Devon A. Mihesuah Papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: WHC-M-2893

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Writer. Papers (1975-2020) of Choctaw author and historian Devon A. Mihesuah. The papers document her career as a researcher and writer, and her work for Indigenous rights and empowerment in the United States. The collection contains research files for several books authored by Mihesuah, including Indigenizing the Academy and Cultivating the Rosebuds, as well as research project files from her grants and fellowships. The papers also contain news clippings, correspondence, and collected materials on Mihesuah’s activist work on Indigenous burial site desecration, and on activities of the American Indian Movement (AIM) during the 1970s-1980s and related subjects.

Dates

Creation: 1975-2020

Creator

Mihesuah, Devon A., 1957- (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Open for public research.

Biographical / Historical

Devon A. Mihesuah, writer and historian, is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation. She is the Cora Lee Beers Price Professor at the University of Kansas and the former editor of the American Indian Quarterly. Topics of her work include desecration of Native burial sites, seminary schools, colonization, stereotypes of Native Americans, Indigenous foods, and the empowerment of Indigenous peoples. She is the author of nonfiction titles: Choctaw: Crime and Punishment, 1884-1907; Ned Christie: The Creation of an Outlaw and Cherokee Hero; and First to Fight: The Story of Henry Mihesuah. She is the author of fiction titles: Dance of the Returned, The Roads of My Relations, and The Hatak Witches. She is the recipient of awards and honors from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ford Foundation, Oklahoma Book Awards, Oklahoma Historical Society, and KU Crystal Eagle American Indian Leadership Awards. Mihesuah was the first female athlete to receive an athletic scholarship under Title IX at the D1 NCAA institution Texas Christian University.

Extent

1.79 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Series 1: Indigenous Rights and Activism (1975-1986) Series 2: Grants and Fellowships (1985-1996) Series 3: Research and Manuscripts (1988-2020) Series 4: Calendars (Undated)