EXHIBITS

Women of Caliber, Women of Cache Valley: Unheard Voices: Native American Women

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Unheard Voices: Native American Women

SCAA-1261_cropped.jpg
(Utah State University, Merrill Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, A-Board historical photograph collection, 1817–1984, USU_ABoard1, Drawer 5, A-1261.)

Prior to the presence of white traders and the establishment of Mormon settlements, Shoshone and other Native American tribes populated Cache Valley. As would be expected, the indigenous peoples of the valley did not appreciate being forcefully displaced by white settlers. Shoshones refused to relinquish their land. For many years, tension existed between the various groups as they learned to coexist.[1] However, those stories are not addressed within the pages of this exhibit.

Unfortunately, the USU special collections lack archival materials that reflect the voices of indigenous people from the valley. As such, this exhibit does not fully address the roles of Cache Valley Native American women. Pictures provide a certain amount of information, but they only express part of the story of Shoshone women. This lack of representation is not intended to undermine or ignore the history of those women; it is simply due to a lack of records and information available within the collections of the archives. Should more information become available in the future, a new page or exhibit will be created to share the stories of Cache Valley Native American women.


[1] John W. Heaton, “The Cache Valley Shoshones: Cultural Change, Subsistence, and Resistance, to 1870” (MA thesis, Utah State University, 1993).