Marsha F. Small

Marsha F. Small (Cheyenne: Ota’taveenova’e (blue tipi woman)) is the co-founder and leader of the Indigenous Peoples Day Montana movement, and a scholar in Earth Sciences and Native American Studies whose work has focused on preservation, conservation, and reconciliation of sacred sites and places, specifically of boarding school cemeteries. She has worked on projects and uncovered unmarked graves at Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon and Red Cloud Indian School in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota. Small attended Montana State University for her master's degree in Native American Studies, which she received in 2015. Chemawa is one of the oldest government-run Indian boarding schools, and Small's work includes restoring names, finding causes of death, and assisting families in bringing their loved ones home, or following cultural protocols to re-bury and mark graves. During Small's trip to Red Cloud in May 2022, she found two anomalies consistent with possible graves. In October 2022, excavation of the anomaly sites was completed, but no human remains were found. Previous iterations of the legislation eliminated Columbus Day, but in 2025, Senator Shane Morigeau and other supporters sponsored (Montana) Senate Bill 224: Create Indigenous Peoples Day to allow for Montanans to celebrate either or both holidays. Senate Bill 224 was signed into law on May 8, 2025.

In 2021, Small, along with scholars Farina King and Preston McBride created protocols for surveying Indian boarding school burial sites.

Small served as the Teppola Distinguished Visiting Professor at Willamette University's department of Anthropology. In 2020, Small was the Society for Conservation Geographical Informational Systems Tribal Scholar.