CHARLEMONT — After not meeting for many years, the Historical Commission came together this week to request to be part of the discussion about altering the Native American statue outside the Native and Himalayan Views souvenir shop on Route 2.

“I believe the statue and shop itself can be put on the Registry of Historic Places as (being) representative of culture after World War II and the sculpture, a body of work from a folk artist,” Historical Commission member Bill Coli said at Wednesday’s meeting.

The statue, which stands taller than the gift shop building, was made by Rodman Shutt, a sculptor from Strasburg, Pennsylvania who made larger-than-life pieces across the Northeast in the 1960s and ‘70s. Shutt has two other sculptures in Maine and New York of Indigenous people all wearing sacred objects from a variety of different nations from across the Americas. The statue has stood at the gift shop since 1974.

Recent discussions about removing or altering the statue began in October 2022 at which time Tomantha Sylvester, a member of the Anishinaabe nation, created a petition calling to remove the statue, saying it perpetuates racist stereotypes. The petition, which can be viewed online at bit.ly/3CtQ5Lr, garnered nearly 1,300 signatures and led to the start of a dialogue with Native and Himalayan Views owner Sonam Lama.

Sylvester, as well as Rhonda Anderson, a member of the Iñupiaq Athabaskan nation who also serves as the western Massachusetts representative on the state Commission on Indian Affairs, and Laurel Davis-Delano, a professor of sociology at Springfield College who works to eliminate Indigenous mascots from sports teams, all spoke with Lama about the harmful stereotypes they feel are depicted at the souvenir shop.

As a result of their conversation, a variety of changes are being made to the store, with the biggest alteration being the development of three possible redesign options for the statue. The designs can be viewed at bit.ly/3WAV1pW.

One option incorporates a sun mask, which looks like a sun complete with rays. Another design includes a mask with brightly colored fall leaves. The final design option is a traditional Himalayan sun mask, which is blue and includes facial features. Lama and his wife, who bought the shop in 2009 when the former owners retired, immigrated from Tibet and chose this design from their own culture.

Bill Coli and his wife, Norma, who also serves on the Historical Commission, explained at the meeting that they had read about the statue controversy in the Greenfield Recorder, and contacted Lama in hopes of being part of the conversation. The commission’s third member, Bambi Miller, was not present on Wednesday.

“We are not saying they are wrong,” Bill Coli said, referring to the decision already made to redesign the statue. “We have an educational opportunity here.”

He explained that when the Mohawk Trail scenic byway was at its peak in the 1950s, middle-class workers from across the Northeast would visit while on vacation. This was the beginning of the creation of the middle class in America, with these people recently returning from fighting in World War II, and being able to purchase homes because of the GI bill. In this decade, there were several souvenir shops selling Native American goods, all that would be seen as racist by today’s standards, on the Mohawk Trail. The Colis argue that Native and Himalayan Views is one of the last remnants of this time period and should be preserved.

Bill Coli went on to say that Shutt, the folk artist who made the statue, has a catalog of large sculptures depicting a variety of people. He argued these works should be viewed as “a non-specific monumental view of folk art,” instead of a specific racist depiction.

At the Historical Commission meeting, the Colis spoke about potentially installing informational kiosks at the store and the base of the statue explaining the historical significance of the Mohawk Trail, presenting context for the artist behind the sculpture and providing information on local Indigenous tribes, including descriptions of sacred clothing and practices.

The commissioners stressed they also don’t want to offend the people who are working to change the statue.

“This is a perspective from non-Indigenous people,” Bill Coli said. “This is a historical perspective.”

The Colis noted they have worked to get other places in Charlemont on the Registry of Historic Places. They said they find this case to be similar to work they did in the 1990s when they successfully fought to get the Bissell Covered Bridge on North Heath Road included on the registry.

“We went down to Shelburne Falls and got 1,000 signatures on a petition just like them,” Norma Coli recounted. They explained they fought for 14 years while serving on the Historical Commission to preserve the covered bridge, which was rebuilt in 1951 and modeled after a covered bridge from the 1880s.

Reach Bella Levavi at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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