An Anishinaabe historical monument will be placed outside the Leland Public Library in the months ahead after Leland Township approved its location at its regular meeting on Sept. 9.
People can expect to see the installation just outside and in front of the Munnecke Room windows between the Leelanau Historical Society’s entrance and the library’s entrance.
On the marker, one of the Seven Grandfather Teachings will be displayed, which are the principles of character that Anishinaabe lives by. The teaching of “Mnaadendimowin,” also known as “respect,” will be included on the Leland marker.
Seven of the nine total historical monuments set to go up this year throughout Leelanau and in Grand Traverse County will also include the teachings of love, bravery, truth, honesty, humility, and wisdom. The other two signs will feature Anishinaabe history.
Leland Township is the last municipality to approve of the signage, following other townships and villages that have already approved of its wording and placement. The Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabe History Project is led by Emily Modrall, who serves on the board of directors and is coordinating the effort with the Traverse Area Historical Society. The project’s mission is to elevate public awareness of the Anishinaabek’s long history in the Grand Traverse region by increasing accessible information. Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa (GTB) elders helped to write the text that will appear on marker plaques. Modrall said the plaques are due to arrive in the next couple of weeks, so they’ll have a pretty ambitious installation schedule from mid-October to the end of October and possibly into early November if the weather holds up.
“These teachings are timeless and shared by Anishinaabe community broadly, but this is their telling of the teachings,” Modrall said. “I continue to be so humbled by the support that the project has received from all corners. The Grand Traverse Band and tribal council and tribal staff have been such generous and supportive partners and so have the community members who have collaborated to give the project its shape and its form and its substance. And these municipalities have all stepped up in such wonderful, generous ways to say ‘yes, we accept.’ I’m just amazed by people’s receptiveness to this idea and how much they welcomed these things into their spaces.”
Kim Kelderhouse, Executive Director for the Leelanau Historical Society and Museum, who also helped with the overall approval process, said they hope to have the marker up by Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 14, depending on logistics and approvals.
“We’ve been very supportive of this project and I really love the final outcome of it,” Kelderhouse said. “This is about four and a half feet tall and it sits on a concrete pad, so it can be lifted off that concrete pad if leaf matter or something gets stuck underneath it. We’re conscious of the library’s remodel plan, so this is in an area that won’t be impacted by that. If for some reason it is impacted, it can come off that concrete pad and we can put it somewhere safely…” Modrall said once all markers are installed, she hopes people will make a point to go and see them as they represent so much.
“They’re each individually meaningful, and each of the places where they’ll be is specifically meaningful, but they’re also a group, and we really hope that people will go to all nine of them once they’re up,” Modrall said. “It’s worth going to stand in each of those places and think about the teachings, the past, the present, and the future.”
