Message-ID: <SNT104-W58515E097CEF86EDF030AFA1780@phx.gbl> From: Destinee Udelhoven <destineekae@hotmail.com> Subject: Indian Agency House Wraps Up Summer Speaker Series Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:28:36 -0500
Ho-Chunk Tribal Member and Advocate Janice Rice
Final Speaker in Summer Series
The Historic Indian Agency House wraps up its popular “Their Side of the
Story” speaker series this month. The fourth and final installment will t
ake place on Tuesday, September 28 at 6:30PM.
At this time, UW-Madison Senior Academic Librarian Janice Rice will prese
nt “Ho-Chunk Leadership: Yesterday and Today.” Ms. Rice will discuss hi
storic and modern traditions of governance and decision-making within the H
o-Chunk culture, including the clan system and traditional leadership rol
es held by Ho-Chunk women. The presentation will also briefly touch on the
1934 Indian Reorganization Act and its effect on Ho-Chunk governance and l
eadership. In light of America’s enduring debate over how power should be
distributed within our own government, Rice’s topic is sure to spark c
ultural comparisons, thought and reflection. Rice, a Ho-Chunk nation m
ember, serves on a variety of national, state, inter-tribal, and ci
ty-tribal organizations. Additionally, for ten years she served on the Wi
sconsin Historical Society Board of Curators, and is now Curator Emeritus
.
The museum and visitor’s center exhibits, always free to the public,
will be open 5PM until the lecture begins, and a guided tour of the Histo
ric Indian Agency House itself will also be offered immediately prior to th
e lecture, at 5:30PM, for a minimal fee. Light refreshments will be pro
vided for lecture guests.
“Their Side of the Story”: The Ho-Chunk at the Portage Speaker Series h
as consisted of one lecture a month, and ran from June to September. Eac
h lecture, held on the last Tuesday of the month, focused on a differen
t aspect of the Ho-Chunk experience in the Portage area.
On August 31st, noted author and UW-Waukesha professor Robert Birmingham
presented a fascinating synopsis of over 11,000 years of Native American
occupation of the Columbia County area. Birmingham’s discussion of earthe
n burial and ceremonial mounds was especially interesting, including his
assertion that central and southwestern Wisconsin are the heartland of the
mound culture. Nowhere else on earth, Birmingham noted, are so many mo
unds concentrated in such a small geographical area. Despite a near repeat
of July’s intense heat and humidity, the lecture drew a sizeable crowd
of nearly 40.
Each installment of this educational series is free to the public and only
possible because of a generous grant from the Great Circle Foundation, In
c. of East Northport, New York. For further information on this and other
Agency House programming, call Director Destinee Udelhoven at (608) 742-
6362.
__________________________________________________________________________
____________
Destinee K. Udelhoven
Executive Director
Historic Indian Agency House
Portage, Wisconsin
(608) 742 - 6362
"History supplies little beyond a list of those
who have accommodated themselves
with the property of others." ~Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary