Review of Voices of the American West, Volume 1: The Indian Interviews of Eli. S. Ricker, 1903-1919 By Eli Ricker & Voices of the American West, Volume 2: The Settler and Soldier Interviews of Eli. S. Ricker, 1903-1919 By Eli Ricker

Authors

Mary Jane Schneider, University of North Dakota

Date of this Version

Summer 2007

Citation

Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 27, No. 3, Summer 2007, pp. 210-11.

Comments

Copyright 2007 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Abstract

The ending decades of the nineteenth century brought many Americans to the realization that the people who had witnessed the creation of a new country were passing on. Historical societies, newspapers, and enthusiastic individuals began recording their own experiences and collecting biographical information and reminiscences of others. Some of these were published, others archived for posterity. The interviews conducted by Eli S. Ricker are a classic example of the process.

Ricker moved to Chadron, Nebraska, in 1885. He had various careers, but it was probably his editorship of the Chadron Times that developed his interest in Indians. By 1903 he was visiting Pine Ridge Reservation, recording interviews, and writing articles more representative of a Native perspective than most. In 1910, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where Ricker worked for the Office of Indian Affairs in a menial position that allowed him time to conduct additional research. In 1912 he and his wife went to live with their son in Grand Junction, Colorado. At that time his library held more than 2,000 books, untold pages of interviews, documents, and copies of documents.