<p>Potlatches are Athabascan ceremonies marking significant events in life. They are a time when cultural values are practiced, including honor, respect, gratitude, responsibility, gifting and reciprocity. This lab provides materials for students to learn about Potlatches, and generally about the Athabascan peoples of Alaska. Photographs with in-depth captions provide information about Athabascans in the past and today. Short essays and museum items featuring Elders’ discussions allow students to learn directly from community members. Questions and writing projects in the education unit help students understand and apply what they have read, and find shared cultural values in their own lives. To learn about moosehide tanning and sewing from Athabascan experts, visit this Learning Lab entry: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/5cU6LBY0YnYrcsso">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/l...</a><br></p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <hr> <p><strong>Tags:</strong> Alaska, Alaska Native, Indigenous, Athabascan, Dene, Potlatch, ceremony, ceremonies, tradition, gifting, museum object, artifact, heirloom, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska, distance learning, culturally responsive, culturally-responsive (#arcticstudies)</p>

<p>In 2022-2023, Ahtna community members Kiana Carlson, Agnes Denny, Jessica Denny, Dimi Macheras and Melissa Shaginoff collaborated on collections research and documentation with Ahtna cultural belongings currently living in Smithsonian collections. They were assisted by staff from the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), led by Head of Conservation Kelly McHugh, and Dawn Biddison from the Alaska office of the Arctic Studies Center (ASC-AK), part of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). To begin, they researched collections online to find Ahtna cultural belongings currently located nationally and internationally. Next, they worked in-person with collections at NMAI and NMNH in Suitland, MD, and at the Anchorage Museum. </p> <p>Throughout the project, the Ahtna group documented resources for their communities, made recommendations to museum staff regarding cultural awareness and protocols, and built relationships with each other, which in turn established relationships with museum staff. Across time together, the group developed community outcomes that included making and gifting a calendar, which they based on museum resources, conversations with Ahtna community members, and reflections on Ahtna cultural belongings. They co-created a website on Smithsonian’s Learning Lab (see QR code and URL below) to share project resources and retained a project archive to keep in their communities for future Ahtna-led work.</p> <p>The spirit of this project is about finding ways to bring personal experiences with museum collections into community, reuniting cultural belongings with their descendants. We believe that our cultural belongings have teachings for us, and creating access for our communities is the purpose of this project and should be the purpose of all museum collections. Regaining relationships with cultural belongings happens through both personal and physical connections: this requires visits from and ultimately returning them to their communities.</p> <p>As a descendant of Ahtna peoples, you have the right to access your cultural belongings at museums, and we encourage you to be a part of this homecoming. Search collections online. Visit museums with Ahtna cultural belongings. Connect with community members. Reach out to us for help. The doors are open.</p> <p><em>This project was made possible through the generous support of the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center. </em></p>