The Sweet Home Public Library is hosting an exhibit from the Museum of Natural and Cultural History that features the creatively engineered tools, buildings and other items designed by Native Americans.
The museum, based in Eugene, offers two traveling exhibits for rural Oregon libraries and community organizations to utilize. Called the “Museum Adventures” program, it includes either “Oregon’s Dino Story” or “Native Innovation,” the latter of which is currently hosted in Sweet Home.
“It’s about Native Americans and how the Native Americans in our area in particular were able to innovate with the things that they had,” Programming Librarian Kira Mikutaitis said.
The exhibit examines how Native Americans used the land to engineer fishing practices, create things through weaving and build harvesting tools. The portable boxes on display in the library’s lobby feature different types of canoe paddles, varying fishing techniques, tools for digging camas and clams, and weaving arts to make shoes, baskets and tools.
Some examples presented on how Native Americans caught fish include hooking them in the mouth with a non-piercing J-shaped tool, trapping them in tubes or baskets, or using a sort of hook-and-loop (Velcro) design to grab fish by the scales.
In addition to the hands-on exhibit, the library hosts special programs and take-home activities related to the program theme. The program also explores ideas such as how people today are partnering with tribes to help restore the environments, such as restoring beavers to their natural habitats and managing wildfires, she said.
“A lot of these native tribes – specifically the Siletz and Grand Ronde – are all working with our scientists and things like that to try to help us deal with some of these challenges that we have,” Mikutaitis said.
She particularly appreciates how the display ties to area tribes.
“The kids really get to learn how their own environment and the place that they live and the native tribes of this area were able to utilize all those things that they are in contact with every day,” Mikutaitis said.
Adults and children alike are encouraged to take a look at some of the innovative ways area tribes used natural resources to create tools for survival. The exhibit will be on display until May 6.
“It’s very touch-and-feel based,” Mikutaitis said. “It’s really about getting the kids and anyone who wants to learn about the topic really feeling the things, really seeing them, to touch and feel and see the ways they were able to innovate.”