I should have read ALL of the replies in this
'research help' string before my last reply.  I have
more to add after reading Deb Fuller's response below.
 I had ended my last reply by emphasizing that the
change in contemporary attitudes within museums is a
change in Euroamerican culture's views of its own
actions toward others.  Not a change necessarily in
how the indigenous cultures whose artifacts we as
Euroamericans, (or Europeans) display in our museums,
view their continued use.

Deb Fuller wrote:______________
        Case in point, a man came in on archaeology day to
> my school's archaeology lab with a box of
> Southwestern native american artifacts that he had
> bought off an Indian in Nevada.  A local Indian
> woman looked at the artifacts with great reverance
> and wanted him to give them to local tribe to be
> reburried.  I wanted to say, "What claim do you have
> on the artifacts of a tribe all the way across the
> US, especially when they were freely sold by another
> Native American?"  That's like a Frenchman making a
> claim on an Irish artifact because they're both
> European.  It's that kind of blanket treatment to
> anything native or aboriginal that really irks me
> and makes me think that museums have now swung the
> other way in the realms of "PC".

        The sensitivity of a local Indian to another tribes'
artifact described by Ms. Fuller highlights the
growing knowledge of Native people that they have the
right to speak up about such things, and the changing
atmosphere within American culture that creates a
space where that questioning can happen.  It is the
questioning and discussion of these issues of
'editting' cultural material from a museum collection,
which is important to recognize as a change.  I
believe many museums have not encountered these issues
until the most recent decades because most museums
patrons have been only Euroamerican folk since their
beginnings.  The change in the atmosphere which opens
the doors to the questioning of artifact use, comes
hand in hand with the change in American culture which
has opened museum doors to ALL people.


Deb Fuller wrote:_________________
        There are tons of artifacts that were freely given by
native peoples to other people who then donated them
to museums, many were given over a hundred years ago.
Why do tribes today have claims on those artifacts?
Again, I think they have a right to ask that they not
be displayed because of religious reasons, but not to
be returned if the artifact was freely given up or
donated.

        The above is a misconception that is common.  "Tons
of artifacts" were NOT "freely given by native peoples
to other people who donated them to museums, many" of
which "were given over a hundred years ago."  It is
more accurate to say that tons of artifacts were TAKEN
from native peoples by other (Euroamerican) people who
STORED them away from owners for hundreds of years.
Now hundreds of years later, these Euroamericans are
undergoing a change in attitude which causes them to
rethink this historical fact, and the Native Peoples
whose cultural atrifacts were taken are finally at a
place where they have political and economical clout
enough to facilitate their return.  Again, this still
concerns the original question of 'editting' issues
within the museum, because despite the strengthened
position within mainstream culture of many Native
groups,  misconceptions regarding Euroamerican roles
in the acquisition of these items are still prevalent
and hinder the process of their return or proper use
within museums.  Museums need to decide how these
changes affect their 'editting' policies.

        I do not mean this response as an attack on anyones'
comments.  I am very grateful that the Museum_l and
its members are open to the critical discussion of
such issues in a way which allows us all to learn from
one another.

Susie Husted
Museum Librarian
Brooklyn Childrens' Museum
145 Brooklyn Ave.
Brooklyn, NY  11213
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=====
Susie Husted
email: [log in to unmask]
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