SSBMI Nisenan Storytelling Collection
Since at least the late 1800s, linguists and anthropologists have been working with Nisenan speakers to record traditional narratives, personal recollections, & other Nisenan language stories. They went on to publish many of these stories in books that were intended for members of the academic community, while others remain unpublished and locked away in archival fieldnotes.
Today, we are working to repackage many of these stories in a format that is more accessible to the SSBMI Community and to the members of the broader Nisenan heritage community as part of the SSBMI Nisenan Storytelling Collection, which is a collaboration between our department and the SSBMI Exhibits & Collections Center's Lólmen Publications. We published the first story, Booyéem Mowí K’ut’í Méyt’omatoy (Jackrabbit Gave Antlers to Deer), in December 2023 and the second story, May (Salmon) in December 2025, both as illustrated children's storybooks.
We are proud to be able to share these stories with you. You can use the links below to access the digital version of each storybook, listen to the stories, and learn more about how we created the storybooks with the help of Youth and Adult SSBMI Community artists.
We encourage you to read these stories and to share them with your family. Whether you choose to read these stories in Nisenan or in English, by sharing them with your relations you are participating in Indigenous traditions of teaching and sharing knowledge through oral storytelling. You are actively participating in the revitalization and continuation of language and culture. Wenném! (Thank you!)