Dr. Kenneth Palmreuter, who received the 2021 distinguished EncourAGING AWARD for 56 years serving Lutheran education, nominated Larry Belitz of Hot Springs for the GOVERNOR’S INDIVIDUAL HISTORY AWARD. Larry won the award, given during the State Historical History Conference, April 23-24th in Pierre. His name will be listed in the Cultural Heritage Center.
The Individual Governor’s Award from the South Dakota State Historical Society
The award was for demonstrating outstanding dedication and commitment to excellence in Promotion, Collection, Preservation and Interpretation of South Dakota history.
Larry was noted for his Promotion through teaching SD History and Culture for 17 years in the Hot Springs Middle school and during summer at SDSU to Lakota educators. After studying the handful of original buffalo hide tipis, Larry restored the art of tanning and sinew-sewing hide tipis in his Sioux Replications business, with 65 he has constructed. Due to this, he was commissioned to instruct Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne and Kiowa tribes so each could construct their own buffalo hide tipi, after an absence of over 130 years.
The Cheyenne women have their first experience rubbing brains onto a buffalo robe to soften it. (This explains why the smearing is a unique, funny experience for them).
Belitz worked at Collection in the 1970s when he taught Indian History and Culture, plus traditional subjects, on the Pine Ridge Reservation and served as curator of the Wounded Knee Museum. Today he has at his ranch the Lakota Cultural Museum where each artifact from the Buffalo Days is documented on his website: siouxreplications.com.
The Preservation recognition was derived from his books BRAIN TANNING the SIOUX WAY (in its 24th printing), THE BUFFALO HIDE TIPI of the SIOUX and award-winning, bilingual DVD titled LAKOTA QUILLWORK, ART and LEGEND. Larry also produced and worked as advisor on twelve films, the first being DANCES with WOLVES where he made hero props for Kevin Costner and appears in the credits as “Indian Technical Advisor”.