Wellcome Collection takes part in pilot scheme to incorporate Indigenous knowledge

London’s Wellcome Collection is taking part in a transatlantic pilot project to develop “ethical and reciprocal relationships” with Indigenous communities.

The museum is one of five partners in a 12-month project, Indigenous Knowledges, which aims to develop a new model for decolonising museum collections using digital tools.

The other participating institutions are the Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies at the University of Kent, and three US partners: the South West Center, University of Arizona, the Diné College Special Collections and Kinyaa’áanii Charlie Benally Library (Navajo Nation). The project is funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council and the USA’s National Endowment for the Humanities.

The partnership will involve relationship-building and problem-solving between Indigenous and non-Indigenous librarians and archivists. The project team aims to develop “a reciprocal and consultative model for decolonising heritage collections through the use of digital tools”.

A statement on the Wellcome Collection’s website says: “The model we develop will aim to provide sensitised and mindful access to Indigenous materials in non-Indigenous collections so as to deepen understanding of such materials and their contexts amongst cultural heritage practitioners, students, and wider publics.”

The museum will focus on parallel sample selections of items from its own collections and Kinyaa’áanii Special Collections.

The Wellcome Collection will collaborate with Local Contexts, an organisation that supports Indigenous communities to manage their intellectual and cultural property, cultural heritage, environmental data and genetic resources within digital environments, to trial the use of digital markers, notices and labels. These will provide a long-term framework for connecting communities to collections in the UK and provide an example of best practice in recognising Indigenous Knowledges protocols.

The project will culminate in an online symposium, using Wellcome Collection material as a case study.

To learn more about the project email the Indigenous Knowledges team at Wellcome Collection at: researchdevelopmentteam@wellcomecollection.org.

Decolonising archives masterclass

The Museum of London Docklands and the University of Repair, a reparative history initiative, are jointly hosting a free, in-person masterclass on decolonising archives. Reviewing Archives and Collections using Anti-Racist Pedagogy takes place on 30 April and features speakers Gus John and Connie Bell.

It is part of a series of masterclasses addressing reparative justice, moving beyond the performative in museum practice and sustaining meaningful relationships with marginalised communities.