Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls
1856 Map of Minnesota Territory, J. H. Young
Pre-treaty, treaty, and parcel research for:
The Motherhouse parcels (Morrison County PIDs 486391000 and 160263000)
The Umbria parcels (Benton County PIDs 120029000, 120029100, and 120029400)
A Dakota Place
Mni Sota Makoce
“Little Crow's Village on the Mississippi,” watercolor by Seth Eastman, c. 1846-1848
The ultimate aim of a Dakota life, stripped of accessories, was quite simple: One must obey kinship rules; one must be a good relative. No Dakota who has participated in that life will dispute that. In the last analysis every other consideration was secondary—property, personal ambition, glory, good times, life itself. Without that aim and the constant struggle to attain it, the people would no longer be Dakotas in truth. They would no longer even be human. To be a good Dakota, then, was to be humanized, civilized. And to be civilized was to keep the rules imposed by kinship for achieving civility, good manners, and a sense of responsibility towards every individual dealt with.
— Aŋpétu Wašté Wiŋ (Beautiful Day Woman, Ella Cara Deloria) | Speaking of Indians (1944)
“Valley of the St. Peters,” watercolor by Seth Eastman, c. 1846-1848
“Simon-François Daumont de Saint-Lusson,” rendering by Charles W. Jefferys, 1934
European Contact
The Doctrine of Discovery in Mni Sota Makoce
“Third president, 1801–1809,” oil painting by Mather Brown, 1786
Settler Colonialism
The Treaty Period
Coerce.
“Commerce is the great engine by which we are to coerce them, and not war.”
Portrait of Bagone-giizhig the Younger (son of Hole in the Day I) by Whitney’s Gallery, c. 1862
Conquest.
“My father! We claim [Dakota land] upon the same ground that you claim this country from the British King—by conquest. We drove them from the country by force of arms, and have since occupied it; and they cannot, and dare not, try to dispossess of us our habitations.”
Portrait of Moses Henry Dodge, Wisconsin’s first Territorial Governor, U.S. Senator, and negotiator of the 1837 Pine Treaty, by William Cogswell (date unknown)
Control.
“I have no doubt, if the proper steps are taken, the Chippewas will become attached to the Government, and can be easily controlled by their [federal] agents.”
Map of Treaty Cessions by Charles C. Royce, Bureau of American Ethnology (1899)
Primary Sources
& Markups
Current Law
Land Becomes Property
Primary Sources
The Motherhouse
Umbria
& Markups
Research Results Conversation
Sectional Map of Minnesota by Dyer & Passmore (1856)
"Mendota from Fort Snelling," watercolor by Seth Eastman, 1848
Curated Resource List for the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls
There’s more
For a Dakota perspective on the history of the region:
Read Gwen Westerman and Bruce White, Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2012)
For a biographical novel about the territorial politics of the region:
Read Anton Treuer, The Assassination of Hole in the Day (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2011)
To explore Ojibwe history in the region at a federal trading post:
For the role of religion in federal Indian policy:
Read Linda Clemmons, Conflicted Mission: Faith, Disputes, and Deception on the Dakota Frontier (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2014)
For indigenous perspectives on U.S. history:
From left to right: Mrs. Morrill, Mr. Rutgers, unidentified man, Major Ashley C. Morrill, and M.M. Williams. Photo by unknown artist July 4, 1893.
Read Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (Beacon Press, 2015)
Read Anton Treuer, Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask: Revised and Expanded (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2023)