Giiwedinong
Minnesota’s 1st Treaty Rights & Cultural Museum
Giiwedinong is the first Native independently controlled museum in Minnesota which is planning to open this fall featuring Treaty and Civil Rights, Contemporary Native Art and Knowledge in the Deep North.
Photo by Sarah LittleRedfeather
Giiwedinong pronounced (Gee-Way-Den-Nong)
Giiwedinong is in the heart of the 1855 Treaty Territory in northern Minnesota where a new cultural center and treaty rights museum is being born, Giwedinong. Giiwedinong will be a destination location for all interested in the history of this land, settler and native agreements, treaties, and the waters. We will feature both historic exhibits and emerging artists for our youth, elders and communities. We are inviting you to join us!
This last year, Akiing, an Anishinaabe-led restoration and community development organization purchased the former Carnegie Library, turned Enbridge office to create a Museum of Culture and Treaty Rights in downtown Park Rapids, Minnesota. Giiwedinong is the first museum of its kind to share the treaties, stories and education of the Deep North, spanning from Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and beyond in Turtle Island. Giiwedinong is led by a team of Indigenous historians, artists and community members.
We will be the first Native independently controlled museum in the state, and we are planning to open this fall.
We want a place for indigenous artists to connect their modern voices with the agreements and stories of our ancestors, and to honor the courage of people who act for Mother Earth and justice. Our mission includes providing space for historical and cultural research, for our Anishinaabe people and a place to share our worldview, treaties and intergenerational history of protecting our water and manoomin (wild rice).
In October of 2021, Enbridge began selling off their properties after they completed Line 3, and we, having been beaten and arrested, continued to dream. On November 1, 2022 we took possession of this Library, with a mortgage we are working to retire. We intend to turn this into Giiwedinong- a Museum and Cultural Learning Center of the North, focusing on Treaty and Civil Rights, Contemporary Native Art and Knowledge in the Deep North.
We are creating phase one of our museum - starting with an exhibit of Water Protector photos and stories from the 2016-2022 movements at Standing Rock and in northern Minnesota.
We are gathering Anishinaabe treaty documents, maps and focusing first on the l837 and l855 treaty territories. We intend to become a resource center for these materials, as well as materials on the important work of Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations and other forums, resources and information on efforts to uphold the Rights of Mother Earth.
The Giiwedinong Museum is born of these movements and will showcase the stories of the “Deep North.” This is our story and we want to tell it well. Our new board of community members and scholars will join us soon.
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
