AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

Ongoing developments have created a more enlightened understanding of the complex relationships between Indigenous communities, collections care, and museums. The inception of the Preservation of Tribal Cultural Materials in Tribal Collections program began in 2008-2009 as a pilot hybrid course offered through UCLA Extension to address the needs of full-time workers for education in the care of Indigenous heritage. The course was revitalized and offered again in 2020 in a fully virtual format, with extensive evaluation of the benefits, accessibility, and affordability of this structure. An expanded program, offered from 2022-2025 with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, focuses on the unique histories, challenges, and contributions of Native peoples to their respective communities and how to honor and preserve associated heritage and belongings.




Under the leadership of Professor Ellen Pearlstein of the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program, this three-year fully supported program offered two iterations of three unique fully online courses in preservation techniques, collections management, and exhibition planning for Indigenous heritage collections. These courses were instructed by established members in the field who are already incorporating Native perspectives into course design.




In addition, UCLA/Getty partnered with two museums to offer in-person regional workshops, one in California and one in New York, for Native heritage stewards to engage with care and conservation of collections, with instruction by conservator Nicole Passerotti who directs the Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation, and Michelle Brownlee, collections manager at the Field Museum. The workshops were planned around topics suggested by participants, and aided in skill building for enclosures, introduction to risks in museum environments, and basic cleaning methods for a variety of materials, while also providing opportunities for networking and engagement with Native stewards in their region of the US.




In this presentation, we will describe the successes and challenges posed through this work and discuss how continued offering of these types of learning opportunities has been beneficial to Indigenous communities through participation and peer mentorship. We will also discuss shifts in collections care pathways that encourage students who are at different levels of their career or who come from diverse backgrounds to find suitable introductions to conservation training opportunities.