Indian Nations of the Columbia River Plateau
By Hand Through Memory introduces visitors to the little known
journey of the Indian nations of the Columbia River Plateau as
they traveled from reservation confinement to the 21st
century. It shows the process of cultural change as the
people of the Plateau nations made the passage to
modernity. It presents distinctive cultural groups
including the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Yakama,
Spokane, and Colville tribes and the broad story of the
twentieth century reservation experience.
By Hand Through Memory portrays Native Americans as active
historic players whose practical efforts to retain cultural
memory enabled them to retain their ethnic identity, despite
adaptation to a cash economy and the federal policies aimed at
assimilation. Contemporary Plateau Native Americans are
not a primitive people living in a craft-making past, but are
active decision makers who continue to find ways to retain
cultural identity by actively building on
traditions.
