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In this article I locate myself within the scholarly conversation on museum decolonisation through an investigation of existing literature concerning contemporary Native American museums, both mainstream and tribal. Orienting my research within the historiography of museums' entanglement with colonialism, I examine decolonisation efforts in the United States by analysing the role of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), a collaborative mainstream museum, together with smaller tribal museums and centres across the country, positing the latter group as complementary yet radical alternatives. Primarily drawing on the works of Susan Sleeper-Smith, Amy Lonetree, Amanda Cobb and Jennifer Shannon, I closely examine the histories, actors and epistemologies of contrasting approaches to Native American museology, and ultimately maintain that tribal museums come the closest to radically postcolonial spaces and are thus imperative to the wider agenda of museum decolonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay offers a reading of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian as a diplomatic assemblage, centered on the exhibition Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations (2014–25). I elaborate on the political geographer Jason Dittmer's theory of the diplomatic assemblage, which holds that material circulations shape international relations through a surplus emotional charge that can shift political cognition. Throughout Nation to Nation , Indigenous diplomatic arts such as wampum advance geopolitical frameworks premised on kinship and reciprocity with all aspects of a living cosmos. I argue that these arts activate a latent potential for the museum to function as a diplomatic agent in Native nations' ongoing negotiations with the United States, despite centuries of betrayal. I also consider how the diplomatic assemblage can inform a broader interpretive ethics in the field of Native North American art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are museums places about a community or for the community? This article addresses this question by bringing into conversation Jewish museums and Indigenous museum theory, with special attention paid to two major institutions: the Jewish Museum Berlin and the National Museum of the American Indian. The JMB's exhibitions and the controversies surrounding them, I contend, allow us to see the limits of rhetorical sovereignty, namely the ability and right of a community to determine the narrative. The comparison between Indigenous and Jewish museal practices is grounded in the idea of multidirectional memory. Stories of origins in museums, foundational to a community's self-understanding, are analyzed as expressions of rhetorical sovereignty. The last section expands the discussion to the public sphere by looking at the debates that led to the resignation of Peter Schäfer, the JMB's former director, following a series of events that were construed as anti-Israeli and hence, so was the argument, anti-Jewish. These claims are based on two narrow conceptions: First, that of the source community that makes a claim for the museum. Second, on the equation of Jewishness with a pro-Israeli stance. Taken together, the presentation of origins and the public debate show the limits of rhetorical sovereignty by exposing the contested dynamics of community claims. Ultimately, I suggest, museums should be seen not only as a site for contestation about communal voice, but as a space for constituting the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented wherein the author discusses various reports within the issue on topics, including an instructive reflection on the exhibition "Nation to Nation" at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian and arguments on the art history survey.

Two mass spectrometry (MS) methods, solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography (SPME–GC–MS) and direct analysis in real time (DART-MS), have been explored to investigate widespread efflorescence observed on exhibited objects at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in New York (NMAI-NY). Both methods show great potential, in terms of speed of analysis and level of information, for identifying the organic component of the efflorescence as 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidinol (TMP-ol) emitted by the structural adhesive (Terostat MS 937) used for exhibit case construction. The utility of DART-MS was proven by detecting the presence of TMP-ol in construction materials in a fraction of the time and effort required for SPME–GC–MS analysis. In parallel, an unobtrusive SPME sampling strategy was used to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) accumulated in the exhibition cases. This sampling technique can be performed by collections and conservation staff at the museum and shipped to an off-site laboratory for analysis. This broadens the accessibility of MS techniques to museums without access to instrumentation or in-house analysis capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Solid phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry as a tool to detect VOCs in exhibition cases. • VOCs emitted by construction materials and/or historical objects were identified and classified according to their source. • The sampling setup does not require any modification in the exhibition display, remaining invisible to museum visitors. Some volatile organic compounds (VOCs), generated and accumulated in exhibition cases, are capable of inducing degradation in historical artifacts. In this context, it is of special importance to distinguish between VOCs emitted by the construction materials and/or the historical objects, with the ultimate goal of proposing an appropriate mitigation strategy. To pursue this goal, a comprehensive analysis based on solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been optimized. The sampling setup used in this study does not require any modification of the exhibition design, and the testing remained nearly invisible and unobtrusive to museum visitors. This methodology has been applied to an issue encountered at the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution), where an unpleasant smell was detected in airtight exhibition cases already on display containing sensitive historical objects. The analysis of the volatiles emitted by construction materials allowed for identification of characteristic markers emitted by each material, and the ability to identify their overall contribution in the exhibition case. Via this method, SPME-GC-MS confirmed via the detection of some specific markers that the unpleasant smell was released by one of the construction materials and had accumulated in the exhibition case. In addition, due to the measurements taken in different positions around the exhibition cases, results were useful to point out the range of efficiency of the sorbent material placed in some of the exhibition cases as a first attempt of mitigation technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To describe and interpret previously unreported marks on the dry cranium of an adult chimpanzee (Pan troglodytesverus) from Côte d'Ivoire at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (USNM 450071). Materials and Methods: All marks on the cranium were documented and assessed through physical examination of the specimen, photography, micro‐computed tomography (micro‐CT), and 3D laser scanning. Pits and punctures were measured with digital calipers for comparison with published carnivore tooth mark measurements. Results: The cranium shows perimortem or postmortem damage to the temporal, occipital, and maxillary regions that is not recent. Size and color variation in the marks suggest two damage events, possibly involving chewing by different animals, at least one of which was a large‐bodied mammal. The 22 tooth pits and punctures (0.89–8.75 mm in maximum length and 0.88–6.63 mm in breadth) overlap in size with those inflicted by wild leopards, the most significant predators of common chimpanzees due to their largely overlapping ecological distributions. Conclusions: Based on qualitative and quantitative evidence, we conclude that leopards are the most likely cause of the most prominent marks on the cranium. However, we cannot rule out the additional possibility of other chimpanzees, although there are no published studies of chimpanzee tooth marks for direct comparison. This study is the most extensive documentation to date of a modern adult chimpanzee skull exhibiting tooth marks by a large mammal, thus providing new evidence to help identify and interpret other events of predation and scavenging of large‐bodied apes in the modern and fossil records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study introduces a legacy collection of historic Indigenous Arctic watercraft from North America and Greenland, composed of ten kayaks and an umiak, that were originally at the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (whose collections now form the core collection of the National Museum of the American Indian) in New York City. The collection was formed in the early twentieth century, sold to the Kanawa International Museum of Canoes, Kayaks and Rowing Craft in the 1970s, and acquired by the Canadian Canoe Museum in the 1990s. The museum catalog cards that accompanied the transfer of the MAI collection contain information about provenance and location. This article examines the provenance information, archival documentation, and related primary sources to explore the background of some of the early‐twentieth‐century Arctic hunters and non‐Indigenous explorers and adventurers associated with these heritage items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the exquisitely crafted hardwood atlatls (spear throwers) with carved scenes and used as luxury ceremonial objects lacking finger loops or signs of wear. Topics discussed include the collection of atlatls at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian; and lack the understanding of recent scholarship related to descriptions of the atlatl carvings.

The article offers information on the book "Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee" by Joseph Jones that discusses archaeology in Tennessee. It mentions that the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution and most of its collection moved to Washington D.C. to be held by the NMAI.

The article deals with two initiatives at aimed at honoring the legacy of the U.S. military service of American Indians. Topics discussed include the dedication of the National Native American Veterans Memorial at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. on November 11, 2020, the Library of Congress' sponsorship of the Warrior Spirit Project, and several reasons why American Indians joined the U.S. military.

The semi-pelagic gastrotrich species Haltidytes ooëides (Brunson, 1950) is redescribed based on original type material deposited at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Herein we present a new diagnosis and figures of the species, detailing the insertion position of the lateral spines, misinterpreted in the original description. Furthermore, we reassess the taxonomic key for the genus Haltidytes Remane, 1936 based on our new findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Museums have long offered simplistic representations of American Indians, even as they served as repositories for Indigenous human remains and cultural patrimony. Two critical interventions–the founding of the National Museum of the American Indian (1989) and the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990)–helped transform museum practice. The decades following this legislation saw an explosion of excellent tribal museums and an increase in tribal capacity in both repatriation and cultural affairs. As the National Museum of the American Indian refreshes its permanent galleries over the next five years, it will explicitly argue for Native people's centrality in the American story, and insist not only on survival narratives, but also on Indigenous futurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay addresses issues of framing, first voice, and authority in presenting culture in public programs. It examines a cultural presentation at the First Americans Festival inaugurating the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and the manner in which a "presented" artist appropriated the presenter's role for dialoguing with the visitors about who they were and what they did. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exhibition,Circle of Dance, which opened at National Museum of the American Indian – New York in September 2012, showcases dances of 10 Native communities from 10 geographical locations in the Western Hemisphere. This paper details the creation and fabrication of several of the articulated mannequins for garments and object accessories for this exhibition. Each of the mannequins was articulated in a gesture specific to a dance important to the respective tribe. Producing the illusion of specific movement and providing distinctive facial features and hand gestures was imperative. A variety of arm and leg connection techniques utilizing mechanical and magnetized attachments were employed. The faces, hands, and feet were created from Fosshape, a polyester felt-like material that becomes stiff when steamed. Three topics are discussed here: choosing poses for maximum illusion of motion, creating gesture through arm and leg connection techniques, and extension of the articulation to facial and hand expressions with Fosshape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the debate on the repatriation of human remains between history and anthropology. The debate led to the restitution to the communities of origin of human remains preserved or exhibited in museums across the world. The term repatriation was established in the 1980s during the debate that in the U.S. accompanied the elaboration of the National Museum of the American Indian Act's repatriation policy, with the 1990 Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act.

One of the most evocative objects in the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is an embroidered cloth bag that has come to be known as "Ashley's Sack". Stitch-work on the bag, signed "Ruth Middleton", recounts the bag's painful history, as a gift presented by an enslaved woman, Rose, to her daughter Ashley, when Ashley was sold at age nine in South Carolina. This paper explores 'Ashley's sack' as an object of history, memory, ritual action, and aesthetic creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparisons are often made between the conservation of cultural material collections, often described as ethnographic, and contemporary art collections, and indeed there are significant parallels. The stewardship of both of these types of collections can challenge traditional tenets of conservation, requiring conservators to ask themselves ‘What are we preserving?’ as preservation extends beyond the physical. The work must be placed in a broader conceptual context and the conservator must seek out those who are deemed to have the most authority – whether it is the artist, the artist's assistants and estate or the source community – to establish this context. Engagement with constituents creates valuable reciprocal relationships, which can benefit the artist, community, and museum. The relationships and the parallel practice of two seemingly disparate fields are examined using examples from the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG). Conservators at NMAI, a living culture museum containing archeological, historic, and contemporary art collections, are in the unique position of working with community stakeholders with direct ties to historic collections and contemporary artists whose work is actively acquired by the museum. Conservators at YUAG, an encyclopedic museum with a pedagogical directive, are attempting to establish a more rigorous program of artist engagement to direct preservation and understanding of contemporary art collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case study is presented on the professionalization of what is referred to as indigeneity, or indigenous peoples' knowledge of their history, identity and culture, of the Island Carib, or Kalinago people, of Dominica from the 1970s through the early 20th. An overview of the Kalinago's celebration of their culture, including through curating exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington D.C. (District of Columbia), is provided

The National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC -- the first national museum devoted solely to the presentation and support of the indigenous cultures of the Americas -- opened its doors to the public on 21 September 2004. This paper reviews the first, second, and third waves of critical response to the museum, in order to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the New Museology in an indigenous museum context. Two distinct tales emerge from these critical responses: one of Native empowerment, and one that centers on the museum's display practices that are informed by the New Museology. These seemingly distinct tales are, in fact, tightly intertwined due to the impossibility of contradiction-free museum praxis when dealing with indigenous materials, as the case of the NMAI makes clear. I argue that embracing such contradictions could point to the next step in advancing indigenous-based museum practice, and in radicalizing museology in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the pedagogy of remembering and forgetting in the context of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. It explores the ways in which particular elements in these museums act pedagogically by illustrating the two very different approaches to an encounter with difficult knowledge. It examines the pedagogical address these museums. It concludes with some implications for teaching difficult knowledge.

While many populations have suffered unique forms of colonial oppression, what these varying populations seem to share is an understanding of the importance of community support and cultural continuity in the face of struggle. Drawing on notions of differential oppositional consciousness and decolonization, this article examines the US National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC in light of its efforts to represent a hemispheric indigeneity. The Our Lives gallery exhibit co-curated by the Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians (whose aboriginal lands straddle the border between the US and Mexico) is analyzed alongside the author's personal reflections of her encounters with the NMAI as a US Chicana/Latina subject. The article urges scholars to recognize how they have been differ entially positioned against power and, furthermore, to acknowledge how and when efforts to decolonize may result in the re-colonization of another already marginalized group. This project asserts that the strength of alliances may not always be built on sameness, but perhaps can be built out of differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of cultural diplomacy within Alaska Native communities has led to a renegotiation of heritage displays within mainstream museums. This article critically examines the incorporation of Bering Strait voices within two recent exhibits: Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait and Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. Cross-cultural collaborations of exhibit planning and implementation are assessed through the review of museum records and commentary by Alaska Native and museum advisors. The processes of including Native voices and knowledge systems are analyzed in relation to exhibit spaces, websites, catalogues, and educational programming. With mixed efficacy, the exhibits push toward a new museology in which conventional exhibit practices are deconstructed and replaced according to indigenous, intellectual self-determination. [Alaska Native, museums, exhibits, collaboration, indigenous knowledge] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In museums with Indigenous objects, the exhibits present a particular representation of the culture and history of Indigenous peoples. More recently, the move toward partnerships with Indigenous communities represents a radical departure from long-held attitudes about the relationship between Indigenous people and museums. This article both examines the permanent exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian and uses qualitative data from visitors' experiences to explore the pedagogical nature of this museum's exhibits and the degree to which they challenge and confirm the public's conceptualizations of Indigenous identities. In considering the museum's pedagogical address (Ellsworth, 2005), this article suggests the need for educators to consider what is not presented in exhibits and the degree to which what is presented obscures new understandings from the visiting public. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a speech on the history behind the evolution of National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAI Act) and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Topics discussed include impact of values present in society on the history, views of Martin Luther King Junior on the values of education and role of white folks in educating the Native Americans regarding the history. He also discusses his views on repatriation issues.

This article looks at the use of digital kiosks and multimedia and multisensory presentation within the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C., to denaturalize assumptions about visitor and audience subject formation. Museums like the NMAI include numerous media technologies including multimedia presentations and digital kiosks as they vie for the attention of museum visitors. Proponents of digital kiosks in public spaces argue that they promote active engagement among visitors by encouraging “free-choice” learning, a process through which users make decisions about the content reviewed. This article argues that “free-choice” learning makes several assumptions regarding subject formation and that these assumptions constrain understanding of how media technologies shape meaning making potential in indigenous museums. It suggests that the existence of digital kiosks and multimedia presentations indicates disparate assumptions about visitor subjectivity and that these media are integral to the “techniques of the self” performed by the museum visitor as a multicultural citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses Native American sovereignty, reflecting on concepts of Native Indigeneity, self-determination, and nationhood. The author reflects on her experiences as a member of the Tuscarora Nation of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquoian peoples. She also comments on working for the U.S. National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). The work and ideas of Haudenosaunee statesman Deskaheh, or Levi General, activist Sotsisowah, or John Mohawk, and Mohawk scholar Taiaiake Alfred are also discussed.

Over the course of the 20th century, advocates and activists have sporadically argued that museums provide an ideal platform for engagements of civic life. Into the 21st century, the social roles and responsibilities of museums are actively being renegotiated, particularly with the blossoming of new collaborative and community-based programs and projects, from local tribally run ecomuseums to the National Museum of the American Indian. Through this case study of work at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science—focusing on two new enterprises, the Collections Synthesis Project and the Indigenous Inclusiveness Initiative—the challenges and opportunities for museum anthropology to contribute to the agenda of civic engagement are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses exhibitions shown at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), part of the Smithsonian Institution, since opening on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2004. The author highlights themes of cultural sovereignty explored in inaugural exhibits at the museum. She argues that the museum's communication acts and rhetorical framework should be reexamined to assure that it does not say something unintentionally. The concept of rhetorical sovereignty is discussed in light of expectations for Native American museums. The exhibits "Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories," "Our Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World" and "Our Lives: Contemporary Life and Identities" are discussed.

On February 2, 2009, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) announced the launch of its searchable online collection, part of an ongoing effort to digitize all of its artifacts and photographs. This event marked a milestone in the institution's "Fourth Museum" project—a reference to the "museum without walls" that serves the public outside of its three facilities in New York, Maryland, and D.C. (NMAI, 2009). With a particular focus on the digitization of the museum's photographic archives, this paper will situate the Fourth Museum in an historical context, and then explore the possibilities and problematic issues of making these materials available on the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]