Ojibwe Storytelling Series

The winter months are for storytelling in Ojibwe culture, and the Wisconsin Historical Society invites you to listen. Join in on Zoom Tuesdays in January as tribal leaders share stories sure to be both interesting and educational. The group of Indigenous speakers — Mike Wiggins Jr. (Jan. 10), Valerie Barber (Jan. 17), Chris McGeshick (Jan. 24), and Wanda McFaggen (Jan. 31) — will share stories that entertain while teaching attendees about Native American culture and history. Learn more below.

press release: In Ojibwe culture, winter is storytelling season. The Wisconsin Historical Society is celebrating by featuring Ojibwe storytellers in a four-part virtual series every Tuesday evening at 7 pm from Jan. 10-31, 2023.

January 31, 2023, 7 pm: Wanda McFaggen, St. Croix Tribal Member and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer

Wanda McFaggen is an enrolled member of the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, who resides in the West Hertel community of St. Croix. Wanda was born in Oregon but raised in Chicago's Uptown area with six brothers and three sisters. She moved to the St. Croix Reservation about 1983.

Wanda's spirit name is Bedobanukwe (Bii-daab-a-noo-kwe), which roughly translates to Daybreak Woman. She is from the Migizi (Eagle) Clan and is also Second Degree Midewewin.

Wanda's interests include attending ceremonial gatherings and powwows, sewing regalia and quilts, beading, and Ojibwe language and culture. She also spends time teaching community children about St. Croix and the rich culture and heritage of their people.

Wanda studied to become a federal land officer and holds a Federal Land: Level I degree. She established the St. Croix Tribal Historic Preservation Department in August 2000 for the protection and preservation of cultural, historical, and archaeological resources on St. Croix reservation lands; she is the second Tribal Historic Preservation Officer to work for St. Croix. Wanda oversees all things that are significant to St. Croix, including its archaeological and sacred sites and burial mounds.

Wanda has done many cultural papers and presentations on St. Croix for tribal members, non-native communities, and local colleges.

Wanda has worked with Native author Patti Loew on her life story as one of St. Croix's community leaders. She also has created a St. Croix Tribal Historic Preservation Facebook page for tribal members and the general public to research old photos of tribal members, tribal history, project videos, culture, and traditions. She has worked on numerous projects with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, such as Lac Butte Des Mort's Causeway, Highway 41 between Oshkosh and Neenah/Menasha, Wisconsin, the first of its kind in the state of Wisconsin. She has followed her traditions to help restore wild rice back to Clam Lake in Siren, Wisconsin, and has held feasts at the lake to continue to ask the Creator to help her community and her family to give the gift back to her people. Wanda has also coordinated and documented two birchbark canoe (Wiigwaasi Jiimaan) projects with other members from her tribe to bring back the tradition of canoe-building under the guidance of Marvin DeFoe, Red Cliff tribal member; she made history in 2013 by bringing both canoes to Sandy Lake, Minnesota, for the ancestors that perished there in December of 1850.

Wanda created a yearly calendar and appointment planner that includes historic dates, traditional values, and knowledge for her people and the public.

Wanda's latest projects include teaching her people the art of moccasin-making and tobacco pouch workshops.

The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. The Wisconsin Historical Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, receives grants and private contributions benefitting the Wisconsin Historical Society and administers the membership program. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.