The Emery Lakota Language Collection

Here at the South Dakota Hall of Fame, we believe that preserving the history and legacies of past and present South Dakotans will provide inspiration for the next generation of dream chasers. We are passionate about this work and excited about the different ways we are able to share and contribute. 

The Emery Lakota Language Collection is one such project we are proud to have facilitated in partnership with Black Hills Energy and three generations of the Emery Family; James Emery, son Jim Emery, and grandson David Emery. Over 300 hours of Lakota language collection and music collection recordings from 2014 Inductee James E. Emery have been digitized and made available globally for the first time ever. Some of these recordings are one-of-a-kind recordings that capture the voices of Native American leaders who lived in the late 1800s. We continue to add to this priceless collection from  300 CD audio recordings. 

James Emery has passed into the history of South Dakota, but his legacy is very real and vibrant. Making the most of his humble beginnings amidst poverty and discrimination, leveraging his many natural talents and rare ability to form relationships, he preserved an invaluable part of the state's heritage as his permanent gift to South Dakota and the region. 

According to all written and oral reports from the memories of those who knew him, Emery was a humble man who overcame the challenges in his life to forge a better life for his family. There were plenty of challenges to face and overcome. At that time speaking a native language was discouraged and punished in Native American education. It is fitting that one of Emery’s major contributions was saving his native language, recording on audiotape the history and heritage of Native Americans. 

He spoke Lakota (Sioux) all of his life. This project of several decades resulted in over three hundred hours of taping to record the culture, history, language, and songs of Native Americans. His earliest technology was an early record-making machine that recorded onto blank discs. He was given an old Edison cylinder phonograph, and he re-recorded some of those cylinders on his machines to preserve the oldest recording in his collection. Later, as technology became available, he used a reel-to-reel tape recorder to record the important events of his people.

To listen to this amazing collection, visit this page on our website, or click the button below.