St. Cloud State University theRepository at St. Cloud State Culminating Projects in Cultural Resource Department of Anthropology Management 5-2015 Digitization of Museum Collections: Using Technology, Creating Access, and Releasing Authority in Managing Content and Resources Benjamin S. Gessner St. Cloud State University Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/crm_etds Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Gessner, Benjamin S., "Digitization of Museum Collections: Using Technology, Creating Access, and Releasing Authority in Managing Content and Resources" (2015). Culminating Projects in Cultural Resource Management. 3. https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/crm_etds/3 This Creative Work is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Anthropology at theRepository at St. Cloud State. It has been accepted for inclusion in Culminating Projects in Cultural Resource Management by an authorized administrator of theRepository at St. Cloud State. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Digitization of Museum Collections: Using Technology, Creating Access, and Releasing Authority in Managing Content and Resources By Benjamin S. Gessner B.F.A., Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2004 M.A., Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2006 A Creative Work Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of St. Cloud State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science St. Cloud, Minnesota March, 2015 This creative work submitted by Benjamin S. Gessner in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science at St. Cloud State University is hereby approved by the final evaluation committee. ________________________________ Dr. Mark Muñiz, Chairperson ________________________________ Dr. Kelly Branam ________________________________ Darlene St. Clair ________________________________ Brian Szott _________________________________ Dean School of Graduate Studies DIGITIZATION OF MUSEUM COLLECTIONS: USING TECHNOLOGY, CREATING ACCESS, AND RELEASING AUTHORITY IN MANAGING CONTENT AND RESOURCES Benjamin S. Gessner Through the use of new technologies and platforms, the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) has been able to reach new levels of transparency in working with Dakota communities on the access, management and care of Dakota material culture collections. By digitizing and sharing information about collections and using an online platform for soliciting feedback - which then becomes attached to the permanent record of the object – the MNHS is relinquishing the authority of intellectual control over Dakota material culture which they have historically claimed to have. In doing so, the institution is not only opening pathways to meaningful dialogue, but is benefiting by gaining new insights and knowledge shared with them by cultural insiders. By expanding upon this shared authority, the MNHS is also being educated in regards to the traditional modes of care for items within their Dakota material culture collections. Over the course of the last few years, through outreach efforts, many Dakota people have also learned about museum best practices in physical preservation. In the past, this type of dialogue has not existed or has been extremely strained. Through sharing information and partnering, personal and professional relationships are guiding emerging professional practices. By promoting online resources that can be accessed via the internet from anywhere, the MNHS has recently begun fostering meaningful dialogue and partnerships. These resources include the Dakota material culture collections, and to a lesser extent, the photograph collections and genealogical records. In sharing these resources, the MNHS has not only promoted access, but has fostered reciprocal sharing of knowledge, in turn creating a more robust and complete understanding. In familiarizing new audiences with digital surrogates, MNHS has promoted the sharing of information, as well as the decentralization of authority. By completing this work in partnership with Dakota i communities – often within their own communities – the MNHS is also reaching underserved audiences. _________________ Month Year Approved by Research Committee: ______________________________ Mark Muñiz Chairperson ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “It’s a long way from your head to your heart.” I try to remember the dozens of times that J.B. Weston has said that to me and realize I must not be as quick of a study as I thought. But I do think I am starting to catch on. He must mean that someone can know something, academically, but that does not necessarily make it real – for him, to live and experience something is to truly understand it. With this in my mind, I sit reflecting on how my life has changed since beginning this work – actually what started as work but what is now so enmeshed in my life that I cannot call it “work” – and my phone rings. It is J.B.’s sister Myrna, the woman who has taken us in and made my family a part of hers, calling from South Dakota. She asks how I am and I tell her something like, “I’m trying to write about all of these things we’ve been working on. It’s important for me to figure out how to tell our story in the right way.” Myrna’s love for her Dakota people is apparent in everything that she does and says, and I can hear it today. Like she does, she says in her language “Wocekiya tokaheya – prayer first.” Then adds, “Think of it this way: I’m your aunty, so just explain it like you would to me.” So here goes. I am forever indebted to my Dakota family, teachers, and friends, especially Myrna Weston Louis, J.B. Weston, Franky Jackson, and Melvin Lee Houston, and I always do my best to listen to them carefully. My whole world is my wife Chandra and our daughters Juniper and Iris. I am full of gratitude for my grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters (Gessners, Sathers, and Westons) and for all of my family, friends and teachers. With you all next to me, I attempt to do a little bit of something bigger. iii From my head I think, but from my heart I feel. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF PLATES.................................................................................................... viii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................... 1 Overview……………………………………………………………. 1 MNHS Institutional history link to Dakota history……………….... 4 NAGPRA and the Dakota NAGPRA Coalition…………………….. 8 Community Needs and Outreach…………………………………… 9 II. PROJECTS ................................................................................................ 12 Introduction to projects……………………………………………... 12 PROJECT 1(A): Digitization of Material Culture…………………. 14 Overview…………………………………………………..... 14 Methodology for identification……………………………... 16 Handling of culturally sensitive items and images…….…… 20 Project statistics…………………………………………….. 22 Communicating results with community……………………. 23 Feedback and community concerns…………………………. 27 PROJECT 1(B): Oceti Sakowin Portal Website……….……………. 28 Overview…………………………………………………….. 28 D for Dakota; not that simple: methods of organization……. 29 v Chapter Page WOTR and decentralizing authority……………….............. 32 PROJECT 2: Resource Sharing in Communities………………….. 34 Overview……………………………………………………. 34 Legacy of Survival event overview…………………………. 35 A Project Reconceived……………………………………… 39 USB drives………………………………………….. 41 Informational panel exhibit……………….………… 41 Replicated successes, community reactions and conclusions.……………………… 43 PROJECT 3: Article……………………………………………… 46 Overview…………………………………………………… 46 Stewardship, Partnership and Technology: Dakota Material Culture in the Minnesota Historical Society……….. 48 III. CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………….. 59 New directions …………………………………………………….. 59 Closing………………………………………………………………. 60 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 62 APPENDICES A. Digitizing Dakota Material Culture Report Introduction and Methods…………………………………………… 65 B. Resource Sharing in Communities Proposal...………………………………. 72 vi C. Wopida Tanka from the Minnesota Historical Society……………………... 77 D. Preserving Family Photos and Documents..………………………………… 80 E. Researching Dakota Family History Library Guide………………………… 84 F. Resource Sharing Exhibit Panels……………………………………………. 105 vii LIST OF PLATES Plate Page 1. Tour of the Crow Creek Reservation with MNHS staff and Dakota Cultural Resource Managers, March 2012…………….. 25 2. Speaking about repatriation at the site of “Old” Fort Thompson, Crow Creek Reservation, March 2012……………………………… 26 3. Oceti Sakowin website screenshot, September 2014. Storage subgroups Containers & Holders and Bags & Pouches……………. 30 4. Oceti Sakowin website screenshot, February 2015. Pipe Sets page featuring images withheld…………………………………….. 31 5. Write On The Record template screenshot, February 2015………………... 33 6. Traditional camp being raised in Flandreau, SD for the Legacy of Survival event, August 2012…………………………….. 36 7. Myrna Weston Louis after a quillwork demonstration at the Legacy of Survival event, August 2012…………………………….. 37 8. Dakota marchers and supporters near the Minnesota / South Dakota border, August 2012………………………………… 38 9. MNHS collections staff members scanning photographs during the Legacy of Survival event, August 2012………………………… 40 10. Dave Louis viewing exhibit panels during the Legacy of Survival event, August 2012………………………… 42 11. Dakota