The Kiowa Tribe will be hosting a program in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History on Saturday, November 4th, starting at 1:00 pm and Sunday November 5th, from 10:00am until 2:00 pm. The program will be centered around the presentation of a Face Cast of Delos K. Lonewolf made from the original Live Field Mold that was created about 1904, from the Smithsonian to the Kiowa Tribe. A history will be given on this mold as well as the other 22 Individuals that have Live Molds, Cast or Bust created. 21 of those individuals from the Ft Marion Prisoner group that have 12 Head Cast that were completed from those Live molds.

There will be a video interview with Ernest (Iron) Toppah, grandson of Delos Lonewolf, later on Saturday evening where he will share the history of the Kiowa people and the connection to his family of these items. On Sunday there will be an open session from 10:00 am, until 2:00 pm for family members, friends, and community members who have connections to this history are invited to tell their story and have it become part the oral history collections at the Smithsonian Institution and part of a documentary video. Videographer Ren Ebel and art director Kate Clark will be taking footage of the gatherings and interviews, which will be available for free to all interested parties through the Recovering Voices Program of the Smithsonian Institution. In collaboration with communities and partner organizations, Recovering Voices seeks to improve access to the Smithsonian’s diverse collections – archival, biological and cultural – and to support interdisciplinary research, documentation and revitalization
of indigenous languages and knowledge diversity.

In collaboration with research initiatives at the National Museum of Natural History, documented material from the 3 days spent in Oklahoma will also be developed into a larger documentary film project about the Smithsonian Institution’s face cast collection and the family members and communities the face casts are connected to. Throughout the development of the documentary film project, rough edits will be shared with interested community members and interviewees for feedback and response.

The 11 Kiowas in the Fort Marion group are listed as Isa-Tah Whitehorse, Ta-Na-Ti Bad Eye, So-Gau-Se Double Vision, Z0-Tom Biter, E-Ta-Die-Uh Boy, Zone-KeUh Teeth, Beah-Ko Old Man, To-Na-KeUh, Koba Wild Horse, Au-Lih Wise, and Pedro.

The purpose of this independent research is to inventory and identify the molds, cast and bust of Native American Indians made from live models during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These life-cast are in the collections of the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and are housed in the Museum Support Center (MSC) in Suitland, Maryland

The personnel involved in creating this documentary and present will be: David R. Hunt, Ph.D Physical / Forensic Anthropologist, D-ABFA Collections Manager Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History Department of Anthropology Gwyneira Isaac, D.Phil Director of Recovering Voices Curator of North American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History Department of Anthropology Kate Clark, Art Director Parkeology Kate Clark Projects San Diego, California Ren Ebel Videographer San Diego, California
And myself,
Larry Taylor