Resources featured on this page include a compilation of documents, organizations, networks, and databases that relate to innovative partnerships, initiatives, and broader conversations surrounding American Indian/Alaska Native and other first peoples' cultural items housed in museums. These resources are neither comprehensive nor exhaustive but highlight some of the ways in which diverse communities of practice around the globe are thinking about and engaging with this topic. If you know of any additional resources that might be included on this page, please contact our team.  

MUSEUMS 101

European museums and American Indian tribes have many issues to address in regard to the storage of American Indian cultural items in museums. These include everything from accurately and sensitively presenting cultures in exhibits, to ensuring online collection databases provide the correct information for public consumption, to curating objects in ways that both protect them and follow culturally specific rules for object stewardship.

As tribes and European museums consider the themes above, it is worth noting that Museums in Europe generally adhere to the collections care standards set by the International Council on Museums. However, national governments often set their own policies, which dictate the curation of cultural items. In turn, American Indian tribes often have specific cultural prescriptions of how objects should be cared for. Hence, museum administrators and tribal representatives should have the opportunity to discuss their particular needs and visions for collections care.

Annual events & Conferences

• American Indian Workshop

DATABASES and Research

• Arthemis: At-Law Centre University of Geneva
  ArThemis is a fully searchable database containing case notes about disputes over cultural property. The case notes focus on the settlement of disputes through alternative dispute resolution methods (ADR) but also examine judicial decisions. The case notes are accompanied by pertinent documents, including judgments, published agreements, pictures, etc. 
• Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) 
• Reciprocal Research Network
  Since 2007, integrating information from partners across the world. A wide variety of Archaeological, Ethnographic, and Archival collections data, in different formats, and from different collection management systems.
• UBC Vancouver Aboriginal Web Portal

International Bodies

• International Council of Museums

Museum NETWORKS & SOCIETIES 

• Germany
  • German Museum Council
• Holland
• United Kingdom
• United States
•  American Alliance of Museums
• Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC)
• Sweden
• Intercultural Collaboration
  • Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums

Other organizations

• Association of American Indian Affairs (http://www.indian-affairs.org/)

Publications

• American Indian Workshop

Stories of collaboration AND Conversation

• Roots 2 Share
• Ute Exhibit
• National Museum of the American Indian
• Acoma Sky City Cultural Center
• The Return of the G'psgolox Pole (video)

books and academic journals

• Special Considerations for Reviewing Tribal Museums
• Ceremonies of Renewal: Visits, Relationships, and Healing in the Museum Space by Laura Peers
• Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits by Chip Colwell

RECOMMENDATION DOCUMENTS

• Recommendations concerning the protection and promotion of museums and collections, their diversity and their role in society

• Recommendations for the Care of Human Remains in Museums and Collections

GUIDES

• A Guide to International Repatriation
• Community and Museum: Guidelines for Collaboration