The story of the Menominee people, including the stories about their clans, has returned home to roost.
The College of Menominee Nation flipped the switch March 22 and added the Menominee Clans Story to its website, www.menominee.edu. Previously, the story had resided online at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s website. That was until outdated technology and a lack of interest from university officials prompted a small team of educators, tribal members and others to save the information of the tribe’s 10,000-year history from being thrust into a cyber void.
The Menominee Clans website was started in 2003 as a way to transmit the tribe’s cultural knowledge. Karen Ann Hoffman, a member of the Oneida Nation and cousin of James Frechette, spoke of the carvings Frechette did that were also part of UW-Steven Point’s collection of Menominee information and culture, and those carvings helped when Frechette and others decided to take the tribe’s storytelling to the digital level.
“We decided there should be some additions to the clan carvings, and so the idea was broached — what about a website?” Hoffman said.
Frechette and Mike Hoffman, Karen Ann’s husband, were initially reluctant to the idea of a website, as traditional Indigenous ways focused on telling stories in person as opposed to looking up the information in a database.
“Neither of those men were sure that bits and bytes and imaginary electronic things zipping around the universe would have the power of sitting with an elder, but they realized that times were changing, and they understood they had a responsibility with the knowledge that they carried,” Karen Ann Hoffman said. “They understood it wasn’t their job to change the information, but to transmit it, and so they thought that maybe this was worth a try.”
Slowly, information was added to the site. Hoffman noted one of the first major additions were the Menominee love songs and lullabies. She pointed out that the initial architects for the website had the information but not a clear indication of how those songs sounded, so they turned to musicians for help in recording audio for the site.
“Those Menominee love songs and lullabies were transcribed for the first time in 100 years and played by a living breath for the first time in 100 years,” Hoffman said. “These songs are now on the website for all to hear and all to share.”
Soon after, the stories of the five main clans of the Menominee — along with information about the younger brother clans — were added. The piece de resistance was the map that showed the Menominee’s original territory in Wisconsin and adjoining states, with research done on the traditional place names that involved at least three independent sources confirming names before they were added.
“This map would be an incredible teaching tool for Menominee kids,” said Ray Reser, former director for the UW-Stevens Point Natural History Museum. “Mike (Hoffman) was adamant about trying to dispel the notion that Menominee territory was all within the Menominee reservation. He really wanted to get the point across that Menominee territory spread across the state — into Minnesota, into the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) and down into Illinois.”
The Menominee Clans Story was a focal point in the university’s cultural outreach for almost two decades, but then things changed, according to Reser.
“There had been agreements written by James Frechette … with the university about what to do with the clans figures and the story and where that should reside,” he said. “We ran into a rocky patch with the university with Mike, Karen Ann and I on one side and bean counters for the state on the other, and we had to decide what to do with those figures and the map and the website.”
Frechette’s carvings were moved to the Oshkosh Public Museum, and work began two years ago on transferring the website to CMN. CMN Professor Ryan Winn, one of the team members responsible for the moving project, said the Menominee Clans Story being in Keshena is just another way for the college’s charter to serve all Menominee, whether on reservation or off.
“I see what we’re doing as putting a spotlight on it,” Winn said. “I see that the work of highlighting this and coming to CMN is helping to illuminate all this great teaching.”
CMN President Chris Caldwell said one of the easiest decisions during his tenure was to say yes to the plan to bring the Menominee Clans Story home.
“I think this is the kind of care we need to continue at the college,” Caldwell said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
‘Bits and bytes’ hold info about Menominee clans
