Museum Association, MA

Last year Lakota elder Leonard Little Finger mentioned that a small-town library and historical museum in Massachusetts had a collection of Native American artifacts reputedly stolen from the site of the 1890 Massacre of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Afterward the thief had created a traveling show and charged people a fee to see items from the Native Americans killed at Wounded Knee.

Leonard and other Lakota people had tried to get the artifacts repatriated for decades. He asked me and others to visit the museum and try to photograph the items for the tribal archive. Since then my numerous attempts to photograph the artifacts have been unsuccessful. The museum, which is seldom open, says its policy prohibits photography.

The artifacts said to originate with the Wounded Knee Massacre are locked in a room behind the walls pictured in these images. The museum has been reluctant to return the items, fearing the tribe would burn or bury them—acts contrary to its mission stated on its website: “We will act as stewards as we aspire to preserve, protect and propagate the cultural heritage of our community.” However, the Native people believe the items should be burned to free the spirits from the massacre.