly created 

“Indian Territory” in what is now 

Oklahoma. Age, infirmity, disease, 

and inadequate protection from 

the elements contributed to the 

casualties. 

The “Trail of Tears” lesson 

plan is based on three National 

Register properties: the John Ross 

House, the Major Ridge House, 

and Rattlesnake Springs. The Ross 

House and the Ridge House (called 

“Chieftains”), both in Georgia, 

are National Historic Landmarks. 

Rattlesnake Springs in Tennessee is 

a stockade camp where Cherokees 

were initially collected after being 

forced off of their land. Ross and 

Ridge were two influential leaders 

in the Cherokee Nation. Both were 

borne of Anglo/Indian marriages 

and were fiercely committed to the 

welfare of the Cherokee people. 

They were bitterly divided on the 

issue of whether or not to accept 

the Treaty of New Echota, under 

which the United States would 

provide compensation and land 

FEDERAL ACTIVITIES

Below left: Home to one of the leaders of the Cherokee Nation, the Major Ridge House in Rome, Georgia, is located 

near the former capital of the Cherokee Nation, New Enchota. Courtesy of Robert Irwin. 

Right: “The Trail of Tears” lesson plan addresses the forced migration of the Cherokee to Oklahoma. Some of the 

trails the Cherokee traveled, such as this one in Tennessee, are still visible. Photo by Benjamin Nance, courtesy of the Tennessee 
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

in Indian Territory. Feeling that it 

was futile to fight the government, 

Ridge and some Cherokees formed 

a Treaty Party and negotiated to 

accept the treaty. This infuriated 

Ross and many who believed they 

should continue attempts to keep 

their homelands. This division is 

still a topic of debate; while some 

believe Ridge was a realist, others 

view Ross as heroic. 

The lesson plan consists of 

maps, readings, and images that 

offer a compelling study of the 

Cherokee plight. The maps highlight routes taken by the Cherokee 

during the relocation and the lands 

the tribe once occupied. Accounts 

of the marches and oral histories 

provide glimpses into the minds of 

witnesses, victims, and descendants 

of those who survived. Students 

have an opportunity to analyze 

evidence found in the lesson plan, 

and review maps of the region to 

consider the process of relocation 

and the steps taken to undergo 

such an endeavor. In Putting it All 

Together, the lesson plan encourages the reader to empathize with 

the Cherokee and analyze the steps 

taken by those involved in the 

event. This section also asks students to debate the various issues. 

The Teaching with Historic 

Places program promotes cultural 

diversity in education. The “Trail 

of Tears” lesson plan facilitates this 

by encouraging a balanced view of 

the circumstances that American 

Indians found themselves in due to 

the encroachment of the Federal 

Government. 

For more information on the Teaching with 

Historic Places and to find out more about this 

and other lesson plans, visit, http://www.cr.nps.

gov/nr/twhp/.

Yolanda Montalvo is a senior at the University 

of California at San Diego majoring in history. 

She was a Cultural Resources Diversity Intern in 

Washington, DC, during the summer of 2004.

Reviewing and 

Reflecting on the 

Native American 

Graves Protection 

and Repatriation Act

Paula Molloy

National NAGPRA Program, National 

Park Service

In the late 1980s, representatives of 

Indian tribes and Native American 

organizations from across the 

nation gathered in Washington, 

DC, to testify before Congress on 

an issue of central spiritual and 

cultural importance: the remains of 

their ancestors housed in museums. 

Their moving testimony resulted 

in Congress passing the Native 

American Graves Protection and 

Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) that 

was signed into law by President 

George H. W. Bush in 1990. The 

goals of NAGPRA are to help protect the graves of Native Americans 

and Native Hawaiians, and to 

effect the repatriation of Native 

American and Native Hawaiian 

human remains and cultural items. 

As NAGPRA approaches its 15th 

year, it is a good time to review 

what the federal legislation requires 

and reflect on how NAGPRA has 

transformed cultural resources 

stewardship.

NAGPRA requires museums and 

federal agencies to return Native 

American human remains and certain cultural items to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated Indian 

tribes, Native Alaskan villages and 

corporations, and Native Hawaiian 

organizations. NAGPRA’s two main 

sections apply to museum and federal agency collections, and to the 

intentional excavation and inadvertent discovery of Native American 

human remains and cultural items 

on federal and tribal lands.

Under NAGPRA, museums and 

federal agencies must prepare two 

documents: 1) an inventory of 

Native American human remains 

and associated funerary objects 

in their collections, and 2) a summary of those collections that may 

contain unassociated funerary 

objects, sacred objects, or objects 

of cultural patrimony. Consultation 

with lineal descendants, tribes, and 

Native Hawaiian organizations is 

integral to this process. Museums 

and federal agencies must send 

the inventories and summaries to 

potential claimants and the National Park Service National NAGPRA 

program. 

NAGPRA has special requirements for federal agencies. When 

activities on federal or tribal lands 

result in the discovery of or possible excavation of Native American 

human remains and NAGPRA 

cultural items, that activity must 

temporarily cease until lineal 

descendants, Indian tribes, and/or 

Native Hawaiian organizations 

are consulted and a written plan 

of action is prepared. The federal 

agency must determine the owner 

of the remains or objects following 

a prioritized list of claimants and 

then notify the public to allow for 

other claimants to come forward.

To date, over 29,000 sets of 

human remains and over 600,000 

funerary objects were found to 

be eligible for repatriation under 

NAGPRA. Repatriations range 

from small, private events involving 

the remains of a single individual, 

to large, complex undertakings, 

such as the 2002 repatriation of 

the remains of 1,912 individuals from Harvard University’s 

Peabody Museum of Archaeology 

and Ethnography to the Pueblo of 

Jemez. While NAGPRA’s goals are 

straightforward, the road to reaching them has a number of steps. 

The National NAGPRA program is 

available to provide technical assistance to anyone who is working his 

or her way through the NAGPRA 

process. National NAGPRA provides training, puts forth regulations, administers a grant program, 

and maintains a website with a 

page 4
page 5

number of technical assistance 

tools at http://www.cr.nps.gov/

nagpra.

NAGPRA has contributed 

to positive changes in cultural 

resources stewardship. NAGPRA 

offers an opportunity for Native 

Americans and the cultural 

resources community to work 

together and to develop stronger 

ties. NAGPRA’s consultation 

requirements guarantee a place 

at the table for Indian tribes and 

Native Hawaiian organizations 

where matters of their cultural 

heritage are concerned. This dialog 

has led to co-management 

agreements for federal agency 

lands, and co-curation and public 

programming efforts between tribes 

and museums. The result is a richer 

presentation of Native American 

and Native Hawaiian cultural 

heritage that reflects and respects 

indigenous perspectives.

American Indians. Cultural 

resources. Private and communal 

property law. NAGPRA has come 

to represent many things to many 

people. But no matter how it is 

characterized, most can agree that 

NAGPRA marks a sea change in 

the relationship between indigenous peoples, museums, and cultural resource professionals in the 

United States.

For more information, visit the National NAGPRA 

program website at http://www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra/.

Save America’s 

Treasures Grants 

for 2004

Save America’s Treasures (SAT) 

is a national effort to protect 

America’s threatened cultural treasures, including historic structures, 

collections, works of art, maps, 

and journals that document and 

illuminate the history and culture 

of the United States. Established 

in February 1998, Save America’s 

Treasures is a partnership between 

the National Park Service, the 

President’s Committee on the Arts 

and Humanities, the National 

Endowment for the Humanities, the 

National Endowment for the Arts, 

and the Institute of Museum and 

Library Services. SAT grants provide for the preservation, restoration, and conservation of nationally 

significant properties. The grant 

requires a dollar-for-dollar nonfederal funding match be provided 

and expended. 

During fiscal year 2004, $32.5 

million in SAT grants were distributed to 159 projects in 41 states 

and the District of Columbia. 

Several of the projects are associated with our diverse cultural 

heritage. Projects range from the 

Metropolitan Hotel in Paducah, 

Kentucky, a hotel which served 

African Americans during the 

Jim Crow era; to the Palace of 

the Governors in Santa Fe, New 

Mexico, an adobe structure which 

was the seat of the Spanish government in the Southwest during the 

17th century; to the Locke Historic 

Boarding House, which served 

the Chinese community in the San 

Joaquin River Valley. The following list highlights those historically 

significant projects associated with 

diverse communities that received 

SAT grants.

Alabama

• Ward Chapel AME Episcopal 

Church and Museum

Arizona

• Mission San Xavier del Bac

California 

• Leo Carrillo Ranch

• Estudillo Mansion

• Fremont Adobe House

• Locke Historic Boarding House

• Lopez Adobe House

District of Columbia 

• Mary Church Terrell House

Florida

• Ximenez-Fatio House

Kentucky

• Metropolitan Hotel 

Louisiana

• McKinley High School

Mississippi

• Burns Church/Belfry House

Missouri

• Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Memorial

New Mexico

• Palace of the Governors 

• Picuris Old Village

North Carolina 

• Barber-Scotia College

• F. W. Woolworth Building

Pennsylvania

• Mother Bethel AME Church

West Virginia

• Camp Washington-Carver

For more information on Save America’s Treasures

grants, visit the website at 

http://www.cr/nps.gov/hps/treasures/index.htm. 
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

page 6

San Miguel Chapel 

and “The Tlaxcalans 

de Santa Fe”

Elizabeth Oster 

James Hare

New Mexico Historic Preservation Division

October 2004 marked the official 

launch of the multidisciplinary Save 

San Miguel Chapel project in Santa 

Fe, New Mexico. San Miguel, one 

of the oldest churches in the nation 

and centerpiece of the National 

Historic Landmark Barrio de 

Analco historic district, is central 

to the history of the Southwest. 

Despite being recorded by the 

Historic American Buildings Survey 

(HABS) in 1934 and the subject of 

an intensive archeological investigation to determine its phases of 

construction in the 1950s, much 

mystery still surrounds the building.

An intriguing and persistent 

tradition attributes early settlement 

in the vicinity of San Miguel to 

Christian Indians who accompanied the Spanish to Santa Fe. These 

Native American colonists are 

thought to have been Tlaxcalans, 

representatives of a powerful 

Nahuatl-speaking people who allied 

with the Spanish to bring about the 

downfall of the Mexican (Aztec) 

empire. Early residents of Santa 

Fe’s Barrio de Analco—a Spanish 

and Nahuatl name that approximates to “the neighborhood on 

the other side of the river”—are 

believed to have included Tlaxcalan 

colonists.

In recognition of the crucial 

assistance the Tlaxcalans provided 

Hernán Cortés and subsequent 

conquistadors in the subjugation of 

Mexico, newly baptized Tlaxcalan 

noble families were permitted to 

retain their rank and many privileges, including some lands. For 

this reason, the miscegenation and 

dispersal experienced by many 

other indigenous peoples in the 

New World were less pronounced 

among the Tlaxcalans. As Spanish 

armies of conquest moved north, 

Tlaxcalan allies frequently accompanied them. 

But do we know whether 

Tlaxcalans actually settled in 

colonial Santa Fe? Brief references 

exist in Franciscan documents 

from the 17th and 18th centuries, 

respectively, noting the presence 

of Tlaxcalan Indians in the Barrio 

de Analco at least by the time of 

the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680. 

“Gregorio de Tlascala,” a soldier 

and skilled carver of gunstocks, 

may have accompanied Antonio 

de Espejo in 1582. Juan de Oñate’s 

expedition of 1598 included some 

“Mexican Indians,” but their 

status and origins are unclear. 

Some historians have presumed 

that Tlaxcalans were included 

among his infantry, although the 

only explicit reference mentions 

a sole Tlaxcalan who served as an 

assistant to a Franciscan priest. 

The assumption seems to be that 

any “Mexican Indians” assisting the Spanish would have been 

from Tlaxcala, although by the 

end of the 16th century there were 

other possibilities. Notable among 

these would be the Caxcans of 

Nueva Galicia, a group of Nahuatl 

speakers well-established by the 

STATE ACTIVITIES

Left: The interaction between 

Spaniards and Native peoples 

dates back five centuries. The fragment from the Lienzo de Tlaxcala 

depicts Cortés and his men meeting 

Tlaxcaltecan nobles. Photo by Michael 

Elliott, detail of fragment courtesy of the 

University of Texas at Austin.

Right: Founded in 1915, Xavier 

University is the first and sole African 

American Catholic university in the 

United States. Courtesy of Donna Fricker, 

Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation.
page 7

Spanish Conquest era in what 

would become the modern states of 

Jalisco and Zacatecas. The Caxcans 

led the Mixtón War of 1541, and in 

the decades following the war—the 

time and place when the Oñate 

family fortune in the New World 

was consolidated—they served in 

the silver mines of Zacatecas and 

as encomiendas, or trusted laborers—of the Spanish victors. 

The preservation project 

underway at San Miguel will do 

much to expand the knowledge of 

the building’s history. Data from 

historical and ethnohistorical 

research will be combined with 

information from archeological 

and architectural investigations 

to tell the story of one of Santa 

Fe’s most cherished monuments 

and oldest neighborhoods. The 

project may yield information 

regarding the “Tlaxcalans de 

Santa Fe” and whether they were 

natives from another part of the 

Spanish Borderlands. The true 

account of the “Mexican Indians” 

who came to Santa Fe may be 

more complicated than any have 

suspected.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Oster 

or James Hare at eoster@oca.state.nm.us or 

jhare@oca.state.nm.us.

National Register 

Nominations 

Rustin Quaide

Caridad Dela Vega

National Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers

Xavier University Main Building, 

Convent and Library

Located in New Orleans, Louisiana, 

the original main building, convent, 

and library of Xavier University 

were listed in the National Register 

of Historic Places for their association with education and African 

American heritage. The university 

is significant as the only black 

Catholic university in the United 

States, and the only historically 

black college to have its founder, 

Katharine Drexel, canonized. The 

original Gothic style main building 

and convent are constructed of 

Indiana limestone, while the library 

is constructed of blonde brick. 

Founded in 1915, Xavier University was originally housed at 

the former Southern University 

building and did not become a fullfledged liberal arts college until 

1925. Eventually outgrowing its 

space at the old Southern University building, Mother Katharine purchased land in what was at the time 

an industrial area of New Orleans 

to avoid the complications that 

might arise from the establishment 

of a black university within a neighborhood. In 1932, the main building 

with its connected convent wing, 

was dedicated. Xavier University is 

an early example of African Americans enjoying high quality university facilities comparable to or 

surpassing those of majority institutions during the Jim Crow era. 

Since 1927, the Xavier University 

College of Pharmacy has produced 

one-quarter of all African American 

pharmacists in the nation.
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

Teutonia Maennerchor Hall

The Teutonia Maennerchor Hall, 

in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is 

historically significant as a social 

club and singing hall affiliated 

with Pittsburgh’s German community. It is the home of the 

oldest German singing society 

in Pittsburgh, and has been the 

center of ethnic German culture 

in the Pittsburgh area for over a 

century. The Teutonia Maennerchor 

(“German Men’s Choir”) was 

founded in 1854, during the first 

wave of German immigration and 

settlement in Pittsburgh and its 

sister city of Allegheny. In 1887, 

the society purchased land at the 

corner of Chestnut and Pike (later 

Phineas) Streets, in the eastern 

section of Allegheny, and erected a 

two-story brick hall that was dedicated in 1888. The lower level of the 

Teutonia Maennerchor was remodeled to a German-style Rathskeller 

in 1934 and the interior finishes 

and furnishings were remodeled in 

a simplified Art Moderne style in 

1942.

In the early 19th century, singing societies in Germany were 

often associated with the nascent 

democratic and nationalistic movements, but in the United States, this 

association with political ideals 

was usually lost under the pressures of assimilation and economic 

advancement and the singing societies became important foci of 

German solidarity and nostalgia. 

From these musical societies grew 

the first orchestras and bands in 

the United States, led by German 

music directors such as Theodore 

Thomas and Leopold Damrosch. 

B’nai Israel Synagogue

Constructed in 1937, the B’nai Israel 

Synagogue of Cape Girardeau, 

Missouri, is a stuccoed brick, onestory, Spanish Colonial Revival style 

building with Islamic influences. 

Prior to construction of the B’nai 

Israel Synagogue, the congregation 

met in various locations, such as 

the Elks Lodge, the Presbyterian 

Church, and the Community 

Building in Fairground Park. After 

fire destroyed the Community 

Building in 1937, the small congregation built the B’nai Israel 

Synagogue, which has been used 

as a gathering place for Jewish religious and social life. 

page 8
page 9

The Jewish community in southeastern Missouri dates back to the 

1830s, with services held as early as 

1836 in nearby St. Louis. Retailer 

Louis Hecht, along with fellow 

businessmen Jake Pollack and 

David Minnen, helped organize a 

chapter of the B’nai B’rith lodge 

in Cape Giradeau in 1921. Hecht, 

Pollack, and Minnen bought property on Main Street next to the St. 

Vincent De Paul Catholic Church. 

The congregation commissioned 

T. P. Barnett to design the synagogue. The synagogue harkens to 

Cape Girardeau’s Spanish heritage 

while reflecting traditional synagogue design. 

Plymouth Theatre

The Plymouth Theatre was listed 

in the National Register of Historic 

Places for its significance in the 

areas of architecture, entertainment/recreation, ethnic heritage, 

and transportation. Located in the 

Northeast section of Washington, 

DC, the Plymouth Theatre was 

constructed in 1928 as a one-story 

Romanesque-Revival style commercial building. Initially, the building housed Motts Motors on the 

H Street corridor, what was once 

one of the city’s vital commercial 

thoroughfares. However, with the 

advent of large commercial auto 

dealerships, small ones like Motts 

were forced out of business.

During the “Golden Age of 

Hollywood” in the 1940s, the former car dealership showroom and 

repair shop was converted into the 

Plymouth Theatre. Between 1942 

and 1943, the building was adapted 

for use as a 400-seat neighborhood 

theater. At the time, the theater 

filled an important cultural and 

recreational void for the city’s 

African American community in the 

Southeast and Northeast sections 

of Washington as it was the only 

theater in that part of the city to 

welcome African American patrons. 

The Plymouth Theatre closed in 

1952, due to economic competition 

accompanying the desegregation of 

larger local theatres around the city. 

East Village Historic District

The East Village Historic District in 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a working class residential neighborhood 

settled by Polish immigrants, beginning in the late 1860s. Polish immigrants trickled into Milwaukee in 

the 1850s. The establishment of the 

East Village neighborhood coincided with the increased number 

of Polish immigrants in the 1860s 

and 1870s. East Village is located 

along the river, in close proximity 

to industrial jobs. The East Village 

neighborhood retained a strong 

Polish character until the Second 

World War. By the 1960s, the neighborhood’s Polish population was 

in decline as the Polish community 

moved to the suburbs and newer 

parts of the city.

The district’s housing styles 

consist predominately of modest 

frame structures, including workers’ cottages, single-family houses 

and duplexes, as well as a handful 

of brick buildings, interspersed 

with some commercial structures, 

Above left: Located in a Pittsburgh, PA neighborhood formerly known as Deutschtown, the Teutonia Maennerchor provided German immigrants with a connection their heritage while serving to integrate them into the fabric of American culture. Courtesy of Michael Eversmeyer.

Above right: Constructed with a Spanish architectural aesthetic, the B’nai Israel Synagogue has served the Jewish community in Cape 

Girardeau, MO for nearly 70 years. Photo by Melinda Winchester, courtesy of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

page 10

and churches, all densely packed 

into an approximately four-square 

block area.

St. Stefan’s Romanian 

Orthodox Church

A modestly scaled example of the 

Byzantine style, the Church of 

St. Stefan’s Romanian Orthodox 

Church was built in 1924 by immigrants from the Transylvania region 

of modern-day Romania who came 

to South St. Paul beginning in the 

early 1900s. Both as architecture 

and institution, the church was 

an important means of sustaining 

their ethnic, cultural, and religious 

identity. 

Individual patrons and several local and regional businesses 

founded the church including the 

Schmidt and Hamm breweries 

and the Swift and Armour packing 

plants. The church provided a parish hall in its basement where the 

several benefit societies kept their 

records and insignia and held meetings. Since the fall of the communist 

dictatorship of Nicholae Ceausescu 

in 1989, recent Romanian immigrants have revitalized the church.

Broadway Avenue Historic District

Located in Detroit, Michigan, The 

Broadway Avenue Historic District 

is comprised of eleven commercial 

buildings. The buildings display a 

wide array of architectural styles 

corresponding to their period of 

construction, from 1896 through 

1926, with architectural terra cotta 

unifying the appearance of the 

structures. The historic district is 

significant in the areas of architecture, German, Jewish, and African 

American heritage, and for its 

importance in commerce. Lastly, 

the district is significant for its 

association with Philip Breitmeyer, 

who not only served as mayor of 

Detroit between 1909 and 1910, but 

also owned the largest floral retail 

establishment in the United States 

at that time. 

Broadway Avenue is located 

in the northern part of Detroit’s 

business district. Historically, the 

businesses in this area are significant for their association with the 

“women’s trade,” businesses such 

as florists, corsetieres, fashionable clothiers, and hairdressers, 

targeted at the female consumer. 

A number of these women’s trade 

shops were German-American 

owned, reflecting Detroit’s largest 

ethnic community during the latter part of the 19th century. During 

the 1910s the commercial district 

transformed from shops catering to 

the women’s trade to the business 

of banks and office buildings. The 

John Breitmeyer’s Sons Building 

began renting office space to 

Above left: As an integral part of 

South St. Paul, MN, St. Stephan’s 

Romanian Orthodox Church represents a place of religious and cultural 

significance for the Romanian community. Photograph by Michael Koop, courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.

Above right: Hinchcliffe Stadium 

was home to many sporting events, 

including games of the New York 

Black Yankees. Courtesy of Robert Tucher, 

the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office.

Left: Formerly an automobile showroom, the Plymouth Theatre was 

the only movie house available to 

African Americans in Northeast and 

Southeast quadrants of Washington, 

DC prior to the desegregation of 

public facilities. Courtesy of Kim Williams, 

the District of Columbia Historic Preservation 

Office.
A City of 

Neighborhoods: 

Civic Engagement 

through Design

Jennifer Brundage

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, 

Smithsonian Institution

E. Renee Ingram

African American Heritage Preservation 

Foundation, Inc.

It has been said that architecture 

provides the stage for human 

events. There is no question that 

Washington, DC, is one of the 

most important stages in America. 

Behind the city’s celebrated monumental architecture is a rich tapestry of neighborhoods, with diverse 

populations and a historic past. 

Several of these historic neighborhoods were the focus of A City of 

Neighborhoods: Bridging School 

and Community, a program of the 

Cooper-Hewitt National Design 

Museum, Smithsonian Institution. 

This educational workshop has 

been conducted successfully in 

cities across the United States, 

from New York City to Honolulu.

Offered in partnership with 

the African American Heritage 

Preservation Foundation, Inc. 

(AAHPF), A City of Neighborhoods

applies architecture, design, and 

historic preservation to a community context, fostering awareness, 

pride, and advocacy. The program 

uses a neighborhood as a visual 

textbook to extend the classroom 

into the community and integrate 

design into a pre-existing primary 

and secondary curriculum. Over 

the course of 3 years, from 2000 

to 2003, some 50 public school 

teachers received credit hours from 

the District of Columbia Public 

School’s Office of Workforce and 

Professional Development as part 

of their recertification process.

In collaboration with the Office 

of Diversity and Special Projects, 

National Park Service, Howard 

University’s School of Architecture 

and Design, and others, A City of 

Neighborhoods studied several 

of Washington’s most interesting neighborhoods, including 

LeDroit Park, Shaw, and Anacostia. 

Participants employed a design 

vocabulary and all five senses to 

analyze the community’s physical, 

emotional, sensory, and historical 

elements and form ideas about its 

character. A City of Neighborhoods

used panels, lectures, and historic 

maps and photographs to interpret 

the neighborhood’s history within 

the context of the culture and time 

that created it, while recognizing 

the social, political, and geographic 

forces involved. Finally, and most 

importantly, participants planned 

the future of these neighborhoods, 

designing and presenting models of 

specific solutions deemed relevant 

to that community.

An example of integrating A City 

of Neighborhoods program into the 

classroom was Watkins Elementary 

School’s project, “Picturing Capitol 

Hill.” It introduced students to 

photography while teaching them 

history, geography, and cartography. 

Teachers and students researched 

historic photographs and maps of 

their Capitol Hill neighborhood. 

Students took photographs and 

created new maps of the same 

areas, comparing the new and the 

old to trace the changes in the built 

environment. Through this comparison, the students understood 

the process of urbanization in 

Capitol Hill. 

page 11

LOCAL ACTIVITIES African American tenants in 1936, 

establishing a professional African 

American presence in the district. 

During the 1950s the district transitioned into mainly Jewish-owned 

businesses, with some still remaining to the present. 

Hinchliffe Stadium

Located in Paterson City, New 

Jersey, Hinchliffe Stadium is significant in the areas of recreation/

entertainment, ethnic heritage, 

and for its affiliation with Paterson 

native and Hall-of-Fame baseball 

player Larry Doby. The stadium is 

named after former Paterson City 

Mayor, John V. Hinchliffe, who 

served during planning and construction of the stadium between 

1929 and 1932. The final design 

is partially based on a landscape 

plan submitted to the Passaic 

County Parks Commission by the 

Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, 

Massachusetts, a highly renowned 

design firm, while the stadium 

design is attributable to local 

Paterson architect John Shaw. 

Listed in the National Register of 

Historic Places, the cast-concrete, 

Art Deco-style stadium was completed in 1932.

The stadium contains an athletic 

field, a running track, and has a 

seating capacity of approximately 

10,000. Hinchliffe has been used 

for sporting events such as exhibition, regular season, and championship baseball, football, boxing, 

track and field events, and automotive and motorcycle racing. During 

the 1940s, the Andrew Sisters and 

Abbott and Costello performed 

at Hinchliffe Stadium. Serving as 

the home field for the New York 

Black Yankees between 1933 and 

1937, and then again during 1939 

to 1945, Hinchliffe is possibly the 

sole remaining stadium in the MidAtlantic region associated with a 

Negro League team.
page 12

The politics over a neighborhood’s identity is regularly contested by multiple communities and 

entities. Future generations must 

learn the value of community collaboration and advocacy spanning 

all racial, ethnic, and economic 

boundaries. Good citizenship must 

include all voices in the design of 

the places people live. The goal of 

A City of Neighborhoods is to help 

empower those voices. 

For more information on the A City of 

Neighborhoods program, contact the CooperHewitt at 212/849.8384.

Aviation and the 

Dena’ina of Southcentral Alaska

Michelle Ravenmoon

National Park Service, CRDIP Summer 

2004 Intern

The introduction of aviation to 

rural Alaska has transformed 

Dena’ina Athabascan cultural identity. The Dena’ina Athabascan live 

on Lake Clark and Lake Iliamna 

in south-central Alaska. Like 

many rural Alaska villages, natural 

barriers such as vast distances, 

surrounding oceans, mountainous 

terrain, and numerous wetlands, 

rule out roads as a viable means 

of access. Most major urban markets can only be reached by air. A 

highly mobile society, the Dena’ina, 

were impressed with air travel and 

quickly integrated it into Dena’ina 

culture.

The Iliamna area saw its first 

airplane when pioneer pilot Russell 

Merrill landed Anchorage Air 

Transport’s Travel Air 4000 at Old 

Iliamna in 1927. In 1929, Merrill was 

the first pilot to land at Severson’s 

Roadhouse (present-day Iliamna). 

This marked the creation of 

Iliamna as a regional aviation hub. 

The Dena’ina were familiar with 

western material and economic 

culture, as they hunted and provided furs for the Russians from the 

1750s to 1867. Working at the canneries in Bristol Bay and assisting 

the gold miners in the late 1800s 

furthered mingled the two cultures 

and the Dena’ina developed a reliance on money for goods such as 

ammunition, sugar, tea, coffee, salt, 

and flour. A mobile society, the 

Dena’ina mainly traveled by canoe, 

on foot, or by dogsled. They moved 

with the seasons and followed their 

food sources. Many traveled 40–60 

miles out of their village to trap. 

Once airplanes came to the area, 

the Dena’ina regularly traveled by air. 

In one of the oral histories conducted 

with community members, pilot Jack 

Vantrease spoke of the Dena’ina 

men chartering his airplane service 

to bring their dog teams and sleds to 

the trapping areas for the season. The 

introduction of aircraft changed the 

way the Dena’ina traveled and shortened their time out of the village on 

the trapline.

Aviation also transformed the 

Dena’ina language. Many new items 

found in modern daily life, such as 

computers, do not have Dena’ina 

words for them. However, before 

fluent Dena’ina speakers exchanged 

their language for English, they 

had a Dena’ina word for airplane, 

nunujehi. The Dena’ina language became endangered after 

a federally mandated educational 

assimilation program was instituted 

through the Organic Act of 1884. 

Thereafter, English became the first 

language for the Dena’ina.

Aviation has influenced the 

material culture of the Dena’ina as 

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

Severson’s Roadhouse served a critical role as a hub for local air travel. Dena’ina hunters used seaplanes to transport 

them to and from hunting grounds, as seen in this ca. 1935-1937 photograph. Photograph by Mr. and Mrs Frank Hill, courtesy of 

Lake Clark National Park.
page 13

well. Historical photos show they 

carved wooden planes for their 

children as toys. Today, one might 

still see exact replicas of airplanes 

among Dena’ina carvers, a reflection of their admiration for aircraft, 

and a demonstration of their traditional carving skills. 

The Dena’ina always had a great 

respect for aviation. Many have 

become pilots and are as comfortable with flying as they would 

be mushing dogs. Air travel links 

rural villages to the outside world. 

Aviation provides the means for 

people to shop for food, clothing, 

furniture, and household goods; 

attain medical services; receive 

mail; and travel between villages. 

The influence of aviation technology on Dena’ina people is an 

important piece of their history 

and contemporary culture.

For more information on Dena’ina culture and 

Lake Clark/Katmai National Park and Reserve, 

contact Karen Gaul, karen_gaul@nps.gov, or visit 

the park website at http://www.nps.gov/lacl/home.

htm. 

Michelle Ravenmoon completed her undergraduate studies at University of Alaska, Fairbanks and 

conducted and transcribed oral histories for Lake 

Clark/Katmai National Park and Preserve as a part 

of the NPS Cultural Resources Diversity Internship 

Program in Summer 2004.

Back to Life: 

Oral History and 

Memory in Fazendville

Allison Peña 

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, 

National Park Service

On Sunday, April 4, 2004, Jean 

Lafitte National Historical Park 

and Preserve’s superintendent 

Geraldine Smith, together with 

park anthropologist Allison H. 

Peña, and Joyce M. Jackson, 

anthropologist/ethnomusicologist 

at Louisiana State University, made 

a presentation to the descendants 

of Fazendeville, a historic African 

American community, which 

thrived from 1867 to 1964 on the 

site of the Battle of New Orleans, 

now Chalmette Battlefield, part 

of Jean Lafitte National Historical 

Park and Preserve. 

An example of early Reconstruction-period African American 

communities that sprang up along 

the Mississippi River after the Civil 

War, Fazendeville was home to 

the Battleground Baptist Church 

(founded in 1868), a one-room 

school, three general stores, and 

two mutual aid societies. All of 

these institutions contributed to a 

rich community life. In the 1960s, 

a campaign to acquire additional 

battlefield property focused on 

Fazendeville. By 1966, land acquisition was completed and the 

Fazendeville homes were razed. 

In 2001, in an effort to tell the 

story of this unique community, 

and with funding from the NPS 

Southeast Regional Office, Peña 

and Jackson began a three-phase 

oral history project. After hearing 

about Fazendeville and visiting the 

park, John Ehrenhard, Director of 

the Southeast Archeological Center 

(SEAC) in Tallahassee, Florida, 

suggested commissioning a painting 

of the “village,” as Fazendeville 

was sometimes called. With funding from SEAC and the Lower 

Mississippi Delta Region Initiative, 

commercial artist and portrait 

painter Martin Pate completed an 

oil painting based on photographs 

of Fazendeville taken in the 1960s. 

The research project and painting 

also resulted in a brochure and 

poster. 

Many former residents still 

attend the Battleground Baptist 

Church now located on Flood 

Street in New Orleans and shared 

their stories about their community. At the presentation, Reverend 

Theodore Sanders and community 

members were presented with a 

replica of the oil painting of their 

community, posters, brochures 

that offer a brief overview of the 

history of the village, and a bound 

copy of the report “Life in the 

Village: A Cultural Memory of the 

Fazendeville Community, Phase 

One.”

As a result of these cooperative 

efforts, a more inclusive story of 

the history of Chalmette Battlefield 

can be shared with visitors and, as 

importantly, the community, which 

previously was disconnected from 

the park.

For more information, contact Allison Peña at 

504/589-3882 x-113, email: allison_pena@nps.gov.

Aviation became entrenched in Dena’ina culture soon after the first plane 

arrived in 1927. Children identified airplanes as a part of everyday life, exemplified by Alvin Foss and his carved wooden toy in 1946. Courtesy of Agnes Cusma.
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

page 14

Christiansburg 

Institute 

M. Anna Fariello

Christiansburg Institute Museum and Archive 

The Christiansburg Institute was 

founded in 1866, in Cambria, 

Virginia, three years after Abraham 

Lincoln signed the Emancipation 

Proclamation. Located in a small 

frame building on a hill above 

present-day Christiansburg, the 

school was established to educate 

a newly freed people. Operating 

out of a rented cabin, the institute opened as the first federal 

Freedmen’s Bureau school in 

the district. A school for African 

Americans until 1966, its closing 

ended its 100-year history as a distinctive educational institution. 

With the impending dissolution of the Freedman’s Bureau, the 

Friends Freedmen’s Association 

of Philadelphia began to support the school in 1869 and sustained the Christiansburg Institute 

(CI) into the 20th century. The 

association recruited Booker T. 

Washington, the nation’s leading 

educational spokesman and founder of Tuskegee Institute, to develop a manual trades program to add 

to the academic subjects taught 

in Christiansburg. Supervisor of 

Christiansburg from 1896 until his 

death in 1915, Washington selected a 

team of Tuskegee graduates to lead 

the school. 

In 1900, the school moved to 

a tract of land two miles away in 

order to provide room for added 

industrial trades and a growing 

school population. There, the 

school flourished under the leadership of Charles Lives Marshall and 

Edgar Allen Long, two of the original Tuskegee team of educators. By 

the early 1920s, the campus grew 

to 185 acres, boasting 4 Georgian 

brick halls that housed dormitories, 

classrooms, a library, a hospital, 

faculty cottages, a dairy, a barn, and 

a trades building, all surrounded by 

fields, gardens, and an orchard.

In 1912, while a trustee of Tuskegee Institute, Julius Rosenwald 

donated funds to Christiansburg 

Institute and hired sociologist 

Robert Park to evaluate schools 

receiving those funds. In a 1913 

report, the institute received the 

highest rating among the 15 Rosenwald “prototype” schools. As 

its reputation spread, the school 

drew students from around the 

region. The 1925 catalog lists almost 

100 high school students in attendance—one-third from surrounding 

counties, one-third from elsewhere 

in Virginia, and one-third from 

out of state. Christiansburg Institute was added to the state Board 

of Education’s list of accredited 

schools in 1924-1925. In 1932, it was 

accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary 

Schools, the first high school in the 

county to achieve such credentials.

The academic milestones of the 

1920s and 1930s were tempered by 

the Great Depression, which may 

have contributed to the Friends 

decision to discontinue support 

of the school. In 1934, the farm 

campus was leased as a public 

high school and in 1947 the land 

was donated to the county school 

board. The change from private to 

public school status affected many 

aspects of the school. The boardChristiansburg Institute in Cambria, VA, served the African American community for over 100 years. Restoration efforts 

by alumni are returning the school’s buildings to active use. Courtesy of M. Anne Fariello.
page 15

ing department was closed and the 

farm was phased out. Federally 

mandated desegregation forced the 

school to closed in 1966, its properties were auctioned off, and most 

of its buildings were destroyed. 

Efforts to preserve Christiansburg 

Institute began in 1976 when 700 

alumni met. In 1996 the alumni 

established the nonprofit organization, Christiansburg Institute, Inc., 

to direct the institute’s revival.

Today’s Christiansburg Institute 

resides on a small portion of its 

original campus. Christiansburg 

Institute is currently restoring the 

Edgar A. Long Building, a threestory brick structure named for the 

principal who served from 1906 

until his death in 1924. Completed 

in 1927, the Long Building holds 

the distinction of being the only 

campus building to be named for 

an African American leader. The 

restoration effort began in 2000 

with the listing of the building in 

the National Register. Once fully 

restored, the Long Building will 

house administrative offices, a 

community learning center, and the 

Christiansburg Institute Museum 

and Archive. 

For more information, visit the Christiansburg 

Institute website at 

http://www.christiansburginstitute.org

Cuban America’s 

Place of Refuge: The 

Freedom Tower

Janet Paz

National Park Service, CRDIP Summer 

2004 Intern 

On the East Coast of the United 

States, early 20th century immigrants established initial contact 

with their new “home” at Ellis 

Island off of New York. On the 

West Coast, in San Francisco, 

Angel Island filled a similar role. In 

the Southeast, from 1962 to 1974, 

Miami’s “Freedom Tower” came to 

symbolize a welcoming landmark 

for more than 450,000 Cubans who 

immigrated to the United States, 

fleeing the island nation that was 

experiencing a shift in power from 

the Fulgencio Batista Zaldivar 

regime to the Castro government. 

At Freedom Tower, also known 

as the Cuban Refugee Emergency 

Center, Cubans were processed and 

registered, relocated to other cities, including New York, Chicago, 

Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, 

and were provided with food and 

a check for up to $100. These 

activities were part of a policy 

initiated by President Dwight D. 

Eisenhower in 1960 as part of the 

Mutual Security Fund and continued by his successor, President 

John F. Kennedy. As a result, many 

Cubans referred to Freedom Tower 

as “El Refugio,” or place of refuge. 

However in 1974, as the number of 

Cubans immigrating to the United 

States decreased, the center’s doors 

were officially closed. 

Before serving as a beacon to the 

Cuban immigrants, Freedom Tower 

was known as the “News Tower” 

as it was headquarters for the city’s 

oldest newspaper, the Miami Daily 

News and Metropolis from 1925 to 

1957. After the newspaper moved 

to new offices, the building was left 

vacant. Starting in the early 1960s, 

the number of Cuban immigrants 

in Miami requiring assistance 

increased beyond the capacity of the 

existing Cuban refugee emergency 

centers, then located in the basement of the Dade County School 

Administration Building and the 

Florida State Employment Office. 

Both were moved to four floors in 

the old newspaper building.

The tower’s architectural history is an interesting one. It was 

designed by Leonard Schultze 

and S. Fullerton Weaver and built 

in 1924. The overall composition 

of the tower was inspired by the 

Giralda Tower in Seville, Spain, but 

the designers added Renaissance 

and Spanish baroque details. Inside 

the tower, the designers used handmade ceramic tiles imported from 

Spain, Africa, South America, and 

Cuba. Coincidentally, Shultz and 

Weaver also designed the Seville 

Biltmore in Havana, Cuba. 

Since 1974, Freedom Tower’s fate 

has been unsettled. In 1976, the 

building was purchased with the 

intention of selling it to the city’s 

Cuban community and initiated a 

fundraising drive. However, these 

efforts failed and the bank foreclosed on the building. Restoration 

efforts on the tower were attempted 

in the late 1980s, but were eventually abandoned. In 1997, the Freedom 

Tower was purchased by Jorge 

Mas Canosa, founder of the Cuban 

American National Foundation; 

Mas Canosa’s family established 

the Freedom Tower Foundation 

after his untimely death in 1997. In 

2002, the Cuban American National 

Foundation relocated its offices to 

the Freedom Center. 

In 2003, Miami-Dade 

Community College and the Mas 

Canosa family were involved in 

negotiations regarding the tower 

and its future, which included its 

use as a museum of immigration 

and South Florida. Unfortunately, 

negotiations between the Mas 

Canosa family and the college 

ceased during the summer of 

2004. The tower was briefly 

part of a $2.75 billion General 

Obligation Bond to be voted 

upon in November 2004, but was 

removed from the list of projects 

in the bond. According to Miami 

Today, another potential buyer has 

contacted the Mas Canosa family, 

however, the future of this significant symbol of freedom to Cuban 

Americans remains uncertain.

For more information on the Freedom Tower and 

its foundation, visit the Cuban American National 

Foundation website at http://www.canf.org.

Janet Paz is a graduate student at the University 

of the Arts in Philadelphia and was a Cultural 

Resources Diversity Intern in Washington, DC, 

during the Summer of 2004.
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

page 16

TRIBAL ACTIVITIES

As of November 4, 2004, the 

Native American tribes with officially-recognized Tribal Historic 

Preservation Offices include:

• Absentee Shawnee Tribe 

(Oklahoma)

• Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the 

Owens Valley (California)

• Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe of 

Indians (California)

• Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma 

(Oklahoma)

• Catawba Indian Nation (South 

Carolina)

• Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe 

(South Dakota)

• Chippewa Cree Tribe of the 

Rocky Boy’s Reservation 

(Montana)

• Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma 

(Oklahoma)

• Confederated Salish and 

Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead 

Nation (Montana)

• Confederated Tribes of 

the Colville Reservation 

(Washington)

• Confederated Tribes of the 

Umatilla Reservation (Oregon)

• Confederated Tribes of the 

Warm Springs Reservation in 

Oregon (Oregon) 

• Eastern Band of Cherokee 

Indians (North Carolina) 

• Hualapai Tribe (Arizona)

• Lac Courte Oreilles Band of 

Lake Superior Chippewa Indians 

of Wisconsin (Wisconsin)

• Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake 

Superior Chippewa Indians 

(Wisconsin)

• Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake 

Superior Chippewa Indians 

(Michigan)

• Leech Lake Band of Chippewa 

Indians (Minnesota) 

• Lummi Nation (Washington)

• Makah Tribe (Washington)

• Menominee Indian Tribe of 

Wisconsin (Wisconsin)

• Mescalero Apache Tribe (New 

Mexico)

• Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe 

Indians (Minnesota)

• Narragansett Indian Tribe 

(Rhode Island)

• Navajo Nation (Arizona)

• Northern Cheyenne Tribe 

(Montana)

• Onieda Nation of Wisconsin 

(Wisconsin)

• Passamaquoddy Tribe (Maine)

• Penobscot Nation (Maine)

• Poarch Band of Creek Indians 

(Alabama)

• Pueblo of Zuni (New Mexico)

• Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior 

Chippewas (Wisconsin)

• Seneca Nation of Indians (New 

York)

• Sisseton-Wahpenton Oyate 

(South Dakota)

• Skokomish Indian Tribe 

(Washington)

• Skull Valley Band of Goshute 

Indians (Utah)

• Spokane Tribe of Indians 

(Washington) 

See TRIBAL, page 19

Exploring the Past at 

Oxon Cove Park 

Mike Antonioni

Marilyn A. Cohen-Brown

National Park Service

“Exploring the Past” is Oxon Cove 

Park’s newest educational program for the park straddles both 

Washington, DC, and Oxon Hill, 

Maryland. The program is geared 

towards elementary school children and based on the park’s history during the first half of the 19th 

century. This educational program 

highlights the park’s resources, and 

focuses on the new Mount Welby 

exhibits and several interpretative 

wayside panels that are part of the 

park’s history trail.

The exhibit and coordinating education program highlights 

three themes: The Immigration 

Story—Making a New Home in 

America; A Voice Unheard—Slavery 

at Mount Welby; and A Question 

of Loyalties—Mount Welby During 

the War of 1812. A teacher’s packet 

is sent in advance. Once reservations are made, all teachers are 

required to do the presite, onsite, 

and postsite activities with their 

students to ensure their field trip to 

Oxon Cove Park.

The park staff used original letters from the DeButts family as well 

as secondary sources to develop 

the script, putting reproductions of 

the correspondence in the exhibit. 

The DeButts family were the original occupants of Mt. Welby, dating 

back to the War of 1812. Visitors 

may open drawers from exhibit 

cabinets to view period clothing, 

representative medical instruments that may have been used by 

Dr. DeButts, and American Indian 

and African cultural objects. One 

exhibit room is furnished as a parlor 

with reproduction furnishings of the 

early 19th century based on a probate inventory of the family.

For more information, call Oxon Cove Park at 

301/839-1176.
page 17

Announcements

Making Freedom: African Americans 

in U.S. History

Making Freedom: African 

Americans in U.S. History by 

Primary Source, Inc., is a five-volume set of that provides the necessary bibliographic references, documents, and corroborative information to more fully incorporate the 

history of African Americans into 

the study of United States history. Published by Heinenmann 

Publishing, the books were compiled by scholars, classroom teachers, and curriculum specialists and 

are intended for grades 7 through 

12. Making Freedom contains context essays by scholars, primary 

sources, lesson plans, and sidebar 

connections to contemporary 

events. Included in each volume are 

introductions, timelines, and annotated bibliographies. Each book is 

accompanied by a CD of primary 

sources, including maps, paintings, 

portraits, photographs, and music.

For more information visit Primary Source’s website at http://www.primarysource.org/library/

publications.htm. 

“Race and Slavery” Survey Report of 

Arlington House Available

“Presenting Race and Slavery 

at Historic Sites” is a cooperative research project between the 

National Park Service and the 

Center for the Study of Public 

Culture and Public History of The 

George Washington University. 

Researchers are analyzing the 

presentation of race and slavery at 

three major National Park Service 

historic sites: Arlington House (the 

Robert E. Lee Memorial in George 

Washington Memorial Parkway), 

the Frederick Douglass National 

Historic Site, and Manassas 

National Battlefield Park. The 

project involves a survey of visitors 

and front line staff to discuss their 

perceptions on how race and slavery are presented at these sites. A 

report of survey results conducted 

at Arlington House is available 

online. To download a copy, visit 

the Cultural Resources Diversity 

Program’s website at http://www.

cr.nps.gov/crdi/research_arlhouse.

htm. 

For more information, contact Michele Gates 

Moresi at 202/354-2266, email: 

michele_gates_moresi@nps.gov. 

Conferences

January 2005

AHA 119th Annual Meeting

The American Historical 

Association (AHA) will hold its 

119th annual meeting January 6-9, 

2005, in Seattle, Washington. The 

theme, “Archives and Artifacts,” 

considers access to historical information and the fragility of documentation and artistic objects. 

For more information, visit the AHA meeting 

website, http://www.theaha.org/ANNUAL/2005/

CFP2005.htm, or contact Paul Freedman at paul.

freedman@yale.edu, or Barbara Weinstein at 

bsweinb99@aol.com.

February 2005

Southwest Texas PC/ACA Conference 

on Public History and Historic 

Preservation

The Southwest/Texas Popular 

Culture Association/American 

Culture Association will incorporate presentations examining 

historic preservation and public 

history at its annual conference 

February 9-12, 2005 at The Hyatt 

Regency in Albuquerque, New 

Mexico.

For information about the hotel and the meeting, 

visit the organization’s website at 

http://www.h-net.org/~swpca/html.

March 2005 

Pacific Northwest Historians 

Guild Conference

The Pacific Northwest Historians 

Guild (PNW) is hosting a conference on the trail and treaty history 

of the Pacific Northwest at the 

Museum of History and Industry 

in Seattle, Washington, on March 

5, 2005. 

For more information, contact Maria Pascualy, 

maria2@wshs.wa.gov, or visit the PNW Historians 

Guild’s website at http://www.pnwhistorians.org.

OAH 2005 Annual Meeting

The Organization of American 

Historians (OAH) will hold its 

annual meeting in San Francisco, 

California March 31-April 3, 2005. 

This year’s theme will be “Telling 

America’s Stories: Historians and 

Their Publics.” The meeting seeks 

to celebrate the diversity of historians and their audiences, while at 

the same time exploring its implications for the study of the American 

past.

For more information, visit the OAH 2005 Meeting 

website at http://www.oah.org/meetings/2005/

index.html. 

April 2005

Vernacular Architectural Forum’s 

25th Anniversary Annual Meeting 

The Vernacular Architecture 

Forum (VAF) will hold its Annual 

Meeting in Tucson, Arizona, April 

13-17, 2005. The conference theme 

is “La Frontera: Cross-Cultural 

Vernacular Landscapes.” In addition, in celebration of VAF’s 25th 

anniversary, several sessions will be 

devoted to the history, theory, and 

practice of the VAF and vernacular 

architecture studies. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

AND CONFERENCES
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

page 18

For more detailed information, visit the VAF 

website, http://www.vernaculararchitectureforum.

org/annualmeetings.html, or contact Laura B. 

Driemeyer, Vernacular Architecture Forum, c/o 

American and New England Studies Program, 

Boston University, 226 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 

02215, email: driemey@bu.edu.

NCPH 2005 Annual Meeting

The National Council on Public 

History (NCPH) will hold its annual 

meeting April 15-17, 2005, in Kansas 

City, Missouri. The theme for 

the conference will be “Defining 

Regions: Public Historians and the 

Culture and Meaning of Region.”

For more information regarding the conference, 

contact David Vanderstel, dvanders@iupui.edu, or 

visit the NCPH meeting website at 

http://www.ncph.org/Calls/calls_NCPH2005.html.

3rd Annual Material Culture 

Symposium

The Center for Material Culture 

Studies at the University of Delaware will host the Third Annual 

Material Culture Symposium for 

Emerging Scholars (MCSES) Saturday, April 23, 2005 at the Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library 

in Winterthur, Delaware. This symposium provides emerging scholars 

with a venue for interdisciplinary 

dialogue centering on material 

culture. The students will have an 

opportunity to discuss topics with 

professionals and academics.

For more information, visit the University of 

Delaware’s Center for Material Culture Studies 

website at http://materialculture.udel.edu/. 

May 2005

First Nations, First Thoughts 

Conference

On May 5-6, 2005, the University of 

Edinburgh, Scotland, will sponsor 

a conference on the significance of 

Aboriginal peoples in the development of cultural and intellectual 

thought in Canada. This interdisciplinary conference will bring 

Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal 

scholars together to consider the 

development and transmission of 

Indigenous thought and the impact 

of Aboriginal perspectives on 

cultural, political, environmental, 

historical, legal, philosophical and 

anthropological thought in Canada. 

For more information, visit the Centre of Canadian 

Studies’ website at http://www.cst.ed.ac.uk. 

US/ICOMOS 8th International 

Symposium

Historic Charleston Foundation 

and the International Council on 

Monuments and Sites, United States 

committee (US/ICOMOS) will 

sponsor ICOMOS 8th international 

symposium in Charleston, South 

Carolina May 5-8, 2005. The focus 

of the symposium will be Heritage 

Interpretation: Expressing Heritage 

Sites Values to Foster Conservation, 

Promote Community Development, 

and Educate the Public. The 

purpose is to address interpretation needs for historic sites on an 

international scale, from the great 

architectural sites to the places of 

memory associated with remote 

cultures. This is part of a multiyear effort to develop a guiding 

document on interpretation for the 

greater ICOMOS community.

For more information, visit the ICOMOS website at 

http://www.icomos.org/usicomos/. 

National Trust Annual Main Street/

Maryland Historical Trust Joint 

Conference

The National Trust for Historic 

Preservation, the Maryland 

Historical Trust, Preservation 

Maryland, and other conference 

cosponsors will host the annual 

Main Street conference at the 

Waterfront Marriott Hotel in 

Baltimore, Maryland May 8-11, 

2005. The conference will coincide 

with the Maryland Historical Trust’s 

annual conference on May 9-10, 

2005. 

For more information on the Main Street 

Conference, visit the Main Street website at http://

conference.mainstreet.org/. For information on the 

Maryland Historical Trust, contact Scott Whipple, 

whipple@dhcd.state.md.us, phone: 410/514-7635.

Conference on African Americans and 

the Civil War

On May 26-28, 2005, the 

Conference on African Americans 

and the Civil War will be held in 

Petersburg, Virginia. The conference seeks to examine, evaluate, 

and define the role of African 

Americans before, during, and after 

the Civil War; discuss ancillary 

issues regarding African Americans 

and the sectional crisis; and facilitate an interdisciplinary discussion 

of the historical threads that connect the Civil War to today, especially for African Americans. 

The conference steering committee is accepting proposals for 

individual and group presentations. The submission must include 

a curriculum vitae, a one-page 

prospectus, and cover letter. Send 

all submissions to Steven Ramold, 

sramold@vsu.edu, by February 28, 

2005. 

For more information, visit the conference website 

at http://www.caacw.org.

June 2005

Multicultural Days: An International 

Perspective Conference

Brock University, in St. Catherines, 

Ontario, will host a conference 

from June 23-25, 2005, on multicultural issues across several disciplines. This conference’s purpose 

is to bring individuals from around 

the globe together to create an 

international and multidisciplinary 

forum on multicultural research 

and related issues. Topics areas 

include multiculturalism and youth, 

education, immigration and acculturation, and health.

For more information contact Dawn Zinga, 

Conference Chair at 905/688-5550, ext 3152, email: 

dzinga@brocku.ca, or visit the conference website 

at http://www.multiculturaldays.ca.
page 19

5th International Conference 

on Diversity in Organizations, 

Communities, and Nations

The Institute of Ethnic Administrators, among others, are sponsoring 

the Fifth International Conference 

on Diversity in Organizations, 

Communities, and Nations in 

Beijing, China on June 30–July 3, 

2005. This year’s theme is “Towards 

Cultural Sustainability.” 

For more information about the conference, visit 

its website at http://diversity-conference.com/. 

October 2005

SACRPH Biennial Conference 

The Society for American City 

and Regional Planning History 

(SACRPH) will hold is biennial 

conference in Coral Gables, Florida 

on October 20-23, 2005. SACRPH 

is an interdisciplinary organization 

that addresses the past, present, 

and future purposeful efforts to 

shape urban life. 

The conference program committee is accepting proposals 

for papers and paper sessions. 

Proposals are invited on all aspects 

of urban, regional, and community 

planning history, especially papers 

or sessions on Miami or Florida, 

economic restructuring and globalization, and comparative examinations that consider race, class, and 

gender. Proposals must include: 

a clearly titled one-page abstract 

with the participant’s name, a list 

of audiovisual equipment needed, 

a one-page curriculum vitae with 

contact information, and four key 

words identifying the thematic 

emphasis of the work.

Proposals should be sent to 

SACRPH at sacrph@usc.edu by 

February 15, 2005, either as text 

within the body of an email or as 

an attached Word file. 

For more information, contact Greg Hise at 

hise@usc.edu.

• Squaxin Island Tribe 

(Washington)

• Standing Rock Sioux Tribe 

(North Dakota)

• Table Bluff Reservation-Wiyot 

Tribe (California)

• Timbisha Shoshone Tribe 

(California) 

• Tunica-Biloxi Indians of 

Louisiana (Louisiana) 

• Turtle Mountain Band of 

Chippewa (North Dakota) 

• Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head 

(Massachusetts) 

• White Earth Band of Minnesota 

Chippewa (Minnesota)

• White Mountain Apache Tribe 

(Arizona)

• Yurok Tribe (California)

For more information on THPOs, contact James 

Bird at 202/354-1837, e-mail: james_bird@nps.gov

Baltimore will be the setting for the upcoming Main Street Conference 

co-sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Maryland 

Historic Trust. Shown is Baltimore’s Fells Point area. Photo by Marcia Axtmann Smith 

for the Maryland Association of Historic District Commissions.

From TRIBAL, page 16
FIRST CLASS MAIL

Postage & Fees Paid

U.S. Department 

of the Interior

National Park Service

1849 C Street, NW (2251)

Washington, DC 20240

Fran P. Mainella

Director

Janet Snyder Matthews

Associate Director

Cultural Resources 

John Robbins 

Assistant Director

Cultural Resources

Antoinette J. Lee

Special Projects Manager

Brian D. Joyner

Heritage Matters Editor

Mission of the 

National Park Service

The National Park Service is dedicated 

to conserving unimpaired the natural 

and cultural resources and the values of 

the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this 

and future generations. The Service also 

cooperates with partners to extend the 

benefits of natural and cultural resource 

conservation and outdoor recreation 

throughout this country and the world.

Heritage Matters, sponsored by the 

Cultural Resources Programs of the 

National Park Service, is published twicea-year and is free of charge. Readers are 

invited to submit short articles and notices 

for inclusion. (Limit submissions to fewer 

than 600 words and include author’s name 

and affiliation. Photographs or slides 

are welcome.) Please submit newsletter items in writing or electronically to: 

Brian D. Joyner, Editor, Heritage Matters,

DOI/National Park Service, 1849 C Street, 

NW (2251), Washington, DC 20240. Phone: 

202/354-2276, email: brian_joyner@nps.gov.

Visit the website for the NPS Cultural 

Resources Diversity Program: www.

cr.nps.gov/crdi

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

DECEMBER 2004

 CONTENTS

H E R I TA G E M AT T E R S

FEDERAL ACTIVITIES, pages 1–5

American Indian Museum Opens, p. 1

“Trail of Tears” in Classroom, p. 3

Reflecting on NAGPRA, p. 4

Save America’s Treasures Grants, p. 5

STATE ACTIVITIES, pages 6–11

San Miguel Chapel, Santa Fe, NM, p. 6

National Register Nominations, p. 7

• Xavier University buildings, New Orleans, 

Louisiana

• Teutonia Maennerchor Hall, Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania

• B’nai Israel Synagogue, Cape Girardeau, 

Missouri

• Plymouth Theatre, Washington, DC

• East Village Historic District, Milwaukee, 

Wisconsin

• St. Stefan’s Romanian Orthodox Church, 

South St. Paul, Minnesota

• Broadway Avenue Historic District, Detroit, 

Michigan

• Hinchliffe Stadium, Paterson City, New Jersey

LOCAL ACTIVITIES, pages 11–16

City of Neighborhoods workshop, p. 11

Aviation and the Dena’ina of South-central 

Alaska, p. 12

Back to Life: Oral History and Memory in 

Fazendville, p. 13

Christiansburg Institute, p. 14

Cuban America’s Freedom Tower, p. 15

Exploring the Past at Oxon Cove Park, p. 16

TRIBAL ACTIVITIES, page 16

Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, p. 16

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CONFERENCES, 

pages 17–19

Announcements, p. 17

• Making Freedom: African Americans in U.S. 

History

• “Race and Slavery” Survey Report

Conferences, p. 17

• AHA 119th Annual meeting

• Southwest Texas PC/ACA Conference on Public 

History and Historic Preservation

• Pacific Northwest Historians Guild Conference

• OAH 2005 Annual Meeting

• Vernacular Architectural Forum Annual 

Meeting

• NCPH 2005 Annual Meeting

• 3rd Annual Material Culture Symposium

• First Nations, First Thoughts Conference

• US/ICOMOS 8th International Symposium

• National Trust Annual Main Street/Maryland 

Historic Trust Joint Conference

• Conference on African Americans and the 

Civil War

• Multicultural Days: An International 

Perspective Conference

• SACRPH Biennial Conference

page 20

This material is based upon work conducted 

under a cooperative agreement between the 

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park 

Service and the National Conference of State 

Historic Preservation Officers. Views and conclusions in this material are those of the authors 

and should not be interpreted as representing 

the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. 

Mention of trade names or commercial products 

does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. 

Government.

Miami’s Freedom Tower came to 

symbolize a welcoming landmark 

for more than 450,000 Cubans who 

immigrated to the United States. 

See page 15. Courtesy of Ellen J. Ugucioni.