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Archives 18
Native American Studies Program
Records, 1965-1977
The Native American Studies Program (NASP) began in Spring 1969 after extensive planning by the University's Native American Studies Committee. Until the Fall of 1975 the Program's functions were to recruit, counsel, and provide financial and other aid to Native American Students at Washington State University as well as to develop staff and curriculum for future use in an academic program. After some temporary courses, regular Native American Studies courses were instituted in Fall 1975; a minor in Native American Studies was authorized in Spring 1976.
NASP sponsored or was closely associated with a number of related organizations, including the WSU North American Indian Students Association (NAISA), the Indian Affairs Coordinating Council (IACC), and the Steering Council on Indian Affairs (SCIA). For a while it also coordinated and planned Native American social and curricular activities at WSU, including the Visiting Indian Artist Series sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a Visiting Professor or Lecturer program, workshops on racism, and many conferences on aspects of Indian education.
Program administrators prominent in the collection are Acting Directors Ron Halfmoon (1970-71), Raleigh Ferrell (1971-72), and Morrie Miller (1972-73), and Director/Coordinator Richard Bellon (1973-77).
DESCRIPTION
Administrative records, including correspondence, memoranda, personnel and fiscal records, minutes, published reports, manuscript reports, mailing lists, unfair practices complaints, handouts, and pamphlets; and resource files including brochures, publications, course descriptions and outlines, reports, catalogs, and clippings relevant to Native American issues, 1969-77.
ARRANGEMENT
Arrangement is by topic except folders 9-15, which are administrative correspondence and memoranda received loose and filed by academic year. Original order has been preserved where present, but much of the accession was disorganized. Original folder titles have been preserved, with bracketed additions as needed: headings have been supplied to untitled folders or to refiled loose material, the arrangement, therefore, is artificial and may be somewhat arbitrary.
Of special interest in the collection are materials relating to the "reservation termination" controversy, race relations at WSU and in the State of Washington in the early 1970's, and the establishment of Native American Studies Programs at WSU and other universities.
Series 1 is the Program's administrative records: development, relations with University administration, hiring and funding, and administration of outreach programs. Series 2 includes records of NASP curricula, intramural and extramural programs, and materials from University programs associated with NASP, such as other minority studies. Series 3 is files compiled as resources for curriculum development, recruiting, student aid and placement, and contemporary Indian history.
RELATED MATERIALS
Further papers of the Native American Studies Program can be found in Archives 285.
CONTAINERS
Series 1: NASP Administrative Records, 1965-1977.
Subseries 1.1: Administrative Correspondence, 1965-1977. 1-3
Subseries 1.2: Staff and Advisory Committee Records, 1969-1977. 3-4
Subseries 1.3: Affirmative Action and Unfair Practices, 1970-1977. 4-5
Series 2: Records of NASP Programs and Related WSU Programs, 1969-1977.
Subseries 2.1: NASP Programs, 1969-1977. 5-6
Subseries 2.2: Other WSU Minority Programs, 1965-1977. 6-7
Subseries 2.3: NASP Sponsored Programs at WSU, 1969-1977. 7-8
Series 3: NASP Resource File, 1969-1977.
Subseries 3.1: Opportunities for Native Americans, 1969-1977. 8-9
Subseries 3.2: Non-WSU Native American Conference Materials, 1970-1975. 9
Subseries 3.3: Non-WSU Indian Education Programs, 1969-1977. 9-10
Subseries 3.4: National Indian Events, 1969-1977. 10-11
Subseries 3.5: NASP Program Development File, 1970-1974. 11
CONTAINER LIST