Languages Represented: The collection materials are in Cheyenne and English.
Extent: 4 items
Collection Date Range: 1934 – 1976
Creators: Joyce Twins
Collection Identifier: JTW
Abstract: The Joyce Twins Collection consists of religious texts and videos and audio recordings of songs in the Cheyenne language.
Acquisition Information: These records came to the Sam Noble Museum in 2012 and were deposited by Joyce Twins.
Access Restrictions: The materials are open for research. Contact the NALC at 405-325-3332 or language.samnoblemuseum@ou.edu.
Cite As: [title], [catalog number], Joyce Twins Collection, Sam Noble Museum Department of Native American Languages.
Collection Scope and Contents: Joyce Twins is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. She has taught the Cheyenne language for more than 20 years in various settings, including the University of Oklahoma in Norman. She has served as lead language teacher for the Cheyenne/Arapaho Language Program in Oklahoma, which has been recognized for its ambitious efforts to integrate distance-learning technology into a handful of Oklahoma high schools allowing for the Cheyenne language to be taught in those schools.
Twins has assisted schoolteachers and other interested individuals with language training and is recognized as a master teacher by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She has also been involved in the Breath of Life, Silent No More workshops at the Sam Noble Museum, aimed at language revitalization, and is a collector of Cheyenne language materials.
In 2012, she partnered with the museum to start the Joyce Twins Collection, which focuses on the Cheyenne language; Cheyenne is one of three Plains Algonquian languages (the others being Arapaho and Blackfoot) and is spoken by the Cheyenne people in parts of Montana and Oklahoma. The collection consists of audio, video and print materials including:
- Two 1976 films about the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Genesis (in Cheyenne)
- A collection of 17 Southern Cheyenne Gourd Clan songs recorded in 1974, featuring the voices of Arthur Madbull, Roy Night Walker, Jr., George Night Walker and Roy Night Walker, Sr.
- A 1934 edition of Zemona Hoemao Maheon-Hoestomohestova (The New Testament in Cheyenne)
| Catalog # | Title |
|---|---|
| JTW-001 | Word-for-word the Bible on video: The Gospel of Luke, chapters 1-13 (in Cheyenne) |
| JTW-002 | Word-for-word the Bible on video: The Book of Genesis, part IV (in Cheyenne) |
| JTW-003 | Southern Cheyenne Gourd Clan Songs |
| JTW-004 | Zemona Hoemao Maheon-Hoestomohestova / The New Testament in Cheyenne |
