Controversy Dickson Mounds
The last major battle in the bitter controversy over rights to native american remains and funerary objects is underway here at dickson mounds a small inauspicious rural museum surrounded by.
Controversy dickson mounds. Dickson mounds controversy bibliography abraham lincoln presidential library gwen podeschi reference librarian august 19 2010 boyer peggy and ray long. While most native americans supported the closure many other people opposed it. Dickson mounds museum is 89 years old.
Additionally the students should gather comprehensive details about the museum itself and the surrounding landmarks including pictures maps and written accounts. Instead of removing the bones from the graves he excavated he removed only the dirt leaving the bones and associated objects in place. It offers a unique opportunity to explore the world of the american indian in an awe inspiring journey through 12 000 years of human experience in the illinois river valley.
It s a profound and moving experience looking at. The gordian knot at the center of this controversy was tied by the long standing public display of native american skeletons at dickson mounds and the decision by the museum staff on january 3 1990 to close the exhibit. He first covered his excavation with a tent.
Judith franke director of dickson mounds said many museum visitors have said they felt moved because the skeletons on display are real. A curious kathy lee galvin couldn t pass up the chance to be among the last visitors whose conscience was stirred by the 237 uncovered skeletons in the dickson mounds museum. Protesters and police officers began to replace visitors at the site.
It was in this changing social climate in 1990 91 that a controversy arose over dickson mounds museum s efforts to close its ancient cemetery to public view. In 1927 chiropractor don dickson began to dig in the ancient burial mounds on his family farm. Preserving history pre history when public private interests collide illinois issues.
Galvin made the 180. Both of these men experienced the dickson mounds controversy first hand and both exist as characters in the dmms.