Tribe Will Make Another Plea For Artifacts Nez Perce Delegation To Challenge Ohio Historical Society’s Ownership

When a delegation of Nez Perce tribal members meets with members of the board of the Ohio Historical Society Tuesday, they will be armed with questions about true ownership of the Spalding-Allen Collection.

Recently uncovered historical documents raise new doubts about the Ohio Historical Society’s claim to the 19 Indian items collected by the Rev. Henry Spalding while a missionary among the Nez Perces, tribal elder Richard Ellenwood said.

The delegation includes Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee Chairman Samuel Penney, tribal historian Allen Slickpoo Sr., General Council Chairman Richard Broncheau and a member of the tribe’s legal staff.

The group hopes to stave off recall of the Spalding-Allen Collection, which has been on loan to the Nez Perce National Historical Parks visitors center in Spalding since 1979.

Earlier this year, the historical society imposed a Dec. 31 deadline for return of the collection, which it acquired through Oberlin College, which received it from a descendant of Dr. Dudley Allen. Allen received the artifacts in 1846 from Spalding.

The recall is being fought by members of the Nez Perce Tribe who believe the collection belongs in Idaho.

Efforts to negotiate a purchase have been ignored by the historical society, Ellenwood said. Tribal members fear the items may be sold on the open market to the highest bidder.

An appraisal several years ago put the value of the collection, which includes the oldest known examples of Nez Perce quill and beadwork on buckskin garments, at about $600,000. A new evaluation could put the value at over $1 million.

To the Nez Perces, the collection is priceless in historical, cultural and spiritual ways.

Ellenwood, chairman of the Spalding-Allen Collection Committee, and others have been doing research to trace the origin of the items in the collection and to determine if the historical society has a valid claim.

A copy of a letter from Allen to Spalding was discovered at the visitors center in Spalding, he said. The original is at Whitman College.

“In writing to me for the Public Eye keep separate our private affairs in way of Barter, not on my account, but on your own,” Allen wrote. “But all of your news, your business, your wants every thing of your personal situation I want to show our people. Our Ladies, all read the Letters.”

“We believe this letter raises important new questions regarding Rev. Spalding’s business dealings with Dr. Allen, at a time when his purported mission was the spiritual needs of the Nez Perce people,” Ellenwood said.