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Published:2/8/2010 8:24:09 AM
Video: Cherokee Advocate printing press returns to Cherokee Nation
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| Trent Wilson,
left, along with Al Jolly and John Reese of Al Jolly Machinery Movers prepare
to disassemble the Cherokee Advocate
printing press for its placement inside the Cherokee National Supreme Court
Museum in Tahlequah, Okla. (Photo by Craig Henry)
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By Christina Good Voice
Staff Writer
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – After nearly 100 years, the Cherokee Advocate newspaper printing press returned to the tribe on Feb. 2 to highlight the renovation of the Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum, which is slated to open in April.
The 3,100-pound press has been on a long journey since leaving the Cherokee Nation nearly 100 years ago, said Travis Owens, CN Cultural Tourism senior project manager.
During the past century, various newspapers used the press before it was purchased by the Gilcrease Museum. The Tulsa-based museum stored the press in Muskogee before loaning it to the tribe and reuniting it with its original building.
“It was auctioned off after the tribe was dissolved from ramifications from the Curtis Act of 1898,” Owens said. “(The Gilcrease Museum) had acquired it after some time and they have loaned it to us now.”
The Dallas-based specialty machinery company, Al Jolly Machinery Movers, transported the press from Muskogee to Tahlequah by disassembling it, moving it to the tribe’s former Supreme Court building and then reassembling it.
Once the museum opens in April, visitors will have an opportunity to grasp a piece of Cherokee history, Owens said,
“This is a chance to really see the last working press for the Cherokee Advocate,” he said. “This press kind of signifies what was a suppression of our government, of our voice for the Cherokee people. And so now that we’ve got it back in our hands, in our building that we’ve acquired and restored, it speaks to the history of the Cherokee Nation that we have this great artifact to tell that story.”
The Cherokee Advocate was printed in the old Supreme Court building at several points of time during its history. The last edition of the Cherokee Advocate was printed on the press at that location on March 3, 1906. The newspaper was printed in both Cherokee and English and was the primary avenue for the CN to inform its people from 1844 to 1906.
The former Supreme Court building has undergone extensive historic restoration in preparation for the spring opening. It will features artifacts from three historic areas, including the CN judicial system, the Cherokee Advocate and Phoenix newspapers and the Cherokee language with a variety of historical items including photos, stories, objects and furniture.
“They’ll get to learn the history of the Cherokee National Supreme Court, the Cherokee Advocate and Phoenix papers and also get a chance to learn about the history of the Nation and how the language was used in the paper and is still being used today.”
Owens said the ultimate goal is for visitors to experience CN history through the museum.
Reach Staff Writer Christina Good Voice at (918) 207-3825 or christina-goodvoice@cherokee.org
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