Maurine Regehr looks at some of her book collection at her home in Hesston. Her love of Native American books began as a result of her experience living among the Indians of the southwestern United States in the early 1960s.

Hesston ? Maurine Regehr carefully picks up one of the dozens of books in front of her and gently turns its pages.

It’s a colorful book, with bright illustrations of Native American children splashed across its pages, and full of lively writing.

It brings a smile to her face, like an old friend coming to visit.

In Regehr’s case, she has a lot of friends – more than 100 books dealing with a wide variety of American Indian history, culture and arts.

They range from a 1937 volume of “Three Little Indians” to a paperback version of the 1970 classic “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.”

“They add up pretty fast,” Regehr said with a laugh as she surveyed the books carefully organized in her Hesston living room.

Regehr figures some of the older ones would be considered rare books, but their value to Regehr is not monetary but rather emotional and spiritual – and a connection to the past, back to 1960 when she and husband, Bill, and their two young boys left Kansas to travel to a New Mexico Indian reservation where Bill taught seventh- and eighth-grade science for four years.

It was a time of experiencing another culture, another people and their way of life, and it had a deep and lasting impact on Regehr. One way to hold on to part of that was through books, and that’s how the collection began in earnest.

But there’s more: Regehr also believes firmly that all Americans should take time to learn the lore of the land’s first settlers. While some of the books present a glossy version of the Indians, many do not, including “The Trail of Tears,” about darker chapters in American history.

Indians, Regehr said, were frequently misunderstood by the white people settling the land.

“They often didn’t take time to know them,” she said. “They thought they (Indians) were stupid, and they’re not. They’re a very smart people.”

And they had a special relationship with the land and its resources, lessons we could well use today, she said.

Regehr knows her books well and the stories behind them too. In the “Book of the Hopi,” there was a lot of controversy because some Hopi said it revealed too much of the tribe, giving away its secrets. Many of the books featured intricate artwork, which Regehr admires all the more, because, as the retired music educator said, “I’m not an artist.”

Another book, aimed at children, contains dual languages, with both English and Navajo words on each page.

The way Regehr sees it, the books are not just to be stored, but also to be functional and as such, she often uses them to read to her grandchildren.

Ironically, Regehr has not a drop of Indian blood in her.

“Pure Dutch,” she said. Regehr, who doesn’t know anyone else with a similar collection, will at times add to it, but is of no mind sell or get rid of any of the books. After all, there’s no reason to – they’re part of the family.