The fourth speaker in the Pipestone National Monument Guest Speaker Series is Dr. Phyllis Messenger.  Come listen to her talk about how cultural heritage perspectives are changing, including how the site is managed and who has access to it.  This lecture will be offered on Friday October 26, 2018, from 6 to 7:30 pm in the Pipestone National Monument Visitor Center auditorium at 36 Reservation Avenue, Pipestone, Minnesota.  It is free and open to the public!

Phyllis Messenger’s presentation is titled, “Pipestone National Monument and its Significance as a Cultural Heritage Site.”  She will discuss the importance of the site for American Indians, descendant communities, Minnesotans, and visitors from around the world.  The Pipestone National Monument has many levels of significance for multiple communities.  It is a pilgrimage site of religious and cultural significance to Indigenous communities, protected by treaty.  As a red Sioux argillite bedrock quarry, the site is actively quarried by enrolled members of American Indian Tribes.  It is a National Monument, significant for archaeology, ethnography, and cultural landscapes.  It is a place of beauty and contemplation, of hard work and cultural production, of heritage and memory.  This talk will look at the history of Pipestone National Monument and will explore how collaboration among communities and institutions can strengthen our connections to the site and to one another.

Phyllis Messenger, M.A., Ed.D., is a Registered Professional Archaeologist who has worked on projects in Mexico, Honduras, and the United States.  She has led study-abroad programs in Central and South America and Southeast Asia, and has taught archaeology and heritage to fifth graders, college students, teachers, and senior citizens.  She was a founding member of the Public Education Committee of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), founding director of the Center for Anthropology and Cultural Heritage Education at Hamline University, and helped establish the Heritage Studies and Public History graduate program at the University of Minnesota in 2016.  Messenger has written and edited several books, including The Ethics of Collecting Cultural Property (2nd edition, 1999), Cultural Heritage Management (2010, with George Smith), Heritage Values in Contemporary Society (2010, with George Smith and Hilary Soderland), and History and Approaches to Heritage Studies (2019, with Susan Bender).  She is currently the grants coordinator for the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota, and an editor of the University’s on-line journal, Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place & Community (openrivers.umn.edu).