Nez Perce Bid Farewell To Artifacts Collection Will Be Shipped Back To Ohio Historical Society In Two Weeks

The Nez Perce Tribe held a “farewell ceremony” Monday for 19 valuable artifacts slated to be shipped back to the Ohio Historical Society in two weeks.

“It was like a mourning,” said Allen Slickpoo Sr., a tribal historian. “It was as if we were putting away someone into a grave.”

Meanwhile, tribal officials are frantically trying some 11th-hour measures to keep the collection, valued at $583,000, in Idaho. The items - such as dresses and moccasins - are the oldest artifacts known to be from the Nez Perce Tribe.

Barring last-minute legal action by the tribe, National Park Service curator Bob Chenoweth said, the artifacts will be shipped in a special van Dec. 15. For many of the 70 people at Monday’s ceremony, it likely was the last chance to see the items.

The Rev. Henry Spalding, a Presbyterian minister, bought the Indian “curiosities” from the Nez Perce around 1840. He sent them to an Ohio doctor, whose heirs gave them to the historical society. In 1979, the society loaned the items to the National Park Service for display at the Nez Perce National Historical Park visitors’ center in Spalding.

Now, the society wants the collection back, to the dismay of many Nez Perce. They view the items as equally important to their history as the Liberty Bell is to America’s.

“It’s kind of like losing a friend,” said Rick Ellenwood, an elder who’s led the fight to keep the artifacts.

“It’s a tangible link to their past,” said Chenoweth. “People feel that connection with kin.”

Chenoweth said the Park Service will pay $10,000 to $15,000 for a specialized moving company to wrap the collection in acid-free packing, put it in a climate-controlled van, and drive to Ohio Dec. 15.

In Ohio, experts will work on the artifacts to prevent deterioration from light and exposure, said historical society spokeswoman Ann Frazier. Once that’s done, she said, the artifacts might be loaned out again.

Those close to the collection are skeptical.

“We’re operating on the assumption that once they go out the door, we’ll never see them again,” said Chenoweth.

The tribe is seeking a temporary restraining order preventing the Park Service from shipping the artifacts. But the order likely would gain the tribe only 10 days, said Samuel Penney, chairman of the tribal executive committee.

The chairman said the tribe also is trying to get Ohio to extend the loan. If necessary, he said, tribal leaders will fly to Ohio for the historical society board’s December meeting.

“We are in the 11th hour, but we’ll try everything we can to retain that collection here,” Penney said.

But Frazier said the board decided against such an extension in late October.

Ellenwood said the tribe also may try to claim the artifacts under the 1991 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. But federal officials have said that strategy, which requires that artifacts be sacred, is a long shot at best.

Earlier this year, the tribe attempted to raise $583,000 to buy the collection. But Ellenwood said only about $2,000 was raised.

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