THE AMERICAN INDIAN FILM GALLERY
&
THE INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN INDIAN ARTS
PRESENT
THE AMERICAN INDIAN VIDEOTAPE ARCHIVE
During the nation’s Bicentennial year of 1976, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs sponsored an arts celebration entitled “The Native American: A Cultural Projection.” One purpose of the undertaking was to create a videotaped record of tribal activities during this significant year.
An additional task was to prepare a group of young Indians to record and edit the images they saw in their own communities. To that end, an assemblage of amateur documentarians was assembled and sent to Washington, D.C. for training. These recorders of their times were:
| Dawnena Walkingstick, Eastern Cherokee | Patsy Grant, Eastern Cherokee |
| Pamela Taylor, Eastern Cherokee | Richard Aitson, Kiowa |
| George Tiger, Creek | Bruce Long, Creek/Sac and Fox |
| Evelina Zuni, San Juan-Isleta | Kirstine Zuni, San Juan-Isleta |
| Richard Bernido, Miwok | Ray Young, Yakima |
| John Barttels, Yakima | Carl Heyano, Aleut |
| Joe Fisher, Blackfeet | Ana Chaney, Cherokee/Osage |
| Harris Cully, Creek/Osage | Dorothy Davids, Stockbridge-Munsee |
| Howard Rainer, Taos | David Matrious, Chippewa |
| John Rousseau, Chippewa |
The results of this imaginative undertaking were organized as The American Indian Videotape Archive. Today it offers visitors an intriguing perspective on the Bicentennial as seen by descendents of the native peoples of North America, those civilized human beings who populated the continent long before Europeans arrived to reorganize what they presumptuously called “The New World.”
For decades the recordings produced by the Videotape Archive have been stored at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Now, in an effort to reach the broadest possible audience, the IAIA is placing the final tapes in the American Indian Film Gallery for the all interested people to view and analyze.
Please note that the titles of these various videotapes appear among the movies listed in THE FILMS section where they are designated with the symbol m.