Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Penn Museum: Behind the Glass, a Contested History

The Daily Pennsylvanian
Jill Castellano, March 2, 2014


[...] The exhibition opening demonstrates the collaboration and efforts of over 80 Native Americans from many backgrounds and cultures, the curator said.

But the stories behind some of the new artifacts that line the pristine museum walls have more complicated histories mired in legal battles.

When a representative of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology visited a Native American clan in September of 1995 , members broke down at the sight of objects sacred to their clan, which had been lost to them for decades.

After years of negotiation, hundreds of pages of documents and a federal review panel in a fight for ownership of these cultural artifacts, at least two of them are now part of the new Native American Voices exhibit.

And members of the T’akdeintaan clan are still fighting for what they believe is theirs.

More here

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