Father Stan and the American Indian Culture Research Center

Rev. Stanislaus Maudlin, known as Father Stan, created the American Indian Culture Research Center with the mission to “help American Indian leaders and educators rebuild their culture and communities, and to educate non-Indians about the culture and philosophy” of Native Americans.

The Center for Western Studies at Augustana University houses some of the most important Native American collections for the people of the Northern Plains. The Center holds the collection of the former American Indian Culture Research Center, first housed at Blue Cloud Abbey, near Marvin, South Dakota. Blue Cloud Abbey was a Catholic monastery founded in 1950, intended as the nucleus of Benedictine operations on the Great Plains. Benedictine missionaries had a long and complex history and relationship with the Native Americans and settlers of the region.

Father Stan opened the Center to promote and protect Native American culture because, in the 1960s, he believed that "Indians had no power over their lives" and they should take charge. Through Father Stan's intimate relationship with Indigenous peoples that the Abbey worked with, Center accumulated materials as gifts from local tribes to the Benedictine Order. Father Stan created a documented collection at the AICRC. The Center eventually grew to hold Native American art, handiwork, and literature, as well as documents and photographs. Beyond the physical preservation and education of Native American cultures, the Center provided translation services for academics, the government, and local tribes.

The collection also includes the correspondence and publications of the AICRC, such as the Center’s stand on a 1968 discussion of juvenile delinquency among Indian youth. In a letter to Judge Eugene Burdick, Father Stan wrote, “this Research Center is also interested in this growing problem, because it is a sign of the deep disturbance that our White Culture has brought into the Indian way of life.” Recognizing the role of generational trauma within the Native community, Father Stan wrote: “Finally we are beginning to have time to evaluate our methods – and correct our mistakes. This is why we have set up this Center.” He called on teachers and administrators to be the greatest agents of change in reducing juvenile delinquency and encouraging appreciation for Native culture and customs. “If [teachers and administrators] are dedicated, they will learn Indian History, Indian organization, Indian personalities, Indian tales. Above all they will listen.” This was the mission that Father Stan set out in his creation of the American Indian Culture Research Center.

The AICRC collection eventually contained a library of 4,000 books, 85,000 photos, and hundreds of pieces of art and quillwork by Native artists. In 2005, early attempts “seeking to establish a digital library and long-term archive to preserve tribal photographs” were begun but quickly ceased following the death of Father Stan in 2006. In 2012, Blue Cloud Abbey, home of the American Indian Culture Research Center was closed, and the collection sought a new home.

The Abbey Council appointed the Center for Western Studies at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to become the recipient of the vast collection. When the collection was received by the Center for Western Studies (CWS) some pieces were returned to native owners, many books were donated to various Native organizations and libraries around the state, with the remainder of the collection now housed at the CWS. Today, many of Father Stan’s collected Native American artifacts are displayed in an exhibit on Native American history in South Dakota.

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