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. 

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