Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Inland Northwest

Here is our description of the project from a grant application to the Strategic Planning Council at Eastern Washington University:

One of the most productive ways of enhancing student learning and faculty engagement is through collaborative projects across disciplinary lines. We will bring together our skills in anthropology, geography, and history in this project. With the help of deeply engaged student assistants we will develop an interdisciplinary resource archive, focusing on the crossroads of Indian-White settlement in the Inland northwest.
We will create a collection of learning materials in several areas of mutual interest including the ten-thousand-year-old Indian “Site 45KT1362” (aka “Sentinel Gap Site”) near Vantage, Washington; the Mullan Road, the first wagon road across the Northern Rockies, which passed through today’s Turnbull Wildlife Refuge; and the Cataldo Mission, a Jesuit Indian mission in northern Idaho. For each of these three and other focal points we will assemble an archive consisting of three or more of the following materials: original documents, articles, photographs (contemporary and historical), film, and maps. We will make these materials available as (1) films on DVD, (2) a web site, and (3) a binder with copies of key print materials and images.
Films, for example, of the Sentinel Gap Site illustrate the distant prehistory of humanity on the Plateau. Contemporary newspaper articles relating to the relocation of Chief Joseph to the Colville Reservation (1885), and a contemporary film of nightfall over his gravesite on the reservation are evocative of Indian life shortly after white settlement. The Mullan Report—the key document on the building of the Mullan Road—along with photographs of remaining section of the road provide a window on early white exploration and settlement. Through developing GIS maps of these topics linking images, documents, and topography, we will be able to provide exceptionally attractive resources for students and faculty to explore these resources in the future. We will use these materials in our own classes both for their content and as examples for our students of how our diverse disciplines can be brought together to develop a fuller picture of life in our region—and by extension in other areas of inquiry.
Students will be engaged in this project ultimately by studying the materials in the classroom; but equally important some will be engaged from the start as research assistants helping develop the materials.
As we enter the project we will identify at least three faculty members in other disciplines such as botany and geology, whom we will invite to contribute to this interdisciplinary endeavor.

Goal: We will engage ourselves and our students in a fascinating adventure into cutting-edge research and materials accumulation in our disciplines, fostering in our students an appreciation for inquiry as a lifelong enterprise.

Objectives: (1) We will model interdisciplinary learning and materials development through a close partnership of faculty and students across departmental lines, and provide a lasting record of that collaboration by chronicling the project itself. (2) We will create a collection of learning materials that will be illustrative for our students of the story of the early history and prehistory of our region and the results of interdisciplinary, faculty-student collaboration.

Activities: (1) The faculty members will meet regularly among themselves and with student research assistants to identify key topics and resources. (2) This faculty-student team will assemble the resources through archival research and photographic field trips. (3) The team will prepare resources for DVD, Web site, and resources binder. (4) Team will provide user-friendly introductions, tables of contents, and suggestions for teaching strategies and learning activities to accompany the materials, (5) Rounding out the project, the team will develop a clear, concise “Do it Yourself” guide to conducting this kind of interdepartmental student-faculty materials development project.