OU Libraries will open the exhibition Native Voices Over the Airwaves: The Indians for Indians Hour Radio Show Nov. 14 in Bizzell Memorial Library. Covering such topics as community life, military service, religion, education and advocacy for Native rights, the exhibition represents an incredible snapshot of U.S. history as told through Native American experience.
“This exhibition is a way to bring together campus and statewide communities to explore Oklahoma and U.S. history through Native voices and to promote this collection as a resource for scholarship and cultural revitalization,” said exhibit curator Lina Ortega.
A vibrant blend of Native American music and speeches on an array of topics, the Indians for Indians program aired from 1941 to the mid-1970s. Originally created and run by Don Whistler, chief of the Sac and Fox tribe, it was continued by OU’s Sequoyah Club.
The opening of the exhibition will include a reception at 2:30 p.m. featuring remarks by Sac and Fox Principle Chief Justin F. Wood, as well as by Donna Williams, granddaughter of Chief Don Whistler. At 7 p.m., an intertribal tribute performance by the OU School of Music’s Ruggles Native American Music Series will take place. Many of the performers are descendants of participants in the radio show.
OU Libraries received a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources to digitize 200 hours of the radio program on 152 open-reel tapes held in its Western History Collections. The grant enables University Libraries to preserve these important recordings and make them available online with an improved audio quality through the expert digitalization by the Northeast Document Conservation Center.
These files will be accessible through the libraries’ website by Nov. 14. Native Voices over the Airwaves will remain on display in Bizzell through Aug. 3, 2020. More information about both exhibits, as well as information regarding exhibition programming, can be found at https://exhibits.libraries.ou.edu/.
Article Published: Thursday, November 7, 2019