Couple of questions/observations

We recently had a preliminary consultation meeting and one of the positive
comments we received from the Elder was that he appreciated us using gloves
to handle the objects.  He felt that it was a show of respect to the people
and the culture that had made the costume/medicine kit/etc.  I thought about
that for a while, and discovered that, although the original intent is to
protect the object from hand oils and such, it really is an issue of
respect.  Not only to the object itself, but to the creator of that bag or
artwork or basket.  It shows that we care enough about what we are doing and
the the people who came before us and will come after us to wear the proper
"equipment" to preserve the heritage.

Now the question.  At this consultation, one of the persons involved wanted
to leave a tobacco tie with one of the objects, which we allowed him to do.
I'm sure other museums out there has had to deal with this; how do you
approach a tobacco tie in terms of the object?  Obviously you need to keep
the tie associated with the object, but are there any other curation issues?

TIA

emily
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Emily J. Van
Anthropology/Archaeology Lab & Collections Manager
Luther College, Decorah, IA 52101        (319)387-2156
[log in to unmask]          http://www.luther.edu/~anthro