National Leadership Grant
Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums:
Preserving Our Language, Memory and Lifeways

FINAL REPORT / SEPTEMBER 2003

Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums:
Preserving Our Language, Memory and Lifeways:
A National Conference

Project Overview: Purpose, Goals, and Activities
Five State American Indian Project – National Leadership Grant
The national conference was the result of a multi-state, multi-year National Leadership Grant awarded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency. The lead agency for the Five State American Indian Project was the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, headed by GladysAnn Wells. Other official partners included the Arizona State Museum, Colorado State Library and Adult Education Office, The Heard Museum, Nevada State Library and Archives, New Mexico State Library, Utah Division of Library Services. State coordinators funded by the grant conducted needs assessments of current tribal library, archive or museum development in each state and developed relevant programming and training opportunities. Communication networks were created by convening a conference for tribal libraries, archives and museums in each of the states. A highlight of the Five State American Indian Project was a regional conference designed to bring all the participants together to increase their professional networks and to challenge them to think critically and broadly about the issues that may affect the development of their tribal library, archive, museum or other cultural program. Based on the success of the regional conference, the project was extended to develop a national conference.

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National Conference
The national conference shared the theme and goals of the regional conference and was held May 7-10, 2002 in Mesa, Arizona. The conference was designed to:

• create a network of support for tribal cultural institutions and programs
• articulate contemporary issues related to the development of tribal libraries, archives and museums
• encourage collaboration among tribal and non-tribal cultural institutions

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What Was the Conference Trying to Accomplish?
The conference was designed to bring together, for the first time, representatives from tribal libraries, archives, museums, cultural centers and other culturally related programs. The conference provided a unique opportunity for a variety of related professionals to share a common experience of honoring the cultural past while preserving and revitalizing its future. Ideally, collaboration with and among tribes and non-tribal organizations who share the goal of enhancing library, archive and museum service as a means of cultural empowerment and preservation will transpire. The conference also sought to affirm and celebrate the achievements that Native American professionals have made to the field. This was achieved by having Native American library, museum, archive and language professionals serve as presenters and speakers throughout the conference program. Finally, the conference hoped to increase the professional networks of all the participants.

What Happened at the Conference?
The four-day event included the following components:

Pre-Conference tours to highlight the work of three local tribal museums, libraries and cultural centers:

• Ak-Chin Him-Dak Eco-Museum, Ak-Chin Indian Community;
• Hoo-Hoogam Ki Museum, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community;
• Huhugam Heritage Center, Gila River Indian Community.

Affinity breakfasts to encourage networking among library, museum and archive professionals.

Daily plenary sessions with keynote speakers to inspire, challenge and inform participants of new developments in language, museum, archival and other cultural areas.

Keynote speakers included:

• Ofelia Zepeda (Tohono O’odham) Ph.D, University of Arizona
• Robert Martin, Ph.D, Director, Institute of Museum and Library Services
• Karen Radney Buller (Comanche) CEO and President, National Indian Telecommunications Institute

Mini-Workshops to review and apply basic key concepts in:

• Caring for Museum Collections
• Developing and Managing Archives
• Library Management and Development
• Strategies for Teaching Indigenous Languages

Panel Sessions to share experiences and challenges related to tribal libraries, archives and museums

Information and Resource Tables to introduce participants to relevant programs and services

Cultural Sharing to introduce participants to the cultural traditions of the four southern tribal communities of Arizona:

• Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Traditional Dancers Inter-Tribal Traditional Bird Singers and Dancers
• Gila River Indian Community Akimel O’odham Basket Dancers
• Ak-Chin Indian Community Ba:ban Keina Group
• Tohono O’odham Nation Ge Oidag Traditional Dancers

Who Organized the National Conference?
The conference was organized by the National Leadership Grant Project Director, Alyce Sadongei (Kiowa/Tohono O’odham) of the Arizona State Museum. Two graduate students from the School of Information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona, Millie Walters (Navajo) and Sarah Kostelecky (Zuni) also provided assistance. Fiscal management of the conference and the grant was provided by GlaydsAnn Wells, Director, the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.

In addition the Envisioning Committee provided support and guidance:
Janine Bowechop (Makah), Makah Culture and Research Center
Rayna Green (Cherokee), National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Tom Hill (Seneca), Woodland Cultural Centre
Jane Kolbe, Arizona State Library
Gloria A. Lomahaftewa, (Hopi/Choctaw), The Heard Museum
Elaine F. Peters (Ak-Chin) Ak-Chin Him-Dak Eco Museum and Archives
Loriene Roy (White Earth Anishshnaabe), University of Texas at Austin, Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Susan Secakuku (Hopi), National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution
Terry Supahan (Karuk) and Sarah Supahan, Shivshaneen Inc.
Betsy Sywetz, Sywetz & Associates
Rebecca Tsosie (Yaqui), College of Law, Arizona State University

The conference was successful due to the many individuals who agreed to participate as chairs or speakers on the panels, plenary sessions, and local tours.

What Was Done to Prepare for the Conference?
A year in advance of the conference, project staff convened a meeting of the Envisioning Committee to discuss themes, speakers and goals of the conference. The Envisioning Committee was comprised of individuals who fit the following criteria: national experience and reputation in the library, museum or archive field with emphasis on tribal cultural organizations; experience in collaborative programming; knowledge of current issues affecting Indian Country in general and cultural issues specifically, ability to share broad based professional contacts to promote and inform the conference. Project staff also reviewed the evaluations from the state and regional conferences that were held under the auspices of the previously awarded Five State American Indian Project National Leadership Grant. Since the national conference was an extension of the Five State Project, it was a logical step to build on the groundwork that had already been made. In addition to the Envisioning Committee, a focus group of tribal archivists was also held to assess the needs of this particular group who were not adequately represented on the Envisioning Committee.

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Who Came to the Conference?
Approximately 250 individuals attended the conference representing tribal and non-tribal libraries, archives, museums and other cultural organizations and institutions from across the country. In addition indigenous representatives from New Zealand and Canada also attended. The breakdown of participants was as follows: 56% tribal employees or volunteers of a tribally operated library, archive, museum or cultural center, 19% non-tribal libraries, archives or museums, 11% tribal language program employee or volunteer, other tribal cultural program such as historic preservation or NAGPRA, 5% students, 3% federal or funding agency representative.

Tribes Represented at the Conference

• Ak-Chin Indian Community
• Aleut Tribe
• Blackfeet Nation
• Catawba Indian Nation of South Carolina
• Cayuse
• Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
• Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
• Cochiti Pueblo
• Comanche Nation
• Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
• Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Indians
• Cree
• Crow Tribe
• Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe
• Ft. Mojave Tribe
• Gila River Indian Community
• Hoopa Valley Tribe
• The Hopi Tribe
• Inupiaq Eskimo
• Isleta Pueblo
• Jemez Pueblo
• Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians

• Karok Tribe
• Kaw Nation of Oklahoma
• Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma
• Lenape Nation
• Lummi Tribe
• Makah Nation
• Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
• Morongo Band of Mission Indians
• Muckleshoot Tribe
• Navajo Nation
• Nez Perce Tribe
• Northern Cheyenne Tribe
• North Fork Band of Mono Indians
• Oglala Lakota Tribe
• North Fork Band of Mono Indians
• Oglala Lakota Tribe
• Omaha Tribe of Nebraska
• Oneida Nation
• Pascua Yaqui Indian Tribe
• Prairie Band of Potawatomi Indians
• Quechua Tribe
• Reno-Sparks Indian Colony

• Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
• Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
• San Carlos Apache
• San Felipe Pueblo
• San Juan Pueblo
• Santa Clara Pueblo
• Santo Domingo Pueblo
• Seneca Nation
• Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe
• Spirit Lake Nation
• Squamish Nation
• Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
• Tlingit Tribe
• Tohono O’odham Nation
• Tolowa Nation
• Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians
• Walker River Paiute Tribe
• Western Shoshone Nation
• White Earth Anishnaabe
• White Mountain Apache Tribe
• Yurok Tribe
• Zuni Pueblo

Organizations Represented at the Conference

Archival Organizations

• First Archivists Circle
• Society of American Archivists
• Western Archives Institute
• National Anthropological Archives
• Archives and Records Center, Lummi Indian Business Council

Library Organizations

• American Library Association
• American Indian Library Association
• Arizona State Library
• Native American Libraries Special Interest Committee
• National Library of New Zealand
• New Mexico State Library
• Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Library and Archives
• Hungalelti Community Library, Woodfords Indian Education Center
• Tuzzy Consortium Library
• Mesa Public Library
• Little Bighorn College Library
• Colorado River Indian Tribes Library and Archive
• If I Can Read I Can Do Anything

Museum Organizations

• Native American Museum Collaboration Network, a Professional Interest Committee of the American Association of Museums
• Tribal Museum Network of the Mountain Plains Museum Association
• Tamastslikt Cultural Institute
• Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository
• The Heard Museum
• Alaska Native Heritage Center
• Ute Indian Museum, Colorado Historical Society
• Arizona State Museum
• Gilcrease Museum
• Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
• Ak-Chin Him-Dak Eco-Museum and Archives
• Makah Culture and Research Center

Language Organizations

• Tewa Language Restoration Project
• Numa Yadoha Program Bishop Paiute Tribe
• Indigenous Language Institute
• America Indian Language Development Institute

Finding My Talk: A Journey into Aboriginal Languages (produced by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Canada) Courtesy of Film and Video Center, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution

Allied Professional Organizations

• Balboa Art Conservation Center
• Tohono O’odham Community Action- Basketweavers Cooperative

Funding Organizations and Federal Agencies

• Arizona Commission on the Arts
• Arizona Humanities Council
• Institute of Museum and Library Services
• National Historic Publications and Records Commission
• Library of Congress
• National Park Service National NAGPRA Program
• National Park Service Harper’s Ferry Center
• National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution

Colleges and Universities

• College of Law, Indian Legal Program, Arizona State University
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Graduate School of Library and Information Science
• University of Arizona, School of Library and Information Science Knowledge River Institute
• English Department, University of Arizona
• Linguistics Department University of Arizona
• University of Texas at Austin, Graduate School of Library and Information Science
• Oklahoma University, School of Library and Information Science
• Ethnic Studies Library, University of California Berkeley

Conference Session Highlights

Protecting Cultural Sovereignty
Cultural sovereignty is the effort of Indian nations to exercise their own tribal norms and values in structuring their collective futures. Increasingly, tribal nations are taking steps to manage, control, interpret and collect their own tribal culture.

Old Poisons, New Problems, Pesticide Residues on NAGPRA Related Objects
The presence of pesticide residues on NAGPRA related objects poses a great risk to the health and well being of tribal communities and museum professionals. Testing methods to detect the presence of pesticides are currently being developed and require a multi-disciplinary approach to include tribal representatives, medical toxicologists, conservators, and chemists.

Tribal Library Development: Statewide Initiatives
Experienced tribal library professionals shared their work in assessing the needs of tribal libraries and developing collaborative programs.

Language Workshop
The Community Based Instruction Method for teaching indigenous language effectively was reviewed and applied by participants.

Developing a Tribal Archives
This panel addressed archivist qualifications, the differences between archives, museums and libraries, where to go for help, provenance and original order, policies and procedures.

 

Challenges and Long Term Goals
Registered conference participants were asked to provide contact information, brief organizational history, current programming, challenges and long term goals to include in the participant directory that was passed out at the conference. Overall the submitted responses indicated that tribal organizations are challenged by lack of consistent funding, limited pool of qualified individuals to staff tribal libraries, archives and museums, lack of collaboration with related programs (tribal and non-tribal), lack of space and proper facilities for archives, libraries and museums. Long term goals included the promotion of tribal culture, history and language, the development of collections for museums and libraries, providing better library service to tribal communities and increasing tribal cultural awareness and knowledge at all levels.

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What Participants Said about the National Conference

• I can’t describe how beautiful it is to see and hear Native people speaking as “experts” and sharing their experience. I didn’t think it was possible and I am thrilled to have been wrong. We need more of these workshops!
• I found out how to locate the resources I need and in which direction to take our cultural project. I learned that we all started from the same place and that success can be achieved.
• I enjoyed sharing with others the joys and frustrations of working in a tribal setting. This experience has been the most rewarding and fulfilling of my career.

• It gave me hope and encouragement to see/meet/hear about/ from successful First Nations people in the field of museums, libraries and archives. To be with like-minded people who share a dream and passion for our cultures and communities.
• Even though I was hesitant to share my experience, I found out it mattered to others!
• The best part of the conference was being able to network with so many top of the line people. I am sure those contacts will be helpful for years to come. My whole team came away inspired and full of new ideas for the community.
  

National Conference Follow-Up Initiative and Projects
Unlike other conferences that are held annually as part of an ongoing professional association, this gathering evolved as a result of the interest generated from the regional conference of the Five State Project National Leadership Grant. While the conference did not provide a mechanism for soliciting conference sessions, proposals or recommendations from participants it did generate substantial interest in seeking ways to maintain the professional contacts that had been made.

Since the conference:
A list serve has been established to continue to discuss issues raised at one of the conference sessions, Native American Languages and Technology. The list serve is maintained by the main conference session presenter and has over 100 subscribers.

A brief newsletter was mailed to conference participants that included an updated addendum of participants and sessions