Talking Leaves: Home

The OSUCOM-CN Medical Library is pleased to have developed a Native American print book collection called Talking Leaves (ᏗᎦᏬᏂᏍᎩ ᏧᎦᎶᎦ) in honor of the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah (ᏍᏏᏉᏯ). Sequoyah referred to words on paper as "Talking Leaves" and invented the Cherokee written syllabary in 1821. After its adoption by the Cherokee Nation (ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ) in 1825, the syllabary represented one of the first writing systems developed by a Native American tribe. We chose this name in consultation with Cherokee Nation citizens. Many of our medical students and campus faculty and staff are members of the Cherokee Nation and other tribes, and we are proud to have grown this special collection to over 250 books. 

Our library is particularly interested in making books available that are written by Native American authors about health and medicine, especially by Tribal Citizens in Oklahoma and about Oklahoma. We invite OSUCOM at the Cherokee Nation students, faculty, staff, and Oklahoma Tribal Community members to share book recommendations (sonja.settle@okstate.edu).