Navajo Treaty
The Navajo Treaty of 1868 fittingly brings Days of Archives to a close, as well as full circle. Only one original, signed copy exists, and for a brief time it called Northern Arizona University (NAU) home. Normally, maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C., the Navajo Nation and NAU Navajo Language Program arranged for a one-year loan in 1998, re-connecting a record of national importance with particularly local communities.
Treaty of 1868, April 29, 1868, selected page, National Archives and Records Administration, NARA Exhibit: American Originals, Part 2: Treaty of 1868, April 29, 1868, http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/1868.html (accessed July 1, 2010).
Thanks to Evangeline Parsons-Yazzie, a professor of Navajo in the Department of Modern Languages, the Treaty stayed in Room 200 in Cline Library and saw frequent and numerous visitors. Many institutions are often small pieces of the preservation puzzle, contributing to a larger web of historical and cultural archives. Yet some moments show how archival partnerships are a two-way, or even a three-way, street. In this case, a state institution, federal organization, and sovereign nation cooperated to bring the Navajo Treaty of 1868 home.
Navajo Treaty of 1868.
The Treaty now rests back in the National Archives, but Special Collections maintains a range of related material. Extensive photographs and oral histories in the archives document Navajo life, and some collections, including the Raymond Nakai Collection, contain copies of the Treaty.
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"It used to be that the elders would teach the youths of their history. The winter was set aside for this. But what happened? The youths went off to school and weren't around their grandparents. What we are hoping is that the youths will come to NAU and say, 'I saw the treaty,' and it will encourage the elders to begin the discussion and the teachings again."
� Evangeline Parsons-Yazzie, quoted in Martin Van Der Werf and Bill Donovan, "NAU Library Will Exhibit U.S.-Navajo Pact of 1868," The Arizona Republic, May 31, 1998.
Links
Northern Arizona University's Department of Global Languages