Interpreting Native American History and Culture at Museums and Historic Sites - (Interpreting History) by Raney Bench (Paperback)

About the Book

Interpreting Native American History and Culture at Museums and Historic Sites features ideas and suggested best practices for the staff and board of museums that care for collections of Native material culture, and who work with Native American culture, history, and communities.

Book Synopsis

Interpreting Native American History and Culture at Museums and Historic Sites features ideas and suggested best practices for the staff and board of museums that care for collections of Native material culture, and who work with Native American culture, history, and communities. This resource gives museum and history professionals benchmarks to help shape conversations and policies designed to improve relations with Native communities represented in the museum. The book includes case studies from museums that are purposefully working to incorporate Native people and perspectives into all aspects of their work. The case study authors share experiences, hoping to inspire other museum staff to reach out to tribes to develop or improve their own interpretative processes. Examples from tribal and non-tribal museums, and partnerships between tribes and museums are explored as models for creating deep and long lasting partnerships between museums and the tribal communities they represent.

The case studies represent museums of different sizes, different missions, and located in different regions of the country in an effort to address the unique history of each location. By doing so, it inspires action among museums to invite Native people to share in the interpretive process, or to take existing relationships further by sharing authority with museum staff and board.

Review Quotes

[A] cohesive and illuminating book. . . .useful for instructors and students of museum studies, public history, cultural heritage management, and similar fields. It can serve professionals who want to improve relations with indigenous communities. Perhaps most importantly, I foresee an important role for this book among professionals and researchers seeking funding: Bench provides robust evidence explaining why museum-Native American cooperation requires certain pacing and specific kinds of resources for projects to be successful. Interpreting Native American History and Culture at Museums and Historic Sites can help native and nonnative professionals and researchers interpret, for their funders and their publics, the value of the process as well as the end product.

The case studies presented in InterpretingNative American History and Culture at Museums and Historic Sites provide excellent insights into the process of museums working with American Indian communities regarding collections, exhibits, and programming efforts. I am particularly familiar with The Eiteljorg Museum, The Abbe Museum, and The Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center and regard them as among the finest institutions when it comes to high achievements in working with Native cultures.

About the Author

Raney Bench has a Bachelors of Art in Native American Studies and a Master of Arts in Museum Studies. She has worked with Native communities and small museums throughout the United States for almost 20 years.