Dakota Elder Joe Williams (Sisseton Wahpeton) relates a traditional story, nape, or handprint, and its meaning to Native people. The Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site is arguably one of the most significant historic and cultural sites of its kind in the world. Its continued use over 9,000 years attests to its importance in traditional Indigenous cultures.

Photograph by Clara NiiSka published in the Ojibwe News (page 5) on August 16, 2002. Original caption: “Pediatrician Dr. Lydia Caros and family practitioner Dr. Lori Banazak, two of the physicians starting the Native American Community Clinic at 1213 E. Franklin Avenue in the Phillips neighborhood in south Minneapolis, stand in front of their clinic-in-progress with founding members of the board of directors of the Indian Health Board Vince Hill and Pat Bellanger.” Bellanger stands at the far right.

Members of the International Indian Treaty Council (Sherry Means, Ted Means, Marcy Gilbert, Joe Lafferty, Pat Bellanger, and Bill Wahpepah) stand in front of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, during their visit to the United Nations, September 1977. The United Nations hosted the International NGO Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas between September 20 and 23. Photograph by Dick Bancroft; used with the permission of the estate of Dick Bancroft.

The members of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) gather for a group photograph in Geneva, Switzerland, during their visit to the United Nations, September 1977. The United Nations hosted the International NGO Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas between September 20 and 23. Pat Bellanger stands in the third row from the front, left of center, wearing a red shirt. Clyde Bellecourt kneels in the row in front of her, also in a red shirt, to her left. Photograph by Dick Bancroft; used with the permission of the estate of Dick Bancroft.

Pat Bellanger, ca. 1977. Photograph by Dick Bancroft; used with the permission of the estate of Dick Bancroft.

Lisa Bellanger, Pat Bellanger’s daughter, dancing at a powwow in Lac Courte Oreilles, Wisconsin, before the American Indian Movement’s takeover of Winter Dam in August of 1971. The Lac Courte Oreilles band of Ojibwe sought AIM’s help in drawing attention to the flooding damage to their land the dam had caused. Photograph by Dick Bancroft; used with the permission of the estate of Dick Bancroft.

Pat Bellanger, ca. 1977. Photograph by Dick Bancroft; used with the permission of the estate of Dick Bancroft.

Seth Eastman was a soldier and an artist stationed at Fort Snelling in the 1830s and 1840s. As MN90 producer Marisa Helms reports, Eastman’s greatest contribution to history was his accurate and un-romanticized depictions of Dakota and Ojibwe people in the area of the fort. Because Eastman took an anthropological view in his art, today’s historians can learn about Native practices and cultural artifacts from the era.

George Morrison with Ada Reed, his first wife, ca. 1950s. From "Photographs, undated, 1950s, 1970s-1990s," in box 7 of the George Morrison papers, 1854–2005 (bulk 1948-2000), Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.