Published: September 24, 2009 11:11 am      

Elam to speak on village tribes

Who lived here first? This intriguing question will be answered in part at Gallery Sunday, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Layland Museum.

Dr. Earl Elam, professor emeritus of history at Sul Ross University and part-time historian and editor of Hill College Press, will give a talk on village tribes of the middle Brazos.

Ancient natives in the middle region of the Brazos River date back 10,000 years ago, but detailed information did not come to light until the 1750s with the Spanish.

According to Elam, the principal tribes along the Brazos that engaged in horticulture and had contact with nomadic, plains Indians included groups that spoke a “variant of the Caddoan language: Anadarkos, Kichais, Tawakonis, and Wacos.”

These farmers of beans, corn, squash and melons lived in grass-thatched lodges and traded with other tribes, as well as hunted buffalo.

Elam will talk about the lifestyle of the different groups of Native Americans, with some emphasis on the Caddos.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Midwestern University in 1961, a master’s degree from Texas Tech in 1967, and a doctoral degree from Texas Tech in 1971.

In addition to teaching American history at Sul Ross, Texas Tech and Hill College, he wrote his master’s thesis, a doctoral dissertation, and reports on Indian land claims for the U.S. Department of Justice on topics relating to the Wichita Indians and the Zuni Indians.

He has made numerous presentations on topics relating to Indians of Texas, multicultural society and other topics and reviewed numerous books for historical quarterlies, primarily on topics relating to American Indians.

His writings include “The Native Texans,” in “Texas: A Sesquicentennial Celebration,” “The Origins and Identity of the Wichita Indians,” in Kansas Quarterly 3; “The Butler and Lewis Mission and Treaty of 1846,” West Texas Historical Association Yearbook 46; “Coastal People of Texas: The Karankawas,” in “Invisible Texans: Women and Minorities in Texas History”; and “Kitikiti’sh: The Wichita Indians and Associated Tribes in Texas, 1757-1859.” The latter book will be on sale.

For information, call 817-645-0940.