ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the philosophy of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Washington, D.C., then explores a case study that illustrates how this philosophy is used to guide conservation treatment. The philosophy at NMAI is to allow maximum access to the collections by the descendants of the Native American communities from which the objects originally came. In practice, this attitude is expressed by consulting community representatives about the care and interpretation of the collections, allowing objects to be handled and used in ceremony (also involving touching and handling), and returning objects to the communities on long-term loan.
