Lacrosse stick basket

In 2021, the museum’s staff began working with Native American advisers to determine if artifacts in the collection should be repatriated, or given back, to federally recognized tribes. The museum did this once before, but this time prioritized Indigenous voices and viewpoints in leading the research.

 

Collections staff built relationships and trust with representatives of many Native American cultures in the process. While returning sacred objects to the Onondaga nation in upstate New York, staff learned from their host what was important to the Haudenosaunee, as the people of the Iroquoian Six Nation Confederacy refer to themselves. He proudly told them about the lacrosse field on the reservation, used for a game that was originated by Native people, and told them the story of the Hiawatha Belt, which serves as a symbol of unity between the tribes in the Confederacy. While in the area, staff members were excited to purchase this sculpture of a lacrosse stick basket adorned by the Hiawatha Belt, made by sculptor Tom Huff who lives on traditional tribal lands.

 

Eric Hemenway, director of Repatriation, Archives, and Records for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and a repatriation adviser for the museum, expressed that “This represents the right courses of action. Items were in the museum’s collection that should not have been in there. By working with myself and other individuals, the museum was able to return these items back to their communities and then aquired this sculpture ethically by purchasing it directly from the community that made it.”