Many ethnographic collections are artifacts of the colonial era. They hold objects obtained from indigenous peoples at some of the darkest moments in their history ? the loss of human life and the extinction of practices that accompanied cultural conquest. Yet for communities that wish to reawaken cultural knowledge, such collections offer unique opportunities. They are stores of cultural information that can be unpacked in the modern day to provide instruction and inspiration.

At the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, a tribal cultural center in Kodiak, Alaska, Alutiiq people are researching, documenting, and sharing museum collections to connect Alutiiqs with the culture of their ancestors. Today, the Alutiiq Museum is a place where Alutiiqs learn to make, use, and appreciate traditional objects. At the heart of this work are positive collaborations between the Native community and museums. At each museum that cares for ancestral objects, the Alutiiq Museum is sharing cultural information to help curators interpret, care for, and share Alutiiq objects, while working to repatriate cultural knowledge through written and photographic documentation.

These collaborations have built lasting opportunities for cultural understanding. They have also helped Alutiiqs reawaken their culture. Through the museum?s work, Alutiiq objects are regaining their cultural context ? becoming living objects and not simply artifacts of a distant history. Through the collaborative study of ancestral objects, Alutiiq people are reversing cultural losses, rebuilding their tribal identity, and building cultural pride.