Title: Menominee Tribal News Records
Inclusive Dates: 1968-1986

Creator:

• Menominee Tribal News (Keshena, Wis.)

Call Number: Mss 1041; PH 6547

Quantity: 1.2 cubic feet (2 archives boxes and 1 flat box) and 3.5 cubic feet of photographs and negatives (7 archives boxes, 1 flat box, and 3 oversize folders)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of the Menominee Tribal News (known as Menominee Nation News in 2008), a Native American newspaper run by the members of the Menominee Nation, including those years when the Menominee had been declared disbanded as a tribe due to the Menominee Termination Act (1954), and later reinstated through the Menominee Restoration Act (1974). The records consist mostly of photographs and negatives, scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, and papers. Many of the files, although they came from the newspaper office, document subjects of broader relevance to the community, including research for the formation of the Menominee County School District, the Menominee Restoration Committee, the Menominee Historical Foundation Inc., and Menominee Enterprises Inc. Photographs document daily life and community events of the Menominee Indians, including pow-wows, hide tanning, sports, and school.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss01041

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Before the reservation was established, the Menominee people lived in the areas near what is today known as north-eastern Wisconsin to the west of Menominee River and into Michigan. They were established as a tribe through a series of treaties beginning in the early 1800s. The Menominee Reservation was established in 1854 and included most of Menominee County and a small percentage of neighboring Winnebago County in Wisconsin. The reservation was owned by the Tribe until 1961 where tribal-owned properties were consolidated and managed under the name, Menominee Enterprises Inc., in accordance with the federally passed Menominee Termination Act of 1954.

After Menominee Enterprises Inc. was found to be selling reservation lands to non-Menominee buyers, the Menominee people, led by Ada Deer, formed a group known as DRUMS (Determination of Rights and Unity for Menominee Stockholders) to reclaim those lands. Their activities lead to the restoration of lands and their lobbying encouraged the passing of the Restoration Act in 1973. Their activities also increased awareness of the drastically decreased standard of living on the reservation since the removal of tribal status.

During this same time period, the years following the Termination Act, the Menominee began the process to form their own school district. Through petitions, educational statistics and letters from parents and students alike, the Menominee County School District was formed in 1974. DRUMS was an instrumental voice in lobbying for this cause as well.

The Menominee Tribal News (now known as Menominee Nation News) formed as the reservation newspaper in 1976. The goal, as stated in their 1978 publications, is for the paper to “[contain] all of the news concerning tribal affairs, feature stories, Indian poetry, art work, advertising and other news concerning Indian country today.” The Shawano Evening Leader (now known as the Shawano Leader) was the main publisher in the area, producing Menominee Tribal News, DRUMS and Shawano Evening Leader at that time. The Shawano Leader and Menominee Nation News are still published as of 2014.

The materials in the collection consist mainly of manuscripts and visual materials, with the bulk of the material consisting of photographs and negatives. The entire date range spanned by the collection is 1968-1985.

The collection is divided into three series: OFFICE ADMINISTRATION, TRIBE RELATED RESEARCH, and VISUAL MATERIALS. The first two series consist mainly of textual materials. These series date from 1968-1975, and 1981-1985, with the bulk of the records dating to the period from 1968 to 1972. Although there is very little documentation involving the business aspect of the Menominee Tribal News, the OFFICE ADMINISTRATION series does provide some indication of the day-to-day running of this operation, including letters to the editor and budget requests. Correspondence from 1975-1979 is also found in this series, as well as a student report and a newsletter from the Menominee Tribal News.

The TRIBE RELATED RESEARCH series contains documents of the activities of some of the organizations and committees on the reservation, including the Enrollment Committee, Indian Control for Quality Education, Menominee Restoration Committee, and Menominee Indian Historical Foundation Inc., the outcome of the Tomow v. Menominee Enterprises Inc. trial and the Constitution and By-laws Committee. The bulk of the documents deal with various aspects of the fight for a school on Menominee land, run by Menominee people. Of particular interest are the documents relating to the formation of the Menominee County School District, including letters from students and parents in favor of a school on the reservation. Also included within this series are scrapbook pages of articles from Wisconsin area newspapers involving Menominee.

The material in the VISUAL MATERIALS series dates from 1976-1982 and contains photographs and negatives from the Menominee Tribal News. The dated files contain items from December 1976 through 1982. These items have been kept in the order in which they had been filed. The subject files are arranged by subject such as clinic, medical, hide tanning, miscellaneous employees, sports, and tribal police. The photographs depict daily life such as pow-wows, committee meetings, building projects, work being done at the mill, school and educational programs, sports and events of the community, and community life in general.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Laurie Rider, September 1987. Accession Number: M87-395

Processing Information

Processed by Rachel Pieper (Practicum student), May 2008.

Mss 1041	Series: Office Administration
Box   1 Folder   1-2	General correspondence, 1975-1979
Box   1 Folder   3	Incoming correspondence, 1975
Box   1 Folder   4	Menominee Tribal News 1985 budget request
Box   1 Folder   5	“Minority Press” / by Tom Raithel, 1975 May 22
Box   1 Folder   6	Monthly reports, 1982-1984
Box   1 Folder   7	“Wisconsin's First Residents,” 1982 June
	Series: Tribe Related Research	⇧
Box   2 Folder   1	Annual report, 1984
Box   2 Folder   2	Population characteristics of the Menominee Reservation, 1984
Box   2 Folder   3	Constitution and by-laws of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, undated
Box   2 Folder   4	Decision: Tomow v. Menominee Enterprises Inc., 1974 July 24
Box   2 Folder   5	Docket No. 134-67, 1967 April 25
Box   2 Folder   6	Documents submitted to the Agency School Committee III, 1974 January 21
Box   2 Folder   7	Enrollment Committee, 1973 December-1975 August
Box   2 Folder   8	Menominee Indian Historical Foundation Inc., official minute book, 1968-1975
Box   2 Folder   9	Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, 1981-1982
Box   2 Folder   10	Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin: Personnel Policies and Procedures, 1983 April 21
Box   2 Folder   11	Menominee Restoration Committee and Wisconsin Indian Task Force, 1974
	Menominee Restoration Committee
Box   2 Folder   12	Constitution and by-laws, 1975-1976
Box   2 Folder   13	Transfer of assets, 1974 July 22
Box   2 Folder   14	Restoration progress report / by Al Fowler, 1975 May 6
Box   2 Folder   15	Tribal roll book, undated
Box   3 Volume	Scrapbook of newspaper clippings
PH 6547	Series: Visual Materials	⇧
	Dated files
Box   1 Folder   1-18	1976 December-1978 April
Box   2 Folder   1-15	1978-1985
	Negatives book
Box   3 Folder   1	No. 1, circa 1976
Box   3 Folder   2	No. 2, circa 1978
Box   3 Folder   3-4	No. 3, 1977 January-1978 November
Box   3 Folder   5	No. 4, 1978 September-1978 December
Box   3 Folder   6	No. 5, 1979 March-1979 August
	Subject files
Box   4 Folder   1	Candidates for tribal legislation
Box   4 Folder   2	Clinic, medical
Box   4 Folder   3	Community involvement and events
Box   4 Folder   4	Construction
Box   4 Folder   5	Crafts, recreation, play
Box   4 Folder   6	Education, school
Box   5 Folder   1	Firetower
Box   5 Folder   2	Hide tanning
Box   5 Folder   3	Menominee Restoration Committee employees
Box   5 Folder   4-5	Menominee Tribal Enterprises Inc. and mill
Box   5 Folder   6	Miscellaneous
Box   6 Folder   1	Miscellaneous (continued)
Box   6 Folder   2	Miscellaneous employees
Box   8	Neopit scrapbook
Box   6 Folder   3-4	Pow-wows
Box   6 Folder   5-6	Sports
Box   7 Folder   1	Sports (continued)
Box   7 Folder   2	Tribal police
	Oversize
Oversize Folder   1	Two young children
Oversize Folder   2	“Members of the Joseph Lederberger Post No. 261”
Oversize Folder   2	Veterans' unit
Oversize Folder   3	Aerial view of Menominee Reservation