The nationality of
Arthur Mandan was Mandan; 4/4. He was membership at Prairie Chicken Clan.
7 He was election; Arthur served on the first tribal council as chairman from September 1936 to August 1938i for the newly organized Indian Reorganization governments of the Three Affiliated Tribes with Ben Good Bird as vice-chairman, Peter H. Beauchamp as secretary, and George W. Grinnell as treasurer.ii As chairman he worked on the return of the sacred Water-buster bundles that were sold to the Heye Museum in New York for save keeping. In later years Arthur and others sought the return of these sacred items back to their people. The Heye foundation agreed to let them replace them with the “sacred buffalo medicine horn that eighty-forty-year-old Foolish Bear had received from his father, Sitting Bird”.iii Arthur traveled to New York for an informal ceremony in January of 1938 to bring the sacred objects home.1 During this vist he met with President Roosevelt and there is a well-published photograph that lays testimony to this event. It was during this time Arthur was active in the raising funds for the new Independence Chapel in 1910. He was an accomplished musician and played at the dedication of the chapel. He also served as a tribal court judge for some time.
"For the next several years the Indians and the museum wrangled over the fate of the bundle. The BIA acting as intermediary and trying to effect a compromise. The museum's board of trustees took the position that they had no authority to surrender specimens in the collection, and Heye himself thought the bundle safer in his museum than it would be with the Indians. In an effort to get at the facts concerning its purchase by Wilson, Superintendent Beyer conducted an investigation and concluded that, though there was justice on both sides, there was no longer any legal basis for demanding that the bundle be returned. The Waterbusters continued their campaign to get it back, however. They refused to consider a proposal that a photograph of the bundle be turned over to them in place of the real thing, and the museum rejected a suggestion that they return the skulls that were the principle feature of the bundle if plaster casts were made of them.[53]
By 1937, when a delegation from the tribes visited Washington and brought the matter up personally with Bureau officials, John Herrick, assistant to the commissioner, and several other BIA people had accepted the Indians' contention and were openly backing them, even to the extent of considering the possible effects that unfavorable publicity might have on the Heye Foundation. Heye himself became more cooperative that summer and agreed to bring the issue before the board again. When he suggested that perhaps they would respond more favorably if some kind of exchange could be effected with the Indians. Superintendent Beyer dredge up a sacred buffalo medicine horn that eighty-forty-year-old Foolish Bear had received from his father, Sitting Bird, who had in turn inherited it from his father, Dull. The board was duly impressed with the object, which Beyer said was the clan's most valuable possession that they were willing to part with, and accepted it sight unseen, insisting only on the stipulation that the bundle revert to the museum if it ever left the clan. The Indians agreed to these terms at the next meeting of the Waterbusters, who recorded the decision in their minutes for December 21, 1937.[54]
The story does not quite end there, however, for the exchange still had to be consummated. For this ceremony, Drags Wolf, Foolish Bear, and Arthur Mandan were invited to New York in January of the next year, with a visit to Washington on the way. Although Heye rather nervously expressed his hope that the ceremony would be kept dignified and that the BIA would not "circus" it, Herrick and his cohorts came perilously near doing just that. As Herrick wrote to Presidential Secretary Stephen Early, "The story is a natural and, of course, we shall play it…
[Meyer, Roy Willard, The village Indians of the upper Missouri : the Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras. Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press,c1977. pg. 207]
Arthur Mandan performed at the dedication of the Independence Chapel in 1910:
"We Indians raised altogether about one thousand dollars for our church house. "When we dedicated it, Arthur Mandan played the clarinet and a young white woman sang for us. Mr. Gilbert Wilson preached the sermon, and his brother played the organ. Dr. [Robert] Lowie was present and gave five dollars. We asked the people to subscribe on the debt, and raised eighty-one dollars, and all this money was paid in"(Wilson 1913a:122-25) [Gilman, Carolyn. The way to Independence: memories of a Hidatsa Indians family: 1840-1920. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1987., pg. 282].
9,8 Arthur was born at
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota, USA, in 1882.
3,4,2,1 He was the son of
Howard Mandan Sr. and
(?) Calf Woman. He was a student at
Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Cumberland Co., Pennsylvania, USA, after 1892. School: In his youth he attended Carlisle Institute and excelled in music. He returned to Fort Berthold Reservation in 1908.
He would later teach band at Independence.
http://members.aol.com/tawodi/carlisle/page5.htm.
9 Arthur Mandan was allotted land circa 1900 at
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota, USA; His allotment & Annuity numbers were AL-864a 1566. Another source says A 504.
2,10 He married
Anna Young Bird circa 1913. Arthur Mandan was membership circa 1920 at
Catholic Mission, Elbowwoods, North Dakota, USA.
11; From Kardong’s,
Catholic life at Fort Berthold we find that around 1920 at the Catholic Mission in Elbowwoods the following excerpt:
“At Elbowwods, they were very fortunate to have two fine musicians in Fr. Peter Fehrenbach and Sr. Evangelista Ruffner. The later played the organ, while the former directed a choir composed of Bill Deane, Justin Spotted Bear, Carl Whitman, Joe Pakineau, Jerome Good Bear and Art Mandan.”ii Kardong, Terrence, Catholic life at Fort Berthold, 1889-1989 : S.l : s.n., 1989, pg. 51.
From this same book the Kardong poses the question:
“Who were some of the more prominent Catholic parishioners at Fort Berthold during these years? To judge from out random written sources, Arthur Mandan was certainly one of them. He was often used as an interpreter of sermons and talks into Hidatsa and Mandan, since he spoke both languages, plus English, fluently. He was also a witty writer, to judge from the following article he wrote for the Indian Sentinel:
From the viewpoint of the Indians as to the white man’s religion, they think that they are going to give St. Peter lots of extra work up in heaven separating the different denominations and placing them at the different wards of the Holy City. On the grounds that they can’t agree on one doctrine and can’t speak on the same platform here on earth, and that they are always condemning each other’s religion, they all preach and say that Christ wants them to love each other as themselves. But when it comes to knocking the other church, they go to the limit. So the Indians have adopted the preaching of friendship and eliminated the “knocking each other concern.’ So you find the Indians of this reservation are always ready to help the other fellows out according to their means.iii Kardong, Terrence, Catholic life at Fort Berthold, 1889-1989 : S.l : s.n., 1989, pg. 52.,i”
‘Gros Ventres, Arikaras and Mandan
at Armstrong, ND’
At our
local Indian Congress at Armstrong, ND, July 19,20, and 21, the Hidatsa or Gros Ventres, Arikara and Mandan tribes were well-represented. The Arikara were the hosts, as the Congress took place in their camp. The sermon of Rev. Julius Loknikar, O.S.B., of Garrison, ND, on the Sacraments of the Church will remain long in the memory of the Indians. Fr. Julius was well interpreted by Arthur Mandan into Hidatsa and Mr. Floyd Bear into Arikara. Both are good interpreters and able catechists. The officers of the tres; Sam Newman, secty. The success of the Congress was to a great extent due to their untiring efforts. Practically all the Catholic Indians went to family, gathered at the table of the Lord. The Indians love Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, which is one of the great consolations in the life of their missionaries.iiii Kardong, Terrence, Catholic life at Fort Berthold, 1889-1989 : S.l : s.n., 1989, pg. 66.,ii
He was employed in 1930 at
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota, USA. He narrowly lost a bid for the U.S. Senate. He died in March, 1955; According to his obituary Arthur was caught in a winter storm and succumbed to these difficulties.