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Chickaloon Village Traditional Council

Decolonizing Through Virtual Repatriation: A New Vision of Collections Access 

Overview:

Chickaloon Village Traditional Council (CVTC) is a federally recognized Ahtna Dene Tribe located in Southcentral Alaska. CVTC’s departments work collaboratively to support the Tribal Government in standing sovereign with all nations, utilizing the land responsibly with a sufficient resource base that prepares future generations to fulfill their core purpose and long-term goals. CVTC’s Mission is to perpetuate their ancestor’s beliefs, customs, traditions and values, and steward the environment to help citizens and the community thrive. 

Much of the Tribe’s material culture has been removed from the community. The New Vision of Collections Access initiative took steps towards decolonizing the Anchorage Museum (AM) through virtual repatriation. To demonstrate their commitment to relinquish power over the Indigenous materials in their care, AM worked collaboratively with CVTC to return digital surrogates of archives and material objects originating from their community. 

Goals:

  • Identify ideal, decolonized approaches towards implementing repository research, reparative description and cultural material return. 
  • Reconnect Tribal citizens with their history, culture and broader Ahtna and Dena’ina Dene relatives. 
  • Rebuild the relationship between the Anchorage Museum and the Ahtna Dene community at large while revealing Ahtna cultural materials that were once thought lost. 

Timeline:

November 2021 – February 2022 Developed MOA with AM and identified the research team of communities and Ahtna Elders/Culture Bearers.
March 2022 – April 2023Conducted regular research visits to the Anchorage Museum
May 2023 – March 2024 Worked with the CVTC Cultural Committee to identify access protocols and assign cultural narratives and TK Labels to each returned item
November 2023 – February 2024 Materials uploaded to Chickaloon Native Village’s Mukurtu database, Nay’dini’aa Na’Kayax Ugheldze Le Cilaes (Chickaloon Native Village Information We Share)

The project, originally planned to be a two-year project had to pivot to a three-year project due to complications with ensuring the care of Elders during consultations and remote site visits which required extensive planning due to weather complications. For thoughtful execution and to include some time to allow for any readjustments due to Tribal cultural calendars and or community emergencies, three years would be the most ideal to plan and implement the initiative.   

Key Activities:

  • Collaboration: To formalize the partnership between Chickaloon Village Traditional Council (CVTC) and the Anchorage Museum (AM), a Memorandum of Agreement was developed.
  • Consultation: AM Staff digitally searched the collections and compiled lists of items using the keywords provided by CVTC, while CVTC worked with AM staff to help focus the search and prioritize keywords.
  • Community Review: CVTC staff and Ahtna Dene Elders/Culture Bearers reviewed the materials alongside members of the AM archives and material collections staff.
  • Virtual Repatriation and Shared Stewardship: Materials, data, and over 3,000 images were uploaded to CNV’s Mukurtu database, Ugheldze Le Cilaes, by AM staff using a flatbed scanner, which was then given to CVTC. Anchorage Museum relinquished control, asking CVTC to steward the items from CVTC’s land and people. CVTC is also able to control access to sensitive or private information.
  • Access and Sharing: Materials, and images were shared with the community in person digitally through Cultural Belonging Gatherings in Palmer, Chickaloon and at other Ahtna Dene communities in Alaska. CVTC staff also provided photograph care kits to attendees and scanned photographs that attendees brought to be added to the Mukurtu database. In addition, information was shared and solicited at the Alaska Federation of Native (AFN) annual conference during the second and third years of the project. 

Using CVTC’s Collaborative Curation Model, the research team included the participation of 19 Elders/Culture Bearers and 6 CVTC staff. The Elders represented six different Ahtna communities and shared their knowledge about the locations, events and people depicted in the materials. Each visit was video recorded to help document the conversations. Notes from the discussions were vetted by CVTC to help AM with reparative description in their collections records.  

Community Impact:

  • Community Engagement – Significantly expanded access to collections, creating digital surrogates and newly created metadata that were made available online via CVTC’s Mukurtu database. The initiative is estimated to have engaged over 650 people, with an increased engagement of over 1,000 the longer the materials are on the CVTC Mukurtu database. 
  • Cultural Reconnection – Profoundly reconnected members of the CVTC Tribal family with their extended family in the broader Ahtna Dene community and with cultural materials that were removed from Ahtna Dene stewardship. This reconnection has restored Tribal citizens’ spirits, improved their understanding of who they are, and how they are connected to other Ahtna Dene Tribes. 
  • Restored Relationships and Partnerships – Helped to rebuild the relationship between the Anchorage Museum and the Ahtna Dene community and has motivated CVTC to broaden Ahtna Dene partnerships in the future. 

The project saw the return of over 3,000 digital surrogates with associated metadata, providing a decolonized model for culturally respectful virtual repatriation. Through the site visits and community outreach events, CVTC was able to reconnect Elders with their past and each other, rebuild the Tribe’s relationship with the Anchorage Museum, strengthening relationships with three fellow Ahtna Dene Tribes, one Dena’ina Tribe, and one Alaska Native corporation.

For more information, contact:

View ATALM2024 Conference Session Materials HERE.

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