Reuniting Makers and Masterpieces: Introduction

The Choctaw ancestors made most of the tools and objects that they needed for everyday life by hand. Using skills passed down from previous generations, raw materials from the land around them, and their own creativity. They put a lot of themselves into these traditional arts – things like basketry, cloth, and silverwork. Objects of Choctaw traditional art that have survived from a long time ago can connect us with earlier generations of Choctaw people and deep traditional culture that we may not experience every day today. Because many of these traditional arts were designed to go back to the earth after they had served their purpose, and because of the history of colonization, today, museums are an important place for community members to reconnect with early Choctaw traditional arts.

In the summer of 2015, the Historic Preservation Department gained the ability to take a proactive approach to our ongoing Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) work, searching for our ancestor’s remains and funerary objects in museum collections. Many readers may remember the No Stone Unturned project that was mentioned in last month’s Biskinik. This project worked to systematically search state-by-state through collections for our ancestors and their funerary objects. As we were contacting these institutions, we also asked them if their collections contained non-funerary objects of Choctaw traditional art. Historic Preservation put together a simple online database to begin sharing these pieces of traditional art held in institutions all over the country with community members.

With such a database, Tribal members have the opportunity to go and research these items for their own revitalization efforts. We had no idea what we would find, but the past seven years have proven to be a genuinely heartfelt journey. Not only are we honored to work on behalf of our ancestors, but we are also deeply committed to sharing our discoveries with each of you. We invite you to explore the Chahta Imponna (Choctaw Skill) database to learn more, visit Hina Hanta – The Bright Path.

Museum collections were often assembled as part of the colonial process. This history would take a series of articles all on its own. However, to introduce our new series, we want to share about one institution in particular, the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is now home to many Choctaw items that were collected in the early days of museum collecting. This history is very much tied to the development of the academic discipline of anthropology. Early anthropology held racist beliefs that undermined the sovereignty of Indigenous nations by advancing the idea that Native people and their cultures were disappearing with the expansion of western society. Anthropologists responded to this idea by going out into Indigenous communities all over the world to document them.

This documentation often sought to bring back “aterial culture,” or artisan items, from communities, including pieces of traditional art from Choctaw families. These cultural items tell us about the materials and techniques used to create items in a specific moment and place, as well as the reasons why pieces might have been made. But more importantly, these pieces tie Choctaw people to one another. They hold family stories and memories and are incredibly meaningful to those connected to individual pieces. These items were winnowing baskets used to prepare tanchi (corn), bowls once part of family meals and hair combs worn by a Choctaw woman. While anthropologists and museums might see them as rare “objects,” we do not view them as such, and this is why we seek to reunite the broader Choctaw community with them when we can.

While seemingly simple, this can be challenging at times. Photographs, finding aids and virtual collection visits are incredibly helpful in understanding what exactly is in a museum’s collections, but they might be missing important cultural information regarding the purpose of an object and how it was made. There is a chance that finding aids are incorrect because they are based on field notes that have mistakes or lack key cultural information from the artisans. Sometimes, items that were collected should not have been for a variety of reasons. When we find such instances, we often work with museums to note the proper cultural protocol for such items because sometimes it is not appropriate for certain cultural items to be viewed at all, particularly sacred items. Ultimately, finding solutions to problems in museum collections lies in viewing collections within a culturally rooted framework. Despite some challenges in finding items, when the opportunity arises to view them in-person, it can be an invaluable experience for both the institution and the visitors. Choctaw cultural items not only contain evidence of the artisan’s skillset but of the traditions, values and knowledge that accompany them passed down as generational knowledge.

Collection practices have changed over time and have increasingly recognized contemporary communities’ input on older collections. The climate for Indigenous collaboration has changed too. Today, museum professionals are increasing their invitations to Indigenous communities to visit their collections in hopes of learning more about their cultural items and how to care for them. It has become viewed as best practice. As part of her graduate fellowship, tribal member Ph.D. student Jennifer Byram invited the Historic Preservation staff and two elders from our community who have worked with rivercane and are connected to these collections to view Choctaw material culture in the Smithsonian Institution collection. Spirits were high, and tears were shed. We cannot express in words the joy these makers experienced when reunited with pieces made by family and friends from years ago, many of whom have since passed on. In their words, “it was a trip of a lifetime.” We were grateful for this unique opportunity to continue to build Choctaw Nation’s relationship with the Smithsonian.

Over the next few months, we will be running a short series titled “Reuniting Makers and Masterpieces” to discuss how the artisan items that we recently viewed in the Smithsonian are part of a larger, ongoing effort to reconnect Choctaw people with the makers of the past. We hope that by sharing these items with you, we can pay tribute and honor to the makers of the past while celebrating modern artisans today. In doing this, we aim to highlight the deep knowledge developed by generations of Choctaw makers needed to create pieces like baskets, textiles, and metalwork and the present revitalization efforts underway.

Next month, we look forward to sharing with you about the basket collection at the Smithsonian and insights from two rivercane basket makers who have maintained and taught this skill to new generations of Choctaw basket makers. Later, we will share the silver work in the collection and highlight artists from the past and those carrying on this tradition today. Finally, we will finish this series with a broader look at textiles and other material culture at the Smithsonian. If you or someone you know is revitalizing Choctaw traditional arts, we would love to learn from you. If you know of a museum that holds pieces of Choctaw traditional arts, please contact the Historic Preservation Department. We would love to add it to our growing Chahta Imponna Database for our Tribal members to use as a resource.