Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun, 1857-1945 [RG3113.AM]

NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID



RG3113.AM:  Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun, 1857-1945



Papers:  1934-1941

Ft. Laramie, Wyo.; Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota:  

Size:  1.5 cu.ft. and 1 reel of microfilm



BACKGROUND NOTE



Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun was born in 1857 to fur trader James Bordeaux and Huntkalutawin, a Brule Lakota woman. She grew up at her father’s post near Ft. Laramie, Wyoming and was educated at Hamburg, Iowa. In later life she spent time at Ft. Robinson and the various agencies of Spotted Tail, eventually settling on the Rosebud Reservation with her second husband, Isaac Bettelyoun.



In her final years, she lived at the Old Soldiers Home at Hot Springs, South Dakota, where she met Josephine Waggoner, a mixed blood Hunkpapa Lakota. Together, during the 1930s, the two women produced the manuscripts contained in this collection. Waggoner was interested in collecting the stories of “old timers,” and Bettelyoun, though unable to write due to rheumatism, wanted to correct what she saw as the flawed and incomplete white history of the west.



SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE



The collection consists of manuscript material (all on microfilm) arranged as follows:



Series 1 – Correspondence, 1934-1941, n.d.

Series 2 – Manuscripts

  Subseries 1: Holograph

  Subseries 2: Typescript

  Subseries 3: Nebraska State Historical Society edited version

Series 3 – Genealogical Material



Series 1 contains the correspondence, 1934-1940, of Bettelyoun and Waggoner with Addison E. Sheldon, Director of the Nebraska State Historical Society. Also included are Nebraska State Historical Society interoffice memos. The correspondence concerns the publication of the manuscripts. Additional correspondence can be found in the Nebraska State Historical Society’s Corporate records, RG14: SG1, S1, Boxes 77, 79-82, 84 and 87.



The bulk of the collection, Series 2, consists of the manuscripts of Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun as told to Josephine Waggoner. The manuscripts concern early fur traders of the Ft. Laramie region, noted Brule and Oglala warriors and chiefs, Bordeaux family history and the Indian/White conflict on the plains in the second half of the nineteenth century. Of interest are manuscripts concerning life at Ft. Laramie, the story of Crow Butte, the Grattan Massacre and the Battle of Ash Hollow. The manuscripts are unique in that they are unsolicited histories of the period written from an Indian woman’s perspective.



Three versions of the manuscript make up Series 2: Subseries 1 is the original holograph, Subseries 2 is a corrected typescript and Subseries 3 is a heavily edited and footnoted rewrite produced by Walter Mahlen Herbert, a WPA employee of the Society in the 1930s. The holograph has corrections on it made by the Nebraska State Historical Society Staff, possibly Addison Sheldon.



Series 3 contains genealogical material of the Bordeaux family donated in 1982.



RESTRICTION:  For preservation purposes, researchers must use the microfilm.



Note:  See the photo component [RG3113.PH] for related photographs. See the Nebraska History Index for items relating to Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun and Josephine Waggoner. The NSHS Library contains the book, With my own eyes : a Lakota woman tells her people’s history by Bettelyoun and Waggoner, edited and introduced by Emily Levine.



DESCRIPTION



Series 1 – Correspondence, 1934-1941, n.d.


Reel 1

Box 1

Folder

    1. 1934

    1. 1935

    1. 1936

    1. 1937

    1. 1938

    1. 1939

    1. 1940

    1. Undated correspondence and interoffice memos



Series 2 – Manuscripts

Subseries 1: Holograph


Reel 1 (Cont.)

Box 2

Folder

    1. To My Mother (poem)

      My Mother Huntkalutawin

    1. Bordeaux

    1. Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun

      My Early Days

      Bettelyoun

    1. Josephine Waggoner

    1. Tasunkehinapewin, Winnie Bordeaux

    1. At Laramie

    1. Enoch Wheeler Raymond

      Ford

    1. Fever and Ague

    1. Miscellaneous Warriors

      Lone Dog’s Winter Count

      Rain in the Face, A Brule

      Little Wound

      Chief Lone Dog

      White Thunder, Wakinyanska

      Hollow Horn Bear

      Two Strikes, Numpa Apa

      Iron Shell, Tuki maza

      Big Turkey, Wagleksan Tanka

    1. Battle of the Little Blue

      The Battle of Ash Hollow – 1

      The Battle of Ash Hollow – 2

    1. Crazy Horse, Tasunke Witko

      Chief Crazy Horse, Ta-Sun-ke-we-Tko, War Lord of the Mighty Sioux (fiction)

      The Greatest War Chief in Indian History, Chief Crazy Horse, Ta-Sun-ke-We-tke (fiction)

      Last Speech and Death of Crazy Horse, by William J. Bordeaux

    1. Horse Creek

    1. Two Face and Blackfeet

    1. Conditions from 1854 till 1868

    1. Annuities

    1. Travoy Trails (poem)

      17-32. Photocopy of holograph, in same folder order



Subseries 2: Typescript


Reel 1 (Cont.)

Box 3

Folder

    1. To My Mother

      My Mother Huntkalutawin

      Bordeaux, The City and the Family

      Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun

      My Early Days

      The Bettelyoun Brothers

      Tasunkehinapewin

    1. The Early Fur Traders

      Fever and Ague

      At Fort Laramie

      Ford

      Enoch Wheeler Raymond

    1. Iron Shell

      Two Strikes

      Little Wound

      White Thunder

      Big Turkey

      Hollow Horn Bear

      Rain in the Face, A Brule

    1. Chief Lone Dog

      Crazy Horse, TaSunke Witko

      The Greatest War Chief in Indian History, Chief Crazy Horse, Ta-Sun-Ke-We-Tke (fiction)

      Chief Crazy Horse’s Last Speech and Death, by William J. Bordeaux

      Chief Crazy Horse, Ta-Sun-Ke-We-Tko, War Lord of the Mighty Sioux Indian Chiefs

    1. Lone Dog’s Winter Court

      Crow Butte

      The Battle of Ash Hollow, First Account

      The Battle of the Little Blue or Ash Hollow, Second Account

      Horse Creek

      Two Face and Blackfeet

    1. Conditions from 1854 till 1868

      Annuities

      The Travoy Trails

      Josephine Waggoner



Subseries 3: Nebraska State Historical Society Edited Version


Reel 1 (Cont.)

Box 3 (Cont.)

Folder

    1. Introductory materials through page 99

    1. pages 100-199

    1. pages 200-299

    1. pages 300 through index



Series 3 – Genealogical Material


Reel 1 (Cont.)

Box 3 (Cont.)

Folder

    1. Genealogical material and family trees of Parker and Bordeaux families



 


ADDED ENTRIES:

Ash Hollow, Battle of

Bettelyoun, Susan Bordeaux, 1857-1945

Big Turkey

Bordeaux family

Brule Indians — History

Crazy Horse, ca. 1842-1877

Crow Butte (Neb.)

Ford, Jacob

Fort Laramie (Wyo.)

Fur trade

Grattan Massacre

Hollow Horn Bear

Indians of North America — History

Iron Shell

Little Wound

Lone Dog

Oglala Indians

Rain in the Face

Raymond, Enoch Wheeler

Sheldon, Addison Erwin, 1861-1943

Siouan Indians

Spotted Tail, 1823-1881

Swift Bear

Two Strikes

Waggoner, Josephine, 1872-1943

White Thunder



 



EL/ksa   07-1992

rev. kfk   02-21-2003

02-23-2010   Revised TMM

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