On this day in 1918, taqʷšəblu (Vi Hilbert) was born on the Skagit River in "Washington". An enrolled member of the sqaǰətabš or Upper Skagit people, she was instrumental in the preservation and revitalization of the Lushootseed language, which was her first language. The University of Washington, which hosts her extensive archives, honors her work thus: She became known as a teacher, sto­ry­teller, pub­lisher, and pub­lic speaker. For over 40 years she built and main­tained a research archive of cul­tural mate­ri­als. Work­ing with other schol­ars, she devel­oped and pub­lished teach­ing mate­ri­als and vol­umes of sto­ries through Lushoot­seed Research, an orga­ni­za­tion which she founded. Her com­mit­ment to pre­serv­ing Lushoot­seed lan­guage and lit­er­a­ture is largely respon­si­ble for the renais­sance of inter­est in Lushoot­seed cul­ture and the growth of tribal lan­guage pro­grams all over west­ern Washington. taqʷšəblu was a survivor of the boarding school at Tulalip, and later Chemawa Indian Boarding School near Salem, Oregon. She began working with linguist Thom Hess in 1967 on Lushootseed preservation and began teaching at UW in 1973. On the language work to which she dedicated her life: “That work was a gift. sx̌ʷitil sʔuy̓ay̓us,” taqʷšəblu said. “Work that the Creator bestowed on me. I was ordained to do this work. It was always there, waiting for me to do.” You can find much of her life's work including countless recordings of Lushootseed language as well as Vi herself speaking and teaching Lushootseed in her archives, Voices of the First Peoples https://guides.lib.uw.edu/vihilbert To quote her again: "All of the time I have spent doing this research to date has been an act of deep respect to my elders and a donation to our Indian youth. It is a cherished legacy to the memory of our ancestors whose hearts would be gladdened to know that the culture of our people is being passed on to generations to come."