Coming Home to Nez Perce Country: The Niimiipuu Campaign to Repatriate Their Exploited Heritage

In 1847, missionary Henry Spalding shipped two barrels to Dr. Dudley Allen in Kinsman, Ohio. The "Indian curiosities" 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 collection languished in storage until Nez Perce National Historic Park curators rediscovered it ...