My organization has an average annual budget of about $200,000. With a part-time staff of four, it can often feel like showy exhibits, big project implementations, and progressive programs are not something we can accomplish. However, in 2021 we opened a permanent outdoor museum of Indigenous life called Nowashe Village. This nearly one-acre site was a huge accomplishment for our organization, as my team and I worked through its construction, program development, interpretation standards, and most importantly, made connections with the Indigenous community.
Despite the challenges, this year we received an AASLH Award of Excellence and History in Progress Award. We were extremely honored, and even more so when we were asked to be the presenters at the Small Museums Luncheon at the AASLH annual conference in Buffalo. Our trip was made possible in part by an AASLH Small Museums Scholarship.
How did three non-Native women create a Native museum on a shoestring budget and part-time hours? We shared some of our secrets in our presentation. Here are some highlights, so if you’re a small museum who doesn’t think you can make something big happen, this blog post is for you!
You CAN accomplish a lot without massive external funding and museum consultants.
As a small museum, resourcefulness is key. This can mean finding tools, technologies, and other services to accomplish a variety of tasks in-house. One of our favorites is Vistaprint and we’ve used it to make reasonably priced museum brochures, rack cards, a children’s activit,y and much more. Need to design something but don’t understand (or own) fancy software? We downloaded a unique commercial font and created the Nowashe Village logo in PowerPoint, and for a long time relied on a free version of Canva. Video editing? Try Kizoa with your own content or Clipchamp if you also need a variety of stock images, video, or music. We host our videos on Podia for virtual field trips and make others available for immediate purchase and online streaming. The QR codes throughout Nowashe were made on QRStuff and they direct visitors to hidden pages on our website for museum exhibit information. What do you need to accomplish? Google it! You’d be surprised what free and cheap options there are out there.
You CAN start to examine difficult conversations without scaring your board.
We are a 51-year old institution in a town where descendants of the Mayflower and veterans of the Revolutionary War can be found in our burying grounds. Our organization has never been one to pose difficult questions or been very inclusive of historically underrepresented groups. Nonetheless, we built a museum about Indigenous heritage and staff deliberately chose to place it in the present instead of the past.
If your board isn’t entirely comfortable with difficult conversations and lacks expertise, then it is your job to provide them with articles, case studies, and other evidence that supports a decolonized way forward.
You may also need to proceed similarly with patrons and donors. We started slowly, educating about what words to use to describe or interact with the Indigenous community. Over time we invited Indigenous educators to talk not just about domestic crafts, but also their experience as a modern Native person. Have they experienced discrimination? What are their views on Native sports mascots, Halloween costumes, and Thanksgiving? We recently welcomed our first Native artist, exhibiting sixteen portraits featuring red handprints to bring awareness to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s movement. The stories that accompany many of the portraits are stark and upsetting, but the response from the community has been steadfast. We intend to continue to push boundaries, incite emotion, and acknowledge all those whose stories have been lost.
It is the responsibility of history organizations to tell history responsibly.
You CAN commit to working with a community that you are not a part of, and in the process gain their trust.
From the earliest stages of its development, we invited Indigenous people to discuss what could and should be discussed and taught inside Nowashe Village. The sincerity and transparency with which we approach our work is what has enabled us to build a wide network of traditionally underrepresented voices. We admit what we don’t know and acknowledge that we are a staff of white, non-Native women. We are extremely intentional, trying to use correct pronunciations, respecting cultural traditions, and supporting the Indigenous economy. We do our very best to be culturally appropriate and respect each person’s individual comfort level and boundaries. I ask each Indigenous person we work with how they are treated by our staff, volunteers, and the public. An open dialogue is paramount to learn what can be improved. If you view both your work and those you work with with respect and passion, I think you’ll find that others will respond in kind to you.