Project Sponsors

We are deeply grateful to the individuals and organizations that have allowed us to pursue the development of the Ojibwe People’s Dictionary. The concept for the OPD, to bring together significant Ojibwe material collections with a new and expanded Ojibwe dictionary in electronic form, would not have been possible without a strong, collaborative partnership between the University of Minnesota's Department of American Indian Studies and University Libraries, and the Minnesota Historical Society.

The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary is one of many publically engaged projects to benefit from the funds for preservation and enhanced access to Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage made possible by the citizens of Minnesota who supported the Legacy Amendment. The State Historic Preservation Office is a dedicated steward, and we thank the staff for their hard work and efforts administering these funds. We also thank the Historic Resources Advisory Committee and the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council for their work of dispensing the early grants that allowed us to begin construction of the Ojibwe People’s Dictionary.

This dictionary is the product of years of linguistic research into one of the most important heritage languages of Minnesota and the Great Lakes. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. BCS-0553716. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For allowing the use of images, we thank the Office of Communication and Outreach at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the offices of Public Information and Planning and Development for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Development of the Ojibwe People's Dictionary since 2015 has been supported by the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. The Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and Ojibwemotaadidaa Omaa Gidakiiminaang have been supporting partners in the most recent development of the dictionary.

We are most deeply grateful to the Ojibwe elders from northern Minnesota and the broader region who gave liberally of their time and knowledge in the certainty that the Ojibwe language is their greatest historic and cultural legacy to a younger generation. They are the true experts and teachers, and generously lend their voices to the Ojibwe People’s Dictionary.

Miigwech!