Five years ago, we began a journey to secure and renew the beloved Cherokee Heritage Center. Last week we reached a major milestone, moving forward on a $50 million new Heritage Center, reimagined for the 21st century.

Of course, the story of the Heritage Center goes much further back.

In 1963, a group of civic- and cultural-minded Cherokees formed the Cherokee National Historical Society, an independent nonprofit. During an era in which Cherokee Nation’s government suffered under government oppression and we lacked resources, these pioneers were committed to preserving for the ages what it means to be Cherokee.

In 1967, CNHS opened the doors to the Cherokee Heritage Center, a repository of art, culture records and knowledge for the Cherokee people, situated on the grounds of what remained of the original 19th century Cherokee Female Seminary near Tahlequah. From the amphitheater to the archives to the ancient village, the Heritage Center is special to generations of Cherokees and non-Cherokees alike.

CNHS, through the Heritage Center, served as the guardian and caretaker of Cherokee culture across decades of change and growth for the Cherokee Nation government, even as it regained its footing in the 1970s.

As Cherokee Nation grew more prosperous, the challenges of raising funds for a nonprofit museum inextricably linked to Cherokee Nation mounted. Meanwhile, the 1967 structure was aging in a way that put our precious artifacts and records at risk. As those challenges grew, Cherokee Nation increased its financial support of CNHS.

Well before Deputy Chief Warner and I took office in 2019, CNHS leadership was busy on three fronts: operating the Heritage Center, protecting its precious collections and strategizing for a sustainable future. Few understand just how challenging these efforts were, particularly on a shoestring budget, with a small staff and an all-volunteer board driven solely by a sense of duty.

In 2020, Deputy Chief Warner and I reached a conclusion: Helping save the Heritage Center was our duty. Putting the Heritage Center — and all the assets of the Cherokee National Historical Society — in the hands of the Cherokee people through their government was also our duty.

We proposed the Cherokee Heritage Center Act of 2020 to do just that, with unanimous Council support. The act created a new Cherokee National Historical Society, an advisory body that would serve as the successor to the CNHS founded in 1963. It established timelines and a process for the acquisition of the Heritage Center property and all of CNHS assets and records. The new CNHS would have a degree of independence from the government, with a minority of members appointed by the three branches of government and a majority appointed by those three members.

No amount of legislating could fully accomplish what the Cherokee Heritage Center Act set out to accomplish. No law could unilaterally force the transfer of the Heritage Center to Cherokee Nation. We needed ingredients like courage and selflessness that only members of the Cherokee National Historical Society could provide.

And that is exactly what they did.

That sort of action — the act of ceding power for the greater good — seems in short supply around the world these days. Members of CNHS had those qualities in large measure. Beginning in 2020, they leveraged those qualities to implement the Cherokee Heritage Center Act. Through a process, they wound down their operations and cooperatively transferred the facility and records that they and their successors held so dear for over 50 years to the Cherokee Nation.

Last week, I signed an amendment to the Cherokee Heritage Center Act, authorizing the construction of a $50 million replacement Heritage Center. Like its predecessor, members of the new CNHS (which, significantly, includes some members of the predecessor board) poured their heart and soul into the cause of the Heritage Center. After five years of thoughtful study and planning, “CNHS 2020” presented a new Heritage Center to carry forward the promise of the original for generations to come.

Deputy Chief Warner, the Council and I are proud to have had a hand in bringing ownership of the Cherokee Heritage Center to the Cherokee people and in the construction of the new Heritage Center. It will be a world-class center for Cherokee history, research and culture.

But, Cherokee Nation’s government and elected leaders are the supporting actors in this story. We should always remember the courage and selflessness of the original Cherokee National Historical Society and the hard work and dedication of the new Cherokee National Historical Society. Their work was, and remains, indispensable to securing the Cherokee Heritage Center as a special place for generations of Cherokees to come.

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