Smithsonian archivist Jennifer O'Neal returns to Oregon

EUGENE -- After four years as head archivist for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., Jennifer O'Neal has come back home to Oregon.

In June, she was selected Corrigan Solari University Historian and Archivist at the University of Oregon. In September, she got to work.

"I've always considered myself a native Oregonian," she wrote from her office in Eugene. Born in Eugene, she grew up there and in Wyoming. Her mother lives in Springfield and her father in Bend. "Eugene has always been home to me," she said.

While the National Museum of the American Indian was "a perfect fit," she said back in 2009, she had spent eight years in the nation's capital when she accepted the University of Oregon job.

"I had never really anticipated staying on the East Coast for so long," she said. "It's difficult being so far from home and a large extended family."

In addition, the archives at the University of Oregon and the scope of the new position looks to be a big jump and provide challenges that O'Neal has been looking for from the beginning.

Just by the numbers, the National Museum of the American Indian holds some 1,700 linear feet of manuscripts and media with about 325,000 photographs, while the university holds more than 20,000 linear feet and more than 3,000 collections.

"The University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives is a major regional repository," she said, "holding primary sources of national importance in areas including Northwest history, culture, environment and landscape; documentary photography; intentional communities; lives of women; children's literature; pulp literature; film, radio and TV; and the history of the university."

The National Museum of the American Indian has been archiving material for only 10 years while the university has been at it for more than 60 years, O'Neal said.

In addition, the Oregon position enables O'Neal to teach and work with students, possibilities not afforded by the national museum.

In Washington, she reported, "I oversaw the daily management of the Archive Center and worked on innovative projects with amazing staff, but I hadn't had the opportunity to teach or work directly with students, which was something I really wanted to do with my career."

One of O'Neal's "immediate" goals for this position is "to increase our instruction efforts with various disciplines across campus. Our goal is to have our collections utilized as much as possible across numerous disciplines and incorporated into the various curriculums so that all undergraduates have a chance to use our collections."

She is also seeking to document university professors' research, to find and fill gaps in historical records and to conduct research projects documenting university history.

For example, she said, "I would like to create a comprehensive timeline for milestones in university history and develop an interactive Web site with images and details. I also want to create a 'frequently asked questions' page about university history."

O'Neal serves on the university's Native Strategies group that "works collaboratively to ensure that Native issues and projects are archieved across the university."

The group focuses on Northwest Indigenous Research Center, Native Studies, Recruitment and Retention, Tribal Outreach, Governance/Infrastructure/Development, and Communications and Collaborations.

"I hope that through serving on this group and focusing on specific projects I will be able to make a difference for the Native people of Oregon and across the country," she said. "I want to ensure that our history is told from our perspective and that we are represented correctly at the university."

Another university project currently moving forward comes out of the faculty papers of Ted Stern, an anthropology professor at the university from 1948-87.

"He worked with and studied the Umatilla and the Klamath Tribes. Thus, we are currently undertaking a project to have each specific Tribal community work with and process the records from this collection that relate to their Tribe. The collection not only contains manuscripts from his book, but most importantly the field notes and genealogical information about individuals in each community.

"This collaborative effort will ensure that the records are properly described by the communities and that they have an opportunity to utilize the records for their own Tribal history. The goal is to also eventually organize a gathering in each community with scholars and Tribal Elders to discuss the records and the project."

While her work took her to the U.S. Department of State's Office of Treaty Affairs in Washington, D.C. as well as archival positions at Princeton University and the University of Arizona before landing at the National Museum of the American Indian, O'Neal also has participated more recently in archival projects in Oregon.

In August, Oregon State University Libraries hosted the Oregon Tribal Archives Institute, a project created through a two-year grant from the Oregon State Library that focused on providing in-depth archives and records management training for Oregon's nine federally recognized Tribes.

O'Neal gave the keynote for the opening event and taught sessions on archival basics, social media and professional development networks.

The Institute was designed to help Tribes establish an archives program and gave representatives of Oregon Tribes a chance to collaborate and identify ways to work together.

The Institute was an opportunity for professional development, networking and community building.

"The group also took field trips to the Siletz and Grand Ronde Tribal communities and the Benton County Museum to look at their archival and museum facilities," she said.

In addition, as one of the organizers and current chair of the Society of American Archivists' Native American Archives Roundtable, she said that the organization "continues to grow" as it advocates for continued and growing professionalism among Native American archivists.

O'Neal earned a master's in Library Science from the University of Arizona, as part of the Knowledge River program for Native American and Hispanic students, and a master's in History from Utah State University. Her research interests include international indigenous activism, cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, intellectual property rights, digital humanities and indigenous use of new media and technology.

"I couldn't have received these degrees without the help of Tribe," she wrote. Tribal financial help included the Eula Petite Scholarship.

She continues to work on her doctorate through Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

"My research focuses on the move toward international activism within the American Indian Movement in the later 1970s and early 1980s, specifically focusing on the international interactions between U.S. and Canadian indigenous activist groups, specifically the National Congress of American Indiand and the National Indian Brotherhood."

O'Neal is the daughter of Al and Tribal Elder Marta (Parazoo) Clifford of Springfield and Ron and Sue O'Neal of Bend.

Her heritage is Chinook, Cree and Cow Creek.