A guest post by Justin Spence, ODNP Project Manager and coordinator of the tribal publications project

One ongoing ODNP project, funded by the State Library of Oregon via a Library Services and Technology Act grant, is focused on digitizing historical and current newspapers related to Native American tribes of Oregon. This includes three newspapers published by tribes themselves, which have been published continuously since the 1970s: Smoke Signals (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde), Siletz News (Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians), and Spilyay Tymoo ‘Coyote News’ (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs). Under partnerships established with these tribes, ODNP has nearly finished processing the complete runs of these three titles, and we add new issues on an ongoing basis soon after they are published, ensuring that they will be preserved in perpetuity in UO Libraries’ digital archives. We’ve also added Siletz News II, an independent newspaper published by a Siletz tribal member for a few years in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

All of these publications offer news about events occurring on their respective reservations and surrounding regions that is rarely covered in other newspapers, as well as many articles featuring information about Indian Country more broadly nationwide. Importantly, these tribal newspapers are written and published from the perspectives of members of the tribal communities themselves. This reflects a major shift in emphasis away from writing about Native American people towards writing by and for Native American people – helping ensure that Pacific Northwest journalism represents a much broader range of views on the significance of current and historical events affecting Native communities than was found before these newspapers were founded.  

While ODNP is proud to offer a permanent archival home and ongoing public access for these newspapers, readers can access recent issues on the newspapers’ own websites, where they will also find information about various aspects of the tribes’ governance, current projects, events, and other activities. Here are links to the websites for Smoke Signals, Siletz News, and Spilyay Tymoo. And although they are not currently participating in ODNP, you might also be interested in checking out the Confederated Umatilla Journal (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation), Voice of CTCLUSI (Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians), Klamath Tribes News (Klamath Tribes) and Tu’-kwa Hone, the newsletter of the Burns Paiute Tribe. The Coquille Tribe and Cow Creek Band of Umqua Tribe of Indians also feature sections with current news on their official websites.