Yellow Horn first Native intern

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CALGARY - Although most people would agree that museums are much less informal than they used to be, many still view these organizations as institutes that take Native artifacts from their original owners, restore and preserve them, then put them on display without returning anything of benefit to Native people. However, Calgary's Glenbow Museum is trying to break this image by establishing a Native Internship Program.

Peigan band member Evon Yellow Horn was hired as the first Native intern in September last year and is currently being trained by staff members in all aspects of museum work. "We are really pleased to have Evon on staff," says Ethnology Head Liza Churchill in an interview last week. "He will be working with all Glenbow departments and will also undertake a major research project."

Yellow Horn's duties include cataloguing methods, collection management, museum registration methods, conservation work and theory, adds Churchill.

Yellow Horn, 30 has two university degrees, a BSc in Geography and a BA in archeology from the University of Calgary. He is currently working on his Masters degree in linguistics.

"I've always been interested in old things. I worked at Had Smashed In one summer and I have also worked at the Tyrell Museum," says Yellow Horn.

Head Smashed In is a large buffalo jump located near Fort MacLeod which was recently named a world heritage site. It is estimated that the jump is about 4,000 years old. The Tyrell Museum, located in the Badlands, houses a paleontology department which excavates the area for dinosaur bones each summer.

Yellow Horn is now totally immersed in his studies at the Glenbow and hopes to continue his museum training at other large museums when the one-year internship expires in the fall.

"I spent my teens and twenties getting an education," he smiles. "But I want to spend my thirties developing a career."'

Churchill, who developed the internship program, is now working on other training programs and course to help Native people run their own museums on the reserves. "We don't really have the funding yet, but we are hoping to implement a fellowship program and a junior internship program for those less educated than Evon," she said.

The fellowship program would be open to various professional candidates, including Elders, and the junior intern program would attract high school students with an interest in museum work. Churchill hopes to develop these and other short-term interest programs over the next five years.

"With these programs, and complementary education, young people will have a choice of going back to their own reserves and running a small museum or continuing on to one of the large museums. They can explore the possibilities," she said.

Churchill is also liaising with several universities and colleges in order to get accreditation for the courses the Glenbow will eventually offer. However, she emphasizes this is still in the negotiating stage.

"With these courses and programs, we hope more Native people, especially the Elders, will participate in the Glenbow," she adds.

The Glenbow houses the largest permanent exhibition of Native artifacts in western Canada and also boasts one of the few permanent Metis exhibitions in the country.