The Boulder Junction Public Library and Boulder Junction Area Historical Society are partnering to present OurStory: a Monthly History Series. Programs will share “OurStory” – highlighting a local history topic or area of interest that helps us remember the past, understand how it impacts our present, and preserve these memories for the future.
Join us for “Manoomin’s (wild rice) Legacy” with Jim Bokern from the Manitowish Waters Historical Society on Thursday, July 24 at 7pm at the Boulder Junction Community Center.
Explore Manoomin’s Legacy on the Northwoods through historic documents, maps, images, and stories. Indigenous communities prized Manoomin or wild rice as a critical food resource and more. Ojibwe community’s locations and even battles with rival tribes were motivated by securing access to Manoomin. Early logging practices had a devastating impact on many Manoomin sites and threatened food sovereignty for several Indigenous communities.
Manoomin continues to be a prized resource for tribal members and non-tribal members throughout the Northwoods. Modern collaborations between tribal natural resource departments and a variety of non-tribal groups are working to support Manoomin growth and solve the decline of wild rice in some traditional Northwoods locations.
Jim Bokern taught high school American history during his 34-year career as an educator and completed his Master’s Degree in History at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point in 1987. Bokern also has led two archeological surveys on the Manitowish Waters Chain of Lakes, digitally archiving numerous historic documents, worked as project historian on two fur trade survey grants with the Lac Du Flambeau Tribal Historic Preservation Office, while continuing active cultural and historic research in the Northwoods. In 2022, he received a Historic Preservation Award from the Board of Curators at the Wisconsin Historical Society. In 2023, Bokern received the Fixmer Award from the Forest History Association of Wisconsin for historic preservation and education.
This free program is sponsored by the Boulder Junction Public Library and the Boulder Junction Area Historical Society. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call the library at 715-385-2050.
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