Native American objects
Alutiiq Mask
Charles and Valerie Diker, two collectors, donated a handful of items from the Alutiiq tribe to the Met, many of which have unclear/misleading ownership histories. Beatty, an Alaskan Native argues the Met’s ownership history for the masks fails to observe more than a century of their whereabouts; Historians claim the masks were taken in 1871, whereas the museum’s timeline does not start until 2003.
The Alutiit have lived on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska for roughly 7,500 years. During winter, their people would gather indoors and create utensils, clothing, and ceremonial objects, such as wood faces. At preordained times, the tribe would wear their masks while dancing and singing in a ritual practice. April G.L. Counceller, director of the Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository in Kodiak says, “For other ceremonies, the masks were a way to communicate with spirit helpers”, after ceremonies, they would hide their masks to let the “sky creatures” rest.
In 1740, Russians invaded the land, to which then the United States arrived and established residential schools that sought to punish Native Americans. By the 1890s, roughly 10% of the Alutiit population remained, with the other 90% being subject to death or abuse by starvation, ransom, disease, etc.
Museums and collectors sought to pillage the remnants of the Alaskan tribe, where the mask circulated through various owners until ending up at the Diker’s in 2003 and the Met in 2017. The Met lists owners from the past 20 years, storing the items with incorrect data. In attempts for reconciliation, the museum states that “it was recommended that the masks remain on view to provide community access”, ignoring the fact members of the Alaskan tribe must travel 3,500 miles just to see it.
Lakota “Model Tipi Cover,” 1885
In 2019, the Met displayed the item with the following placard read: “During early reservation life, Plains people created objects such as this for sale to visiting military personnel, government officials [and missionaries]”. Peter Gibbs, an archivist with the Rosebud Sioux tribe’s historic preservation office argues that the museum has got it all wrong.
Rather, Gibbs notes in 1886, the United States government hired L.F. Spencer, as an Indian agent. Upon his arrival on the reservation, the United States sought to establish control over the tribe by sending its children to residential schools in Pennsylvania, where they were subject to harsh labor and abuse, even death. Upon the death of Chief Spotted Tail, Spencer claimed the chief had granted him ownership over several items, notably a medicine pipe passed through his ancestry. Pleas to expel Spencer from the Indian Rights Association made no progress, leaving him with several artifacts.
After Spencer’s death, his estate sold several items to museums and collectors; the Met does not list these names. In 1989, the Diker’s purchased the Tipi Cover, giving it to the Met in 2018, where they labeled it as a souvenir. Ben Rhodd, the Rosebud Sioux tribe’s culture officer, stated the tipi had an entirely different meaning, stating that “this inaccuracy is the result of a lack of consultation”..” and I think the piece has been looted”.
As of 2023, five years after the Met took the item, tribal officials have yet to receive a response to their concerns. (Sharp, 2023)