I find myself in a lot of conversations, discussing the merits of our digital age.  I meet a lot of people who quickly gloss and state that digital media is destroying culture.  At most what people fail to realize is that digital media is merely disrupting our social interactions and forging new social communications that have yet to develop a universal etiquette for social engagement. In so doing these new cyber ways slip into our daily real time performances, thus creating a social chaos and alienating those people who are not immersed in cybersphere.

However, digital media has many merits to strengthen communities by archiving already held material and expanding access to previously unreleased cultural items, such as photographs and audio / video material. In our most recent project we engage the idea of digital repatriation.

In 1990 the Federal government of the United States mandated the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) that all institutions that housed indigenous remains and funerary objects receiving federal funds were required to make efforts to repatriate those items. While some universities and museums have made great efforts to follow the NAGPRA guidelines, some have not.

NAGPRA, however, only covers material items and human remains.  No mention is made of photographic images and audio / video recordings collected by the same research institutions.

In our efforts to recover the past and link it to the present we worked with Indiana University's Mathers Museum of World Cultures to reconnect a series of images from the Wanamaker collection to the communities from which they were taken.  Over 8,000 images are housed at the Museum, many of which depict Native American-Indian people from a period of 1908 to 1913.

Mathers Museum Wanamaker Collection of American Indian Photographs  

We proposed a photo-documentary of the descendants of the six known Tuscarora featured in the Mathers Museum of World Cultures’ Wanamaker Collection of American Indian Photographs. The exhibit will be a combination of the Wanamaker photos and new photographs of residents posing with their six ancestors.

To make the link from the present to the past we will interview many residents to share memories, to talk about themselves, and discuss the significance of being able to connect with these images. The primary purpose of this exhibit is to share the ever evolving and reciprocal relationships between museums and participatory communities; in this exhibition between a specific set of relationships with the Wanamaker photos. The relations are multi-functional: it has educational, ethnographical, and academic components. It will send clear messages of continuity, community, and connection. We will explore some of those elements in our photographs and in discussions with contemporary Tuscarora. We invite Mathers Museum of World Cultures participation into the discourses at these interstices.

Who is the intended audience for this exhibit? [School children? University students? The general public?

The audiences intended for this exhibit stretches across academia, the general public, university and secondary students, and lovers of visual arts, history, and indigenous studies.

In keeping with a spirit of education and reciprocal relationships we propose this exhibit be a traveling exhibit. We intend for people from Tuscarora Indian Nation (especially descendants of the six individuals portrayed in the Wanamaker portraits) to travel to the opening.  Likewise, at the close of the exhibit at the Mathers we plan to display the exhibit at the recently constructed Tuscarora Nation House, in 2016.

The Process:

The images were first posted on the Tuscarora Nation's website to find out about descendants.  A brief explanation was posted and a "call-out" for willing models was posted.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204195923715427&set=o.405981579324&type=3&theater

As we presented the original images, we documented people's reactions through camera. Sometimes people expressed great surprise and emotional reactions.

Freida, shown in the white shirt, sees her father in his youth for the first time.  Upon viewing the photo she was speechless, simply staring at it for a few minutes.

Showing the image of Susan Thompson to Wendy Bissell and Jimmy and Nadine Printup elicited strong reaction.  Nadine stated "I don't know who this woman is but I just got chills looking at her!"

It is these unsolicited, candid reactions we seek to preserve and share.

After taking photos with descendants we posted images on facebook to recruit more people.

Although some people were shy once a few snaps were taken, they began to take ownership of the images. They chose favorite spots, favorite clothes, and favorite items they wanted to be presented with.

Stay tuned for more to come!