Elder John Thomas Digital Archives

Elder John Thomas, a founding contributor to the Welcome Home Project, loaned his collection of personal papers, items, artwork, and posters to Ursinus College in 2022. College archivist Carolyn Weigel (retired), Associate Director of Preservation Andy Prock, Librarian Diane Skorina, Associate Professor of History Lori Daggar, and a team of student researchers, including Katie Sanfield (‘23), Samantha Kiessling (‘23), Liam Reilly (‘24), Katherine Slater (‘26), Seamus Clune (‘27), and Aidan Blackwell (‘28), worked with Thomas to curate and assemble the present collection.

Thomas was an active member of the American Indian Movement, which brought attention to issues of Indigenous sovereignty beginning in the 1960s. He ferried mail from hostages to their families during the Iran Hostage Crisis, provided leadership for the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), combated grave desecration, and maintained his activist work into the twenty-first century. These items represent a sampling of his work and of the broader collection.