This essay suggests a companion term to "literacy sponsors" that better mirrors the practice and protection of traditional literacies evident in the cases of two Dakelh elders. "Literacy steward" introduces a theoretical means to describe community members whose rhetorical decisions depend on traditions that are alternative to dominant literacies. In what follows, the author offers a more specific explanation of sponsorship's limitations in describing Native North American literacy practices, and using the cases of Mary John and Doreen Patrick, she makes suggestions for stewardship's applicability to two First Nations women's work. (Contains 12 notes.)