Annual Emma Big Bear History Day will be July 2 in Marquette
The annual Emma Big Bear Winnebago History Day will be held Saturday, July 2, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Marquette Community Center.
Father Terry Landsgaard will lead a team of historic preservation experts in sharing information about Emma Big Bear and her family and how she lived by traditional tribal means in northeast Iowa. Topics will also include the Neutral Zone, sub-agency Native American schools, Native American villages and chiefs and Father Mazzuchelli’s Upper Mississippi missionary works. Presenters will be on hand to answer questions before and after the program.
Throughout the day, attendees are invited to check out the exhibit hall featuring Emma Big Bear and Winnebago baskets, jewelry, photographs, paintings, research materials and artifacts. People can bring their own Winnebago or Emma Big Bear baskets for authentication.
The event is free to the public and sponsored by the Emma Big Bear Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit formed under the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. The foundation’s mission is to preserve and share local history, culture, stories, traditions and artifacts of Emma Big Bear, and to promote and educate the public about area American Indians, especially Big Bear’s beloved people and tribe, the Winnebago/Ho-Chunk Nation. Learn more at emmabigbearfoundation.org, or call (563) 880-9190.