Box 1

Abstract

1992; Interviews conducted by Lance Nixon of the Grand Forks Herald regarding the creation stories of the Arikara, Dakota, and Ojibwe.

Scope and Contents The first folder consists of Nixon's interview with Alvina Alberts, born September 20, 1912. The interview took place June 25, 1992, at her home in Fort Totten, North Dakota. Her specialty was Dakota folklore. She told the Dakota version of the Creation Story. In the Dakota version, people lived under the water, until one day a boy went along and happened to look up and saw a hole. He jumped and realized that it was a whirlpool. It grabbed him and threw him right up to the top and then he...

Scope and Contents The next folder in the collection consists of Nixon's interview with Anne Dunn, born November 9, 1940, and her mother Maefred Arey, born April 12, 1919. The interview took place June 30,1992, at Dunn's home south of Cass Lake, Minnesota. In the Ojibwe Creation story the whole Earth was covered in water. The turtle decided to carry the Earth on his back but he could not go deep enough underwater to reach the earth. The muskrat was successful on bringing up a pawful of earth. The muskrat put...

Scope and Contents The next interview was with Pauline Greywater, born May 19, 1928. The interview took place July 21, 1992, outside of Fort Totten, ND. She also specialized in Dakota folklore. The focus of her interview was Devils Lake. It was called Mne Wakan, Spirit Water, Holy Water, and the Powers of the Water. Misinterpretation led to the name Devils Lake. Also interviewed July 21, 1992 was Lillian Chase, born October 11, 1902. She is the great granddaughter of Chief Sleepy Eye. The stories that she...

Scope and Contents The final interview was with Melvina Everett, born October 5, 1923. She is 3/4 Arikara and 1/4 French. At the date of the interview, November 1, 1992, she lived south of Whiteshield, North Dakota. She learned the stories that she tells from her father and grandfather. She focused on the Creation Story and the Coyote Story. The Creation Story begins with Nashanu Tinachitux, our creator, who believed that the Arikara were good people so he turned them into kernel corn and buried them in the...