TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Gilcrease Museum has returned to the Cherokee Nation the 149-year-old printing press once used to publish the Cherokee Advocate Newspaper in the Cherokee language.
The printing press was owned by the tribe until 1906. The Cherokee Advocate was closed, as ordered by the federal government.
The press was sold in 1911 by the federal government to the owner of the Fort Gibson New Era and eventually ended up in a newspaper office in Wagoner, before being purchased by Thomas Gilcrease in the 1940s and added to his collection of American art and artifacts.
Gilcrease Museum, which is owned by the City of Tulsa and managed by The University of Tulsa, has spent the past year in a voluntary repatriation effort to get the printing press back into the hands of the tribe. The City Parks board voted last month on the deaccession, and Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum signed the deaccession of the printing press from the collection.
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“Returning this vital artifact to the Cherokee Nation is an important step we can take as a government to restore the significant history the printing press brings to the Cherokee people,” Mayor Bynum said. “We acknowledge and honor the resilience of the Cherokee Nation, and we are glad to be part of this reunification.”
On Tuesday, leaders from the Cherokee Nation and Gilcrease Museum celebrated the voluntary repatriation of the printing press at the Supreme Court Museum in Tahlequah where the press is housed.
“Repatriating the printing press is a momentous occasion for all involved because it reconnects a significant historical object with the Cherokee Nation,” said Gilcrease Executive Director Brian Lee Whisenhunt. “We are thankful Thomas Gilcrease had the foresight to ensure the Cherokee Advocate printing press did not become scrap or salvage and grateful to be able to return it to Cherokee Nation today. This reunion underscores Gilcrease Museum’s deep commitment to the respectful and rightful return of cultural objects to the communities to which they belong.”
The Cherokee Advocate began printing papers for tribal citizens in 1844. The paper’s original building in Tahlequah was destroyed by fire, and the Advocate printing press and typeset were all that remained.
“Like many tribes across Indian Country, the Cherokee Nation has been stripped of numerous historic belongings over the past century at the direction of the federal government, and in which are now in museums or collections,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. “It’s truly inspiring that Gilcrease Museum has voluntarily offered to return this historic piece of our identity to its origins, back into the hands of the tribe.”
Before removal on the Trail of Tears in 1838-39, the Cherokee Nation was the first tribe to publish a newspaper in the Cherokee language. Upon resettling in Indian Territory, the Cherokee Advocate would eventually retake its original name, the Cherokee Phoenix, which still covers news important to Cherokee Nation citizens today.