This November, National Breath of Life, Myaamia Center, and Miami Tribe of Oklahoma staff attended the  Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) conference on the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation in Palm Springs, CA, where National Breath of Life was awarded the Language Program Institutional Excellence Award.

ATALM is a non-profit organization that maintains a network of support for Indigenous programs, provides culturally relevant programming and services, encourages collaboration among tribal and non-tribal cultural institutions, and articulates contemporary issues related to developing and sustaining the cultural sovereignty of Native Nations.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the Myaamia Center’s delegation at the conference. Paapankamwa weenswiaani, niila meenapiyankiki myaamiaki neehi meehkimwiaani myaamia nipwaayonikaaninki ‘I’m Jonathan Fox. I’m a Myaamia spouse and an employee of the Myaamia Center.’ I direct the Center’s Media & Technology office’s efforts. My typical duties include working as the staff photographer, videographer, web designer, and bit of “jack of all trades” information technology specialist for the Myaamia Center and National Breath of Life. I attended ATALM to expand my knowledge in digital archiving and multimedia content creation within an Indigenous community, but as the official photographer, I also attended the awards ceremony to capture the moment!

I started the week by attending the Community Archiving Workshop. This workshop was hosted and instructed by specialists in multiple disciplines across the fields of archiving and preservation of cultural materials. The group I worked with was tasked with inspecting and cataloging audio cassette tapes with recordings provided by the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center of the Seneca Nation. 

The Myaamia Center has more than a few cassette tapes in need of protection and I had limited experience with the preservation of tape media; so I was careful to note what I was doing for my own future efforts!

One of my goals for the conference was to learn more about methods for creating engaging content that is culturally and community-connected. So, on the second day of the conference, I attended presentations about recording community narratives, proper care, access, and ethical standards for home videos produced in communities and producing a documentary film about Native American military veterans.

The week’s first lunch banquet included the presentation of awards from the Guardians of Culture and Lifeways International Award Program. This program includes many awards that recognize outstanding examples of contributions to the vitality and cultural sovereignty of Native Nations and the National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages was the recipient of the Language Program Institutional Excellence Award. 

National Breath of Life Co-director Daryl Baldwin was present to receive the award on behalf of the program. All the gathered awardees were honored with a song by ATALM Board Chair Walter R. Echo-Hawk before returning to their daily activities. I took this opportunity to get a photo with Daryl and other Myaamia attendees at the conference, courtesy of Karen Baldwin using my camera!

The conference’s final day was a blur filled with even more informative sessions. My favorite session covered podcast production to preserve community cultural knowledge using any means available for recording and production. As the producer of the Neepwaantiinki: Stories from Myaamia Revitalization podcast at the Myaamia Center, I found this session particularly inspiring. 

On the final day, I was finally able to visit the Poster Sessions in the exhibition hall. There was a lot to take in, but I was able to visit with several informative speakers including a group that works to help cultural heritage organizations prepare for potential emergencies and disasters.

As I flew home the following morning, my mind dwelt on the wise words and thoughtful ideas of the people I’d met throughout the week. I thought about how all our ideas connected to revitalization efforts like those supported by National Breath of Life. Many of the people I talked to at ATALM were working with communities needing to preserve materials vital to their cultural heritage, especially related to languages. Preserving these materials not only protects them but can also provide access to these materials to community members. 

My familiarity with revitalization work is very much tied to the efforts of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have been part of the team developing the Indigenous Languages Digital Archive (ILDA) for many years now. ILDA plays an important role in the Myaamia effort, and it was encouraging to see how it could meet the needs of our current and existing partner communities. More than one person I spoke with mentioned that they needed a tool like ILDA to support their work, and seeing those needs face-to-face was an inspiring experience. I am always available to our National Breath of Life community if you need to reach out to discuss some of the preservation issues we all wrestle with.