Frequently Asked Questions

 
The Dakota have lived in the area now known as Minnesota for centuries. The Dakota are part of the larger Dakota nation, which includes the Lakota and Nakota and extends westward to Montana.
 
Up to the establishment of Fort Snelling (completed in 1825), Dakota interaction with Europeans and European-Americans was primarily through the fur trade. The Dakota lived much as they did in the previous centuries, following a seasonal cycle of hunting, fishing and planting.
 
The original Dakota Reservation in the Minnesota Territory was established by treaty in 1851. The treaty set aside a 10-mile wide strip of land on both sides of the Minnesota River as the permanent home of the Dakota. This reservation life greatly affected traditional Dakota ways.  Some Dakota assimilated under government pressure and influence, while others resisted change.
 
After the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, the United States Congress abrogated or nullified all treaties, and most of the Dakota were exiled to new lands along the Missouri River and in North and South Dakota. Dakota communities were reestablished in Minnesota in their current locations by acts of Congress in 1886.
 
On these new reservations and in newly-formed communities in Minnesota, the Dakota built new lives under rules established by the United States. Today the Dakota live on and off reservations throughout Minnesota, the Upper Midwest and Canada.
 
The Dakota who live in Minnesota are comprised of the Lower Bands: the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute; and the Upper Bands: the Sisseton and Wahpeton. The Dakota who now live in eastern North and South Dakota are the Nakota, comprised of the Yankton and Yanktonai. The Lakota tribes west of the Missouri River in Nebraska, Kansas, the Dakotas and Montana include the Hunkpapa, Sihasapas, Itazipchos, Minneconjous, Oglalas, Sichangu and Oohenonpaas.
 
The four federally recognized Dakota tribal governments in Minnesota are:
 
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Prior Lake.
Prairie Island Indian Community, Welch.
Lower Sioux Indian Community, Morton.
Upper Sioux Community, Granite Falls.
 
The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community in Mendota is a non-federally recognized tribe.
 
For more information about federally recognized tribal organizations in Minnesota, visit www.sos.state.mn.us.
 
In Canada, the Dakota settled in a number of Reserves: Whitecap Dakota, Wahpeton Dakota, Standing Buffalo Dakota, Carry the Kettle, Wood Mountain, Birdtail Sioux, Sioux Valley Dakota, Canupawakpa Dakota, Dakota Tipi and Dakota Plains Wahpeton.  For a complete listing of Dakota reserves and communities, go to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

 
The story of the Dakota people is being told by Dakota people through educational programs, speakers, and publications by MNHS and other publishers. The primary Minnesota history textbook for 6th graders is Northern Lights, which is published by MNHS. It includes chapters about the Dakota people and the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. The book is undergoing revision, and all Dakota and Ojibwe content is being reviewed and updated with the help of Dakota and Ojibwe elders, historians and educators. The newest version of the book will be aligned with the Minnesota Department of Education Academic Standards in Social Studies. The revised edition will be available for the 2013-2014 school year.
 
A new computer interactive on treaties will also introduce schoolchildren to the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. The interactive will be added to the MNHS website, www.usdakotawar.org, and will also be part of the “Then, Now, Wow” exhibit on Minnesota history opening at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul on November 23, 2012. The interactive will guide users through a series of choices related to treaties, including the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, one of the factors that led up to the war.
 
A new multimedia computer lesson will teach students in grades 9-12 about the war through the interpretation of primary resources. Classes will be able to access the hour-long lesson at Historic Fort Snelling in fall 2012, or on the fort’s website.

 
The Minnesota Historical Society was founded in 1849 and through the years, its interpretation has reflected the temperament of the times. At times, our interpretation has not adequately reflected American Indian perspectives. A change began in the early 1970s when MNHS worked with Ojibwe elders and educators on a major new curriculum about Ojibwe people. In 1987, MNHS created an Indian Advisory Committee (IAC) that includes members of federally recognized tribes in the state. The IAC provides counsel on MNHS’s American Indian-related policies, programs, publications and exhibits.
 
Today, MNHS continues to evolve as an organization dedicated to preserving the history of our state and all of its people. Dakota and Ojibwe perspectives are shared at many MNHS historic sites and in MNHS publications. This year, we’re recording oral histories from Dakota people throughout Minnesota, the Midwest and Canada to ensure that their truths, experiences and viewpoints relating to the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 are part of the permanent historical record. Many descendants of those touched by the war are actively involved in helping staff shape an exhibit, “The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862,” which opens at the Minnesota History Center June 30.

 
Throughout this year and beyond, MNHS is offering Minnesotans many new ways to learn about the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, its causes and aftermath. Please visit www.usdakotawar.org/initiatives for details.

 
Since 1849, MNHS has been building a collection of books, newspapers, objects, archaeological artifacts, manuscripts, art, photographs and other treasured materials that illuminate the Minnesota story. These priceless collections provide the tangible presence of the past. They are the irreplaceable record of our state's history. MNHS holds these collections in trust for Minnesota's people, for today, tomorrow and for the years to come. These collections and their care, maintenance, and use are fundamental to the Society's program. As steward of Minnesota's historical collections, MNHS has a premier duty to safeguard the collections as well as to make them available for use by the public.
 
Consistent with our mission, the MNHS collections focus on Minnesota and its peoples, from ancient times to the present. Items are collected by MNHS for their value in illuminating the past. The Society may consider for acquisition almost any material that has a documented association with the state's history and is in such condition that it can be maintained to ensure its lasting viability. In its collecting activities, MNHS seeks to be inclusive and to reflect the diversity of Minnesotans.
 
The conservators, working with the curators, collections managers, and the central registrar, are responsible for protecting collections, advising on their use, maintaining proper environments, monitoring materials used in exhibitions, periodically evaluating the condition of collections, and providing reasonable standards and safeguards for items in transit and on exhibition or loan.
 
Preventive conservation practices and measures are preferred to conservation treatment. The goal of the conservation program is to stabilize and maintain original material through the least intrusive means practicable. Any conservation treatment must respect the historical integrity of the item.

To learn about the different collections, visit: sites.mnhs.org/library/content/about-collections

 
MNHS collections are always accessible online at www.mnhs.org/collections. Physical access to collections items is generally granted for legitimate research, educational or religious purposes. Requests for access to highly sensitive items are subject to review by the NAGPRA coordinators and members of the MNHS Indian Advisory Committee (IAC), as appropriate.
 
Requests for access to sensitive items must include a written statement that explains the reason for access, specifies the collection item needed, and describes the intended use.
 
Request for access to items eligible for repatriation under NAGPRA must be preceded by a letter of intent and identification from the tribal chair. Exceptions to these policies may be made in the case of objects used by members of the affiliated American Indian groups.

 
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was routine for institutions throughout North America to acquire American Indian human remains and hold them in their collections as specimens for scientific study. One of the questions under investigation was whether contemporary American Indian people descended from the earliest inhabitants of the continent, or whether these were unrelated groups of people. MNHS acquired human remains that were recovered from amateur and professional excavations of burial mounds, and sometimes those that had been disturbed during construction projects. All human remains known to have been in our collections have been repatriated.

 
Prior to 1916, MNHS acquired and displayed human skeletal remains, including the remains of Taoyateduta (Little Crow), a Dakota leader during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Little Crow was killed after the war near Hutchinson, Minn., by a settler who collected the bounty given to any person who killed a Dakota in Minnesota. In 1879, MNHS placed Little Crow’s remains on display at the Minnesota State Capitol. In 1915, MNHS removed the remains from display at the request of Little Crow’s grandson, Jesse Wakeman. In the 1960s, Wakeman requested that the remains be returned to the family for proper burial. The request was granted and in 1971. MNHS’s chief archaeologist transported the remains to a cemetery, where the Wakeman family buried them.

 
Ramsey is a prominent figure in Minnesota history. He served as both the first governor of the Minnesota Territory and the second governor of the state. In the office of territorial governor, which he held concurrently with that of superintendent of Indian affairs, Ramsey negotiated treaties on behalf of the U.S. government with the Dakota for the cession of large areas of Minnesota land for white settlement, most notably the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851. He, like Minnesota’s first state governor Henry Sibley, profited personally from provisions made at the treaty signing for repayment of debts to traders.
 
In 1859, Ramsey was elected state governor and so was in office during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, many of whose causes were directly related to the treaties and lack of compliance with them by the government and traders. In 1862, Ramsey appointed his long-time friend and political rival Henry Sibley as commander of the forces raised to fight against the Dakota, notoriously stating that “the Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the state.”
 
Ramsey was also a founder of MNHS. In the 1960s, his descendants willed his home and all of its contents to the Society. The home is considered one of the best preserved Victorian-era homes in the country and, as a result, interpretation of the home has focused solely on the daily lives of the Ramsey family. However, MNHS recognizes that that interpretation is not complete and staff members are now working to broaden the focus of the Ramsey House to include the founding of Minnesota, the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 and its causes, and Ramsey’s role in quelling the war and the removal of Dakota from Minnesota.

 
Over the winter of 1862-63, after the U.S.-Dakota War, approximately 1,600 Dakota were held in a wooden stockade on the river flats below Fort Snelling. Nearly 300 Dakota people held there died over the winter of 1862-63, victims of illness and attacks by soldiers. The survivors were removed from the state of Minnesota beginning in the spring of 1863 to reservations in the Dakota territory and what is now Nebraska.
 
This camp is sometimes referred to as a concentration camp. Both internment camp and concentration camp are defined as a place where civilians, prisoners of war and/or political prisoners are confined. The term concentration camp also means “harsh conditions,” as was the case at Fort Snelling. The term concentration camp is most frequently used to specifically describe the guarded, crowded prison camps in Nazi Germany in which millions were exterminated, as well as Nazi death camps, which were designed with the purpose of executing those who were confined. A significant proportion of the Dakota people who were confined below Historic Fort Snelling died over the winter of 1862-63. However, the camp was not designed to hold Dakota for execution.
 
Would you describe the camp as a concentration camp?