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GORDON H. HILLS. Papers; n.d., 1949, 1952, 1958-1998. 8 cu. ft. Inventory.

Gordon H. Hills was born in New York in 1931. He received a B.S. degree in Agriculture from Cornell University, and an M.L.S. from the University of Washington. After attending graduate school, he lived in Seattle and Alaska, including a year of residing in a tepee on the coast of Washington. Mr. Hills has worked as a regional history librarian, tribal heritage librarian, prison librarian, Native community college librarian, and as a library development coordinator in Yupik Eskimo communities. He traveled to Siberia as part of a sister-city exchange program and observed the rural library systems there. His book Native Libraries: Cross-Cultural Conditions in the Circumpolar North was published in 1997. The book represents the culmination of Mr. Hill's years of research into library service to Native groups.

This collection contains papers relating to the writing and publication of the book Native Libraries: Cross-Cultural Conditions in the Circumpolar North by Gordon H. Hills. The collection includes several drafts of the manuscript including the original copy accepted for publication in 1990, additional drafts with corrections and revisions, and the final version submitted for printing in 1997. Correspondence with the publishing company, editors, and professional contacts is also represented. The largest part of the collection consists of reference files which include extensive information on library services and native people in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area of Alaska, Russia and the former Soviet Union, and Canada, as well as areas of Scandinavia, New Zealand, and Australia. Among these files are the results of several national and international database searches, and reports on conferences and research centers in the circumpolar countries. Broader reference topics include library education and development; cross-cultural issues and Native/White relations; literacy in Native cultures; oral traditions; library media; and a survey of Native programs in North American library schools. The reference files include articles, reports, studies, correspondence, drafts of related articles by Mr. Hills, notes, and translations of selected foreign-language articles.

Presented to the archives and deed of gift signed by Gordon Hills in 1998.

HMC-0475
KRH (11/1998)