Utica museum must get permission before displaying Native American artifacts, per new law

Visitors who walk into the museum in downtown Utica will see black cloth draped over a Native American display case on the first floor. Another Indigenous display in the lower level only recently was reopened.

The La Salle County Historical Society has long displayed Native American artifacts, which comprise about 1% of the society’s collection. Those displays, however, are subject to new rules set by the U.S. government. Until the museum is sure of being in compliance, which will take a few days, a few displays are off limits to the public.

“You want to make sure you’re being respectful of certain cultures,” museum director Amanda Carter said, “and that they will fall within the guidelines.”

After that, there’s plenty more work ahead for Carter and collections manager Riley Dirks. Museums now need tribal consent to keep and display Native American artifacts. For the Utica museum staff, that will be tricky.

Native Americans have long pressed for control over relics and artifacts. In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. That posed no problem in Utica; the society has no Native American relics.

More recently, however, the Interior Department implemented rules, effective Jan. 12, requiring informed consent from tribes or descendants before displaying or researching artifacts or cultural items. It’s not just about bones anymore.

For the museum in Utica, that was a bombshell. The society’s Native American collection is not, relatively speaking, all that small. Three nearby archaeological digs in the 1970s yielded items later stored in the Utica museum. There are boxes and boxes of seldom-seen (or never-seen) artifacts awaiting scrutiny under the new protocols.

“Because of the sheer volume of that collection,” Carter said, “to go through piece by piece just to make sure we’re in compliance? That’s a little overwhelming.”

While those items were carefully documented and stored, the trick now is going through it all and then placing calls to the tribes. Carter and Dirks must ask tribal leaders, “Do you want this or can we keep it on display?”

Dirks thinks the museum will get to keep most of it. The majority of items are stone tools that aren’t culture-specific.

“It’s all about how these living tribe descendants view these cultural items and how they view their connection to these older cultures,” Dirks said. “It could be, ‘Nope. Not interested.’

“Some of these items are like finding out your great-grandmother’s precious locket was in someone’s basement for 20 years, and some of them are like finding out they have a screwdriver of yours.”

There also are objects that were flat-out stolen. Gerald Savage of Cary, who has ties to the Starved Rock region and is a member of the Ho-Chunk tribe, recalled how he and his family were victims of a burglary in which precious artifacts were lost for good.

I’m having trouble with my own tribe trying to repatriate our own items. There is disagreement over what to do with these items and where they should go.”

—  Gerald Savage of Cary, a member of the Ho-Chunk tribe

Savage reasonably concluded that many of the stolen goods made their way to Chicago museums, where the staffs were less than forthcoming. He would like to see the government hold museums to a higher threshold of transparency and for museums to bring in Native American staff to facilitate the transfer of artifacts back to the tribes.

“I’m having trouble with my own tribe trying to repatriate our own items,” Savage said. “There is disagreement over what to do with these items and where they should go.”

Yet another obligation for the museums is linking an extinct tribe to an existing one. The law recognizes something called “linear descent,” which gives today’s Native Americans authority over ancient objects from extinct tribes to which they have a cultural connection.

“There aren’t any Mississippians left – that’s a very old culture – but there are Pottawatomie who might consider themselves descended from the Mississippian cultures,” Dirks said. “We have to contact them and ask what they want us to do.”

The Illinois Valley once comprised about 20 tribes including the Kickapoo and Blackhawks. They are long gone, but the Peoria tribe claims cultural links with them. That gives the Peoria final say over Kickapoo and Blackhawk artifacts.

“I think [tribes] will be willing to help us,” Dirks said. “A lot of these tribes are very excited to not necessarily take back their cultural items but to help us display them in a way that is respectful and educational.”

The greater difficulty will be getting a hold of the tribes. Tribes can expect calls from coast to coast and will have to prioritize the queries. It’s a good bet that the Field Museum will be put ahead of the La Salle County Historical Society on the callback list.

“And I think it will take the tribes quite a long time to get through the vast collection of a larger organization,” Carter said. “Ours is so small I would assume it would take some time to hear back.”