Vi Hilbert

Vi Hilbert (; ; July 24, 1918 – December 19, 2008) was an Upper Skagit elder and conservationist of her traditional culture and of the Lushootseed language, of which she was the last fully fluent heritage speaker. She taught Lushootseed at the University of Washington for 17 years (1971–1988), where she also transcribed and translated Lushootseed recordings from the 1950s. This work is preserved in the university's audio library. presented by President Bill Clinton, in 1994. She co-wrote Lushootseed grammars and dictionaries, partially with linguist Thom Hess, and published books of stories, teachings, and place names related to her native region, the Puget Sound .

Early life and education Hilbert was born to Charlie and Louise She was the only one of their eight children to live past the age of 3.

The family moved frequently in search of work, which resulted in Hilbert attending 15 different schools. For a while, she attended a boarding school at Tulalip. :24-25

In high school, she attended the Chemawa Indian Boarding School near Salem, Oregon. From there, she transferred to Franklin High School in Portland to get the best education she could find, while working as a domestic to support herself financially.

Experience in World War II In an interview, Hilbert stated that she was nearly a victim of the US policy of internment of Japanese Americans; however, she was ultimately able to prove her Native American heritage.

Career Before Hilbert was paid to research and teach the Lushootseed language, she worked a variety of jobs. In Tahola, Washington, she planned out and ran a gas station and grocery store. She later worked in groceries and food service, before performing telegraphy for the Seattle Railroad School and becoming the secretary to the Director of Nursing at Seattle Children's. After training at Mr. Lee's Beauty School, she ran a hairdressing business from her home from 1960 onward. At the time, the language was called Puget Salish by the academics learning about it. Hess was writing a grammar book for the language. Hess and Louise George, a Nooksack elder, had spent years meeting at George's house to transcribe Lushootseed recordings. When they came to a story told by Hilbert's mother about the Basket Ogress, George recommended they consult with Hilbert, and she began attending their meetings. Hess said that Hilbert was intrigued by his correct pronunciation of her name, as well as the writing system they were using to transcribe Lushootseed, which she learned in a month.

In 2007, Hilbert wrote about the importance of writing Lushootseed using Thom Hess's orthography, based on the International Phonetic Alphabet, rather than an imprecise and older system based on the English alphabet. On behalf of the board of Lushootseed Research, she criticized the first edition of Native Seattle, by Coll Thrush, for including an atlas of place names written with the English alphabet rather than the phonetic alphabet. In the second edition of Native Seattle, Thrush revised the atlas to use the alphabet recommended by Hilbert, citing a pronunciation key from the 1994 dictionary she wrote with Dawn Bates and Hess.

In 1997, Hilbert, Bruce Miller, Pauline Hillaire, John and Edie Hottowe, Hazel Pete, and David Whitener gave the name (House of Welcome) to a longhouse built at Evergreen College. Hilbert named the garden outside the space , also called the Gifts Garden. She also gave the name (Intellectual House) to a Coast Salish longhouse-style gathering space at the University of Washington. She gave Spee-pots Brian Cladoosby the Lushootseed name (Little Bear).

The Healing Heart of the First People of This Land In mid-2001, Hilbert stated that one of her current goals was to create a symphony, explaining that "music is a conductor that has healing power". Ruddell had previously collaborated with Bill Reid, a Haida artist. Hilbert commissioned the work based on two Lushootseed songs in her collection. These were a Thunder Spirit Power song, passed via Chief to his descendants, who shared it with her, and a Healing song given to her by Pәtius Isadore Tom, her cousin. Hilbert also gave copies of her papers to the Skagit Valley College, and they are stored at the Norwood Cole Library's archives in Mount Vernon, Washington.

Hilbert's choice to leave her collection to the UW was controversial, especially for some local Native Americans. Some of the recordings are about private stories, raising questions of whether they should be shared publicly, and the university has a legacy as a colonial institution, causing debate about whether it is the right place to store these recordings. As of 2026, John Vallier, the current curator of the Ethnomusicology Archives and thus Vi Hilbert's collection, has committed to repatriating works where requested. Lois had a son Jay and a daughter Jill , who is named after Hilbert's mother. All of them, including Hilbert, were given their names in a ceremony led by elder Isadore Tom in 1978.

In 1995 Hilbert's adopted granddaughter, Katie Jennings, produced a documentary about her called Traditions of the Heart. The name references a Lushootseed belief that cultural knowledge is stored in the heart. The taqʷšəblu Vi Hilbert Ethnobotanical Garden, and Vi Hilbert Hall at Seattle University are named in her honor.

Selected works