Working with native communities and the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian: Theory and practice

The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) takes the attitude that it is the steward, not the owner, of the collections entrusted to its care. This is codified in its mission statement. Therefore, a flexible approach is required to develop new methods that allow it to work collaboratively with NMAIs primary constituency, native peoples of the Western Hemisphere. This paper describes three areas (loans to native communities, conservation, and repatriation) in which the NMAI has been working to transform traditional museum practices to better support its mission.