The THPO program pursues, evaluates, and determines necessary response for our tribe's areas of interest in aboriginal, historical, and present-day Shawnee lands. These areas cover over twenty-five (25) different states. These states include counties or sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. 

 

In 2002, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe completed and submitted an application for assuming State Historic Preservation Office responsibilities to the US Department of Interior, the National Park Service, and the National Center of Cultural Resources.  By 2004, the Tribe was granted THPO status; and subsequently, became the forty-fifth (45th) tribe in the United States to assume this status over historic preservation duties previously held in the state's responsibility.  

 

As a Tribal Historic Preservation Office, it is our staff's responsibility to correspond, research, and consult with any agency with a federally-funded or federally-permitted project in any of the Tribe's areas of interest during the preliminary stages of planning. Monthly, the Tribe's THPO staff receives, at least, thirty (30) letters and two hundred (200) emails concerning projects and case notifications that fall beneath NHPA Section 106, TCNS (Tower Construction Notification System), and NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.)  

 

The Absentee Shawnee Gift Shop attempts to provide handmade or Native-inspired products for our tribal members and other regional customers. Over inventory ranges from Pendleton goods to El Paso and Serape items; beadwork, silver jewelry, artwork and music CDs; etc. Additionally, the Gift Shop has a wide variety of merchandise printed with the AST logo... t-shirts, hoodies, water bottles, towels, lapel pins, iron-on patches, and more! 

 

In December 2018, a smaller second gift shop opened at the Little Axe Health Center lobby! Our department is thrilled about this expansion as its location is of greater convenience for some of our tribal members. Plans for a more permanent presence and larger capacity for merchandise at Little Axe Health Center should be coming later in 2019. 

 

Shawnee Campus Gift Shop open Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Little Axe Health Center Gift Shop open Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Please contact Merry Rodriguez or our office for any questions.    

 

The Absentee Shawnee Library is funded through an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) basic grant. It currently boasts a collection of over one thousand (1,000) materials ranging from books, reference and research items, DVDs, magazines and music CDs. Children books, hand-puppets, and planned language games are used in our staff's visits to the AST Building Blocks and After-School programs. At your library, there is a comfortable seating area for viewing movies on-site; and two public computers with internet access and printing capabilities. Additionally, the AST Library has few non-circulation books and pamphlets regarding information on Shawnee language.

 

Open Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., or later by appointment only. Please contact our office for any questions concerning the Tribe's library and how its resources can benefit you.