When a 150-Year-Old Object Needs Someone in Alaska to Tell Its Story

What do you do when you have Alaska Native cultural objects in a university collection that have been there since the 1800s, but you don't really know where they came from, who made them, or even what some of them are?

You ask someone in Alaska.

That is what Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, did when its NAGPRA committee was reviewing a collection of objects identified as being from Alaska. The university reached out to Dr. Stan Herman, Museum Director at Prince William Sound College and an anthropologist who teaches courses in Native Alaskan culture.

NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, is a federal law passed in 1990. It requires federally funded museums and institutions to review their collections and determine whether Native American cultural items were acquired in ways that may require repatriation.

Sometimes that means bringing in someone who knows the region and can help identify what is in a collection.

“Part of the fun of being a professional anthropologist is you're often called upon to be a consultant and render expert knowledge or testimony for different organizations,” Herman said.

At Rutgers, some of the objects had been identified only as from Alaska, with little additional information.

One object had been labeled an “Eskimo comb.” After looking at it more closely, Herman identified it as a scraper used by Inuit peoples in hunting. What makes the object particularly unusual is that it was made from polar bear claws.

Rutgers also had two Native Alaskan dolls. Researchers knew they were from Alaska but couldn't identify them further. Herman examined the basketry and beadwork and narrowed the date to the early 1900s, possibly around 1910 to 1920. He was also able to narrow down the possible region, although more research is needed to determine exactly where they came from.

“You don't want to be the sole expert,” Herman said. “You always give them a whole bunch of different experts so we can check each other.”

Herman and his research assistant, J. L. Chapin, also spent time reviewing old records and maps related to the collection. Some of those original records date back to 1858, and they are not always easy to read today.

One record referred to “Fobisher Sound” [sic]. After comparing historical references and maps, they believe the reference may actually have been to Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island in Canada.

That opens up another possibility. The collection may include objects from different parts of the Arctic that were grouped more than 150 years ago.

Herman also said there is a possibility that one of the objects could be connected to the McClintock Arctic expedition from 1857-1859, a desperate attempt mounted by a widow to search for the remains of her husband lost on an earlier expedition. The evidence is still only partial, but it suggests intriguing possibilities and warrants further research.

And that is really what makes this kind of work so interesting.

An object can sit in a museum collection for generations while information about where it came from, who made it, and what it meant gets lost, shortened, or recorded incorrectly. Figuring out what happened can mean looking at anthropology, old records, maps and other museum collections. It can also mean going back to the Indigenous communities connected to those objects and listening to their knowledge.

The goal of NAGPRA work isn't simply to move objects from one place to another. What happens depends on what is learned about an object and what the community wants.

Sometimes an object may be repatriated. In other cases, a community may be comfortable with an object remaining in a museum, as long as its history, identity and cultural connections are properly recognized. Museums and communities may also work together on preservation and care.

“It’s more about paying respect and sharing the power and authority over decision-making about these artifacts,” Herman said.

Herman's expertise has taken him into other kinds of work outside Alaska as well. He has provided expertise to the FBI on matters involving cultural materials, including questions about authenticity, age and provenance. That work has included examining fossilized ivory and questions about whether its appearance or condition accurately reflects its age.

Herman said that kind of work draws on some of the same skills he uses in museum and anthropological research: knowing what to look for, understanding the history behind an object, and recognizing when something needs closer examination.

Now, some of that same expertise is coming back to the Maxine and Jesse Whitney Museum.

Herman said NAGPRA work involving the museum's own collection is expected to continue this fall, with research potentially continuing through December.

What started with a request from a university in New Jersey is part of a much larger conversation about Alaska Native art, museum collections and the stories that can be recovered from objects that have traveled far from where they were created.

For PWSC, it is also a reminder that the work happening here in Valdez can reach much farther than our community.

Sometimes an object collected more than 150 years ago needs someone in Alaska to help tell its story.