Sample Investigation
The Coyote Project
The Coyote Project was a collaboration between students from IMSA and the Hannahville Indian School in Michigan:
- Keith Amonlirdviman
- Rob Asumendi
- Jeremy Best
- Iris Booker
- Michael Chang
- Adam Cook
- Andi Croll
- Eric Engelhard
- Joanna Francis
- Paul Guilanelli
- Andrew Hong
- Nami Jarrett
- Bina Kapadia
- Katia Meyer
- Virginia Ryan
- Jake Trevik
- Krishna Yeshwant
Their project, with help from the Smithsonian Museum, Heye Museum, National Museum of the American Indian, Field Museum of Natural History, and the Newberry Library, had a goal to research and preserve Potawatomi Indian history and culture.
Starting in November 1994, the students worked together to research and preserve Potawatomi history and culture, by creating an interactive image, auditory, and text database of such items as Potawatomi artifacts; computer maps showing the changing geographic influence of the Potawatomi over a period of four centuries; oral histories; traditional music; and other aspects of Potawatomi life. The following sample document from the text database exemplifies the team's efforts to preserve information about artifacts.
The students presented their work in Washington, D.C. and New York, N.Y. in 1996 to the researchers at the Smithsonian Museum, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and to members of the Board of Directors National Museum of the American Indian. This work was also presented at the 5th Biennial International Conference on Native American Studies at Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.