The foundation of every sub-project within the Great Lakes and Eastern Woodlands research cluster is based on community relationships. As a result, community priorities — beginning with land-based work on Indigenous language reclamation and revitalization — determine the directions of all research activities. These activities centre on the study of books that emerge from or were used by Lunaapeewak or Anishinabek, as well as on wampum items that are currently held in museums in North America and Europe. In each case, the focus is on community access to their belongings, both digital and in person, and on the sharing of research results in a way that respects Indigenous sovereignty, with decisions regarding what information is to be shared being made by the community of origin. By making sure that every sub-project in this area is carried out by a research group that includes members of the Nation, we aim to proceed in a way that is both intentional and respectful. We believe that this approach centres the community of origin in a good way while also offering cultural heritage institutions — museums, libraries, and archives — the opportunity to improve their own care practices and level of community engagement.

Visiting with Munsee Delaware Belongings in Europe

Munsee-Delaware Nation members Ian McCallum and John Nicholas, along with John Moses (Delaware and Mohawk bands, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory) and Hidden Stories project member Suzanne Conklin Akbari, travelled to Germany and Scotland in June 2025 to visit with Munsee belongings that entered into European collections during the nineteenth century.

The first stop was the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, where curator Monika Zessnik provided access to items in storage including a Delaware (Lenape) wampum belt dating to the mid-eighteenth century which marks a significant treaty agreement involving Munsee communities. Another wampum belt and accompanying wampum strings, along with some culturally sensitive items, were also visited and this Munsee-led research group has reached out to their community of origin, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa, to plan a joint follow-up visit and accompanying workshop in summer 2026. The group also joined one day of the Global Cultural Assembly at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, participating in a collaborative workshop with Indigenous artists and knowledge keepers from around the world.

The second stop was the Karl May Museum in Radebeul, a small regional museum centered on the life and works of the “Wild West” writer which also contains an extraordinary collection of Indigenous belongings gathered in the first decades of the twentieth century by the collector Patty Frank. With the help of curator Robin Leipold and others at the Karl May Museum, McCallum, Nicholas, and Moses were able to visit a ceremonial mask connected with the Logan family, which found its way to Germany in the nineteenth century by way of Kahkewaquonaby or the Rev. Peter Jones, a member of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation who was an influential Methodist missionary.

Finally, McCallum and Moses proceeded to Blantyre, Scotland, where they visited with another ceremonial mask, also from Munsee-Delaware Nation and also one that passed through the hands of Kahkewaquonaby. Research on these items continues this fall, with an upcoming workshop at the American Museum of Natural History for community members to take place on day 2 of the fifth annual Munsee Language and History Symposium (16-18 October 2025).

John Nicholas (Munsee-Delaware Nation) shared his reflections on the trip: When I was first presented with the idea of joining this team, I was and still am a bit reticent about it. What could I possibly bring to the table that would be of any value to such an auspicious group of ethnographic researchers and linguists as Dr. Suzanne Akbari, John Moses, and Ian McCallum? I am certainly not an academic by any means. I came to realize that I carry my own experience and perspective, having retired after thirty years of employment with the federal government (fifteen years of which were spent working at the highest levels as a program director within the Bureau of Indian Affairs). More importantly, I carry memories of the things my father taught my siblings and me as we were growing up. My father, Harvey G. Nicholas (Grayowl), was the last hereditary chief of the Munsee-Delaware Nation. When very young, he was taken from his mother by tribal elders and spent much of his formative years living with them and learning what he would need to know to be an effective governmental and spiritual leader. I don’t claim to know all that he knew, but I do recall some things that are generally not found written in history books.

I was utterly amazed when we encountered the wampum. Especially considering the arduous process involved in producing each bead by hand. I recalled my father telling of a special ceremony involving “generational” wampum belts. Many people understand that wampum belts were made to commemorate solemn agreements. Wampum belts were also made to record major events that occurred during the lifetime of a hereditary Chief. He said that when a hereditary Chief died, the community would gather and many belts would be brought out to be read. Special characters or “ideographs” were woven into each belt, beginning with his father and proceeding backward through generations. Each belt represented a whole generation. Occasionally, if there were more events than could be included on one belt, that generation would be represented by two or more belts. He said the process of reading through all of the belts took as many as nine days, reaching far back into the past.

When we were introduced to the Logan Mask, I was struck by how lightweight the wood was and how finely carved. My father recounted the important role the owners of such masks played in the community. The Warrior Society protected the community from threats external to the community, while the False Face Society protected the community from internal threats. For example, if you had spoken ill of a community member, someone within the False Faces would hear of it, particularly if you had not made amends to that community member. During the festivities of the Strawberry Moon, the False Faces would seek you out and would jeer you until you went publicly to the person you had wronged to ask forgiveness.

John Moses:

Consistent with traditional protocols around such matters, permit me this opportunity to introduce myself in some detail. My name is John Moses. I am a member of the Delaware (Lenape) and Upper Mohawk bands from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory near Brantford, Ontario, Canada. That is where both my parents were born and raised and where the majority of my extended family members continue to live and work. Family members continue to farm fifty acres along Six Nations' Third Line road, also called Delaware Line. My late father Russ Moses (Lenape) was a residential school survivor of the Mohawk Institute, a naval veteran of the Korean War, an air force veteran of the Cold War era, and an accomplished public servant who played a leadership role in the development and delivery of the ground breaking Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, now recognized as a watershed in Indigenous self-representation before national and global audiences. My mother Helen Monture Moses (Upper Mohawk), now ninety-five at the time of this writing, followed her own mother, Edith Anderson Monture (Mohawk and Tuscarora), the Great War U.S. Army nurse and Indigenous Canadian health care pioneer, into the nursing profession. Helen was a founding member of the original Canadian Indian Nurses Association in the 1970s, for which work she received her Eagle Feather. I am sharing this so you know exactly who I am and where I am coming from in all important respects, and what informs my thinking on many subject matters.

It was my privilege in June of 2025 to accompany my colleagues John Nicholas (Munsee-Delaware Nation), Ian McCallum (Munsee-Delaware Nation) - with whom I share common Lenape (Delaware) ancestors - and Suzanne Conklin Akbari (Institute for Advanced Study) on a Mellon Foundation-funded research trip to view, visit with, and pay respects to, important Lenape ancestor belongings residing in museums near Berlin, Germany and Edinburgh, Scotland, and to review their associated museum archival and catalogue records. The museums in question comprised the storage facility of the Ethnological Museum in Dahlem (Berlin), the Karl May Museum in Radebeul, the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, and finally the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum in Blantyre south of Edinburgh. We also had the privilege of attending one day of the Global Cultural Assembly at the Humboldt Forum, which was coincident with our visit. I wish to thank our principal organizer Suzanne Conklin Akbari and our sponsor the Mellon Foundation for this extraordinary opportunity, the possibility of which I had not previously envisioned.

The research trip has been transformational for me on both a personal level as a Six Nations Munsee-Mahican Lenape band member, and professionally as an independent Indigenous consultant on museums and heritage matters. The stories of these Ancestors' own journeys through time and across oceans, national boundaries and generations represent in microcosm the means by which important ancestor belongings once owned in common might become perceived as family heirlooms, and ultimately depart from their territories and cultures of origin altogether. Conversely, the recent research trip (again, generously organized by the IAS and funded by the Mellon Foundation) inspires hope and suggests a spectrum of possibilities for Indigenous reconnection and Indigenous engagement for the future. It is important to realize that just as natural resources have been removed from within traditional Indigenous territories for sale and consumption within Western markets, and just as Indigenous children have been removed from their families and communities for the purposes of assimilation, so too have cultural resources comprising ancestor belongings been removed to museums and related institutions globally. This underscores the need to be vigilant and diligent in questioning who gets to speak on whose behalf regarding representations of Indigeneity in the museum and gallery space, and questioning whose values and assumptions inform decision-making processes, whether for individual ancestor belongings and works of art, or for entire monuments, historic sites and cultural landscapes. Finally, how do we decolonize, Indigenize and unsettle existing institutions, while setting in place the conditions necessary for brand new Indigenous-led cultural spaces of the future?

Visit with Belongings at AMNH

In June 2025, Amanda McLeod (independent conservator and curator/ Sagkeeng Anicinabe Nation) and Melissa Moreton travelled to New York City for a visit to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), to visit with Anishinaabe belongings from Manitoba connected to McLeod’s ancestral homeland. During a visit to the conservation lab with Samantha Alderson (Assistant Director of Conservation) and Karina Ceron (Research Assistant, North American Ethnology), McLeod spent time with birchbark quillwork baskets, beaded and embroidered moccasins, and beaded bags, and was able to share information on a particular beadwork piece: thought to originally be from a specific Anishinaabe community, she was able to verify it as being from a different community with Anishinaabe and Dakota roots. This allowed staff to add important information to the catalogue record for this belonging and highlighted the importance of community-centred work within museum, library, and conservation spaces. Reconnecting with ancestral belongings is essential for Indigenous communities. Additionally, the knowledge-sharing that often takes place during these visits also helps to reconnect other belongings to their communities of origin–both through the work within the museum but also through networks of Indigenous knowledge-keepers and care professionals.

Wampum Care Filming at National Museum of the American Indian

By Amanda McLeod (Sagkeeng Anicinabe Nation) and Melissa Moreton

In March 2025, independent conservator and curator Amanda McLeod (Sagkeeng Anicinabe Nation) travelled to Washington, DC, to record a video on the traditional care of wampum belts, institutional responsibilities, respectful community consultation and collaboration, as part of the Hidden Stories video series on Traditional Care Practices. The video was filmed with wampum belts at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), the Smithsonian Institution, and the NMAI Cultural Resource Center, where Amanda had previously participated in two conservation internships. The belts highlighted in the video are Haudenosaunee and Penobscot Abenaki, and are part of current and ongoing repatriation / rematriation efforts by NMAI staff working with Indigenous community members. The video highlights institutional obligations of those holding Indigenous belongings and the importance of connecting with community members to advise on their care. As McLeod notes, “Our stories have been told for us for so many generations” with the institutional attitude of “we know what’s best.” She emphasizes that the best way to work toward reconciliation and decolonization, and shift the institutional mindset from “owners of objects” to “custodians of collections,” is to connect with and collaborate with source communities in a respectful way. They hold the most important knowledge of their belongings.

The video, Hidden Stories: Traditional Care of Wampum Belts, grew out of the Traditional Care Practices series, in which knowledge keepers and caretakers from communities of origin share knowledge on care of books and book-adjacent belongings currently living in GLAM (gallery, library, archive, museum) spaces. With the goal of integrating traditional care practices into the non-traditional (GLAM) spaces and conservation labs, project collaborators hope to both improve the care of belongings, integrate traditional care practices into these spaces, and most importantly, better connect these book relations to the origin communities who created and traditionally cared for them.

Linking Past and Future through Wampum Knowledge

by Kristin Jacobs, Munsee-Delaware language keeper (Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit / Delaware Nation at Moraviantown)

I had an incredible experience being able to visit the Beads of Diplomacy exhibit and wampum symposium at the McCord Stewart Museum in Montréal in February (2024).  The exhibit brought together over 40 wampum belts and other related objects. Listening to all of the speakers and presenters, I really felt a sense of pride for our peoples living during such a hostile period, but still trying to find peace and understanding for the better good of all nations involved. Their intelligence speaks to these beautiful works of art in these wampum belts and pipes, using all natural materials around them. They were constructed with gifts from Kukuna Ahkuy (mother earth) to make these important discussions about her, and giving the belts themselves their own spirits, hence being living objects.

I’ve just started making wampum belts and know the struggles of broken needles and using the new-age loom method to construct them. It had always baffled me on what was used for the string and needle back way back then and knew there had to be another way. During the presentations, I was happy to learn there wasn’t a needle at all, but that a twist tie method was used, like in the photo taken. This really brought my understanding to another level, realising the long, tedious process to construct one.

A Discussion of Libraries and Indigenous Books