Day 3 – 10/13: Supporting Cultural Continuity Through Indigenous Care Guidance

Laura Bryant, Anthropology Collections Manager/NAGPRA Coordinator, Gilcrease Museum, University of Tulsa; Lourdes Henebry-DeLeon, NAGPRA Program Director, Professor, Central Washington University; Colleen Medicine, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Program Director, Association on American Indian Affairs; Nicolette Meister, Director and NAGPRA Coordinator, Logan Museum of Anthropology, Beloit College; Angela Neller, Kanaka ‘Oiwi, Curator, Wanapum Heritage Center; Marla Taylor, Curator of Collections, Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Katelyn Trammel, Collection Manager, University of Nebraska State Museum
​The heart of every museum is its collections, expressed through avenues of stewardship, education, exhibition, and research. For decades, museums and academic institutions have been the accepted authority on Indigenous Peoples’ material culture. This structure is built on the foundations of colonization that show the public a version of history that is often disconnected from the very people the institution seeks to educate about. The values expressed in museum collection stewardship resonate throughout the entire institution. The Indigenous Collections Care working group advocates for different methodologies of collections stewardship that centers concepts of culturally appropriate care and privileges Indigenous Knowledge.

Written by Association on American Indian Affairs