By Emilye Lewin, Provincial Archivist
This article was originally published in our Winter 2024 issue of Sowing Goodness.
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur West Archives houses a collection of Native American baskets that was donated to the College of Notre Dame in San Jose, now Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), during the 1910s. The baskets were gifted to the Sisters by two English pioneer families, the Millers and the Kirks, after their daughters were educated at the College. It was initially thought that Native mothers made the baskets in exchange for their daughters’ education; however, research later determined that the baskets were made and sold as part of the local tourist trade, where the families purchased them.
The collection served as a teaching aid in various classes; however, when the Sisters moved to Belmont, they opened the Museum of Indigenous Cultures of the Pacific Rim and the Far West and displayed the baskets there for decades. In 1965, as the College continued to grow, the museum closed to make space for additional classrooms. Upon its closure, the Archives accessioned the collection to ensure long-term preservation of the materials.
In 2009, the process of examining ownership and returning the baskets began. Returning objects like these to those with historical or cultural ownership is an essential practice for institutions with archives.
This action allows us to build relationships with local tribe members while acknowledging colonialism’s history. The baskets may also have unique qualities, making them valuable to the cultural history of the tribes, or tribe members may also have emotional or intellectual ties to the objects. Returning them provides a form of recognition of the tribes’ cultural heritage that is important for us to acknowledge.
Kathy O’Connor, former SNDdeN West Archivist, consulted with Native American basketry experts who evaluated the items to find potential tribal connections. Identifying weaving styles, materials and other details from the baskets linked to different regions and tribes determines which tribes to contact. We sent letters from the SNDdeN West Archives to representatives of local tribes to begin this process, and the work continues.
The SNDdeN West Archives hopes to return each basket to those with cultural ownership.
During the interim, a portion of the collection has been moved to the Carl Gellert and Celia Berta Gellert Library at NDNU, where students and other visitors can view the baskets and read about their history. While the process continues, we invite members of the public to NDNU ’s campus to experience this display in person. Even after the baskets are returned, the Sisters’ Archives will continue to preserve the history through photographs and documents illuminating the connection between the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the Native tribes of the Pacifc Northwest.