CASE STUDY ON ARCHIVAL INITIATIVES FOR THE INDIGENOUS COLLECTIONS

AT THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

INTRODUCTION

This case study describes a series of initiatives at the American Philosophical Society
Library (APS) to provide more meaningful and appropriate access to its extensive
collections of Native American archival materials. These initiatives included projects to
digitize and more accurately describe key parts of the collections, to assess its researcher
constituencies, and to collaborate with Indigenous communities.

BACKGROUND

The American Philosophical Society Library is an international center for research with
specialties in the history of the sciences, early American history, Native American
ethnography and linguistics, and digital innovation. With roots extending back to the
founding of the Society in 1743, the Library of the American Philosophical Society houses
over thirteen million manuscripts, 350,000 volumes and bound periodicals, 250,000
images, and thousands of hours of audio tape. The Library's holdings make it among the
premier institutions for documenting the history of the American Revolution and Founding,
the study of natural history in the 18th and 19th centuries, the study of evolution and
genetics, quantum mechanics, and the development of cultural anthropology, among
others.

The archives, the record, can provide not only our people but all people enlightenment,
and hopefully a better humanity will result.
Kathryn “Jody” Beaulieu (Anishinabe/Ojibwe)

In April 2006 a group of nineteen Native American and non-Native American archivists,
librarians, museum curators, historians, and anthropologists gathered at Northern
Arizona University Cline Library in Flagstaff, Arizona. The participants included
representatives from fifteen Native American, First Nation, and Aboriginal
communities. The group met to identify best professional practices for culturally
responsive care and use of American Indian archival material held by non-tribal
organizations. The contributors to these North American best practices hope that the lines
of communication opened by this work will serve as the genesis for an ongoing national
discussion around different approaches to the management, preservation, and
transmission of Native American knowledge and information resources. These Protocols
urge archivists and librarians to consider Native American perspectives on professional
policy and practice issues.

The proposed standards and goals articulated in Protocols for Native American Archival
Materials are meant to inspire and to foster mutual respect and reciprocity. Institutions
and communities are encouraged to adopt and adapt the culturally responsive
recommendations to suit local needs. New issues for consideration will undoubtedly arise
as the best practices are debated and implemented. The contributors intend this
document to be a work in progress—subject to revision and enhancement.

North American libraries, archives, and American Indian communities will benefit from
embracing the power of conversation, cooperation, education, negotiation, and
compromise. As Sven Haakanson, Jr., (Alutiiq/Sugpiaq) reinforces in Caring for
American Indian Objects: A Practical and Cultural Guide, “. . . it takes human connections
to make positive changes happen.

Over the past decade Native American archives have witnessed a significant
transformation across the United States. More than any time before tribal communities
are establishing strong, growing archival collections documenting their histories;
numerous non-tribal repositories are collaborating with and developing shared
stewardship protocols with tribal communities regarding Native American collections; and
some archive and information science graduate programs are incorporating indigenous
ways of knowing and managing records into the curriculum. Although there still exists
significant areas for improvement, including the continued development of tribal archival
repositories and successful relationships between tribal and non-tribal repositories, it is
imperative to examine these accomplishments within the larger historical context of
Native American archival history and decolonizing framework to propose possible next
steps in the continued movement to develop and sustain tribal archives. This article
examines the historical context and major achievements of the national indigenous
archives movement with a specific focus on projects and initiatives at repositories and
communities in the American West that serve as an example of the role archives and
archivists should represent in the development and stewardship of tribal archives,
especially for those serving and working with indigenous communities so egregiously
affected by the legacy of conquest. During the late twentieth century, as a larger
movement developed to provide information services to tribal communities across the
United States, the archives and information professionals in the West emerged as leaders
in tribal archives by developing innovative methods for managing heritage collections,
contributing to national and regional trainings, and building collaborations between Native
American and nonNative American repositories. These specific contributions provide a
lens through which to examine both the national and regional activism that have
contributed significantly to the larger goal of decolonizing Native American archives,
which applies and builds upon the methodological framework presented by Linda Tuhiwai
Smith regarding decolonizing research, by replacing Western ways of managing tribal
archives with those rooted in the indigenous epistemological traditional ways of knowing
and stewarding collections. To examine and situate this topic, this paper utilizes the
framework established and set forth by Native American activist and scholar Vine Deloria,
Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux) in his 1978 report, “The Right to Know,” prepared for the White
House Preconference on Indian Library and Information Services On or Near
Reservations held October 19-22, 1978, in Denver, Colorado. In this preparatory paper,
Deloria called for the implementation of specific services and practical solutions for Native
American archives, cultural heritage, and traditional knowledge held in public repositories.
As noted by Allison Krebs (Chippewa), “Not only did Vine leave fingerprints across Indian
Country, he also left ‘to do’ lists in each of his fields of study and a cadre of scholars busily
working away at implementing them… For all that Deloria was an activist and visionary,
he was also pragmatic.Indeed, Deloria argued the federal government’s treaty
responsibility includes accountability for tribal communities’ educational “need to know;
to know the past, to know the traditional alternatives advocated by their ancestors, to
know the specific experiences of their communities, and to know about the world that
surrounds them…” Thus, he argues that through tribal self-government that there should
therefore be “direct funding from the federal government to tribes for library, information
and archival services.” Deloria then calls for specific action in seven areas by the federal
government and tribal communities that fall “within the scope of treaty educational
provisions,” including:

Inventory and catalog of existing records in federal possession

 Duplicate and make accessible pertinent Native American historical records

 Develop information services customized for tribal communities

 Develop library and information science education for tribal members

 Provide digitization capabilities for tribal cultural resource centers

 Establish regional research centers

 Appropriate acquisition funding for repatriation

In the midst of a spring snowstorm on April 5, 2006, a group of fifteen Native

American, First Nation, and Aboriginal information professionals and scholars and four
non-Native archivists gathered at the Northern Arizona University Cline Library (Flagstaff,
Arizona) for a series of conversations.1 The goal of this invitational conference was to
develop best practices for culturally responsive care and use of American Indian archival
material held by non-tribal organizations. The participants tackled complex topics, such
as the intersection of Native American and Western knowledge systems, to produce a
draft document entitled Protocols for Native American Archival Materials. Written from a
Native American perspective, the Protocols are intended to inspire and guide archives,
libraries, and tribal communities interested in building relationships and in “doing the right
thing. (September 2006RBM A Journal of Rare Books Manuscripts and Cultural
Heritage 7(2)DOI:10.5860/rbm.7.2.267)

EVALUATION OF THE CASE

 This study focuses on the barriers to access such as remoteness of holding

repositories from communities where the knowledge originated, Prohibitive
duplication costs, scarcity of discoverable information of greater relevance to
Native communities in the description of these records, and pernicious access
policies at many institutions like APS that caused the exclusion of Native
community based researchers. On the creation of Protocols for Native American
Archival Material, 2006, by a group of nineteen (19) Native and Non-Native
Americans, Librarians, Museum Curator ,Historians and Anthropologies to identify
best professional practices for culturally responsive care and use of American
Indian archival materials held by non-tribal organizations.
 Archival institutions also have not traditionally given Native nations avenues to
assert their intellectual property claims for these materials or to have real power in
the process of determining appropriate and respectful use of information that was
not shared with the intention of being made available to the public.

PROPOSE SOLUTION/CHANGES

 Building Relationships of Mutual Respect

Native American communities have had extensive first-hand experience with the ways
that information resources held in distant institutions can impact their quality of life, their
practice of religion, and their future as a people—sometimes with disastrous
consequences, sometimes to their benefit. Libraries and archives must recognize that
Native American communities have primary rights for all culturally sensitive materials that
are culturally affiliated with them. These rights apply to issues of collection, preservation,
access, and use of or restrictions to these materials.

The proposed standards and goals articulated in Protocols for Native American
Archival Materials are meant to inspire and to foster mutual respect and
reciprocity. Institutions and communities are encouraged to adopt and adapt the
culturally responsive recommendations to suit local needs. New issues for consideration
will undoubtedly arise as the best practices are debated and implemented.

Equitable and respectful inclusion of the expertise in the improvement of

archival description not just a matter of respect but also of practical benefit to
archival institutions seeking to represent their collections more accurately,
appropriately, and meaningfully.

CONCLUSION

The case study concludes with findings on the approachability and accessibility of non-
Native archives, the institutional impact of putting policies into place that draw from the
Protocols, and approaches archives can take to implementing these approaches at
whatever scale.

REFERENCES:

https://www2.archivists.org/publications/epubs/Native-American-Archival-Materials-
Case-Studies

https://www.amphilsoc.org/library

https://www2.nau.edu/libnap-p/protocols.html
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=westernarchi
ves

https://rbm.acrl.org/index.php/rbm/article/viewFile/267/267

O'Neal: "The Right to Know": Decolonizing Native American Archives