First Nations, Museums, Narrations: Stories of the 1929 Franklin Motor Expedition to the Canadian Prairies

Description

When the Franklin Motor Expedition set out across the Canadian Prairies to gather First Nations artifacts| it was with the assumption that they were collecting mementos of dying cultures. As brutal assimilation policies threatened to decimate First Nations cultures across Canada| an extensive program of ethnographic salvage was in place. Despite having only three members| the expedition amassed hundreds of items| which now comprise the largest single collection of materials from Prairie First Nations held in a British museum.

In the past two decades| the relationship between Canadian museums and First Nations has undergone a realignment of power and this shift is now beginning to transform curatorial practices at British museums. In this book| Alison K. Brown looks at the Franklin Motor Expedition from multiple perspectives| consulting descendants of the collectors and members of the affected First Nations and reviewing expedition images and the artifacts themselves. In doing so| she explores not only the intellectual and political contexts within which the collection was made but also the complex relationships between museums| anthropologists| and First Nations.

Accessibly written and vigorously researched| “First Nations| Museums| Narrations” raises important questions about the role and purpose of collections in the twenty-first century and considers the way forward for indigenous peoples and the museums that house their cultural treasures.