The 8th Sequoyah Research Center Symposium took place on the campus of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock from 14-18 October. This year celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Center and the American Native Press Archive. This year’s event included an advisory board and guest reception at the Little Rock Club, featuring a presentation on the history of the center by Selene Phillips (Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe Nation) and a silent auction.

I was the proud winner of the bid on an original painting by Virginia Stroud (Cherokee). See the website at http://anpa.ualr.edu. This great collection includes other 2000 publications from tribes as well as other holdings, including the personal papers of Native writers and professional associations. A key asset of the Center is the Dr. J.W. Wiggins Collection of Native American Art - an astounding collection of over 1,200 paintings and other artistic expressions by contemporary Native artists.

This year’s conference program featured presentations by long-standing Sequoyah supporters and new friends. Board member Cristina Azocar (Upper Mattaponi) presented a summary of her continuing research on newspaper coverage of Indian country. John Sanchez (Yaqui-Apache) spoke about American Indian identity and DNA Testing. I gave an overview of how WGBH-Boston is including Native communities in the promotion of the American Experience series, We Shall Remain, scheduled to air nationally in April 2009.

Creative writers Frederick White (Haida) and Elgin Jumper (Seminole) read from their poetry. Dustin Tahmahkera (Comanche) performed his original music in his presentation, “42 Indians and 1 Guitar.” Linda LeGarde Grover (Boise Forte Band Lake Superior Chippewa) read from her poetry drawing from Indian boarding school experiences. Her “The.Indian.At.Indian.School” was published by the Center, the fourth in its series of Native Writers Chapbook (Series II). Patricia Wade (Chickaloon) was visiting from Alaska and provided her highly entertaining traditional stories.

If you can attend one event a year about Native literatures and research, I recommend attending next year’s Sequoyah Research Center Symposium, October 23-24, 2009, in Little Rock. Watch for the call for papers in early 2009. While there, I was fortunate to tour the Archives in its new location and visit the Wiggins art collection on exhibit there. My friend Patricia Wade and I also took in an excursion to the William J. Clinton Presidential Center-the Clinton Presidential Library in downtown Little Rock.

A. Consider the contributions of Native artists. How do artists depict traditional cultural influences today? What media attracts the artists - and you? What themes are carried through an artists’ work? How do they depict the dual citizenry of allegiance to one’s tribal and U.S. nation?
B. Which contemporary poets do you follow?
C. How do contemporary Native scholars incorporate technology in their research?