Past Utes come alive on tapes (fwd)

[Phil Cash Cash]

Past Utes come alive on tapes

June 21, 2003

By Brian Newsome
Herald Staff Writer
http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/news030621_6.htm

IGNACIO Visitors to the Southern Ute Museum and Cultural Center will
soon be able to listen to stories about the Southern Ute tribe and its
culture, as told by tribal elders during the 1960s.

On Thursday, James A. Goss, an anthropologist who studied the Southern
Ute tribe in the 1960s, donated to the museum a collection of
reel-to-reel audio recordings of tribal elders who are deceased.

The museum plans to copy the 12 tapes onto CD and incorporate the oral
histories into its exhibits, said Lynn Brittner, museum director.

Among the tribal members who were interviewed are Eddie Box Sr., a
prominent spiritual leader; Antonio Buck Jr., the grandson of the last
Southern Ute Indian chief Buckskin Charlie; Isabel Kent; and Kitty
Cloud.

Though many of the stories are told in the Ute language, Goss supplied
transcripts translated into English.

Brittner said the recordings will help with the museum's goal to offer
more storytelling with exhibits.

Robert Baker, the museum's multimedia technician, said KSUT-FM, whose
station is based at tribal headquarters in Ignacio, will loan the
museum a reel-to-reel player to play the tapes.

Eventually, Baker plans to create an interactive program using the
tapes.

Goss, a retired Texas Tech professor, has studied numerous Indian Tribes
and continues to work with tribes on various issues.

Reach Staff Writer Brian Newsome at brian at durangoherald.com.