Extended answers from Rose Miron (RM) and Heather Bruegl (HB), panelists from “Relationships, Reciprocity, and Responsibilities: Indigenous Studies in Archives and Beyond,” panel 5: Community-Based Archival Initiatives (Click here to watch)

Question: Has the Stockbridge Munsee historical society had other objects (as opposed to papers) repatriated in the past? I'm kind of (pleasantly) surprised that the Oshkosh museum reacted well, and wonder if the reactions to repatriation requests have changed over time? (Kai Pyle)
RM: Yes, the Arvid E. Miller Library-Museum has had other objects repatriated in the past. The historic Bible and Communion set that was repatriated from the Mission House Museum in Stockbridge, MA is an especially interesting case for many reasons. While the Communion set was returned through a formal NAGPRA request in 2006, the two volume Bible set was returned in 1991. The agreement for return was made just six months before NAGPRA was passed and the actual return happened outside of a formal NAGPRA request in March 1991. The Trustees of Reservations, who manage the Mission House Museum, were quite resistant to this repatriation for a long time however. The tribe began asking for the Bible and Communion set to be returned in 1975. The story of that return is outlined in a 2018 article I published in the journal Native American and Indigenous Studies, Volume 5, Issue 2. I believe the Library-Museum has also successfully recovered at least one wampum belt, but Heather will know more about other repatriations than I do. 
HB: The Library/Museum has been able to successfully repatriate several items, those mentioned above as in the Bible and communion set as well as a partial wampum belt in addition to sacred objects as well.  We are extremely excited that the repatriation of the powder horn is going so well as this will help set a precedent for us and hopefully allow us to be successful in other objects that we currently have our eye on.
 
Question: What are the panelists’ reasons for or what do they see as benefits to working on archives-related topics outside of the formal archives world, for example, pursuing a PhD in anthropology versus in library and information studies? (Anonymous) 
RM: While I can't speak for Anthropology (my PhD is in American Studies and I am a historian) I guess I came to this topic a bit backwards--I didn't think I would be writing about archives when I started working with the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation in 2011. But, I quickly realized that I was interested in the process of how historical narratives are produced, and that archives are key to that process. So, coming at my research from a historical lens not only allows me to really interrogate the ways that tribal archives specifically intervene in the production of history, but also allows me to think about how the growth of tribal archives fits within the longer trajectory of Native activism in the second half of the 20th century. 
HB: I think being able to pursue a degree in archives can be extremely helpful when you are working on history related projects.  While I don’t have a PhD, both my BA and MA have an emphasis on history and I am a historian.  Being able to work with archives and learning how they work can be extremely beneficial when you are working in the history field.
 
Question: Are there any positive outcomes of archives’ ethnographic material returned to tribes and away from universities? (Danelle Gutierrez)
RM: I think there is tremendous potential for positive outcomes. Ethnographic material does often need to be carefully critiqued and interrogated because of the fact that so much of it was created within an exploitative research model. However, Native people are the best experts on how to do that. They have the capability to interrogate these items and recognize how colonialism likely impacted the conclusions made by the author, while also taking knowledge that does resonate with them and using it in support of language and cultural revitalization. In other words, I do believe these materials can be read "along the grain" as Ann Stoler puts it, but Native researchers are best equipped to do that work because of the knowledge they hold. Some tribal nations may not want those materials repatriated or may already have copies, but I think it is worth having conversations about where that knowledge belongs. 
 
Question: What are your hopes with regard to establishing a precedent with the powderhorn repatriation? any changes in methodology or process? (Stephen Curley)
HB: I think that our main hope, other than having the object finally home, is that it helps set a precedent for our tribal nation to use when trying to bring other objects home.  Under NAGPRA, Cultural Patrimony is extremely hard to navigate.  The burden of proof is put on the tribal nation as opposed to the holding facility.  We have to show why an item is important to us and we are at the mercy of the holding facility telling us no, we are wrong.  So it is the holding facility who dictates to us how our history is told.  While NAGPRA does help, it is still the holding facility that can dictate whether or not our oral histories meet their criteria.   The success with the Oshkosh Public Museum is a huge step because it was a case argued under cultural patrimony and the museum saw and heard us and agreed.  This can be extremely beneficial for future repatriations using cultural patrimony.

Extended answers from Johannah Bird (JB), panelist from “Relationships, Reciprocity, and Responsibilities: Indigenous Studies in Archives and Beyond,” panel 3: Indigenous Researchers in Non-Native Archives (Click here to watch)

Question: How can research programs support specific emotional needs of researchers experiencing or re-experiencing trauma through archival work? (Bimadoshka Pucan)
JB: Thank you for this question. I think developing awareness around how histories of colonialism and racism can (and do) come to bear on researchers’ experiences both in and outside archives is important. This requires knowledge—of these histories and of the range of ways researchers can be impacted by the materials they work with. As a practical example, it helps if a researcher doesn’t have to educate the staff and archivists who are working with them about, say, Indigenous histories while the researchers are also trying to do their own work in the archives. However, what a research program—and the folks who administer it—is able to do depends on the program itself. From my own experience, my archival research processes have always benefited from being in contact with other scholars and thinkers, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who are thinking about similar questions and issues and with whom (if not in person, then through their work) I can process my own experiences. So, developing ways for researchers to have that support from knowledgeable, experienced peers or colleagues is important. Finally, what is being done within archives to mitigate the possibilities of re-traumatization? What conditions of support, care, and understanding surround troubling materials?

Question: Can you talk more about your experiences at the Six Nations Archives as a model for what non-Native archives can do to better care for Indigenous researchers? (Anonymous)
JB: My relationship with the Deyohahá:ge: The Indigenous Knowledge Centre is facilitated by my participation in the Two Row Research Partnership, a group of researchers and thinkers committed to thinking about research methodologies arising from the Two Row Wampum. As a group of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous thinkers, we are hosted by Deyohahá:ge: and also work to support the Knowledge Centre in practical ways. I have not conducted extensive research in the collections at Deyohahá:ge:, but I have always experienced hospitality that I do not often experience in state archives. Deyohahá:ge: is focused on Haudenosaunee collections, reflecting its place in Six Nations of the Grand River, but as a non-local Anishinabee, I felt welcomed and was provided with materials to help me begin thinking with folks in Six Nations in reference to their stories, history, and epistemologies. There are also so many things assumed or taken for granted at a place like Deyohahá:ge:--the responsibility to serve the local community, the necessity of repatriation, centering Indigenous knowledge and experience in research, understanding around the stakes of research priorities for Indigenous researchers, to name a few. 

Question: What can archives do to improve care for researchers? (Anonymous)
JB: First and foremost, learn about colonial histories and the ways archives and archival processes have been and are implicated in these histories (e.g., reifying notion of Indigenous people as always objects of study). 

Question: Johannah, thank you for sharing your feelings you felt working with archives. I, too, work with our Peoples ethnographic material and was an ethnographic manuscript transcriber so the emotions that humans can feel I went through very one of them. Do you think some of the materials should be kept private regarding burials and ceremonies?  The informants were interviewed by their family members otherwise they wouldn't have shared any of this info with the anthropologists of UC Berkeley California. (Danelle Gutierrez)
JB: I am unfamiliar with the question-asker’s context, but I do see a place for some archives remaining or becoming private. However, I think it is difficult to make general rules about this applied to all contexts. Rather, the communities affected by the materials should be able to impact this kind of decision.
 

Extended answers from Genevieve Weber (GW), panelist from “Relationships, Reciprocity, and Responsibilities: Indigenous Studies in Archives and Beyond,” panel 2: Outreach and Relationship-Building through Indigenous Archival Materials (Click here to watch)

Question: With regards to repatriation, the term (repatriation) is challenging for archivists to accept, as the definition is rather specific to the 4 categories currently defined by NAGPRA. Rather than referring to it as 'repatriation,' archivists can choose to 'deaccession' materials they identify as needing to be returned to other repositories, including those where concepts of repatriation/deaccessioning can be argued to justify this transfer. (Jonathan Pringle)
GW: This is a very good point. However, in the Canadian context, we do not have legislation equivalent to NAGPRA, and many archives are embracing repatriation as a way to honour Indigenous people's intellectual sovereignty over archival materials created by or about them. A Reconciliation Framework for Canadian Archives (currently under public review, this document is similar to the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials and can be accessed here includes the statement: “Archives that hold materials created by or about Indigenous People(s) shall actively seek ongoing consultation and collaboration with the documented Indigenous communities to identify and address issues in acquisition and creation, repatriation and retention of reproductions, rights in possession and disposition, and custodial approaches to collections management. They shall work together to develop new, or build on existing, community-specific protocols and guidelines that ensure Indigenous rights over the ownership, control and possession of their documented heritage.” The BC Archives (where I work) is part of the Royal BC Museum. The Museum published a Repatriation Handbook in 2019, which includes information about archives. 

Question: What are some differences between "consultation" with Indigenous communities and "engagement" with Indigenous communities in managing archives? (Cesar Castillo)
GW: I often use the terms "consultation" and "engagement" interchangeably, but for me it really depends on who I am talking to. In Canada, there is a particular meaning connected to "consultation" in the context of treaty negotiations. Many Nations are in negotiation with the federal and provincial government, and as my co-presenter Margaret mentioned, using the word consultation regarding archives can be very confusing and misinterpreted. In such cases I will use engagement. I tend to think of consultation as the act of seeking direction from the community - e.g. I am consulting with a group because I want to know what the community protocols are regarding information, or what they want in terms of repatriation, access, etc. Engagement can mean so many things - it can mean consultation as described above, or it can mean activities such as community-led descriptive work, workshops, or presentations, or it can be awareness and access events, etc. Ultimately I use the term preferred and defined by the community with which I am working. 

Question: Can you talk more about the workflow when the items are identified via consultation? For example, is the session recorded? Do they have their “cataloging sheet” that they fill out? Once you are given the new identifications—how is this new documentation kept and entered in the record, files, etc? (Liza Posas)
GW: Each time I have done this kind of work, it has been different!  So much depends on the people I am working with and their comfort level. I have not recorded sessions, but I had a colleague that did so with a previous project. My main concern with recording is that we are often encountering restricted and potential sacred, secret, or harmful information that we wouldn't want captured in that way. In a few examples, we produced a kind of cataloguing sheet for the community members to use to make notes. Other times, particularly when I have been working with Elders, I have been the note-taker. It can be hard to keep up as people get excited to go through photographs, for example, but then I share the document after the fact and give the consultants a chance to make corrections. (This works best in cases where the records are digitized and can be referred back to later). In terms of documenting it, I do a few things. I keep a consultation file with all my notes, the notes of those I have worked with, and any other related information. In that file I also keep a chronological running document where I mark down every interaction, from phone calls to in person meetings. This consultation file is a sub-folder of my Finding Aid development file. These are meant to be fully retained, but to be certain, I also write quarterly consultation reports (high level summaries) that I put in the accession file. (In my institution, the accession file was often the only record kept of work done on collections in the past, so is always the initial place staff will look for information). In our database, I will be including notes in appropriate fields (e.g. arrangement and description note, or terms governing use note) indicating when decisions were made based on consultation. I try to be as specific as possible in these notes - if not naming individuals, at least naming the department or agency with which the consultants were connected. 

Question: Have any of the panelists experimented with conducting virtual consultations? How did that go? (Tessa Shultz)
GW: I have done some virtual consultations. Initially I did these at my desk with my laptop camera, angling it to show physical records. The results were mixed - although it was exciting for people to see the records, there were technical glitches on both ends, and the camera angle wasn't ideal. However, the Learning Team in the museum has started doing digital fieldtrips and has invested in a document camera and other cameras that are much better. I have done a couple sessions in their space with their equipment, and it was really positive. Overall, the consensus has been that virtual consultation is a great part of the process, but most communities still want at least some in person activity. 

Question: Could the presenters talk to the effects of COVID on NAGPRA and archival consultation initiatives, in terms of funding, personnel, methods… Do you foresee long-lasting effects on your projects? (Anonymous)
GW: I had to work from home for 6 months due to COVID, which meant that I wasn't able to be with the records. Although I have been in contact with people that I had been working with before the pandemic, and reaching out to make new connections, it has been hard. Without access to the records, there isn't much we can do, in a practical sense. And although I have had some success making new connections, many Indigenous communities in BC were (understandably) focused on keeping their members safe and healthy, and simply didn't have the time and resources to engage with us. The one positive part to it is that as an institution we have become much more comfortable with virtual communication and programming. I think this will help us going forward, as I suspect that travel restrictions in BC will continue for some time. 

Question: How much are music archives taken into account, say at Indiana, etc.? (Kathleen Shea)
GW: Music archives are very important and have in the past been the focus of our Indigenous engagement and repatriation work. We have been working with descendants of the singers captured in this collection. We have been working with this collection for many years and are still in the early stages of determining rights and ownership over the songs. You can read more about it here. Some of these recordings are reproduced and sold by Folkways Recordings, managed by the Smithsonian. We have been working with the Smithsonian and the families of the singers to determine what should be done about the recordings. With the (relatively new) Smithsonian Shared Stewardship Policy, that institution has been completely open to acting on whatever the families decide, a very positive reaction. We are hoping that the work we are doing with these records will pave the way for similar projects going forward. As you mention Indiana, we have copies of recordings from other institutions such as Indiana and we hope to work on these in the future. 

Question: If records regarding an Indigenous community are already available online but have been deemed sensitive by the community, what options are there to give control to communities over these records? (Gordon Lyall)
GW: Our first response would be to remove them from our online database and include a note to explain why they have been taken down. Of course, there may still be instances of the record online or in hard copy, but we must do what we can to mitigate damage done by them being online in the first place. In terms of ownership and control, at the Royal BC Museum/BC Archives the practice has been to enter into Memoranda of Understanding with the community to determine rights holders, and to create procedures unique to that community. Some communities want to hold and control records, others want all requests for access to go through the rights holder but for the institution to manage the copying and sharing of the records. Each MOU is different, and if a community prefers a different kind of document, we would be open to exploring other methods of agreement. It is important to consider the future rights holders as well and build that into the agreement. 

Question: If a digitization project is not of interest to an Indigenous community due to other priorities, but records concerning them are part of a larger collection, and of great value to other groups, what are the ethics of making those records available? (Gordon Lyall)
GW: It is important to engage the community to whatever degree they are able at the time. It is also important to note that there is a difference between digitizing records and sharing them with interested parties, and digitizing records and putting them online. We try to be as transparent as possible - if we are going to share records that we know relate to an Indigenous community, it is important to let them know, even if they have indicated that they are not able to consult on them at this time. I would recommend keeping records offline until explicit permission to share them publicly is received. 

Question: I was wondering if those of you in institutions or belonging to indigenous communities have engaged in metadata changes. I am primarily curious if there have been changes based on an indigenous community perspective on institutional metadata. Is this something that you have engaged with? (Ian McAlpin)
GW: Although we haven't made changes to back-end metadata, a colleague worked with Kwak̓wala Speakers to provide better descriptive data for songs in the Ida Halpern collection. This includes correct spellings of names and places, translations taken from the sound recordings (rather than the ethnomusicologist's notes) and the inclusion of diacritics in the text. You can see an example here but there are many others in the collection if you are interested in browsing.
 

Extended answers from Claire Bowern (CB), panelist from “Relationships, Reciprocity, and Responsibilities: Indigenous Studies in Archives and Beyond,” panel 6: Engaging Digital Archives to Meet Indigenous Communities Priorities (Click here to watch)

Question: Do you think version control of data and metadata would be a useful software feature in Mukurtu and archive websites? (Kavon Hooshiar)     
CB: I think that would be very useful in theory, though there's always the question of how much more additionally complex it might make the software (which is already quite complex).

Question: Do the panelists see consent as an event or an ongoing process? (Anonymous)    
CB: It's definitely an ongoing process for the work we do, as the nature of the work changes and we all learn more, it's reasonable that opinions may change. This work is a partnership, not one person deciding what gets to happen with initial input.

Question: How do you define the communities you work with? The communities themselves are not homogenous, so how do you identify the people you work with and call "the community"? (Taylor Hummel)
CB: In the grammar bootcamp cases, we work with representatives who are recognised as authorities on language. Regional language centres typically have local boards, who represent their language groups, and language centres typically consult widely (and are much more able to do so appropriately). The bootcamp projects use and acknowledge their views. 

Question: As part of your projects, are you digitizing or working with material that are only for the community that will not be of open access. And if so, how are you planning on doing this? (Luz Maria Mejia Ramos)
CB: Some of the bootcamp grammars are "public" in the sense that they will be published as open access grammars, while others are only for the communities and we expect that the language centre and language representatives will distribute them locally. 
 

This piece was written by Michael Madeja with the assistance of Angela Vassallo. Consider this a starting point on your journey to finding a career and a launching point for doing extra research into GLAM careers.

The Gallery, Library, Archive, and Museum (GLAM) careers discussed in the Career Chats series all have their pros and cons. Just like any career you might be considering, it helps to know a bit more about what work-life balance might look like in that field. The videos help to a certain degree, but we wanted to provide insight into some other aspects of these careers in this piece. The essential point is that, before choosing any career, do your research. Make sure you know how much money you’ll make, what education you’ll need (what money you’ll spend), what work-life balance is like, and what diversity, equity, access, and inclusion look like in that field. 

Generally speaking, you don’t end up working in a gallery, library, archive, or museum without having great passion for what you do and what audiences you serve. The content, tangible objects, and communities surrounding these careers are what non-profit professionals live for. There are so many pros to working in these fields: knowing you’ve made someone’s day, educating others about the past, conserving the objects that tell historical stories, providing access to information, and a sense of community and meaning. However, like many fields that have a deep history in privilege and colonialism, there are problems. These problems only get solved by talking about them openly and by encouraging the next generation to get involved. That’s part of the reason we want to keep providing Career Chats: to increase awareness of these careers and the reality of working in these fields so that future professionals have a greater understanding of these pathways. 

GLAM careers typically require Masters Degrees or even PhDs. As these fields now begin to realize that obtaining these degrees present barriers, this is beginning to change. For now though, these still seem to be requirements -- even for entry level positions. If an applicant doesn’t meet the degree requirement, it's expected that they have the experience to compensate for that. That level of experience typically comes from poorly paid front-facing jobs or unpaid internships. Again, at the time this was written, these barriers to entry are changing. However, they still exist and carry the need for financial privilege and create and maintain certain levels of inequity. 

The GLAM sector is becoming a pink collar field. This means that more women than men are becoming professionals or are professionals in these fields. Though not an inherently negative thing, this means that salaries may become suppressed and these careers may be looked upon as less significant than they really are. The economic and social implications of both sexism and sexual harassment need to be addressed to reconcile this issue. Lesser salaries and lack of respect are compounded based on intersections of identity, too. For example, there are pay differences between women who identify as Latinx, Black, or white. 

Historically, non-profit jobs, like those in the GLAM sectors, have not been among the highest paying. With the education requirements, which are usually a sign of economic privilege, and reliance on philanthropy or donations, these careers have typically paid poorly. As more folks became interested in and met the existing thresholds, this pay issue has come into broader light. Still, despite the recently increased awareness of this issue, it has yet to be solved. The issue has implications for not only these fields as entire entities but also within the sub-fields. For example, education-focused jobs tend to pay less than finance-oriented ones. Be aware of both large and small trends when job hunting and in career planning.  

Due to most of the points above, GLAM careers haven’t been particularly welcoming to BIPOC workers and workers with disabilities. The general barriers that society, academia, and these fields have created are only amplified when you come from a societal group that already faces increased discrimination. And, again, intersectionality needs to be acknowledged here. Pay rates and workforce and leadership representation shift based on overlaps of gender identity and expression, race, and ability. 

As non-profits, GLAMs are generally held to greater accountability to the public. This means that you’ll likely have access to more information more easily than with some for-profit careers. For instance, you can check tax documents like 990’s (which list salaries of some of the highest paid employees). Along with these types of tax documents and some of the resources below, check websites and the professional side of social media. Social media skimming can help you see what conversations real professionals and organizations are having! 

As you consider a career or applying to a job, ask yourself some of these questions:

Does an organization’s website mention internal and external values?

While checking a document like the 990, do those values match budgetary information? 

Does the organization clearly list staff? Do you see yourself represented in their staff? 

Does that organization provide salary information when posting a job? Do they offer paid internships?  

Some resources to get your GLAM career research started:

2019 Salary Survey, Association of Art Museum Directors

• https://aamd.org/sites/default/files/document/AAMD_Salary%20Survey%202019_Final.pdf

Arts Administrators of Color Network

• https://aacnetwork.org/ 

Arts-based BIPOC Resources 

• https://artdosemagazine.com/bipoc-resources/ 

Emerging Professionals Networks

• American Institute for Conservation’s Emerging Conservation Professionals Network
  • https://www.culturalheritage.org/membership/groups-and-networks/emerging-conservation-professionals-network 
• National Emerging Museum Professional Network
  • https://nationalempnetwork.org/ 

Inclusion in museums: a matter of social justice, Rose Paquet Kinsley (2016)  

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MW8xXpoOFmDME3BaMiORpyoCWCerGM4t/view

Leadership Matters (general leadership, women in leadership, and women in the GLAM sector)

• https://leadershipmatters1213.wordpress.com/women-museums/ 

LGBTQIA+ Welcoming Guide (American Alliance of Museums, 2016)

• https://www.aam-us.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/lgbtq_welcome_guide.pdf

Living Wage Calculator (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

• https://livingwage.mit.edu/

Mentoring Programs

• RBMS
  • http://rbms.info/committees/membership_and_professional/mentoring_program/
• Museum Education Mentoring Program
  • https://www.aam-us.org/professional-networks/education-committee/initiatives/ 

Museum Salary Spreadsheet 

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14_cn3afoas7NhKvHWaFKqQGkaZS5rvL6DFxzGqXQa6o/edit#gid=0  

Nonprofit AF - blog covering contemporary topics in non-profits

• https://nonprofitaf.com/

Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of Association of College and Research Libraries -- Careers FAQ Page

• http://rbms.info/careers-faq/

Below are the questions asked during Career Chats interviews. 

Section 1 

In the first section, we ask the staff members about their career -- what is it, what do they do, and how. 

• What do you do? How do/have you explained it to your parents or friends and does your work tend to be solo or as a team?  
• How long have you been with the APS?
• What did you do before working at the APS?
• How did you learn about or first hear about this field of work?
• What are the education and experience expectations for your job?
• What are the pros and cons of this job? 
• How do you see your field changing in the next 10 years? 

Section 2 

In section 2, we ask the staff members to explain their own background a little more. 

• What were you like in high school?
• Is this what you thought you’d be doing when you were in high school?
• What were you like in undergrad? What was your major?
• Is this what you thought you’d be doing when you were in undergrad?
• What was your “a-ha” moment with this career trajectory?
• If I were a student doing an informational interview with you, what question do you love being asked about your job? Any questions that I should avoid? Any email pet-peeves?

Section 3 

Section 3 is used to talk about object connections and as time to answer any questions that might have been submitted by viewers. 

• What’s one APS object that really demonstrates your work? 

With an eye towards the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding in 2026, the American Philosophical Society (APS), in partnership with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP), and the Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP), will lay the groundwork for the development of an innovative digital portal that will uncover hidden stories from Philadelphia’s revolutionary past.

Thanks to a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), these three Philadelphia institutions will create a shared online portal of digitized archival material related to the American Revolution. This portal will break down the institutional barriers between these archives, allowing users to discover stories that had previously been obscured by the physical separation of collections. Both the APS and LCP, founded by Benjamin Franklin, and the HSP, founded to celebrate the memory of the Revolution, hold large and invaluable collections related to the American Revolution and the early national period. But whereas the stories of founders like Franklin and Jefferson are well known, the scattered nature of the records of lesser-known actors has made those lives less accessible to wide audiences. Revolutionary City seeks to remedy that by highlighting the lives of a more diverse Philadelphia.

Some examples of stories waiting to be told, according to HSP Interim President and CEO Charles Cullen are, “Sarah Wister’s journal and Elizabeth Drinker’s diaries, manuscripts containing estimates of damage done by the British occupation, foot-soldier Aaron Norcross, and rich collections of papers of Revolutionary women.”

The project has the backing of America250, the federal commission overseeing the 250th anniversary of 1776.

“America 250’s goal is to educate, engage, and unite all Americans in a commemoration that is of, by, and for the people. The American Philosophical Society’s receipt of the IMLS National Leadership Grant to pursue this innovative and engaging initiative is an important step forward,” said Frank Giordano, Executive Director of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission (America 250). “I am confident that the commitment made by these three institutions to bring together the diverse perspectives of educators, public historians, and digital humanists will shed light on untold American stories, promote greater historical education, and encourage broader conversations about the meaning and promise of the United States not only among Philadelphians, but across the country.”

Michael Barsanti, Director of the Library Company, agreed.

“Most histories of Philadelphia in the revolution focus on the work of the founders and the drafting of Declaration of Independence,” says Barsanti, “This project will allow people to see how it was experienced by ordinary Philadelphians, and will reflect the extraordinary diversity that characterized us even then. It is also a remarkable opportunity for three of Philadelphia’s great historical organizations to work together on a project that brings their collections to the world.”

Aside from its compelling content, the project promises to yield important technological innovations for libraries and archives and become a model for institutional collaboration.

“Our goal is to create a unified digital repository shared between three institutions,” Patrick Spero, Librarian of the American Philosophical Society noted, “To do that, we need to create ways for our separate systems to talk to one another. If we’re successful, we hope to expand the scale of this project to include other partners from around the region and perhaps country to create as complete a record of the American Revolution in Philadelphia as possible.”

This one-year pilot grant will fund the planning phase of Revolutionary City and support the APS, HSP, and LCP as they focus on material related to Philadelphia, establishing the foundation for a portal that has the potential to expand to include sources on the Revolution from archives from around the country. Together, the APS, HSP, and LCP see the long-term vision of the portal as a one-stop-shop for students, teachers, scholars, and other lovers of history seeking to access materials related to the Revolutionary War and founding of the United States.

September 21-25, 2020

Papers for "Relationships, Reciprocity, and Responsibilities: Indigenous Studies in Archives and Beyond" can be found below.  You will be required to enter a password provided by conference organizers to access them. Please contact Adrianna Link at [email protected] if you are attending the conference but have not yet received the password.

Papers are not to be cited or circulated without the written permission of the author

All events will be held via Zoom (times listed in EDT)

Monday, September 21

1:00 p.m.: Opening Plenary and Keynote 

"Strengthening Indigenous Scholarship, Archives, and Education” a discussion with Lisa Brooks, Amos Key, Jr., and Jennifer O'Neal, moderated by Brian Carpenter

Tuesday, September 22

1:00 p.m.: Panel 1: Reciprocity and Responsibilities Surrounding Indigenous Archival Materials

"All Stories Have More Than One Voice: Telling Native History Today in the 21st Century
Eric Hemenway (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians)

"Building a Discourse of Reciprocity in Archival Science: Making a Case from Research on Ethnographic Archives" 
Diana E. Marsh (University of Maryland)
Ricardo Punzalan (University of Michigan)

"Revisiting the 'Returning Forgotten Voices' Project, Oaxaca, Mexico"
Danny Zborover (Mexico-Pacific Rim Project)
Aaron Huey Sonnenschein (California State University, Los Angeles)
Salvador Galindo Llaguno (CEDELIO, Oaxaca)

3:00 p.m.: Panel 2: Outreach and Relationship-Building through Indigenous Materials

"Consult, Collaborate, and Listen: Decolonizing Archival Research"
Kelsey Grimm (Indiana University)
Krystiana Krupa (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

"Putting Indigenous priorities first: consultation and Residential School records at the BC Archives" 
Genevieve Weber (Royal BC Museum and Archives)
Margaret Teneese (Ktunaxa Nation)

"REACHing for Community-Based Scholarship & Partnerships in the Humanities"
Jamie Mize (University of North Carolina, Pembroke)

Wednesday, September 23

1:00 p.m.: Panel 3: Indigenous Researchers in Non-Native Archives

"Being in the Archive: Indigenous Research Methodologies and the Allure of Archives"
Johannah Bird (McMaster University)

"Stories, Language, and the Archives: Haudenosaunee Community Work" 
Kevin White (University of Toronto)

"Knowledge in Poems, Knowledge in Archives: The Historical (Re)shaping Possibilities of Native Women's Poetry"
Liandra Skenandore (Independent Scholar)

3:00 p.m.: Panel 4: Community-Based Language Revitalization

"Rowinatahina Kashi, Teti Nisa: Original Notebooks, New Path - Mary R. Haas notebooks and Tunica Language Revitalization" 
Patricia Anderson (Tunica Language Project)
Elisabeth Pierite-Mora (Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana Language and Culture Revitalization Program)

"Tuscarora language revitalization"
Montgomery Hill (McMaster University)

"Utilizing Online Technology to Improve Access to Indigenous Language and Use" 
X̱'unei Lance Twitchell (University of Alaska Southeast)

Thursday, September 24

1:00 p.m.: Panel 5: Community-Based Archival Initiatives 

"Telling Our Stories Together: Historical Literacy, Choctaw Archives and Community Research"
Megan Baker (University of California, Los Angeles)

"How Tribal Archives Foster Reciprocal Relationships and Activism" 
Rose Miron (Newberry Library)
Heather Bruegl (Stockbridge-Munsee Community)

"Preserving the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre Narrative Tradition: The Collected Writings of Fred P. Gone ('Many Plumes')"
Joseph P. Gone (Harvard University)

3:00 p.m.: Panel 6: Engaging Digital Archives to Meet Indigenous Communities Priorities

"Revitalization at a distance: Engaging digital archives for language reclamation"
Claire Bowern (Yale University)
George Hayden (Noongar Boodjar Language Cultural Aboriginal Corporation)
Denise Smith-Ali (Noongar Boodjar Language Cultural Aboriginal Corporation)
Sue Hanson (Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre Aboriginal Corporation (GALCAC))

"Maya Testimonies in the Visual History Archive: Violence, Linguistics, and Self-Determination" 
Brigittine French (Grinnell College)
Lolmay Pedro Oscar García Matzar (Independent Scholar)

"Rowasu'u: A Xavante Community Archive"
Lori Jahnke (Emory University)
Rosanna Dent (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
James Welch (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ))

Friday, September 25

1:00 p.m.: Panel 7: NASI Alumni Roundtable 

3:00 p.m.: Wrap-up Session