Stewardship of American Indian Artifacts

In FYs 14 and 15, MNHS staff reviewed thousands of Native American items and records resulting in the identification of nearly 500 objects as culturally sensitive. This material will require a higher standard of research, care and preservation. In addition, MNHS staff visited elders and professional staff at two tribal communities in the state explicitly to discuss culturally sensitive material. In FY 15, MNHS received a formal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act claim to repatriate approximately 36 items. The claim was approved and repatriation is expected to be completed by the end of the fiscal year. In FYs 14 and 15, MNHS staff continued to increase physical access to collections. FY 14 highlights in this area included working closely with students from the Sisseton Wahpeton College in South Dakota, the Nebraska Indian College from Santee Nebraska and high school students from the Prairie Island Indian Community for the study of Dakota material culture. It also included a trip to Santee, Nebraska, with collections items related to the early reservation period for the second annual Dakota Recognition Days in June 2014. Additionally, numerous individual artists, makers and members of descendant communities accessed the material culture and art collections in FY 14. Further highlights from FY 15 include family tours for descendants of Isanti Dakota and making collections accessible to Native artists and researchers from North Dakota, South Dakota, Canada and Wisconsin.