Cataloging Culture: Critical Approaches for Museum Collections

Authors:

• Holly Young, Master of Arts in Museology
• Chair: Jessica Luke
• Holly Barker
• Hollye Keister

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Abstract:

Museum documentation practices have long privileged Eurocentric and Anglo-American biases and perspectives, resulting in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) source and descendent communities being excluded or erased from the records. The purpose of this study was to understand how anthropological collections departments in museums are currently attempting to engage in critical cataloging practices. A case study approach was used involving semi-structured interviews and document analysis at three university museums: the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture at the University of Washington, Indiana University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (IUMAA), and Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Study results revealed that ongoing critical cataloging work at these museums has focused primarily on being mindful about language choices and collaborating with communities in equitable ways. Key challenges faced by the museums are limited resources, database constraints, priorities of the broader university, and current models of museum education and training. This study demonstrates the potential for collections departments to transform their documentation practices in order to make them more inclusive and equitable, while highlighting the inherently collaborative nature of critical cataloging work. It raises further questions about the nature of critical cataloging work in different types of collections and institutions, including both university museums and non-university museums.