A map is now on display at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point that records the ancient Menominee tribal names for central Wisconsin.
The Menominee Place Names Map was created by merging modern satellite imagery with the ancient Menominee language.
“We've put together a map showing the indigenous place names for lakes, rivers, land forms, prehistoric and historic village sites … in an area that was traditionally Menominee territory,” says archaeologist Ray Reser, the director of the UW Stevens Point Museum of Natural History.
Reser relied on 30 years of research by Mike Hoffman, a descendent of both the Menominee and Ottawa tribes and one of the few people still alive who speaks the language. Hoffman says some of the ancient names are still in use today. For example, the name of the city of Waupaca actually means “place of tomorrow” in Menominee.
“And if you go there, you'll find the Tomorrow River, the Crystal River and the Waupaca River, which are the same river,” says Hoffman.
Hoffman says it's important to teach young people that Wisconsin's history didn't begin with the first white settlers. “Something that always bothered me was [the idea] that history started with the first boot print. Not quite so – we have songs and legends that go back thousands of years.”
The Menominee Place Names Map is the first project of its kind in Wisconsin. Elders from the Menominee Nation and other tribes were present when the project was unveiled at the UWSP Museum of Natural History.
Check out a list of Menominee place names here.
