Chief Bemidji, whose real name was " Shay-Now-Ish -Kung," received his new name from Lake Bemidji which was called Bay-me-ji-ga, or "lake with cross waters." He was born near Inger, Minnesota, in 1833 or 1834 and lived in the Leech Lake and Cass Lake area. In 1860, he married a Leech Lake Pillager Indian woman and they had eight children, three boys of whom died at early ages. Four daughters and one son grew up and lived to older ages. In 1882, Chief Bemidji's wife died. Saddened by her death, he loaded all his possessions and children in his birch bark canoe and paddled up the Mississippi River to settle on the south shore of Lake Bemidji. He was the first permanent settler of Bemidji (from p. 107,"The Bemidji Area Looking Back" 2004).
Headdress placed on Mr. Hellstrom at a pow wow at the American Swedish Institute. Inscription on front of photo reads, "The Chippewa honorary chief, 'The Lone Eagle C. F. Hellstrom'. "
Hymns only edition of the larger work Katholik wocekiye wowapi. 26 hymns in the Dakota language, most of which include the melody notated in treble clef. 48 pages. University of St. Thomas, Archibishop Ireland Memorial Library call number: PM1024 .C38 1906
Contributing Institution:
University of St. Thomas - Archbishop Ireland Memorial Library
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Students pose with their handiwork in the work room of the newly-built school at St. Benedict's Mission. Domestic arts were considered important. So before and after school hours, the girls were taught to card wool and spin yarn with which they knitted their own stockings. They were taught plain and fancy sewing and took turns in assisting the sisters in the kitchen, laundry and dairy. Under Sister Philomena Ketten's supervision, the boys worked in the garden and helped on the farm with picking potatoes and raking hay. [SBMA, McDonald, p. 241]
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). One of the boarding school dormitories in the upper floors of the newly-built St. Benedict's Mission School. Unlike the crowded conditions of the early convent school at White Earth, the new school built in 1890 allowed ample space for sleeping quarters (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Catholic catechism, liturgy, prayers, and hymns. Text in Ojibwa with some titles in French or Latin. 215 pages. University of St. Thomas, Archibishop Ireland Memorial Library call number: PM854 .B25 1859
Contributing Institution:
University of St. Thomas - Archbishop Ireland Memorial Library
Mrs. Jessie C. Yeats' Chippewa Indian (Ojibwe) collection that was given to the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, museum by Johnn K. West from Detroit, Minnesota (became Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, in 1926).