Archives and Museums Fostering Relationships with Native Communities

In this presentation, Michael Pahn, Head Archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian; Rachel Menyuk, Archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian; Nina Sanders, Independent Researcher; Vince Schiffert, History and Culture Teacher at Tuscarora School; and Brian Carpenter, Curator of Native American Materials at the American Philosophical Society discuss two successful collaboration projects between Native nations, community members and non-tribal museums and archives. First, Rachel Menyuk and Nina Sanders discuss how an internship in NMAI's Archive Center resulted in the creation of an online finding aid of Apsáalooke photographs built upon community knowledge, input, and perspective. Second, Brian Carpenter and Vince Schiffert discuss how the Tuscarora Nation's multi-year collaboration with the American Philosophical Society Library to digitize the APS's entire Tuscarora archival collections, strengthened the Nation's language and cultural initiatives, and helped built a lasting, reciprocal relationship. This session was part of the ATALM annual conference held in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, on October 10-13, 2017.