Native American Nations in Minnesota and the History of Treaty exhibit coming tp OTCHS

“Why Treaties Matter: Self-Government in the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations” is a new traveling exhibition that explores Native nations in Minnesota and the history of treaty making with the United States. The exhibit will open on October 15, 2018 at the Otter Tail County Museum in Fergus Falls where it will be on view through November 26. This exhibition is part of a statewide tour that visits locations throughout the state under the auspices of the Minnesota Humanities Center and its partner, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.

In August 2010, a resolution creating a unique partnership of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, Minnesota Humanities Center and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. was approved unanimously by the tribes residing in Minnesota and made it possible for the exhibition to be developed as an educational tool for Minnesota audiences.

This exhibit reveals how Dakota and Ojibwe treaties with the U.S. government affected the lands and lifeways of the Indigenous peoples of the place we now call Minnesota, and explains why these binding agreements between nations still matter today. It is meant to share important cultural information with all Minnesotans, that they may better understand the true circumstances surrounding Minnesota land, its use, and even the treatment of the land’s Indigenous peoples today.

“Treaties are agreements between self-governing, or sovereign, nations,” says Kevin Leecy, chairman of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe and chairman of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council. “Native Nations existed long before the formation of the United States.”

The exhibition includes 20 free standing banners with evocative text, historical and contemporary photographs and maps and a 10-minute video entitled, “A Day in the Life of the Minnesota Tribal Nations.” The exhibit was developed with money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that was created with a vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008 and the Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation.

For more information and itinerary updates visit www.mnhum.org/treaties.