PORTLAND, Ore. — Think black and red when you picture Jim Carmin’s
176-page roster of American Indian literature. The voluminous printout
reads like a wish list for those interested in capturing the zeitgeist —
or spirit of the times — of the nearly 40-year renaissance in fiction,
poetry, short stories and drama penned by indigenous people of North
America.

Black is for the titles Carmin’s already acquired as part of Multnomah
County Library’s goal of creating a body of Native American literature
within its Special Collections department. With $62,000 plus many extra
unexpected donations, Carmin — the librarian in charge of the John Wilson
Room Special Collections Room — has accumulated 1,000 items in the new
collection. A quick scan of his lengthy roster, though, reveals enough red
to underscore the idea that the goal is to cover the gamut.

“Pre-1968, there are around less that a dozen novels published by Native
writers,” said Carmin. “The reason is that a lot of Indian writers hadn’t
had access to [the] publishing world.”

Although the play that became the basis for the musical “Oklahoma” —
“Green Grow the Lilacs,” by Cherokee writer Lynn Riggs — was penned in
1931, a mainstream audience for literature specific to Indian culture
simply did not exist until the counterculture of the late ’60s.

So the timing was a meeting of minds. N. Scott Momaday’s “House Made of
Dawn” received sufficient attention to earn a Pulitzer Prize in 1969, one
year after its publication.

“It was Momaday’s work that started the Native American literary
renaissance,” said Carmin. “So knowing that there was not a huge body of
work prior to that date, and working with Ken Lopez, a Massachusetts
dealer, we began to develop a core collection.”

The idea began two years ago with Carmin himself, who has been with the
library for eight years. “I’ve been interested in getting our collection to
have a broader literary sense and have gotten very excited about adding a
Native American component,” said Carmin. With a chuckle, he added, “Right
now we have very large collection of D.H. Lawrence and Charles Dickens — a
couple [of] white guys from England.”

Carmin explained that the new collection “is so rich, and transcends
boundaries of all kinds. For example, James Welch is just such a great
writer, hands down.”

The John Wilson Room, Special Collections of the Multnomah County Library,
in the heart of downtown Portland, has the rarified atmosphere of archives
dedicated to very particular use. The room is only open during certain
hours, and it is not a regular reading room common to other parts of the
library. Indeed, patrons entering the quiet confines of the wood-paneled
interior must do so only to consult the particular works held in the
collection.

“Special collections have [an] elite aura about them, and I’ve been trying
to create a more populist quality about our collection in general,” Carmin
said. “I’m particularly interested in promoting literacy, and I hope to
develop programs that will make this Native American collection more
dynamic and bring people into the John Wilson Room.”

Along with regular readings, lectures and critiques by indigenous authors,
poets and playwrights, Carmin envisions workshops taught by writers for
teachers and young students. Also, eventually he would like to see a
fellowship program established that would pay for students coming in to use
the collection for research.

Commenting on the items he’s pulled together thus far, Carmin said, “Some
of these things are very scarce, and only one or two libraries may own them
if that. I think we’re the only collection on the West Coast devoted to
Native American literature.”

He explained that the effort is a worthy one. “The oral tradition of Native
American culture comes through in the literature in various ways, and
that’s significant because it’s the oldest form of storytelling we have in
this country. Many of the stories that have become the basis for books and
poems have passed through families for generations.”

So, chalk one up for Portland. A still room redolent with the smell of
books and awash in soft light streaming in from mullioned windows loaded
with manuscripts, uncorrected proofs and advanced reader copies by North
American indigenous writers and — especially rare and lovely —
hand-printed first editions full of illustrations, signed and inscribed by
the authors.