Office Hours is a series focusing on unique artifacts that BYU employees display in their offices.
BYU’s sesquicentennial year is historic, but consider celebrating the 625th anniversary of a university. Mike Taylor, a BYU English professor, did just that while he was completing graduate studies at Heidelberg University.
“This is the oldest book in my office,” Taylor says. “It’s from 1542.”
Taylor lays open the book, showing the old German script that he learned to read from a religious studies professor as a BYU undergraduate.
Taylor, who served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany, pulls another collectible from the shelf. Part of Karl May’s bestselling "Winnetou" series: the cover depicts an Apache warrior from the Old American West. Taylor found this book at a German flea market just as his scholarly understanding of the American experience was developing.
“While studying American Studies in Germany, I began to see large gaps in my understanding of the American Indigenous experience. Growing up, I had never been taught anything beyond a chapter here or there about Native Americans and their perspectives — their histories, their cultures, their forms of government, their literature, their art,” Taylor said.
With his interest sparked, Taylor completed doctoral work at the University of British Columbia in Indigenous literatures. Now at BYU, he is highly involved in American Indian Studies, co-directing the minor, mentoring and publishing with students, and leading the annual Native American Faith, Cultural Renewal, and Leadership Seminar.
Among the many Indigenous artifacts in Taylor’s office, a striking star quilt hangs on the wall – gifted to his seminar group after they visited a church branch in North Dakota.
“The Sioux believe that they originated in the stars and they’ll go back to the stars,” Taylor said. “And so for every significant moment in life — like a child's birth, graduation, church baptism, death — they're wrapped up in a star quilt to connect them to their creation story.”
The gifting of this quilt occurred after a social that the BYU group had with the branch youth. The branch president left the gathering and came back with this beautiful gift, surprising the group. Taylor treasures moments like this for his students.
“Rather than focusing on themes of conflict, our BYU students who study Native peoples have opportunities to focus on learning from community leaders and building community.”
