These oral history recordings are available through the Montana History Portal.
The Significance of the Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River has a long history of providing for people who live here. The Crow named it Iichiilikaashaashe, meaning Elk River, because of its importance for hunting. Exploring the river in 1806, William Clark soon set the stage for the next wave of emigration to the region. Today, the Yellowstone River provides water for municipal, agricultural, recreational, and industrial purposes. Even with the pressure for further development, the Yellowstone River, at nearly 700 miles in length, remains the longest free-flowing river in the continental United States.
Purpose
The 2006 Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory documents perspectives and values held by people who share the waters of the Yellowstone River. 313 individuals were interviewed, between May and November of 2006, for this comprehensive study. They represented agriculture, civic government, recreation, municipalities, and local residents. A sample of residents and river users was selected from various sections of the Yellowstone River as it flows through Montana into North Dakota.
How to access this database:
Western Heritage Center Archives
2822 Montana Avenue
Billings, MT 59101
To schedule an appointment: 406-256-6809 or kevin@ywhc.org
Many individuals from the Crow and Northern Cheyenne tribes generously gave of their time, memories, and knowledge so that priceless stories could be recorded and retained before being lost. We gratefully thank them for their efforts and give these educational resources in their honor. These interviewees shared stories from their personal and cultural histories in order to preserve this important history, educate the public, and to promote understanding. We urge our web users to approach these materials in the same spirit. We provide these resources to students, teachers, researchers, and the general public for educational purposes.
Access to the American Indian Tribal Histories Archive collection
Interviewees shared stories from their personal and cultural histories in order to preserve this important history, educate the public, and to promote understanding. We urge our web users to approach these materials in the same spirit. We provide these resources to students, teachers, researchers, and the general public for educational purposes.
To help ensure proper use of the archive, the Western Heritage Center requires a free registration process to gain access to the archive. For more information, please click on Register for the Archive. These tribal oral histories are passed down through family or clan. Each account is told by individuals with specialized knowledge and may not necessarily reflect the history of the tribe as a whole. From the ordinary to the divine, these stories survived for generations despite attempts at repression and assimilation.
For a full list of Crow interviews, please click here.
For a full list of Northern Cheyenne interviews, please click here.
For Permission To Use Archival Materials, please email archives@ywhc.org or call 406-256-6809.
Archives Collections Rates and Fees
To view the American Indian Tribal Histories Project DVD Videos, please click here.
American Tribal Histories Project Staff
A letter from Francine D. Spang-Willis, Former Director, American Indian Tribal Histories Project (2003-2008)
The mission of the American Indian Tribal Histories Project is to preserve and maintain American Indian tribal histories and cultures from an American Indian or Indigenous perspective. Often, in the past, knowledge about each nation’s history and culture has been told or written from a non-Indigenous perspective by historians, agencies, scholars, and reporters. In this oral history project, Crow and Cheyenne tribal members share their tribal history and culture from their perspectives.
Preserving tribal history and culture, from Indigenous perspectives, for future generations is important. Also, sharing the history and culture of each nation with Indigenous and non-Indigenous people will help bring about a deeper understanding of America’s first people and the landscape’s layered history. In this oral history project, Cheyenne and Crow cultural knowledge and views are available to you in various ways, including traveling and online exhibitions, public viewing stations, educational DVDs, teacher resource CDs, online language presentations, photographs, and an oral histories archive collection.
Explore this website, and you will find the extraordinary gifts shared by select Crow and Cheyenne people.
Sincerely,
Francine D. Spang-Willis
Former American Indian Tribal Histories Project Director
