Great question - I did a loan back to a community last fall and just modified my standard loan form to make one person responsible as a sort of representative of our museum. I waived the insurance requirement and the whole thing went great.

I recommend that you read this chapter:
Hays-Gilpin, Kelley, and Ramson Lomatewama. “Curating Communities at the Museum of Northern Arizona.” In Reassembling the Collection: Ethnographic Museums and Indigenous Agency, edited by Rodney Harrison, Sarah Byrne, and Anne Clarke, 259–83. Santa Fe: School for Advanced Research Press, 2013.

It really opened my eyes to thinking about how some non-EuroAmerican cultures relate to objects and conceive of material things in different ways, and how "degradation" or "damage" of objects is a culturally-constructed concept. This then has implications for how we work with communities for loaning objects back for use and the way they are handled during that loan.

My big takeaway from undertaking this kind of loan is that it can really help break down barriers between communities and the museum. It illustrates your real desire to work *with* communities, not just when it's convenient for you or meets your "museum standards". I'm really glad to hear you're willing to take this step out of your comfort zone. It will make a difference if you really listen to what the community wants and how you can make it successful for both the museum and the community.

Good luck!
Angela

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Senior Collections Manager, Ethnology & History
University of Alaska Museum of the North
Fairbanks, Alaska

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