The Evolution of Colorado’s Museums – 5280 | The Denver Magazine

Cheyenne Cuneo Home display. Photo courtesy of the Denver Art Museum, Native Arts Department

We track key moments in the changing relationship between curators and Native American tribes.

As part of its $150 million renovation of the Martin Building, the Denver Art Museum (DAM) held a ceremony in 2019 to install a Haida pole by famed carver Dwight Wallace. To ensure the event honored tribal customs, curators asked Wallaces descendants to help plan the occasionbut local institutions havent always respected Native Americans wishes. Here, we highlight key moments in museums journeys toward enlightenment.

1925: The DAM begins collecting American Indian art, becoming one of the first U.S. museums to focus on artistry instead of ethnography. But it continues to make gaffes, like showing stolen Zuni carvings known as war gods, or Ahayu:da.

1968: The Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) accepts 500 boxes of tribal objects, the foundation of its Native American collection, from a private collector. Gordon Yellowman, a Cheyenne chief, says such items were often stolen.

1973: The DMNS establishes the Native American Advisory Council, a first-of-its-kind consortium from Denvers tribal community that consults on exhibits. Unfortunately, says Chip Colwell, former curator of anthropology at the DMNS, the councils concerns were typically dismissed.

1980: After a two-year national campaign by the Zuni, public pressure convinces the DAM to return war god figures (its the first institution in the world to do so). Theyre placed in a secure, roofless sanctuary in New Mexico so they can disintegrate naturally, per Zuni custom.

1990: A new federal law, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), enacts a system for tribes to request the return of human remains and certain objects. But curators can ultimately decide to keep items.

1991: The DMNS is praised for swiftly returning Zuni war gods found in storage. But the same year, a member of the Alaskan Tlingit tribe files a NAGPRA claim for Ket Saaxw, a ceremonial hat. The DMNS takes six years to give it back and is accused of stalling.

1994: The DMNS hosts Yankton Sioux activist Maria Pearson for its first NAGPRA consultation, inwhich curators display their inventories to tribes. Yellowman, a former NAGPRA official, says such meetings spurred communication by showing both parties cared for the objects.

2012: History Colorado Center opens a Sand Creek Massacre exhibit that draws criticism from the victims descendants, who object to its title, Collision, among other details. The museum admits it failed to adequately consult with the tribes and closes the exhibit indefinitely.

2017: Colorados Ute tribes are given veto power over every word, photo, and item displayed at History Colorados Ute Indian Museum in Grand Junction. The institution uses the same process for 2018s Written On The Land: Ute Voices, Ute History exhibit in Denver.

This article appeared in the June 2020 issue of 5280.

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The Evolution of Colorado's Museums - 5280 | The Denver Magazine