Nez Perce Raising Funds To Buy Back Artifacts

The Nez Perce Indian Tribe is turning to the Internet to help raise $608,100 to purchase tribal artifacts.

“We have until June 1 to try to raise the necessary funds,” tribal member Sam Penney said Wednesday. “It’s a formidable task.”

The tribe last week inked a deal to buy 20 artifacts from the Ohio Historical Society. The 150-year-old items, including six pairs of moccasins, two dresses, a saddle, three hats and hemp bags, were sold to an Ohio doctor around 1850 by the Rev. Henry Spalding, a Presbyterian missionary.

The items are among the oldest known Nez Perce artifacts. Little has survived, Penney said, because white missionaries discouraged traditional crafts. Also, he said, it is common for Nez Perces to bury, burn or give away a person’s belongings after their death.

“Even now, if a tribal member passes away, a lot of families will burn all their possessions,” said Penney, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee.

“Everything that belonged with that person should go with that person when they leave this life.”

How Spalding obtained the items from the Nez Perce is disputed. Although he recorded prices paid for the items, some tribal members believe Spalding essentially confiscated the items in an effort to turn the tribe toward white man’s clothing and habits. Few believe cash traded hands, since it was virtually useless on the frontier.

“Spalding documented the price paid for the items at a total of $57.90, although it is almost certain this did not reflect an actual cash transaction, but at most, the trading of some goods,” says the tribe’s Internet bulletin on the “Planetpeace” home page.

The Internet notice was set up by a sympathetic software company worker in Portland, said Douglas Nash, the tribe’s chief legal counsel. The tribe also has discovered that a tribal member at the University of Idaho established an unofficial Nez Perce home page.

“It was news to us,” Nash chuckled. Since the student has graduated, the tribe is going to try to take over that site, he said.

The tribe plans to use the Internet to encourage donations and update people on its efforts, Nash said.

“Obviously, $608,000 is going to take more than raffles and bake sales,” he said.

Penney said the tribe may also hire a professional fund-raiser.

“Right now we’re collecting resumes,” he said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: DONATIONS The tribe has established a bank account for donations. Taxdeductible contributions can be made directly to “The SpaldingAllen Collection Fund” at Key Bank, 2250 Thain Grade Road, Box 1208, Lewiston, ID 83501.