Sharing Knowledge: Collaborative Study and Exhibition of the Smithsonian Alaska and Eastern Siberia Ethnology Collections

Joan Hamilton, John Phillip Sr., Virginia Minock & Neva Rivers (Yup’ik) conduct research at the National Museum of the American Indian

Daria Dirks, Maria Turnpaugh, Vlass Shabolin & Mary Bourdukofsky (Unangan) conduct research at the National Museum of Natural History

Harpoon rest (Iñupiaq), National Museum of Natural History

Bearded seal intestine parka (St. Lawrence Island Yupik), National Museum of the American Indian

Sharing Knowledge web site at http://alaska.si.edu

Designer’s rendering of the Smithsonian Gallery for the Anchorage Museum expansion

Sharing Knowledge preview exhibit at the Anchorage Museum

Dr. Aron Crowell (Anchorage, Alaska, USA), Dawn Biddison (Anchorage, Alaska, USA)

Important and exciting new relationships are linking museums, anthropology and Indigenous communities. Contemporary practice prioritizes Indigenous knowledge and self-representation. The shared goal is to build new connections between present day source communities and museum collections that represent Indigenous history, heritage and cultural identity. An example this new relationship-building is the Sharing Knowledge project, which represents a coalition of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, regional Alaska Native cultural organizations, the Anchorage Museum and two Smithsonian museums in Washington D. C. — the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian. The purpose of the project is to increase Alaskan access, knowledge and use of the Smithsonian collections. At the core of the process is collaboration with Alaska Native Elders, tribal representatives, scholars and artists. The results of this cultural heritage project include a new Smithsonian website and gallery opening in 2010 at the Anchorage Museum in Alaska. In scope, the Sharing Knowledge project encompasses traditional Native knowledge, oral history, language studies, anthropology, cultural education and museum exhibition through undertaking research and documentation of cultural heritage objects. The collaborative structure of the Project has several levels: co-design and organization of the project through partnerships with Alaska Native regional museums and cultural organizations; primary collections-based research with Elders; and an advisory group participating in the exhibition design.

Between 2001 and 2005 during the first phase of the project, forty-five Alaska Native Elders and tribal representatives from across Alaska traveled with Aron Crowell to Washington DC for week-long consultations at the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of Natural History, where they discussed more than 800 cultural objects — ceremonial and spiritual items as well as objects reflecting traditional subsistence and village life, most dating between 1850 to 1940. In addition to the research, the exhibition design is a collaborative process generated and shaped by a seventeen member panel of advisors representing the state's Alaska Native communities and museums. The new gallery design is somewhat unconventional, because it will be not only an information rich, multi-vocal display, but also a learning center in which the objects come out of their cases for hands-on study, continuing dialogue with Elders and public presentations.

The cultural and geographic scope of this effort was daunting from the beginning and remains so. Alaska is large and complex, and so are the Smithsonian collections — more than 20,000 objects at the National Museum of Natural History and 11,000 at the National Museum of the American Indian, representing almost every Alaska Native culture. That is not counting archaeological materials. One challenge was to organize this state-wide project so that it would still reflect genuine roots in community knowledge. One part of the answer was to engage with Alaska Native regional organizations who have enthusiastically supported the project, selected and invited Elders and facilitators to go to Washington, recommended translators and provided representation to the advisory panel.

Another part of dealing with the scope was simply to accept that grant monies and time could only go so far in this first stage, that there would be gaps in representation at first, because relatively few people could make it on the research trips to Washington, and that the effort would necessarily, and advantageously, be completely open-ended. By this we mean that we've created a pathway for hundreds and ultimately thousands of Smithsonian objects to come to Alaska over time, where these conversations about cultural meaning and history can continue indefinitely into the future. With the support of the National Park Service Shared Beringian Heritage Program, the Sharing Knowledge project extended to Eastern Siberia. We will work with Elders and cultural organizations to develop content relating to Siberian Yupik, Chukchi, Koryak, and Even objects in the Smithsonian collections. A first step took place during the 2006 Beringia conference in Anchorage, when a group of representatives from Indigenous organizations in Chukotka met with Aron Crowell to discuss traditional clothing and other objects from their region.

The general methodology of the Sharing Knowledge project has been to invite Elders to discuss museum objects and to bring their perspectives into museum interpretation, to consider museum objects as starting points for broader cultural discussions. This fits naturally with the teaching role that Elder consultants have seen as the purpose of their participation. The groups that came to Washington were comprised of exceptional people — scholars of their own traditions and languages and at the same time community leaders and educators, often very involved in cultural heritage initiatives in their home regions. All were committed to the concept of open sharing of their knowledge with a very wide audience — a global one considering the web site as well as the exhibition. There was a balance of men and women, and during museum sessions, the cultural protocols of each region came into play, reflected in the order of speaking and recognition of gendered domains of experience and knowledge and of family or clan priorities. Frequently, and in a very graceful way, participants framed their contributions as personal knowledge not universal fact. People would say that, “this is what I learned or remember based on my own life experience, but you might want to ask someone else as well”. Or, “this object is not from my area. We can say something about it but we are not from there and can not speak for them. Sometime you should talk with people from there about it”. At first, this was discouraging, but then we realized that yes, that's exactly what we will do in the future.

The discussions were structured only in the sense that museum collections staff would bring out one piece at a time for the group to focus on and that Aron Crowell or other anthropologists involved would ask a few questions, usually at long intervals, in what was most often a self-sustaining conversation among the Elders themselves. These free-form discussions would often evolve over the course of ten or fifteen minutes. Talk would begin with a very concrete and expert deconstruction of how a particular object was made and of the processes and materials involved. Then the object's meaning would gradually be expanded and narratively linked to life stories, cultural history, customs, spiritual beliefs and values — mixed in with jokes, teasing, anecdotes, songs and coffee breaks. It became clear that these dialogues reflect the real value of museum pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries. In one sense, they

connect to times that are remembered only by older generations, yet they are entirely relevant to contemporary life, because their meanings are not fixed but move into the present. Material culture has changed, but underlying values and understandings of the world have changed much less. The objects are signs of the past but are also symbols of the continuing life and motion of Indigenous cultures. And as masterworks of art and craftsmanship, they will serve as exemplars and inspiration for contemporary work.

The following two examples from the Washington consultations will emphasize these points and also show how Indigenous documentation complements the information previously gathered by museums and anthropologists. It is notable that the Smithsonian's largest collection from the Inupiaq area of north Alaska resulted from U.S. participation in the first International Polar Year in 1881- 1882. John Murdoch purchased over 1700 objects from the people of the Barrow.

During his time at Barrow, Murdoch lived outside the village and had little opportunity to observe daily life or the important ceremonies that took place during the winter and spring. None of the scientists spoke Inupiaq, and translators were seldom available. While Murdoch's Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition is a competent professional description of the collection, it is not surprising that Inupiaq Elders had much to add. To take just one example, a harpoon rest (pictured above) for the bow of an umiaq [“open skin boat”] was one of many objects that reflects beliefs and practices connected to bowhead whaling. Ron Brower, Sr. and Kenneth Toovak said that the blue bead centered in an X on the whale's back was not just added for beauty. It signifies the power of sila [“sky, weather, air, outside”], which controls life. The Xs and beads mark the location of the whale's life force, as well as the place where the harpooner would aim. The continuity of whaling in present day Inupiaq communities reinforces knowledge about older kinds of whaling objects, such as a bucket used by the wife of a whaling captain to give fresh water to a newly caught whale. Another piece associated with whaling is a wooden container adorned with ivory carvings that depict whales, seals and combination animals, such as a whale with head of a walrus. Elders suggested that the carvings are the life record of a whaling captain, depicting animals in both normal and transformed states that he had seen and hunted during his lifetime.

Smithsonian researcher Riley Moore, a medical doctor, visited St. Lawrence Island in 1912 to conduct studies in physical anthropology. Estelle Oozevaseuk and Branson Tungiyan, provided in-depth documentation of much of Moore's collection, including a bearded seal intestine parka (pictured above). Estelle identified the parka as having come from the people of Kukulek, an historic village that was abandoned during the famine and epidemic that swept the island in 1878-1880. She narrated a traditional history of this event as it was passed down from her grandfather. In this story, the famine is attributed to the people's disrespectful treatment of walruses. Led by a shaman, the people dressed in white parkas, such as this one, to ask forgiveness of both God and the animals before they died. Estelle and Aron Crowell published this narrative in Arctic Anthropology. It is a great illustration of cultural and historical meanings that emerge when museum objects become the subject of Indigenous interpretation.

The project has so far generated over 145 hours of taped interviews and over 4000 pages of transcripts in English and seven Indigenous languages and additional dialects, which have provided the foundation for the Sharing Knowledge web site and exhibition currently under production. The web site provides object-based information within a curatorial framework that allows greater public access to Smithsonian collections, particularly remote Native communities, and access to in-depth research and collections information by utilizing a wide-reaching format to share knowledge. The name selected for site, Sharing Knowledge, reflects a central principle, that of sharing knowledge in two directions — between Native communities and anthropological and museum communities.

The web site gives primacy to a Native interpretative voice, representing Elders in their roles as cultural experts while also sharing anthropological, historical and curatorial knowledge and interpretation. The site includes cultural overviews written by Native writers and maps of the regions represented. Those who contributed to the project are prominently acknowledged with a photo and link to a short biography. Credit to contributors was made highly visible on the site in order to emphasize the collaborative basis of the project and the role of Native Elders as cultural experts. The site contains a search tool with options allowing both guided and self-directed exploration. There is an engaging, illustrative browse tool and a tours option for a virtual gallery experience. Tours will be created by guest curators, such as Native Elders and artists, bringing access to multiple voices and perspectives to the web site. For objects relating to the Beringian region of Alaska and Eastern Siberia, there are Russian translations of records content. Finally, the web site administration tool allows for changes to and creation of object records so that the web site serves as an expandable digital collection, which will grow to include new objects on display in the exhibition under production. An expanded version of this tool will be used to create interactive computer kiosks in the gallery.

An object record includes: an object's English and Native language name, most with a sound file of a Native translator speaking the word; a quote from an Elder; museum collections info; edited transcripts in English and Native languages with translations; and an historical summary drawing from anthropological, oral history and archival resources. Each object record also provides a hi-resolution image with a zoom option. Some also have a 3-dimensional image. The related media gives context to an object and includes contemporary and archival images, illustrations and, for some, a short film. The films combine footage from collections research with Elders and archival footage, making manifest the expertise of Native Elders and the collaborative nature of the project while providing contextual information about objects. The related objects section provides connections between different types of objects and between different cultures.

In addition to the web site, the Sharing Knowledge project will result in a Smithsonian Gallery and Learning Center currently under production for the expanded Anchorage Museum opening in 2010. The exhibition design, content and educational programming has also been a collaborative process, generated and shaped by a nineteen member panel of advisors representing the state's Alaska Native communities and museums. Over 600 objects from the Smithsonian collections will arrive in Alaska to be installed in the new wing of the Anchorage Museum. They will be on loan for up to twelve years. When the loans expire, new objects from the Washington collections will be brought up. Everything will be on view with nothing hidden behind the scenes. Objects will be displayed at their natural heights in relation to the human form or to how they were used. The exhibit cases will open with an electro-mechanical assist, and an innovative pole and bracket mounting system will allow objects on display to be taken out and brought to a resource room for study, discussions with Elders, small classes and workshops. The whole system also facilitates the rotation of collections from Washington. New objects can be installed or rearranged without redesign of the case or gallery. This design also enables the Sharing Knowledge project to be an open-ended process, allowing conversations about cultural meaning and history to continue indefinitely into the future.

The exhibition is arranged geographically with floor-to-ceiling cases representing Alaska Native cultures ranging from south to north and will consist of exhibits and visible storage. Objects will be broadly arranged by culture areas and themes, reflecting cultural uniqueness and cultural connections with specific regional topics. This open plan arose from the advisory process. Members of the panel wanted visitors to see and comprehend the whole sweep of Alaska's cultural diversity in one view and then be able to take their own paths through this apportioned cultural space, seeing both differences and parallels in each region's arts, spiritual concepts and ways of living from the land and sea.

Throughout the gallery, emphasis will be placed on first person, in-depth Indigenous interpretation with connections to anthropology, history, art and science and with multi-media contextual information and interpretative materials. Visitors will pull up information on objects that interest them using interactive touch screen media or sit down in a learning center for access to the full web site with its in-depth information. The web and exhibit media will be integrated, and both will grow as more objects are discussed and new information is documented. In addition to the exhibition space, there will be a Learning Center providing access to objects for individual research and study and continued collaborative research with Elders, artists and scholars, which will be a major function of the new facility. The Project also lays the foundation for collaborative public programming with Native museums, cultural centers and schools.

In 2006, a small preview exhibit opened at the Anchorage Museum mirroring the design and concept of the future full-scale exhibition, which gave the Native advisors an opportunity to review it. At the opening reception, project contributors, Alaska Native community members and the general public celebrated the work accomplished so far and the plans for the future. With the advisory panel, Smithsonian staff and designers, we are working now on final exhibition plans and on developing the busy program of study projects, lectures and educational activities that will make active use of these unparalleled collections rather than just passive viewing. We are co-planning programs with the Alaska Native Heritage

Center for example to have study of these works be one component of their master Native artist classes. Success will be measured by the extent to which the new facility becomes a valued cultural resource for both visitors and for Alaska Native communities statewide.

In closing, we'd like to express our gratitude to the Elders and tribal representatives who are generously collaborating with us on this project. We'd also like to thank, the Rasmuson Foundation, ConocoPhillips Alaska, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and Anchorage Museum for their support.

РУССКАЯ АМЕРИКА 
Материалы III Международной научной конференции 
«Русская Америка» (Иркутск, 8–12 августа 2007 г.)  

Предоставлено архитектурно-этнографическим музеем Тальцы