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About
A. Novey, Black Wolf Village, 2021
A Landscape of Families
This website was created to enhance the "A Landscape of Families" outdoor exhibit located at the Historic Indian Agency House in Portage, Wisconsin. The Historic Indian Agency House and the Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center have come together to educate through the powerful material encapsulated in the 1832 annuity register which was penned on the site where the exhibit now stands. It is our joint hope that you will enjoy your engagement with this material, but even more, that you will walk away changed by the lessons and insights gained.
"A Landscape of Families" was made possible in large part due to a generous grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Humanities strengthens the roots of community life through educational and cultural programs that inspire civic participation and individual imagination. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Thanks are also due to the Chipstone Foundation, Michael and Sally Connelly, the Edward C. and June M. Lenz Charitable Trust, and the Kohler Foundation for their support of this initiative and to all who have contributed time, talent, and resources to this endeavor.
THE TEAM
Josephine Lee
Director, Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center
What "A Landscape of
Families" Means to Me
Bringing awareness to a site that exists as a place of former turmoil is a difficult balance of recognizing multiple truths. I believe that the reconnection with the history of this location and the implications it held on our current existence are important to understanding who we are as a people today. While Ho-Chunk people were already facing an immense amount of rapid change by 1832, this site held a bit of hope for people to be able to exist here indefinitely. Instead, it became a last place of gathering before families were split in the wake of American squatting and settlement backed by the U.S. military. Today, we look back on this history with a sense of hope for understanding with our neighbors that we will continue to exist peacefully in this place.
Adam Novey
Director and Curator, Historic Indian Agency House
What "A Landscape of
Families" Means to Me
In the history of the 1830s, we are exposed to many instances in which people failed to live up to the principles they professed to respect: do not covet; do not deceive; do not take what belongs to someone else. The story of Indian removal is one in which evil was perpetrated under the cloak of ostensibly harmless or justifiable programs and ideas. The material in this 1832 census evokes a clear picture of the result of moral compromise in collective decisions. Real families suffered the consequences. "Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother?" (Malachi 2:10). The story of "A Landscape of Families" is, to me, a powerful example of the importance of taking great care in exercising civic responsibility in accordance with higher principles and in living our lives with integrity before the face of God.