With the Nez Perces: Alice Fletcher in the Field, 1889–1892

by E. Jane Gay, Frederick E. Hoxie (Editor), Joan Mark (Editor)

In 1889 the U.S. government sent the anthropologist Alice Fletcher to Idaho to allot the Nez Perce Reservation. She was accompanied by E. Jane Gay, who served as cook, housekeeper, photographer, and general factotum. In this collection of her letters, Gay describes in sprightly fashion their encounters with feuding agents, hostile white squatters, and a Nez Perce tribe divided over and puzzled by this latest government program.

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Steven Shook · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the Nez Perces: Alice Fletcher in the Field, 1889-92 is a collection of twenty-seven contemporary letters written by E. Jane Gray while serving with Alice Fletcher, the allotment agent for the Nez Perce Tribe. As the allotment agent, Fletcher was charged with implementing the stipulations of the the Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the Severalty Act), which granted Native American men, women, and children allotments of land (i.e., deeded ownership) on their reservation lands. The Dawes Act also served as a pathway to citizenship for Native Americans.

E. Jane Gay served as Fletcher's cook; she and Fletcher had been school friends forty years earlier and had, by chance, had met one another again and formed a strong personal and professional relationship. Also in Fletcher's entourage were Joseph Briggs (surveyor), a photographer, and James Stuart (the party's Nez Perce interpreter).

I found Gay's letters to be highly entertaining and educational. Her witty and insightful writing style uses plenty of creative adjectives and adverbs to paint a wonderful picture of her observations of places, Fletcher's work, the allotment process, missionaries, and, most importantly, members of the Nez Perce tribe.

Gay clearly sympathized with the Nez Perce in their transition in acculturation to a "white man's world," especially with the difficulties encountered in that transition and the important cultural norms and perspectives that were being rapidly lost among tribal members and more whites flooded into the region. Gay not only commented on the "here-and-now" issues being faced by tribal members, but also remarked on how the changes being implemented may affect tribal members in the long-term. In most cases, Gay was correct in both her short and long-term observations.

Included in the book are numerous high quality black and white images taken by the allotment party's official photographer, a notes section at the end of the book, and an excellent index.

[Dannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, but difficult, book to read. A first-hand account that offers a rare view into the actions and observations of the allotting agent of the Nez Perce reservation. When they incurred the wrath of a Nez Perce neighbor by cutting down her tree without permission, "It is a pity that Indians are so slow in developing the virtue of neighborly kindness." "When an Indian begins to want to accumulate he begins to grow." But also, "...if some gigantic philosopher should attempt to drive me out of my native sphere... I dare say I should pursue a line of action parallel to that of an Indian." "The indian's ethical standards are quite different from our own. The richest man in the tribe is not he who has accumulated the most wealth, but he who has given away the most."

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Far more than historical reconstruction, I prefer this on-the-spot recounting of the trials of the Allotment as told by the cook/housekeeper/photographer. Jane Gay wrote with humor and insight. And illustrated her account to boot, with photographs made in a far more arduous manner than today's casual point and shoot of a pocket phone.

[Marla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this first hand account and insight into the Native tribes of Idaho.

[Lisa Jo Frech · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, sad, true, and few white people cared. Tough to swallow, but important to know about our country.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of letters from Alice Fletcher's companion during her multiple trips to Idaho in order to Allott the Nez Perce reservation. The letters are artfully detailed and assist in telling the history of what might otherwise have be a tedious fact driven read.