Return Of Mohegan
Elder's Diaries To Help Revitalize Language
by Jose Beduya - Cornell
Chronicle
In 2004, Cornell acquired
the diaries of Fidelia Flying Bird Fielding, the last fluent
speaker of the Mohegan-Pequot language. The diaries were purchased
as part of the Huntington Free Library's Native American Collection.
This week Cornell returned her papers to her descendants.
The diaries of the last fluent
speaker of the Mohegan-Pequot language have returned home.
On Nov. 4, the papers of Fidelia "Flying Bird" Fielding, who died
in 1908, were transferred from Cornell University Library to the
Mohegan Tribe. Mohegan Tribal Historic Preservation Officer James
Quinn traveled from Uncasville, Connecticut, to Cornell's Ithaca
campus to receive the rare manuscripts from Gerald R. Beasley, the
Carl A. Kroch University Librarian. Beasley was accompanied by Tamar
Evangelestia-Dougherty, associate university librarian; and Anne
Sauer, the Stephen E. and Evalyn Edwards Milman Director of the
library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.
Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty,
associate university librarian, right, examines a bowl presented
by Mohegan Tribal Historic Preservation Officer James Quinn
in a ceremony at Cornell University transferring the Fidelia
Fielding's diaries. (photo by John Munson/Cornell University)
The papers include three diaries and a copy of the Lord's Prayer
in Mohegan the only known surviving documents from Fielding.
Other diaries and documents were lost in a fire after her death.
"We believe that these papers coming home is really Fidelia coming
home to us," said Lynn Malerba, chief of the Mohegan Tribe. "It's
the homecoming of her spirit."
Malerba noted the tribe's ongoing language revitalization program.
"Fidelia's work is so important in preserving our language and
ensuring that it lives on," she said. "Her papers coming back to
us sends a powerful message for the next generation: Our language
is not lost and that they can be part of its restoration."
The Mohegan Tribe reached out to Cornell last year to request the
transfer of Fielding's papers to help with their language revitalization
efforts.
"The process has been such a wonderful experience for us because
everyone at Cornell has been so open to understanding why these
papers are so important to us, and so helpful and so willing to
share in our happiness in their return," Malerba said.
"We believe that these
papers coming home is really Fidelia coming home to us. It's
the homecoming of her spirit."
Lynn Malerba, chief of the Mohegan Tribe
"We have been honored to safeguard Fielding's diaries for the last
15-plus years, and make them available for research and teaching,"
Sauer said. "We were glad to do everything we could to facilitate
the transfer."
Cornell University Library came into possession of Fielding's papers
in 2004, with the acquisition of the Native American Collection
of Huntington Free Library in the Bronx, New York. Since then, the
library has provided researchers with on-site access to the Native
American Collection and featured its artifacts in physical and online
exhibits. The library also digitized a significant portion of the
collection, including Fielding's diaries, which continue to be used
by scholars to research and teach the Mohegan-Pequot language.
"I'm very grateful to everyone at the Cornell Library and in the
Mohegan Tribe who has come together to help bring this collection
home," said Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack. "This
is a wonderful outcome."
Fielding's papers will be housed and displayed in the Mohegan Archives.
Fidelia "Flying Bird"
Fielding in 1902. (photo provided)
"The only other objects of hers that we have are a belt that she
wore that she passed on to Gladys Tantaquidgeon, and a rocking chair
that she told stories on and that belonged to her mentor, Martha
Uncas," said medicine woman and tribal historian Melissa Zobel,
referring to two influential elders.
Zobel describes Fielding as a preserver of the Mohegan-Pequot language
and keeper of the language's intimate connection to an animated
natural world.
"She spoke to the ancestors. She spoke to the winds and the rain
and the thunder and the Makiawisug, or the Little People," Zobel
said, referring to spirits believed to inhabit the woodlands.
Late in her life, as Mohegan-Pequot-speaking peers died and younger
Mohegans stopped learning the language, Fielding turned to speaking
to herself and writing in her diaries to keep the language alive.
"These diaries weren't meant for a generation that was right there
and present," Zobel said. "They were meant for a better future."
Jose Beduya is a staff writer, editor and social media coordinator
for Cornell University Library.
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