Monthly E-News from Michael Bouman, Executive Director
Missouri Humanities Council
Contents:
Did We See You There?
My colleague, Terrie Young, says that "ag-citement was in the air as more than fifty thousand people visited the MoAg Theatre at the State Fair." We were there with our programs to educate and entertain parents, grandparents, and their kids. Barbara Bartholomew, Alisha Cole, Mike George, Steve Otto, and Jim Wallen were center stage during the ten days of the fair. Alisha is shown below doing her presentation on Laura Ingalls Wilder. (Aren't we glad for those wonderful "Little House" books?)
Our program theme for the fair was story telling and traveling back in time. Our READ from the START program was represented there as the key way for parents to develop that love of stories in pre-schoolers. What fun! We'll see you next year, I hope.
Kansas City Premieres "Summer Sun, Winter Moon"
Singers
and concert-goers in Kansas City, Springfield, and St. Louis will have a rare
opportunity this fall when the K.C. and St. Louis symphony orchestras and choruses
premiere a commissioned work by composer Rob Kapilow and librettist Darrell
Robes Kipp. Kipp is a member of the Am Ska Pee PeeKunee/Far Off Spotted
Robes, now referred to as the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana. He is the grandson
of Last Gun and Yellow Hawk Woman. Last Gun was the seven-year-old surviving
son of Chief Heavy Runner whose village was massacred in an attack by Second
Cavalry Troops on Bear River in the winter of l870. He serves on the Montana
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission and is a noted lecturer, author, and
consultant.
You can read profiles of the composer and librettist, and
you can study the libretto at
http://www.saintlouissymphony.org/lc/
Three years ago I read about the fight between several Piegan Blackfeet youths and four members of the Corps of Discovery on July 27, 1806 along the Two Medicine River. The account and analysis is in a superb book of essays by James Ronda, Finding The West. At this point in the journey, Lewis and Clark had split their party to conduct separate explorations of the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. They were on their way back to St. Louis. Lewis, with the expert Shawnee hunter, George Drouillard, and the two Field brothers, was following the Marias River northwest to see if it connected with the Saskatchewan River. He continued northwest along the Two Medicine River into present-day Ponder County, Montana. There the party met eight Blackfeet youths. No doubt with the help of Drouillard's sign-language, the twelve men agreed to camp together for the night.
Lewis apparently passed the time that night recounting his diplomatic mission and accomplishments. Drouillard would have gestured in terms that meant that a powerful new trading and military alliance had been formed on behalf of Lewis's government. Lewis may have been too tired, or too ignorant, to realize that he was describing an impending economic and military disaster to the Blackfeet youths. The new alliance to which he referred was composed of the traditional enemies of the Blackfeet.
At daybreak the Blackfeet men got hold of the party's guns and a fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued. Calf Looking was stabbed to death by Joseph Field. Lewis got hold of a gun and exchanged fire with Four Bears, probably killing him. The shot fired at Lewis narrowly missed his head. During the fight, the explorers recovered their guns and the remaining Blackfeet fled. So did Lewis and his party, fearing a counter-attack. These were the only deaths by violence during the Corps of Discovery's long journey. The loss of the two young lives is woven into Kipp's eloquent poem. In this work we experience something of the complexity of this national story, which is made of the stories of nations within nations. Kapilow wrote a preamble to Kipp's poem titled, translate, to awaken our interest in a multi-national tale. His preamble moves freely between English, French, Hidatsa, and I presume Shoshone languages, just as Kipp's poem incorporates many Native words and phrases.
The Kansas City performance is on September 19, with a second concert in Springfield on September 21. St. Louis performances are October 15-16. The composer is conducting and I'm privileged to be among the 100+ singers on the stage for the St. Louis performances. We had our first rehearsal last night. What sounds!
2004 Governor's Humanities Awards - You're Invited
The annual Governor's Humanities Awards will take place at the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City on Wednesday, October 13 at 4:00 p.m. The public is cordially invited to attend and congratulate the award recipients in the setting of the lovingly restored Victorian mansion. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is by advance reservation with MHC Development Director, Terrie Young. There is a $30 per person charge to cover the expenses of the ceremony and refreshments. The deadline for requesting admission is Friday, October 1.
An article on the award recipients and their accomplishments is on our web site at:
http://www.mohumanities.org/E-News/Sept04/awards2004.htm
Missouri Scores Another Win for History
Gary Kremer, the former State Archivist, recipient of the 1997 Governor's Humanities Award, and now former professor at William Woods University began work on Tuesday, September 7 as the new Executive Director of The State Historical Society of Missouri and Director of the Western Historical Manuscripts Collection. You can read the details on the Columbia Daily Tribune at
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2004/sep/20040907news003.asp
Gary grew up in the German-speaking community of Frankenstein and studied history at nearby Lincoln University. It was his exposure to some of the leading African American scholars of the day that led Gary to focus much of his professional work on helping Missouri's African Americans recover their community history. Gary's wide knowledge of our state's regions, towns, and historic themes have made him a sort of "culture hero" to countless people. In fact, I have often wondered if someone with his name recognition could successfully run for statewide office without campaigning. I suppose we'll never know. Congratulations to all of us for this magnificent hire at the State Historical Society!
My Summer Vacation
Since 1994 my wife and I have been on the artistic faculty of the "Pitten Classics" International Music Festival in the wonderful small town of Pitten in Lower Austria. Our longtime friend, David Neiweem, organized the festival in 1992 with a close circle of musical friends. David had attended graduate school in Vienna and had made friendships that led him to notice that the town of Pitten had a remarkable number of spaces and venues that would be ideal for a festival of about fifty participants. He and Sandra Bouman were colleagues at the University of Vermont at the time, and after we heard about the success of that first season we became participants the next time he organized it in 1994. I've created a little essay about the experience, along with a few pictures on an accompanying page:
http://www.mohumanities.org/E-News/Sept04/pitten.htm
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Published monthly by the Missouri Humanities Council, a tax-exempt, non-profit
organization affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Federal
agency.
http://www.mohumanities.org
Phone: (800) 357-0909
Fax: (314) 781-9681
543 Hanley Industrial Court
Suite 201
St. Louis, MO 63144