Educational resources for Washington folklife

For Teachers

Chehalis storyteller Curtis DuPuis recording stories in a studio at Jack Straw Productions

Native American Stories of Washington is a project designed to document and preserve stories and legends (with professional quality recordings), as told by some of Washington state’s important Native American tradition bearers from the Lummi, Yakama, Jamestown S’Klallam, Chehalis, Skokomish (Twana), Quinalt and Makah/Squaxin tribes. It was coordinated by Northwest Heritage Resources, in partnership with Jack Straw Productions and the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center at The Evergreen State College.

This project was funded in part by the Folk & Traditional Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, and we also wish to extend our thanks to the Washington State Arts Commission for ongoing support. Virginia Beavert would also like to extend her thanks to her many Kickstarter campaign backers, who provided important support for producing her second CD.

Phase Three of Project: 2013 – 2016

Yakama elder and story teller Virginia Beavert in the recording studio at Jack Straw Productions.

Several of the project elders and storytellers have continued to record more of their legend repertory. Last year some of the project storytellers produced new published recordings of their stories and legends. They completed their new CDs in 2015!

Native American elders and storytellers from Washington state who have been recorded for the project :

Virginia Beavert - Yakama
Pauline Hillaire - Lummi
Curtis DuPuis - Chehalis
Delbert Miller - Skokomish
Elaine Grinnell – Jamestown S’Klallam
Harvest Moon – Quinalt
Cecil Cheeka – Makah & Squaxin

If you are a Native storyteller from a Washington tribe and would like to be involved in this project, email us at: info@northwestheritageresources.org or call: 206-306-1181.

All sales of these Native legend CDs go to help support the production of future recordings for the Native storytellers, the preservation of Native languages in Washington, and the Native storytellers themselves.