The Southern Ute Cultural Center & Museum (SUCCM) has recently won the 2024 Community Impact Award from the Association of Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums (ATALM) for the Reflections of Honor exhibit, which honors those Southern Ute Veterans who served in the Armed Forces from World War I to present day. The award is a celebration to all initiatives and programs that best exemplify community engagement and excellence within all Tribal museums, archives, and libraries in the United States.
SUCCM’s Collections Manager, Tallias Cantsee, was awarded at the annual ATALM conference held in Palm Springs, Calif., Nov. 12-14 – which was hosted by the Aqua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians. Cantsee also gave a short presentation about the mission of SUCCM and the process of the exhibit’s development and impact within the community.
The extensive research on this exhibit involved the Southern Ute Veteran’s Association and took inspiration from previous temporary Veterans exhibits and the objects showcased in those displays. The new exhibit features other items and oral histories that have also never been seen before from the SUCCM Veteran’s Collection. Loaned items were also used in the exhibit plan including Vietnam era photos from Southern Ute Veteran, Rod Grove.
“The oral histories and photographs of Tribal veterans are vital part in telling the story of their experiences,” said SUCCM Acting Director/Registrar & Archivist, Fabian Martinez. “It is important that we highlight these voices in this exhibit. Without those stories and items, the experiences of those who served in these wars would be lost forever.”
The exhibit’s goal is to provide the Tribal member veterans a permanent, year-round, exhibit space to share their stories with the Tribal membership and public through interviews, military objects, personal wartime photography and SUCCM digitized archival military documents. The exhibit has been seen by thousands of visitors within the past year who have come to hear the oral histories and better understand the Ute people. “With this exhibit, it will teach the entire community about what it is to be a Tribal veteran,” wrote Howard D. Richards Sr. in a Letter of Support from the Southern Ute Veterans Association. “It also preserves and illustrates to anyone visiting the exhibit the history of the Southern Ute Veterans during wartime and peacetime.”
The exhibits items will rotate in the future with new and existing artifacts within the SUCCM Veteran’s Collection to best highlight and showcase the chronology of Southern Utes role within United States wars and conflicts throughout history with the continued support of the Southern Ute Veterans Association.
“I would like to thank the Southern Ute Veterans Association for making this exhibit a possibility and sharing their stories with the community,” Cantsee said. “I am excited that the veterans are getting recognition internally from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and externally through this ATALM award.”
If any Tribal member veterans wish to contribute personal photography, interviews or loan items for future exhibit rotation and updates please feel free to contact SUCCM collections staff by phone, 970-563-2996 or by email, tcantsee@southernute-nsn.gov.