Helen Redbird-Smith papers
Scope and Contents
Throughout Helen Marie Redbird-Smith's many years of research and teaching, she accumulated an extraordinary collection of monographs, research papers, ephemera, reference materials, and documents relating to Native American tribes. This collection has a focus on the tribes of the Northwest and Southwest, and a significant amount of content on the Cherokee. Also included are many irreplaceable research papers and documents on the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon and Yakama Tribe of Washington and to a lesser extent other Northwest tribes. Most of the monographic materials have been cataloged and are housed in the general collection; a few of the older books, particularly those about the Northwest tribes, have been placed in Special Collections.
Dates
- Existence: 1855-2001
Language of Materials
English and Sahaptian languages
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright and any related rights protect materials in this collection. Researchers are free to use these materials for any purpose that is permitted by the copyright and any rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses, researchers need to obtain permission from the rights holder(s). http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
For fair use/educational reproduction, please provide the following credit: From the Helen Redbird-Smith papers, courtesy of Southern Oregon University Hannon Library.
Biographical / Historical
Dr. Helen Redbird-Smith, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, grew up in Ashland after the family moved to the area following World War II. Redbird-Smith graduated from SOU in 1951. In addition, her two sisters are also graduates of SOU and a brother attended SOU for two years. Redbird-Smith, who holds a Doctorate in Education, is a Professor Emeritus at Western Oregon University where she taught in the School of Social Science from 1956 to 1988. Redbird-Smith lived for many years at her home in Monmouth, Oregon until 2001, after which she moved to McMinnville. Dr. Redbird-Smith’s thesis from the University of Colorado (1963) is entitled, “A Study of the Intelligence of Domestic Agricultural Migrant Workers in Colorado.” Since then she authored and published many other works, with a focus on Native American studies.
Helen Marie Redbird-Smith’s first husband, a Yakama ethnomusicologist named Leroy Bennie Selam, collected many of these. Selam’s collection of sound recording and related materials are also a part of the collection.
In 1985, after Selam’s death, Helen married her second husband, now deceased, Lloyd G. Smith, Senior, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Smith was born at the Phoenix Indian Health Service Hospital on September 16, 1923. His father, James Greely Smith, had been born in Simnasho, Oregon. Lloyd’s mother, Amy Lenora Carlos (Pima), had been born in Lehi, Arizona. Lloyd had three older siblings (Matilda, Harold and Edmund, and one younger brother (Theron).
Lloyd attended Albuquerque High School, graduating in 1942. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1942-46 and 1951-52. He attended the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, intermittently from 1946, graduating in 1953 with a degree in Finance.
From 1953-55 Lloyd G. Smith worked for the BIA in both Gallup, NM, and Portland, OR. In 1955 he began a long and fruitful career as an employee of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Lloyd performed various accounting roles: Accounting Clerk, Property Clerk, Payroll Clerk, and Purchasing Clerk between 1955-67, and served as Education Coordinator for the Warm Springs Education Office from 1967 to 1974. He created a child care center for working mothers on the reservation in 1967. From 1975-89 he served as Personnel Manager of the Warm Springs Tribe. His career ended as a result of heart problems.
Lloyd was actively involved in many other capacities during his Warm Springs years. He was elected to the Jefferson County School Board in 1966, serving for 22 years, three years as its Chair. He was president of the Migrant and Indian Coalition Board. He was a member of the Policy Board of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory Reading and Language Development Indian Program from 1973-89. He served for four years on the Oregon Governor’s Advisory Council on Career Education. He served for three years on the Oregon Governor’s Advisory Council on Manpower. He was Board Chair for the Advocates for Indian Education for Northwest Tribes.
Extent
13.5 Linear Feet (25 boxes)
Abstract
This collection consists of manuscripts, documents, miscellanea, and sound recordings relating primarily to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon, and secondarily to the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Nation of Toppenish, Washington. This collection contains one box of manuscript materials relating mostly to the Yakama Indians of Washington state. Eleven boxes in the collection deal with Warm Springs, and make this collection extremely useful for research on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.
Arrangement
Materials in this collection were arranged by the archivist.
The arrangement of boxes appears as follows:
Box 1 Warm Springs Tribal History. Box 2 Warm Springs Tribal Administration and Resources. Box 3 Confederated Tribes Annual Reports. Box 4 Oregon State University Research Project and Warm Springs Tribal Publications. Box 5 Warm Springs Reservation Comprehensive Plans. Box 6 Warm Springs Reservation Comprehensive Plans. Box 7 Tribal Lawsuits. Box 8 Lloyd G. Smith, Sr. Box 9 Northwest Tribes Other Than the Confederated Warm Springs Tribes. Box 10 Warm Springs (Sahaptin) Language Studies. Box 11 Art prints, posters, and 1937 census. Box 12 - box 19 Sound Recordings. Box 20 Materials on Native American Cultural Activities, Education, and History. Box 21 Materials on Native American Languages and History. Box 22 Materials on Native American Art, Dance, Music, and Writing. Box 23 Materials on Locations, Museums, Exhibits, and Photographs. Box 24 Periodicals Relating to Native Americans. Box 25 Periodicals Relating to Native Americans
Source
- Redbird-Selam, Helen Marie, Dr. (Compiler, Person)
- Title
- Guide to the Helen Redbird-Smith papers
- Subtitle
- Helen Redbird-Smith papers
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Special Collections and University Archives
- Date
- 2018
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
- Box: 01 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 02 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 03 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 04 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 05 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 06 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 07 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 08 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 09 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 10 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 11 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 12 (Audio)
- Box: 13 (Audio)
- Box: 14 (Audio)
- Box: 15 (Audio)
- Box: 16 (Audio)
- Box: 17 (Audio)
- Box: 18 (Audio)
- Box: 19 (Audio)
- Box: 20 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 21 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 22 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 23 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 24 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 25 (Mixed Materials)
Repository Details
Part of the Southern Oregon University, Hannon Library Repository