Dear archivists,
This past August, the Society of American Archivists (SAA) Council approved "Principles for Indigenous Archival Repatriation" (PINAR) as a professional standard. PINAR marks the culmination of a two-year effort by the SAA Archival Repatriation Committee, launched in 2022, to create professional guidance supporting the ethical return of archival materials to Indigenous communities.
To read more on the development and passage, check out our Archival Outlook piece "Adopting Principles in Indigenous Archival Repatriation."
What's next? What can you do?
-
Come to Our UPCOMING Annual Meeting or STANDARDS MEETING
Our Component Group/Annual Meeting will be May 15th, 4pm EST, and is open to all. To attend and learn more about PINAR and archival repatriation, please register here.
We will also be presenting alongside the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (PNAAM) at the webinar There's a Standard for That on May 14th from 12pm-1:30pm EST. Register here to attend.
We hope these meetings will help spread the word about this new standard, and inspire you to start conversations at your institution.
-
Submit an Archival Repatriation/PINAR Testimonial
Our next big goal is to promote the integration of PINAR into archival practice by showing how this work is happening in the field, and challenges institutions and communities face in undertaking it. To do that, our Committee is seeking testimonials about repatriation, rematriation, copyright or full transfer of Indigenous archival materials to traditional owners, as defined by PINAR.
We are collaborating with the Native American Archives Section to collect these testimonials as part of a revised case study series. To learn more about the new series, go to our microsite or check out the NAAS Case Studies site. If you have been involved in an archival return of some kind, or you're interested in submitting, submit a preliminary Google Form response, and our team will be in touch.
------------------------------
Diana Marsh
Assistant Professor of Archives & Digital Curation
University of Maryland College of Information Studies
Washington DC
------------------------------