SANTA FE INSTITUTE WORK TO BE SHOWN
The Riverside Museum in New York City, famed for its sponsorship of emerging talent and important art trends, has scheduled a showing of “Young American Indian Artists" November 14, 1965 through January 16, 1966.
Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and members of Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board will be among the sponsors of the exhibit.
Work of young Indian students at the Institute of American Indian Art at Santa Fe, New Mexico, will be featured. The Institute, administered by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, was established in 1962 to foster the artistic talents of Indian youths from all parts of the United States.
The nine-week exhibition at Riverside will include approximately 120 selected paintings and items of sculpture from the works of 50 artists.
SECOND SUCCESSFUL YEAR FOR NAVAJO FOREST PRODUCTS
Navajo Forest Products Industries, a tribal enterprise of the Navajo Tribe, reported recently on completion of its second successful year of operation. The enterprise consists of a $7.5 million sawmill, built three years ago on the New Mexico side of the reservation, and related wood processing operations. It employs 460 workers and the annual payroll is more than $1.1 million.
The Navajos reported a cash balance of $837,763, an increase of more than $290,000 over last year. Total assets increased by $190,000, now topping $10 million.
TAOS RIGHTS TO SACRED LAKE RECOGNIZED
The Taos Pueblo Indians of New Mexico had aboriginal title to their sacred Blue Lake according to a ruling by the Indian Claims Commission on September 8. The lake and surrounding lands, a total area of approximately 50,000 acres in northwestern New Mexico was designated national forest by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and is now in the care of the United States Forest Service.
The Claims Commission held that the Taos are entitled to be paid for some 37,000 acres for which they received no compensation when the area was taken by the Government in 1933. The award recommended is for $297,684.47, less the value of the use permit granted earlier to the Pueblo and less existing offsets.
The Taos Pueblo Indians are known to have lived near Blue Lake as long ago as 1300 A.D. and later received specific land grants from the Spanish. Every August the adult population of the tribe has carried out ancient and secret religious ceremonies at Blue Lake, excluding non-Indians from the area. The shrine is also used daily by individual Indians for private religious meditation.
DURANT STARTS PRODUCTION
Durant Electronics Corporation, at Durant, Oklahoma, has announced the start of production of electronic parts for the parent company, Strombecker Corporation of Chicago. At least one-third of the present force of thirty workers are Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians.
The Company expects to begin parts assembly operations soon, hiring an additional 30 to 40 Indian workers. It then plans to negotiate an on-the-job training contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to provide training for about 95 Indian employees when full-scale assembly operations commence.
SCENIC ROADS SPECIALIST FOR BIA
A specialist in scenic roads recently joined the staff of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau, Which carried out a $23 million road construction and maintenance program on Indian reservations during fiscal year 1965, is mapping policy on scenic roads, overlooks, and other features to beautify reservation roadways.
PER CAPITA DISTRIBUTION FOR EASTERN SHAWNEES
Members of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma will share this month in a judgment of more than $110,000, awarded them by the Indian Claims Commission and authorized for distribution by Congress on August 20, 1964. The 813 Eastern Shawnee members whose names appeared on the approved tribal membership roll on that date will each receive about $135. Shares of deceased eligible members will go to their legal heirs.
The sum represents additional payment for lands ceded to the United States during the last century.
REA PROJECT SUCCESSFUL AT METLAKATLA
At Metlakatla, on Annette Island in southeastern Alaska, the Indian community has successfully operated a hydroelectric power system since 1957. Financed with $1.8 million from the Rural Electrification Administration, the system supplies light and power to the members of the Metlakatla Indian Community, and to Island residents and businesses. A primary user of power is the Metlakatla commercial airport, which is owned by the Community and leased to commercial airlines and Government agencies.
The 1965 annual audit of the power system recently indicated total assets of more than $2.1 million and net profits of more than $100,000 annually for the past three years. The Indians have reduced the original REA loan to about $1.4 million and have prepaid nearly $150,000.
