The Siletz Room in the Burrows House Museum in Newport, Oregon, contains baskets and beadwork from the Clarinda G. Copeland (1852-1929) Collection. Born Clarinda Gertrude Kisor, she married Professor James Chambers in 1870 and in 1883 they moved to the Siletz Reservation where James served as trader to the Confederated Tribes of the reservation. When he died in 1884, she became the only woman in the United States granted a license to trade with Indians. In 1889, she married W. C. Copeland and moved out of the area.
In 1855, the Coast Reservation or Siletz Reservation was established by executive order of President Franklin Pierce. The new reservation ran approximately 102 miles north and south along the Central Oregon coast. The headquarters compound for the new reservation was built on a hill overlooking a broad expanse of meadow on the Siletz River.
The Reservation was established for 27 Indian tribes whose original territories ranged from southern Washington to northern California. These tribes spoke at least ten different languages.
Some of the objects displayed in the Siletz Room are shown below.
Shown above is a dance apron. Shown above is a hopper which was used when grinding acorns into flour on a stone mortar.
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