Thanks to a $150,000 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Maidu Interpretive Center’s new building will have a new set of exhibits emphasizing native families and traditions. The exhibits will juxtapose historical information with contemporary native life and culture.
This grant ensures that when construction of the new Maidu Interpretive Center is complete in early 2010, a new set of exhibits will educate and engage Center visitors. The exhibits will appeal to visitors’ sense of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste, as well as their imagination, intellect, sense of play and creativity.
‘Our hope is that these exhibits, and the new Center, will help raise public understanding and appreciation for the Maidu Historic Site, portray Maidu history as accurately as possible, dispel myths about California Indian culture, and create awareness of the contemporary Maidu people and their ongoing traditions,’ says Kris Stevens, Director of the Center. Exhibits will explore topics such as daily life, language, conflicting world views and sensitive topics such as the Maidu Trail of Tears, the relocation of the Maidu people and Taken From Their Families, the story of Indian Boarding Schools.
A second award from IMLS will help the Maidu Interpretive Center to care for their exhibits and artifacts for years to come. The Center received the IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf, a valuable set of conservation books and DVDs to help educate Center staff and volunteers.
The Maidu Interpretive Center is a City of Roseville owned and operated museum entrusted with the preservation and management of the 30-acre Maidu Historic Site, an ancient village site with unique petroglyphs and hundreds of bedrock mortars, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Located in Maidu Regional Park at 1960 Johnson Ranch Drive, the Center is open to the public and offers guided tours of the site.
The mission of IMLS is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people with information and ideas. IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. For more information, visit www.imls.gov.
