Um’O’Ho Indian Heritage (Omaha Indian Heritage) Project

Reviewed by: Hampton Dodd

Review started: February 17, 2021

Review finished: February 22, 2021

Site Link: http://omahatribe.unl.edu/index.html

Data and Sources

Initially launched in 2005, the Um’O’Ho (Omaha-Ponca: Umoⁿhoⁿ) Indian Heritage project is a publicly available cultural archive seeking to consolidate traces of Omaha memory and create an online catalog of tribal resources.

The project director is Thomas P. Myers from the University of Nebraska State Museum, with Dee An Allison of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries acting as the Co-Principal Investigator.

Partners on the Um’O’Ho Indian Heritage project include the University of Nebraska State Museum, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, the Nebraska State Historical Society, and consultants from the Omaha tribe.

Aside from its support through the aforementioned partners, The Um’O’Ho Heritage project’s website was partially funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The project was designed in response to the scattered and disorganized nature of Omaha artifacts, images, and stories, with the ultimate goal of providing a centralized and accessible resource of Omaha culture and Plains peoples’ histories for both tribal members and the general public.

Processes

A collection of 129 texts spanning a century of Omaha scholarship is provided via Thomas P. Myers’ “Omaha Selected Bibliography,” with 20 of the texts provided and supported online through the project’s website, many of which include scanned documents of the original source material.

150 photographic images of historic Omaha tribe peoples ranging from the 1850s to the 1930s, with each image bearing a caption of a specific date (when available) and the institution through which the image was attained.

An “Artifacts and Images” search page that allows users to browse 685 images and descriptions of artifacts by institution (e.g., University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska) or object type (e.g., jewelry, household, clothing/personal, etc.), allowing digital access to a vast catalog of Omaha artifacts from museums across the United States.

A list of additional linked material ranging from historical Omaha laws and treaties to a sample of traditional Omaha music provided by the Library of Congress.

Presentation

As noted above, the Um’O’Ho (Omaha-Ponca: Umoⁿhoⁿ) Indian Heritage project consists of a wide array of historical objects, ranging from digital museum exhibits, photographic images, and non-fiction and literary texts pertaining to Omaha tribal culture and memory.

The website is simplistic in its design and divided into five easily navigated parts: About the Project, Online Texts, Photographs, Artifacts, and Omaha Tribal Information.

Digital Tools Used

The Um’O’Ho (Omaha-Ponca: Umoⁿhoⁿ) Indian Heritage project’s key partner, the Nebraska State Historical Society, provided assets such as the Omaha photographic images used to compile the digital collection and the (at the time) state-of-the-art digitization lab used to build the “virtual museums” found on the website.

Dee Ann Allison worked to create and embed graphic images into the texts that would help the general public learn and pronounce words in the Omaha language.

Allison also worked to standardize the photographic images in anticipation of future technological changes.

As for further digital tools utilized to build the website itself, little is mentioned by its authors and there is limited information regarding the project outside of the site itself.

Languages

Site is in English

There is a link to First People’s Language Resources under the “Omaha Information” section of the platform, however, the “Omaha-Ponca Language” hyperlink appears to be broken.

Review

The Um’O’Ho (Omaha-Ponca: Umoⁿhoⁿ) Indian Heritage project is a publicly available cultural archive published on the Omaha Virtual Museum website with the support of organizations such as the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. Established in the pursuit of digital preservation and representation for Plains Peoples’ histories, the Omaha Indian Heritage project hosts a vast collection of digitized artifacts, documents, and photographs, acting as a comprehensive resource for tribal communities, educators, and students alike. In collaboration with partners such as the University of Nebraska State Museum and the Nebraska State Historical Society, the project draws from a diverse pool of cultural memory, successfully organizing an intuitive database that works to connect and elevate the marginalized voices of the first peoples of the Omaha tribe of Nebraska.

Initially launched in 2005, the site itself, though a bit dated, still effectively supports and communicates the materials and messages it intended to transmit nearly twenty years ago. Divided into five sections accessible through an unembellished landing page, the project offers users easily navigable hyperlinks to read further about the project itself, comb through the 50 accessible digitized texts, delve into the 150 photographs organized by decade, or browse the virtual museum of Omaha artifacts drawn from an international assortment of institutions. While each of these elements of the website continues to function as intended, the “Omaha Tribal Information” portion of the project is littered with broken links and out-of-date resources.

Though the ultimate goal of the Um’O’Ho (Omaha-Ponca: Umoⁿhoⁿ) Indian Heritage project is anything but outmoded, the general presentation of the material therein is in dire need of revision. The necessity of such a resource exists in the same capacity as it did in 2005 and though Dennis Hastings, one of the project originators and member of the Omaha tribe, stated that effort would be ongoing, the site appears to have been neglected in recent years. An article in 2007 titled “Omaha Virtual Museum Preserves Omaha Tribe’s Heritage and Culture” clearly articulates the sites’ initial success, stating that site traffic had consistently increased since launch and had gained word-of-mouth recognition through tribal communities, thus demonstrating the clear demand for such a historical archive by those whose cultural memory it preserves. It is unfortunate that a project with such tremendous potential for positively impacting a community through the creations of an archive for memory collection and story-telling has either slowed in its mission or halted it altogether.

Likely due to the aforementioned dated nature of the project, the information provided detailing the digital tools utilized to construct the website and archive is limited to non-existent. Though, as I’ve made clear, I appreciate this project for its intentions and that which it achieved in 2005, it is a shame that it has not been maintained in such a way that innovative new digital tools could be applied to further the scope and effectual nature of this vital memory project.