Nez Perce Artifacts Have Proper Home In Idaho

Idaho is about to have a piece of its history torn from the heart of the state and sent to Ohio - again.

The piece of history consists of 19 of the most rare, best preserved, historically significant Nez Perce tribal artifacts on Earth.

The collection includes two war shirts, two beaded hide dresses, some of the earliest corn husk bags made by the tribe, and more.

The items were purchased by no less an historic figure than the Rev. Henry Spalding, the Presbyterian missionary who, on November 29, 1836, arrived at the confluence of the Clearwater River and Lapwai Creek 10 miles upstream of what is now Lewiston, Idaho.

The Spaldings built a home there and became what historians believe to be the first white couple to establish residence in what is now Idaho.

In 1840, 50 years before Idaho became a state, Henry Spalding purchased a sample of the shirts, dresses, bags and other accoutrements of the people whom he was trying to convert.

That purchase led to the first migration out of Idaho for these historic items.

Around 1857 they were sent, via horseback and clipper ship, from central Idaho around Cape Horn to Boston, then overland to Ohio where Dr. Dudley Allen, a friend of the Spaldings, added them to his collection of the frontier.

In 1893, heirs of Dr. Allen gave the artifacts to Oberlin College. In time, the college donated the pieces to the Ohio Historical Society.

For decades they remained stored in the collections of the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio.

But in 1979, they began to make their way back.

Bill Holm, the nationally known American Indian historian at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum, learned of the artifacts and alerted the National Park Service of their whereabouts.

The Park Service was in the process of expanding its Nez Perce National Historical Park outside of Lewiston.

The site was located on Lapwai Creek, at the exact place where Henry Spalding had built his home in 1836.

The National Park Service agreed with historian Holm that it would appropriate to ask if the Nez Perce collection hidden away in Ohio could be returned to the place of its origin.

The Ohio Historical Society agreed. In 1983 the shirts, the dresses, and other items were put on display in Idaho again, nearly 150 years after they had left.

Now, however, the Ohio Historical Society wants them back.

Why isn’t clear.

The society says its collections have become too scattered and need to be re-assembled.

Society officials have told the Park Service and the Nez Perce Tribe that they are fearful the artifacts could be lost, or damaged, or otherwise become disconnected from the society.

The Nez Perce have a different concern.

Why should the artifacts be taken from their historic home a second time? A few days ago the tribe sent a letter to Columbus, Ohio, offering to buy the collection from the Ohio Historical Society for just under $600,000.

The tribe put only two conditions on its offer. First, the tribe wants until June 1, 1996 to make payment. Second, the artifacts must not leave the park service museum at Spalding while the money is being raised.

The tribes have not heard back from the Ohio Historical Society.

All they know is that on Thursday, the executive director of the society will meet with staff to determine what response, if any, the historical society should make to the tribe’s offer.

Really, there is only one thing the Ohio Historical Society needs to consider.

Is Ohio or Idaho the best place for these artifacts?

Other issues, such as raising the $600,000, preservation of the materials, providing public access, all can be resolved.

The National Park Service already has paid for the climate-controlled display cases that currently house the artifacts.

And. As news of the possible relocation of the artifacts has spread, a number of national foundations and wealthy Idaho arts patrons has contacted both the Park Service and the Nez Perce Tribe about donating to an aquisition fund.

But time appears short and the intentions of the Ohio State Historical Society remain unclear.

For decades, these pieces of Idaho history occupied a storage area in an Ohio museum. Would their future be any different if they return again to that state?

Well, yes.

The commercial value of these pieces might come into play. Only a few days ago, two dynamite American Indian Art auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York generated huge sums of money for museums and individuals who decided to sell parts of their collections. There is nothing to stop the Ohio Historical Society from selling off the artifacts to another bidder.

So, all of Idaho, including its congressmen, governor and influential citizens, need to agree on one thing this week.

They need to agree that these historic artifacts have a home 10 miles upstream from Lewiston, at the confluence of the Clearwater River and Lapwai Creek, where they have a context and a meaning.

That message needs to be carried to Columbus, Ohio, and not by horseback or clipper ship, or these priceless heirlooms of the state will again be spirited away.

, DataTimes