Using Curation and Curriculum to Mitigate Echoes of American Imperialism in Central Oregon

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Community Engaged Historical Archaeology in the Northwest", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

On the banks of the Umatilla River there is a place called tk̓úpa in the Sahaptian language, historically used as a permanent camp by the Umatilla people and named for the tule bulrush reeds they gathered there. Euroamerican encroachment saw this area used as an Oregon Trail river crossing, the site of the Umatilla Indian Agency, briefly as Fort Henrietta during the Cayuse War, and now a town named Echo. Cultural resource work throughout the 1980s and later in 2023 has verified a multicomponent archaeological site associated with these activities. In response to riverbank restoration work in 2023, a Memorandum of Agreement was established which stipulated mitigation of adverse effects, including cataloging and curating the legacy collection from the 1980s, as well as creation of a curriculum and/or a traveling exhibit. This paper discusses valuable lessons learned in this ongoing project and their implications for meaningful community engagement.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025   •
• Community Engaged Historical Archaeology in the Northwest

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow