(KNZA)--The Kickapoo Tribe has announced the opening of a new tribal history museum on its reservation in Brown County.

According to a news release from the Tribe, the museum is the result of several years of efforts by the Tribal Council, community leaders, and cultural experts to research, collect, and celebrate Kickapoo tribal history.

The release says the Museum will feature exhibits on Kickapoo traditions such as beadwork and clothing design, reservation history including community development efforts through the years and historical documents related to tribal sovereignty.  It will also include an exhibit honoring Kickapoo veterans and maps based on ancestral movements since the early 1600’s when the Kickapoo lived in the Great Lakes Region.

Tribal Chairman Lester Randall said the Kickapoo Tribal Museum is one important piece of the broader work the Tribe is doing to learn from the past and celebrate who they are as a people.  Randall said “ most importantly, the Museum will be the only place in the region where our story is told by our people, for our people.”

Johanna Thomas, Young Child Wellness Coordinator with the Kickapoo Project LAUNCH early childhood program, agreed the Museum will provide cultural education for the Tribe’s youngest members as well.

The Kickapoo Tribe will celebrate the grand opening of its Tribal Museum on Saturday, August 24 at 12 noon on the lower level of the Kickapoo Government Center located at 824 111th Drive on the reservation west of Horton.

The grand opening is open to the public, and is part of a full weekend schedule of events in support of the annual Kickapoo Pow Wow.