Tribe Scrambles To Buy Back Artifacts Nez Perce Must Come Up With $583,000 To Purchase Collection From Ohio Museum

The Nez Perce tribe has raised $1,000 in its effort to buy a collection of 140-year-old tribal artifacts, according to a tribal official.

That leaves at least $582,000 to go.

“It’s a tough assignment,” sighed Rick Ellenwood, a former Nez Perce tribal councilman and leader of the effort to keep the collection in Idaho.

Tribal senior citizens are selling $1 raffle tickets, he said, and numerous unsolicited donations have arrived in the mail.

Ellenwood said the tribe is also trying to recruit a professional fund-raiser and foundation to receive corporate donations.

“Give us one full year, and I think we can come up with the money,” he said.

The Indian “curiosities” were purchased for an Ohio doctor in 1846 by a Presbyterian minister named Henry Spalding, who lived among the Nez Perce.

Spalding shipped the Indian items to an Ohio doctor named Dudley Allen.

The artifacts eventually ended up with the Ohio Historical Society.

The society, which owns the items - including dresses, shirts, a saddle, hats and moccasins - has loaned the collection to a Spalding, Idaho, cultural center since 1979.

The society first said it wanted the items back for inspection and maintenance three years ago.

“We have renewed the loan agreement three times since then in good faith,” said society spokeswoman Ann Frazier. “We’ve been extending for a while here.”

Frazier said buying the collection would likely cost more than the $583,000 the collection was assessed at two years ago.

Ellenwood said the tribe is also considering the possibility of simply filing a claim to the artifacts under a four-year-old law. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was intended to prevent looting of graves and sacred sites.

“It’s difficult to say what might happen if the (Nez Perce) tribe was to claim the collection under NAGPRA,” said Art Hathaway, a National Park Service administrator who oversees the display. “It could easily get involved in litigation.”

Although the items seem like everyday goods, Ellenwood asserts that some of the items - like the beaded dresses - are sacred relics to the entire tribe.

“They’re like the Liberty Bell to us,” he said.

He said he understands why the society wants to keep its valuable collection.

“If I bought something, I wouldn’t want to give it back,” Ellenwood said. “But I’ve seen people buy something, then discover it means a lot more to someone else.”

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