CTUIR, Tamástslikt Cultural Institute to Acquire Fred L. Mitchell Collection

MISSION – Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) leaders and Fred L. Mitchell of Walla Walla, Washington, will publicly sign an acquisition agreement at 11 a.m. on March 31 at the Nixyáawii Governance Center to transfer ownership of Mitchell’s vast collection of Columbia River Plateau tribal artwork and artifacts.

The Fred L. Mitchell & Family Collection includes hundreds of exquisitely beaded bags and pouches; cradleboards; dresses; vests; gauntlets; horse-trappings; cornhusk bags; huckleberry baskets; more than 1,250 late 19th and early 20th century photographs; and roughly 15,000 lithic points and tools.

Mitchell owns “the finest collection of twentieth-century Columbia River Plateau beadwork in existence” wrote Steve Grafe, author of “Plateau Pictorial Beadwork: The Fred L. Mitchell Collection.” 

The collection represents three-quarters of a century gathering from up and down the Columbia River mainstem as well as the Snake and Clearwater rivers and other tributaries. This acquisition represents an extraordinary change in the material culture belongings that will be available to display at the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute (TCI).

In the 1990s, the TCI project commenced with no collection to display in the interpretive depiction of the Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla tribes’ cultures and histories. While TCI’s collection has grown since, the immensity and quality of objects in the Mitchell Collection dramatically change the capacity for TCI to represent the Columbia River Plateau tribal narratives.

“We are so grateful that the Roundhouse Foundation learned that Tamástslikt plans to loan Mitchell Collection objects to museums in the Columbia River Plateau region and was the first donor to contribute to the acquisition fund,” said TCI Director Bobbie Conner. “Specifically, Roundhouse wanted to ensure that many locales and public audiences will benefit from the decades of Mr. Mitchell’s collecting.”

The Roundhouse Foundations is an Oregon-based organization that supports creative solutions to the challenges associated with rural culture and landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. It along with other organizations and private citizens donated to a fund to help acquire the CTUIR acquire the collection.

At the public signing ceremony, donors, dignitaries, trustees, directors and staff will honor Mitchell as well as contributors to the 10-year long project to make this remarkable moment possible.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is comprised of the Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla Tribes, and formed under the Treaty of 1855 at the Walla Walla Valley, 12 Stat. 945. In 1949, the Tribes adopted a constitutional form of government to protect, preserve and enhance the reserved treaty rights guaranteed under federal law.