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Survey, Understanding, And Ethical Stewardship Of Indigenous Collections: A Case Study, Verónica Reyes-Escudero, J. Wendel Cox

Dartmouth Library Staff Publications

The Aboriginal and Torres Islander Protocols for Libraries, Archives, and Information Sources, the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, and other directives provide invaluable direction for professionals concerned with ethical stewardship of collections with Indigenous content, however, a fundamental challenge remains: how do we establish sufficient understanding of Indigenous content in our collections to initiate the dialogue of shared stewardship? We describe a survey of a university manuscript collection for Indigenous content and its unanticipated challeges and changes to our understanding of the collection. We conclude that the process of surveying the collection for Indigenous content is itself integral to …