The Charles Aubrey and Patricia Anderson Buser Collection
Research on American Indian Languages and Cultures
Spec.RARE.CMS.319

Comments from the Donor, Stephen Buser:
Perspectives on the Buser Collection

I have been asked to provide some personal observations regarding the origin and nature of my parents’ devotion for Native American Culture in general and for the Wyandotte Nation in particular. I begin by noting that Charles Aubrey Buser was born and raised in rural Indiana. The name of his birth state thus provides our first clue. A second clue emerged when my father, who was perhaps nine or ten years old at the time, was working in the fields of the family farm and came across a small stone with an unusual shape. My father’s father told him the stone was simply one of many arrowheads that had been left by former residents of the region. This explanation gave rise to new questions about the nature, customs and current condition of people who had formerly lived on the very land my father called home. However, my father soon discovered that surprisingly little information was readily available to address these questions. His family and friends knew almost nothing. Teachers at his elementary school were able to provide a few facts about Native Americans in general. However, even these facts were typically limited to the outcomes of various wars. In an effort to fill the void, my father thus began a journey that would literally last a lifetime.

The first stop on my father’s personal journey was his local library. The history section of the library produced little improvement on brief summaries he had already received. However, to his pleasant surprise, my father discovered a book by Joseph A. Altsheler entitled, The Riflemen of the Ohio. The book was a work of fiction. Nevertheless, my father would eventually conclude that this book, together with other books by the same author, provided a reasonably accurate account of actual history during a critical time frame. In support of this claim about my father’s opinion, I note that roughly one half of a century later my father gave a copy of his initial library discovery to my son, Adam Charles Buser. The gift came with a letter which we saved and which states in part, “I learned more about Wyandots from the three books he (Altsheler) wrote about the tribe than from any other source.” I should also note that on page 41 of my son’s copy of the The Riflemen of the Ohio, my father scribbled in the margin that he had discovered that references to the Wyandotte language which are made in the book were in fact consistent with what was at least a semi-official vocabulary list that had been compiled by John Johnston in the early 1800s just prior to the time when the Wyandotte Tribe left Ohio. Based on this claim, specific references that are found in a supposed work of fiction take on special meaning. For example, as claimed on page 22 of the book, the word “Ohio,” might indeed represent an abbreviation for the Wyandotte word “Ohezuhyeandawa,” which means “something great.”

The Riflemen of the Ohio is part of a collection of stories by the same author which are commonly grouped under the heading, “The Young Trailers” series. In the expanded collection of stories, a group of young friends from the early settler days experience repeated encounters with various native inhabitants. Some of the encounters were brutally combative, while other encounters were friendly. One particular set of encounters involved both elements and ultimately produced lasting respect and even friendship between a young man, Henry Ware, and the Chief of a tribe named the Wyandottes, or Wyandots as Altsheler spelled it. Independent research would eventually lead my father to conclude that his personal favorite character in these stories, who the author named Chief Timmendiquas, was in fact based on the real and legendary Chief Tarhe of the Wyandotte Tribe.

With respect to my father’s subsequent mission, there was a temporary interruption due to World War II. But following two tours of duty on Guadalcanal, my father returned to the states, met my mother, fell in love, and was married soon thereafter. My father then earned a college degree, in history of course, and he worked at a series of jobs that simply but effectively covered the cost of raising a family. The main story resumed when life circumstances permitted. Moreover, for this portion of the story, and for the rest of my father’s life, he would enjoy the full time support of a wife who fortunately grew to share his passion for Native American culture and history.

By the time Part II of the story was in full swing, my parents had settled in the suburbs of Washington DC. That location proved to be another stroke of good fortune in the sense that is provided relatively easy access to a treasure of documents in the National Archives and the Library of Congress. As others have observed, some of the discoveries my parents made, such as official roles rolls or tribe membership at critical points in time, have proved to be of use in various proceedings undertaken by Native Americans of various tribes, clans, and other groupings. The sharing of such discoveries in turn helped my parents establish close personal relationships with many individuals. The expanding network of friends in turn gave my parents access to yet another source of historical treasure, namely the personal stories and personal recollections of their new friends and the friends of their new friends. To take advantage of this good fortune, my parents initiated the practice of recording sessions as often as they were able. That quest took my parents all over the country and even into the French speaking portion of Canada. There my father discovered yet another turn of good fortune. He was not able to understand the French language let alone speak it. Yet he had the good fortune, or perhaps the good foresight, to have married a woman who, despite being from Minnesota and despite her Norwegian roots, had nevertheless managed to learn the French language. Hence my mother was able to serve as translator for the recovery of portions of history that predate even the settlement and conflicts in Ohio.

The summary I have provided barely skims the surface of an adventure that literally covers decades. The full story also includes a number of exceptional moments, such as a formal thank you and recognition provided by the Wyandotte Nation at the 1997 Pow Wow. However, the primary focus of the summary is on rare elements of history that once were lost, and then were found, but which might very well have been lost again if not for the extraordinary efforts of many people. Accordingly, on behalf of my parents and on behalf of the extended Buser family, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the effort to create, organize and preserve the Buser Collection. I would also like to identify at least some of the most significant contributors. However, I apologize in advance for omissions I will undoubtedly make. A partial list of essential contributors in the Native American community includes a husband and wife team from Canada, which my parents referred to as the Gros-Louis’. I believe, but I am not certain, that the husband served as Chief of the Huron-Wendat Nation of Quebec. For the Wyandotte Nation in Oklahoma, the list of essential contributors is much longer. At a minimum, it includes Chief Leonard Cotter, Chief Leaford Bearskin, Chief Billy Friend, Lloyd Divine, Artie Nesvold, Juanita McQuistion, Sallie Andrews, Te Nona Kuhn, Sherri Clemons, and Gertrude (Gert) Free of Wyandot of Anderdon Nation in Detroit.

A number of individuals at The Ohio State University have also made significant contributions in the form of arranging for enhanced access to key material as well as by providing essential backup storage for copies of original material that has been forwarded to Wyandotte Nation. Accordingly, I would like to acknowledge and thank the following individuals. Jay Miller played an essential role in the initial stage of the project. He has since left Ohio State, and Brian Josephs assumed a leadership role for the project. He deserves credit for contributions of his own as well as for assembling a remarkable and dedicated team. Chadwick Allen succeeded Jay Miller as coordinator for the Indian Studies Program at OSU. Lisa Iacobellis, who together with a number of students, did much of the heavy lifting with respect to the organization and preservation of a quantity of material that was literally over whelming.

I conclude this narrative by saying I am very confident that both of my parents would be greatly relieved to know that treasures they worked so hard and so long to uncover will be preserved for future generations by virtue of the Buser Collection. In addition, my parents would be not just relieved but delighted to know that the critical material will be available to future researchers in a form that is both easier to access and more reliable than my father was able to identify in the early years of his own exploration.