Mission Statement
To serve as a forum to educate archivists on the complexities and beauty of Native American archives of the Western Hemisphere and as a source of communication and inspiration for archivists working with Native American collections.
Introduction
Native American communities are sovereign governments. Tribes had their own traditional governments prior to European invasion. These governments maintain their own territories, their own laws, and their own legal restrictions surrounding cultural issues. Most Native American communities have federal recognition, while others hold state recognition. In Canada, many Native American communities have a similar status through federal treaties or provincial acknowledgement. Native Hawaiians are accorded special status by both federal law and state law. A number of federal laws in the United States specifically address both cultural and human rights of Native Americans and their communities. While we share a common commitment to the preservation and dissemination of knowledge, archivists and librarians should understand and respect Native American rights and laws, which are recognized in the United States Constitution. These statuses and associated rights form the basis of the principles behind the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials.
Over the past decade, tribal leaders, archivists, and librarians in the United States and Canada have expressed an interest in improving existing relationships and developing new relationships with non-tribal institutions which hold American Indian archival material. Numerous professional groups support this goal, such as the Society of American Archivists, the Council for the Preservation of Anthropological Records, the American Indian Library Association, the International Indigenous Librarians Forum, and the American Association for State and Local History. These Protocols outline many opportunities for collecting organizations to cooperate with Native communities.
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.
Human rights themes, such as understanding Native American values and perspectives and providing contexts for Native American archival materials, repeatedly emerged in the discussions. Related policy and legal topics included:
the importance of consultation with and concurrence of tribal communities in decisions and policies
the need to recognize and provide special treatment for culturally sensitive materials
rethinking public accessibility and use of some materials
the role of intellectual and cultural property rights
the need to consider copying, sharing, and/or repatriation of certain materials
the recognition of community-based research protocols and contracts
reciprocal education and training
raising awareness of these issues within the profession
The Protocols build upon numerous professional ethical codes (Society of American Archivists, American Association for State and Local History, American Anthropological Association, and the Oral History Association); a number of significant international declarations recognizing Indigenous rights, including several now issued by the United Nations; and the ground-breaking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Protocols for Libraries, Archives, and Information Services.
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.
To join the NAAS Listserv (for Free!!!) just go to the SAA website and click “login” at the top right of the page. Then create an SAA user account and subscribe to up to three sections.
NAAS Learning Modules
First Half: How to Identify the Protocols: An Examination of Case-Studies
Overview key tenets of Protocols
APS Case Study Overview
Multiple Choice: Identifying tenets of Protocols (NO RECORDING)
Breakout Discussion: “What do the Protocols mean to you?” “How does your institution implement the Protocols (if any)”? (NO RECORDING)
Second Half: How to Prepare Your Institution:
Introduction to Range of Interaction
Native American Collections Audit
Introduction to Cultural Audit work conducted by Nick Wojcik & Veronica Reyes-Escudero. Breakout Discussion: What is “Digital Repatriation”? NO RECORDING
Webinar Series
his first session of the Protocols Webinar Series highlights the theme of building relationships of mutual respect. This is explored through a conversation with host Jennifer R. O'Neal (University of Oregon) and Jonathan Pringle (University of New Mexico). Pringle expands upon his recently submitted PNAAM case study highlighting his previous work at Northern Arizona University. The webinars will also produce a usable toolkit to use in implementing the Protocols in non-tribal repositories.
This second session of the Protocols Webinar Series highlights the theme of striving for balance in content and perspective. This is explored through a conversation with host Jennifer R. O'Neal (University of Oregon) and Brian Carpenter (American Philosophical Society). Carpenter expands upon his recently submitted PNAAM case study highlighting the work of the American Philosophical Society to develop protocols for their Indigenous collections.
Webinar Episode #3 includes an in-depth conversation with the entire Tribesourcing Southwest Films Project team. This is a project that takes mid-20th century educational and sponsored films about Native peoples of the U.S. Southwest back into tribal communities and recording Native narrations and contextual information for film content by the Native communities they represent. This “tribesourcing” method allows for identification of local knowledge that might otherwise be lost, as well as providing rich, community-based metadata records for each film.
In the webinar the team highlights the project and discuss the following topics:
1. Overview of the American Indian Film Gallery collection housed at the University of Arizona
2. How the project seeks to enhance, contextualize and reinterpret valuable historic visual imagery, when the original narrations are often inaccurate and culturally uninformed
3. Strategies and steps involved in building relationships with local tribal community partners in providing context
4. Major lessons learned when building relationships and partnerships with Native American tribes and individuals
The team also showcases their website built on Mukurtu and demonstrates the merging of old video and new narrations. The project team includes: Jennifer Jenkins, Principle Investigator, University of Arizona; Melissa Dollman, Project Manager, University of North Carolina PhD Student (Yankton Sioux descent); Rhiannon Sorrell (Diné), Instruction and Digital Services Librarian, Diné College; Crystal Littleben (Diné), Program Coordinator, Navajo Cultural Arts Program