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Sacred Wampum's continued
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| On January 28,1915,
the Council of the Six Nations passed a resolution that the wampum belts
were the property of the Six Nations Indians of the Grand River and
named six chiefs who could positively identify them.
But in 1924, the Department of Indian Affairs undertook a campaign to change the Government of Six Nations to an elective system and maintained a policy of not responding further on the matter. Fifty-three years later, on March 17, Paul Williams, Director of a treaty research program for the Union of Ontario Indians, wrote a general inquiry letter to the Museum of the American Indian, The Heye Foundation in New York City. Of primary interest were Ojibway wampum belts commemorating a treaty and a visit to England by three chiefs. In 1985, Confederacy chiefs and negotiator Paul Williams began correspondence with the museum. In February, 1986, Iroquois delegates met with the museum's board of trustees to discuss the possible return of the sacred objects to their rightful owners. "We told them," said Williams, "that we'd help them become the Museum of the American Indian rather than the Museum about the American Indian." On Mother's Day, Sunday, May 8, 1988, the belts were returned to their home at Grand River by the Museum of the American Indian. A cooling breeze wafted beneath the canopy during the reverent activities of the day. An outpouring of thanks, emotion, interest and good will pervaded the historic event. A threshold of a new era of cooperation between museums and the Indians they showcase had been successfully reached. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. Full copyright retained by the original publication. |
