As part of the Confluence of History lecture series at the Lewiston City Library, Coming Home to Nez Perce Country author Trevor Bond and Nez Perce Tribe Cultural Resources Program Director Nakia Williamson will present an illustrated talk and reading at 1 p.m. Jan. 8 on the second floor of the library and also via  Zoom.

The pair will tell the fascinating story of the Wetxuuwiitin’ Collection, formerly called the Spalding-Allen Collection.

In 1847, two barrels of “Indian curiosities” were shipped by missionary Henry Spalding to Dr. Dudley Allen in Kinsman, Ohio. The items inside included exquisite Nez Perce shirts, dresses, baskets, and horse regalia—some decorated with porcupine quills and others with precious dentalium shells and rare elk teeth. Donated to Oberlin College in 1893 and transferred to the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) in 1942, the Spalding-Allen Collection languished in storage until Nez Perce National Historic Park curators rediscovered it in 1976. The OHS loaned most of the artifacts to the National Park Service, where they received conservation treatment and were displayed in climate-controlled cases. Josiah Pinkham, Nez Perce cultural specialist, notes that they embody “the earliest and greatest centralization of ethnographic objects for the Nez Perce people. You don’t have a collection of this size, this age, anywhere else in the world.”

Twelve years later, the OHS abruptly recalled the collection, but after public pressure and extended negotiations, agreed to sell the articles to the Nez Perce at their full appraised value of $608,100 and a six-month deadline. The tribe formed the Nez Perce Heritage Quest Alliance and mounted a brilliant grassroots fundraising campaign. One day before the deadline, they met their goal.

Online registration for the Zoom presentation is at bit.ly/32EE2ww; to reserve a seat at the library, those interested can call (208) 743-2535 or email npccurator@gmail.com.

The lecture series is a program of the library, Idaho chapter of the Lewis Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Nez Perce County Museum, North Central Idaho Speakers Bureau and Idaho Governor’s Lewis and Clark Grant for 2019-21.