In considering lyrics for the song cycle, I’ve been wanting to use words from the people of this north shore area of Minnesota… conversations with folks I meet along the way, fragments of writing from old newspapers, excerpts from recorded oral Ojibwe histories, and writing taken from letters postmarked around the time John Beargrease was delivering the mail, 1880 to 1900. So this morning I met with Cook County Historical Society Museum Director, Carrie McHugh, and she set me up with boxes full of all sorts of old documents and photographs. Amazing, after digging around for a few hours, I finally found a local letter postmarked 1892. I was so excited I could barely ease the letter from the plastic sleeve with my cotton gloves… and what did the letter say?
What??? Are you kidding me? Can any of you read this?
Does this suggest percussion, some scratching on the drum head?
My most lovely surprise today was that I got to meet Alta McQuatters, great-great-granddaughter of Shingibis – the Anishinabe Chief who was the father of J.B. Carrie had invited Alta to stop by! Fantastic, this opportunity to sit and talk face to face with Alta, and to then visit the Chippewa City Church with her and hear stories about her ongoing work documenting the many unmarked graves in the area.
Thank you Carrie and Alta! And, McKnight and ACF!
A funny letter I found in one of the boxes: