Souvenir spoon leads to visit from NY film crew
PBS filmmakers seek information on Dakota Conflict at BCHSBy FRITZ BUSCH Journal Staff Writer
POSTED: May 8, 2008
Article Photos
In February, a PBS viewer from Oregon e-mailed the network a photo of the spoon — which has an engraved message reading “Hanging 38 Sioux in 1862 Mankato,” said Cyle Silveri, associate producer at Lion Television, an international, independent production company working for PBS.
The spoon piqued interest at the network regarding the spoon and events that led to the Dakota Conflict and the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
Brown County Historical Society (BCHS) Research Librarian Darla Gebhard said she received e-mail from Lion Television, asking if museum artifacts included portraits and photographs of 1860s settlers and Native American tribes.
“They wanted to photograph and film period items and people that tell the story of what led to the Dakota Conflict and hanging. They felt we had enough here to make a trip out,” said Gebhard.
Earlier Wednesday in Mankato at the site of the 1862 hangings, Silveri and her film crew interviewed Dakota elder Dr. Elden Lawrence, a former tribal college president and sociology professor at Sisseton Wahpeton College and Ethnic Studies Professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Lawrence — who has written books and lectured about the past and current American Indian and American culture — said his personal mission is to bridge the gap between the two groups.
The film crew entourage also visited the Milford Monument and ravine ambush site near it on Brown County Highway 29, northwest of New Ulm.
“It seems these events including the Mankato hanging were under-reported in the mass of U.S. history, said Silveri.
Lawrence said the Dakota Conflict — like all other wars — included tragic deaths of innocent people.
“I’ve learned what war can do to innocent people like women and children. I have great sympathy for them,” said Lawrence.
Two of his older brothers served in World War II and three served in the Korean War.
“Some people try to create history in their own image with things that support their own thoughts. History should tell its own story with just the facts, like a court case,” said Lawrence.
Cincinnati Western and Historic Americana auctioneer C. Wesley (Wes) Cowan, a host in the PBS television series “History Detectives” and a featured appraiser on “Antiques Roadshow,” was part of the film entourage Wednesday.
He spoke passionately about the Dakota Conflict and how it has been handled in history.
“It’s a chapter of American history that most people don’t know about. It was a huge tragedy for both sides,” said Cowan. “I hope this story will bring that to light for the larger public.”
Today, the filmmakers and historians will travel to the Twin Cities where researchers may shed more light on the souvenir spoon and Dakota Conflict.
The production will be edited into an 18-minute segment about the Dakota Conflict and Mankato hanging on “History Detectives.” The segment will be aired this summer on PBS.
(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).
