Background.  During the past two years I have had the opportunity to serve on the exhibits committee for the Winona County Historical Society (Minnesota) A big focus is studying past and present  history and culture of regional native Americans with a focus on the Dakota, one of the sovereign nations in Minnesota.  Recently we met with a Native American Advisory council comprised on tribal leaders from Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Rutgers University.  County and city government officials also participated in the sharing circle.

I am sharing this with goal hope of hearing from others about similar discussions you have had or what is happening in museums or institutions in your locality. Please share!

In their own words and key takeaways:

We are here!  We are not just historical people.  We come from  sovereign nations with legal power and status. 

Tribal consultation is important; the land is very important to us and our ancestors.   Our way is to understand what the and was and what it wants to be now what we want it to be.   We must show respect for our plant and soil relatives.

Our relationships with land are not the same as the settler/colonizer relationships

Parks in our county are on what was Native Land;  people who built some of them remove bones from burial mounds  The bones of over 500 of our relatives are in storage at a University in Minnesota. Tribal governments bare the expansive and timely cost of repatriation. Museums and other entities need to establish protocols for development.

Advisory council members shared deeply personal stories stories about the lasting effect of boarding schools on families, the inability to take care of their land in their way and heartfelt comments about things that are promised by never happen.  The sharing circle was informative and sobering.

Discussions re-shared here were inspired by exhibit committee  discussions and educational activities.

The Largest Mass Execution in American History

The Largest Mass Execution in American History: When a Work of Art leads to Controversy

Learning from Historical Fiction: Thinking and Wondering
(Questions relating to the Lost Wife)

Update, summer 2024.  The Prairie Island Indian Community in Southeast Minnesota has filed a claim with the Minnesota Historical Society requesting repatriation rights to the noose used to hang a Dakota ancestor known as Chaska.   Chaska helped protect a white women fictionalized in the Lost Wife.  Chaska  was pardoned but them executed. (Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 27, 2024)

Lovers Leap and the Legends of Princess Wenonah.  An advisory council member shared her experiences bringing Nebraska students to Winona to see where Princess Wenonah may have lept to her death.   The speaker explained the legend may be based on truth; the song she may have sung is sung today in tribal ceremonies.

Related posts, but not specific to Dakota tribal nations

Visiting Indians Mounds National Monument  (Iowa)

TVA returning Native American remains from burial mounds (Tennessee)

 Map: Indian Reservations West of The Mississippi, 1923.  Can you locate Dakota land?

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