The Secwepeme Museum and Heritage Park in Kamloops is the first native-owned and
operated museum to be developed in the interior of British Columbia. The museum
derives its mandate from the Shuswap Declaration of 1982, an agreement signed by the 17 bands of the Shuswap Nation to work in unity, preserve, perpetuate and enhance the
Shuswap language, history and culture

Favrholdt, Ken

English

Dépôt de documents et de données de Érudit

July/Juillet 1998 Vol. 24, no. 2Canadian Historical Association - Société historique du canadaSommaireIn Memoriam/Décès Thanks/Merci3Historians in the News/Historiens à la une4New Books/Nouvelles parutions5Canadian Studies and Canadian History in Germany: Past Developments and Current Situation 6-7Scholarship Scholarly Prize Compétition 7Minutes of the CHA Annual General Assembly/ Société historique du Canada Assemblée générale annuelle8-11The History of Social WorkHealth and Medical Archives Information Network12Additional Input from the Archives of Ontario13Making History Sing 14-15Citations of the CHA Prizes for 1998/ Citations pour les prix de la S.H.C.16-21Meetings/Réunions22-23La protection de la vie privée dans le secteur privé: des enjeux fondamentaux pour la pratique historienne et le patrimoine archivistique 24-25The Right to Privacy in the Private Sector: What is at Stake for Historians and Historical Research26-27Call for Papers/ Appels de communications 28InsideThe Secwepeme Muséum and HistoryThe Secwepeme Muséum and Heritage Park in Kamloops is the first native-owned and operated muséum to be developed in the interior of British Columbia. The muséum dérivés its mandate from the Shuswap Déclaration of 1982, an agreement signed by the 17 bands of the Shuswap Nation to work in unity, preserve, perpetuate and enhance the Shuswap language, history and culture. The Secwepeme Cultural Education Society was officially registered in 1983 to carry out these objectives. The muséum, established in 1986 in one of the buildings of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, carries out part of that mandate: to collect and preserve both historical and contemporary artifacts and archives of significance to the Secwepeme.The Secwepeme, more commonly known as the Shuswap, are a distinct First Nations people who traditionally occupied a large part of south-central British Colombia extending from the Rocky Mountains to the Fraser River and from the headwaters of the Columbia River to the upper reaches of the Fraser. While the population was much larger in the past, today seven thousand identify themselves as Secwepeme people. Despite European diseases and attempts by the government to divide the Shuswap Nation into separate régional districts or bands, Shuswap ties within the Nation hâve remained strong. However, Secwepeme like many other indigenous languages, is only spoken by a minority of the population.The culture is still very much alive, with revival of (and conservation measures to preserve) a fishing and forestry economy, as well as traditional crafts and techniques such as basket-making. Artifacts of Shuswap origin are found around the world. Luckily, the knowledge of much of the traditional culture was preserved and recorded by James Teit, an amateur ethnographer who published a monograph on the Shuswap in 1909 (besides other tribes) and whose collecting efforts are found in the American Muséum of Naturel History in New York, as well as other muséums today. While Secwepeme repatriation efforts hâve been mainly limited to burial remains, found as far away as England, the inventory of artifacts scattered in various muséums is well under way.Unlike its American counterpart in New York, however, the Secwepeme Muséum not only exhibits artifacts but actively seeks to use that knowledge in the préservation of the culture under the management of the Secwepeme themselves. The muséum is visualized as a vital tool of the Secwepeme to rejuvenate their culture and language. History is utilized to understand the past, to work in the présent and to plan for the future. The story of the residential schools at Kamloops (ironically a place where the Secwepeme language was banned, where culture was eradicated and families broken apart, and now a place of cultural rejuvenation) is a story that has not been fully told or exhibited. The Secwepeme Muséum is an important place for the Secwepeme to tell that story — within the old school itself.Canadian Historical AssociationEditorial Policy Politique éditorialeThe CHA Bulletin is published three rimes a year by the Canadian Historical Association. Notices, letters, calls for papers and articles of two pages or less, double-spaced, are welcome on topics of interest to historians, preferably accompanied by a translation into the other official language. Deadlines for submission of articles etc. are the following:October I, 1998 for the Fall issue February Z, 1999 for the Winter issueWe reserve the right to edit submissions. Opinions expressed in articles etc. are those of the author and not necessarily the CHA. Direct correspondance to:Bulletin,Canadian Historical Association,359 Wellington Street, Ottawa,Ontario, Kl A 0N3Tel.: (613) 233-7885 Fax: (613) 567-3110Le Bulletin de la S.H.C. est une publication bilingue qui paraît trois fois par année. Les articles, les notes et les lettres de deux pages ou moins, dactylographiés à double interligne et portant sur les sujets d’intérêt pour les membres, sont les bienvenus, de préférence accompagnés d’une traduction. La rédaction se réserve le droit de couper ou de modifier les textes soumis. Les opinions exprimées dans les articles ou les lettres sont celles des auteurs. Les dates limites de tombée des articles sont les suivantes :1er octobre 1998 (automne) 1erfévrier 1999 (hiver)Veuillez acheminer toute correspondance au Bulletin,Société historique du Canada, 395, rue Wellington, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N3Tél. : (613) 233-7885Télécopieur: (613) 567-3110Editors/Rédacteurs : Joanne BurgessGuylaine Girouard Lise Legault Donald WrightTranscription: Joanne Mineault Translation/Traduction: Edwidge MunnEileen ReardonLayout/Mise en page: Robert RamsayThe notion that history began with the arrivai of Europeans contact and is based on written records (joumals, letters, reports and maps) ignores the rich oral and traditions and indigenous knowledge that forms the basis of native history. The essential core of First Nations’ culture is spirituality, centered around spiritual beliefs about the land, community and personal custodian responsibilities, kinship Systems and ecology. Cultural lore and environmental knowledge is passed on by oral tradition through the language. Unfortunately much of that knowledge has passed away with the Elders, yet much has survived and is being used to develop curriculum materials.The muséum (and a growing archives) thus has become a repository for that knowledge, including oral historiés, maps, photographs, and other documents. The ethnographie collections include both historical and contemporary materials. Archaeological materials linking the past and the présent, represent the core of the muséum’s collections. Over 6000 years of history hâve been recorded in the vicinity of the muséum itself and the finds of any dig within Secwepeme territory are deposited with the Secwepeme Muséum. Certain objects within the muséum, such as the eagle-claw staff representing the unity of the Shuswap bands, are used in powwows and at spécial gatherings. Regalia similar to that on display in the muséum is also worn in powwows throughout the Shuswap country in the summer.The Heritage Park, the outdoors component of the Muséum opened in 1993, incorporâtes an archaeological site (EcRb77, revealing 20 circular pithouses and 50 storage pit dépréssions) and expands on the efforts of cultural renewal and éducation. Four reconstructed pithouses show the different phases of Shuswap construction over 5000 years ffom the time of the Egyptian dynasties up to the European contact. Outdoor cooking pits reveal how native food plants are still found in the area and can be used and shared.A new technology — the Internet — now holds the possibility of a cultural revival through multi-media modes of interaction including digital sound and image. The “virtual muséum” transmitting the history and language of the Secwepeme to anyone with access to the Internet, but most importantly to the Shuswap themselves, is the promise of the future. The ability to disseminate information about the museum’s collections via the Internet amongst the Secwepeme is part of the process of developing their self-identity and nationhood.Ken Favrholdt,Muséum DirectorSummer 1998 2

The Secwepeme Museum and History

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The Secwepeme Museum and History

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