Preservation of Indigenous Cultural Resources & Collections Online Courses

*The online courses on Preservation of Indigenous Cultural Collects were taught between Winter 2024 – Spring 2025 generously funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant*

Preservation of Indigenous Cultural Resources & Collections Courses Brochure

The online courses on Preservation of Indigenous Cultural Collections was generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. These were graduate level courses available to those seeking opportunities for professional development outside of a graduate program. Ideal participants were currently, or planned to become caretakers of American Indian cultural resources, either in cultural centers or museums. Three online courses were offered through UCLA Extension with the option of course credit. Courses followed the UCLA quarterly academic schedule. These courses were intended to teach practical skills, impart confidence in decision-making, and help build professional and community networks.

Course descriptions*

Winter 2024 (Saturdays from January 13 – March 16, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm Pacific)

Preservation of Tribal Cultural Materials in Tribal Collections 

Topics include cataloging; care and handling for familiar collection items; storage enclosures; policies; and conservation and ethical treatment of Native American collections. Students are asked to identify the types of materials in their own collections, as well as the community values and uses of those materials. The course then covers deterioration risks associated with different  collection materials and the methods available to reduce these risks.

Instructor: Rebecca Elder

Founder of Rebecca Elder Cultural Heritage Preservation, Rebecca has nearly twenty years of experience consulting, including over one hundred preservation assessments. She also has experience teaching Library and Archives Conservation at the University of Texas, Austin for ten years.

 

Fall 2024 (Saturdays from September 28 – December 7, 10:00 am- 1:00 pm Pacific)

Developing a Collections Management Plan for Tribal Collections

Topics include collections management policy (CMP) planning and writing with a focus on indigenization. Students will review and critically examine sample policies and practice case studies. Through conversations with indigenous and non-indigenous collections management practitioners attendees will create an individualized CMP framework that addresses needs specific to each attendee’s institution and/or community.

Instructor: Kara Vetter

Kara Vetter is Senior Director of Cultural Resources at San Diego Museum of Us in Southern California. Previously, Kara was the Registrar at the Museum of Us and worked at the Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites.

 

Winter 2025 (Saturdays from January 11 – March 15, 11:00 am- 2:00 pm Pacific)

Exhibition Planning for Tribal Repositories with a focus on Collections Care

The course will feature case studies at three diverse institutions that have developed and hosted innovative exhibitions of Native American heritage and contemporary arts.Topics will include public access to important items that may require specialized care and collections management principles for exhibit planning and execution process. Participants will work on projects that address different exhibit challenges including the portrayal of Native peoples in exhibits, creating structurally sound exhibit mounts from archival materials, and learning to analyze exhibit venues.

Instructors: Jeanne Brako and Jack Townes

Jeanne Brako is a conservator and curator, formerly at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, and now a principal of Museum Consultants of Santa Fe.

Jack Townes has worked in the museum field for over thirty years. as an exhibit preparator, designer and installer. He is an innovative fabricator with metal, wood, fabrics and other materials used in museum projects.

*Students are requested to work with an actual personal or community collection, and to have identified a junior colleague whom you can mentor.   Material packets and course books will be sent to each student.