Kootenai Tribe artifacts and photographs
The new collection included 13 artifacts and over 100 photographs.
These items were donated to Boundary County museum by Doug and Polly Lisle. Doug is a nephew of Annie Patterson, who was a cook at the Mission School around 90 years ago, in the late 1920s up to 1935.
Ms. Patterson had gathered these remarkable items over the years, and passed them on to Mr. Lisle at the time of her death in the late 1950s.
Mr. Lisle kept and preserved the photographs and artifacts for over 50 years. Eventually, he and his wife felt they needed to return to Boundary County and the Kootenai Tribe, so the couple donated them to our Museum.
The donated items include several pairs of
moccasins, a pine needle basket, a beaded turtle
toy and other toys, and two beautiful cradle
boards.While the Museum program was still in its planning and preparation stages, word of the event prompted another donation to the Museum from another Boundary County couple. "Leonard and Margie Brant heard about the program and wanted everyone to enjoy a cradle board they own," said Museum curator Susan Kemmis, "so they brought it up to give to the Museum. So on display for the program also was the cradle board made by Catherine Abraham Francis in the 1920's."
The public unveiling and celebration of the donated items opened with Tribal Chair Gary Aitken, Jr. praising the younger people for honoring their Kootenai traditions. The event also included a slide show by Ms. Kemmis, presenting the newly-donated photographs from the collection and pictures of the artifacts. Along the way, history of the area and the Tribe and fun stories about some of the people in the photographs were shared.
Also participating were the Kootenai Singers drum group, who performed two songs.
Members of Annie Patterson's family and members of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho were special guests at the event.
The Boundary County Museum has thousands of historic, cultural, and art items from the county and its history. Currently over 28,000 items are cataloged on the Museum's computerized inventory system, with ongoing cataloging continuing daily.
