The museum has a shared responsibility for creating a safe space for Ho-Chunk members and for giving Ho-Chunk youth a lens into where they came from. 'I want to tell the Ho-Chunk story in all of our facets,' she said. Lee said she is already planning exhibits on basketry, Ho-Chunk warriors and Ho-Chunk fashion. The museum's growing archives are stored at the museum, and will be part of exhibits that will rotate out every three to four months. It has wood floors, exposed brick and a full kitchen in the back. The building, previously occupied by the Tomah Journal, is marked by a turquoise door and window decals. Decorah had a tie to the program: his parents used to dance in the ceremony that called together people across the state and beyond to an amphitheater at Stand Rock to celebrate the culture and history of the Ho-Chunk, which at the time was called the Winnebago Indians of Wisconsin.ĭecorah's donation is one of 200 items and countless photos and archives curated by the newly established and long-awaited museum, which opened Friday in downtown Tomah, 1108 Superior Ave.
'I'd like to donate this,' Decorah said, pulling the two brochures out of a plastic sleeve. He walked into the Ho-Chunk Museum and Cultural Center on Monday and handed a program from 1942 of a Native American ceremony in the Wisconsin Dells to museum director Josie Lee.
