This semester’s research topic revolved around the Menominee Native American Chief Oshkosh the Brave, who was appointed leader of the Menominees in 1827. It expanded to include his son Chief Neopit Oshkosh, appointed in 1871, and to his grandson Reginald who was unofficially named as chief in 1913 because I needed to understand the differences in how white Americans remember and revere these individuals compared to how Menominee historians remember them but ended up finding more differences in how different white scholars remember them. Consequently, my historiographical paper is on Reginald Oshkosh (which I believe I will focus on for my Fellowship research), but I foresee my Capstone project needing to be narrowed to only include Chief …show more content…
This topic is limited to central Wisconsin, namely the Keshena region where the three chiefs resided (which is now home to the headquarters of the Menominee reservation).

Because the emphasis of the research was on contrasting indigenous and white perspectives, sources that were a blend of the two were examined extra closely (see: Phebe Jewell Nichols, a scholar that spent years documenting the Menominee’s legal fights against the government and Henry Baird, a white lawyer who concentrated on civil law relating to Native Americans). With more research, hopefully more Menominee centric perspectives can be added to the sources consulted, as right now the best resources to represent Menominee perspectives is an interview with David Grignon (the Menominee Historical Officer), Phebe Nichols’ writing, and a transcribed speech from Chief Oshkosh the Brave. Obviously none of these sources capture the modern Menominee conception of Oshkosh’s legacy, so a book or article by a …show more content…
This research included speeches from Chief Oshkosh himself (or the transcribed versions) as well as documents pertaining to their actions (court records from the trial Chief Oshkosh the Brave was subjected to as well as the legal decisions Reginald Oshkosh submitted written opinions for, obituaries, articles from media like newspapers during their lives). I also included more contemporary documents as used in the historiography paper to illustrate the disagreements between white and Menominee sources and more importantly demonstrate their different motives. These contemporary documents will illustrate the different afterlives of the chiefs after the former sources explain the context of their actual lives. Expanding on that, since Chief Oshkosh is such a niche topic that most individuals don’t have prior knowledge on, a large section of the paper must be dedicated to understanding the context. Not only must readers understand the timeline of Chief Oshkosh the Brave’s life, but also why his grandson is relevant- which might pose a problem for length. I predict cutting out Chief Reginald Oshkosh completely, as I stated before, to narrow the focus of the paper and more effectively