Documenting Native American Women’s Stories

With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) has embarked on the Journeys and Pathways project, creating a record of twenty-first century Pueblo women through oral histories. As a museum and library, the IPCC already possesses a noted collection of Pueblo pottery and murals. Its archives are dedicated to documenting the culture and history of the Pueblo people, as well as supporting the conservation efforts of the different Pueblos. This NEH challenge grant, which has helped the IPCC raise an additional $90,000 in local dollars, is filling a gap in the organization’s collections and ensuring that Pueblo women’s perspectives are part of the archival record. At the same time, the project is allowing the IPCC to make the life stories of women leaders available to younger generations.

Women take a variety of leadership roles within New Mexico’s Pueblo communities—they are social activists, artists, teachers, historic preservation specialists, and tribal officials. They fight domestic violence and serve as directors of education and housing. Through Journeys and Pathways, the IPCC is interviewing nineteen of these women, making a special effort to document the stories of their professional lives. The IPCC will hold the original film of these interviews in its archives, while also providing transcripts for participants, their communities, the state archives, and universities and colleges designated by the participants.

While the films and transcripts will be useful to future researchers, the IPCC is ensuring that these women’s perspectives have an impact on others in the present. A filmmaker, who also records the interviews, is creating a 40-minute documentary using the footage. The IPCC will screen the documentary and provide public programming in communities and schools, as well as providing supplemental materials for its Pueblo Curriculum project. The project has also provided two internships for Pueblo women, who advise the IPCC on working with local communities while learning valuable skills in project management, oral history, research, and transcription.