Research Training Program

Elizabeth Bollwerk
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana

Risa Arbolino, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Department of Anthropology
Repatriation Office

"This program was an amazing opportunity
that has profoundly impacted my future as
an anthropologist."

Southwest Ethnographic Research Project: Picking Out the Pueblos, A Documentation Investigation

The Repatriation Office of the Smithsonian Institution was established in 1991 in response to the 1989 National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Act . The NMAI Act requires that the Smithsonian inventory, document, and if requested, repatriate (or return) culturally affiliated human remains and funerary objects to Native American tribes. Although the Smithsonian has fulfilled this requirement, the nature of museum documentation is such that more detailed investigations into the archival records will often yield new information that can be extremely helpful in the consultation process. The General Pueblo collection, which contains 287 objects known to have been collected from an area of approximately 28 Native American Pueblos (or villages) spread across Arizona and New Mexico, is one such example. Due to the fact that all these Pueblos have very distinctive cultures and beliefs, an attempt to find information demonstrating from which specific villages objects were collected is important for the repatriation process. It was decided that the best way to search for this information was to investigate the many forms of documentation that accompanied the objects as they became part of the NMNH's collections to ascertain whether they contained any additional information about what village each object had originated in. These documents include data regarding collectors, collection history, and object use. After all of this information had been gathered, it was entered into a database and compared. In many cases the records held information that demonstrated more specific cultural affiliation and provided additional information important to the objects' histories. The results of this investigation will be evaluated by the Department of Anthropology, and the records associated with these objects will be updated. A report of this investigation will be kept on file in the Repatriation Office as a reference for future Native American tribes and researchers who are interested in the collection.

This research was supported by a grant from the University of Notre Dame NMNH Internship Program in Anthropology

Letter of gratitude