Making negatives positive; a new photograph project begins at the museum

by Tara Backhouse - October 6, 2020October 6, 2020

The database records will look like this. We’ll add as much information as we can, but we need your help identifying people, places and dates. (Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum photo) BIG CYPRESS — I’m happy to say that in July the Ah-Tah-Thi Museum was awarded a grant from the Institute of Museum

Oral histories speak about environmental change

by Tara Backhouse - July 10, 2020July 10, 2020

This photograph was taken sometime between 1910 to 1940 by early non-Seminole explorers in the Everglades. What they may have seen as an adventure, Seminole and Miccosukee residents knew as home. (Courtesy Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki) For the last few months a dedicated team of Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum staff has been researching the oral

What do you think about your environment? The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum wants to know

by Tara Backhouse - June 4, 2020June 4, 2020

Early 20th century photograph of a man poling a canoe along a canoe trail leading from Tommy Osceola's second camp. This photograph was taken before Everglades drainage was completed and before roads were constructed in the area. (Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum photo) History is not only about people, it is also

Longstanding partnership provides online access to community history, including Tribal Fairs

by Tara Backhouse - April 7, 2020April 7, 2020

Dancers gather and wait to perform. From left to right are: Bobby Henry, Barbara Sisnero, Susie Henry, Stephen Bowers, Alan Jumper, Jimmy O'Toole Osceola and Linda Lee Henry. Do you know anyone else in this picture, or can you guess the date? (ATTK Catalog No. 2015.6.7253) For more than

NMAI: A landmark institution working for Indian Country

by Tara Backhouse - April 1, 2020April 1, 2020

Your own local museum, the Ah-Tah-Thi Ki Museum on the Big Cypress Reservation, works hard to share the Seminole story and to represent the Tribe’s interests in all our work. We are able to collaborate with many museums and other institutions in Florida, and we help them tell the Seminole

The photographs remember

by Tara Backhouse - January 6, 2020January 6, 2020

Happy holidays to you and your families, from the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum. Christmas and the New Year are times for celebration, but also for recollection and thought. We remember times gone by and we wonder what is to come. These days we all have our own interests and activities,

We were there, always have been, always will be

Community

by Tara Backhouse - April 2, 2019

Have you been to the Ah-Tah-Th-Ki Museum recently? If not, I recommend visiting soon, and thinking about the changes taking place in the next few years. For over 20 years, the museum has been a wonderful place to learn about the Tribe. Most of the museum are we call permanent

Shared traditions take their place in Seminole history

by Tara Backhouse - February 12, 2019

If you’re familiar with Seminole history, there are a lot of things you may recognize immediately as essential to our mission: a piece of patchwork, a doll or basket, and perhaps a historic photograph or postcard. At the Museum we’re happy to see those, but we also love to uncover

Weaving Fort Marion into Florida’s Native history

Community

by Tara Backhouse - July 2, 2018

The Museum’s historic collection consists of many types of things, from 19th century newspapers to patchwork clothing, to sculpture and paintings. However, the majority of the objects we care for are photographs. We estimate we have 150,000 photographs that range from the early 20th century to the present day. You’ve no

Mystery portraits highlight fashion and beauty

Community

by Tara Backhouse - April 30, 2018April 27, 2018

Here at the Museum we’ve partnered with this newspaper to care for thousands of photographs their hardworking reporters took for the Seminole Tribe of Florida for over 30 years. You can imagine that is a lot of photos. We estimate there are around 30,000! Since they were transferred to the