Bad River/Red Cliff Day One and Two

Day one of the Bad River/Red Cliff trip started off with about 6 hour drive to the Bad River reservation. We arrived in the early afternoon and went straight to the library. There we met with Norma Soulier and Phillip ‘Skip” Hefner. They told us the ins and outs of the library, where the money comes form, how they handle acquistions, and the system they have devised to catalog the many resources they possess. The discussion was lively, as the conservation covered everything from education to growing up on the reservation. Our hosts were most generous with their time and we gained much from their accounts of the library and information services in the region.

After, a few hours in the library we checked into our rooms at the casino and headed out for a pizza dinner. The first day concluded with a few class memebers trying their luck with the slot machines, Gabe and Christian (visiting architect), took home about 50$ a piece, so it was a good end to an already productive day.

The next day we headed up to Red Cliff to meet with the tribal council in the morning. The meeting concerned the library and the next steps that Red Cliff would like to take in the implementation of a new library. The council members in attendance were: Larry Balber, Rose Gurnoe-Soulie, Charlie Bresette, Joanne Peterson and Randy Hella. Christian Schaller, (architect  from Chicago who is generously donating his time to assist Red Cliff) showed his designs for the library and everyone seemed enthusiastic about the project. At this point, they are still deciding the right avenues to pursue for funding, and exactly how/what the library should be. It seems there was a general consensus that the structure itself should function as a sort of community center also, similar to the library, museum, and archive of the Potowatomi. All and all the meeting was a great opportunity for the tribal council to meet all of the students (and vice versa) and also a chance for everyone to share ideas.

After the meeting we had lunch with a few library board memebers and then followed by a meeting with the entire board. The members present for that meeting were, Larry Balber, Sue DePerry, Rene Lushko, Mary Peterson, Sarah Quale, Linda Lamoreaux, Jim Pete and Roberta Menger. This meeting also acted to solidify the cooperation between Red Cliff and the UW as well as develop future plans for the library.

Here are a couple of photos from the meeting with Tribal Council members and others.