Denver Museum of Nature and Science officials are preparing to close their North American Indian Cultures Hall this summer, deeming it “problematic” despite years of consultations with Native American representatives, updates and changes meant to improve displays.
“We understand that the Hall reinforces harmful stereotypes and white, dominant culture,” museum vice president Liz Davis wrote in a letter sent to members on Wednesday.
“Despite collaboration with Indigenous representatives during its creation and ongoing efforts by curators, conservators and others to update and improve various parts of the Hall, we acknowledge that it remains problematic,” she added. The hall was created in 1978.
For now, the museum has posted a “healing statement” at the front of the 10,000-square-foot Indian Cultures Hall — written “after taking into account the concerns expressed by the community,” Davis said in the letter.
The efforts parallel local and national campaigns to return stolen Indigenous artifacts and rethink how Indigenous people and their history are represented in the European-dominated museum world, activists and scholars said.
“These (institutions) are finally adapting, but there’s still a lot of hurt within the Indigenous communities,” said Joshua Emerson (Diné), who serves as co-chairman of the Denver American Indian Commission. “There’s been a big movement locally toward this.”
He pointed to the repatriation of Denver’s city-owned bison herd, in which 35 bison were transferred back to tribal management in March, following a 2021 decision to give the bison back to Indigenous lands, CBS Colorado reported.
“Denver’s the only city that’s done that,” Emerson said.
Officials at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science are setting a similar tone with their healing statement: “Within this space, the Museum perpetuates racist stereotypes by portraying Indigenous people in dioramas as if they exist only in the past, using inaccurate names for sovereign nations (regardless of government recognition), and displaying their belongings without ongoing consent or respectful attribution,” it reads in part.
The statement adds that museum officials are committed to repairing harm and strained relationships, and that they will “reimagine” the space.
Although some of the issues are similar, the timing is not related to recent efforts at other Denver museums, such as History Colorado Center’s revised Sand Creek Massacre exhibit, or the looted Cambodian artifacts that made their way into the Denver Art Museum and were detailed in a Denver Post investigation last year. Nor is it timed for an audience of museum professionals who are attending the American Alliance of Museums Conference in Denver this week, said museum spokesperson Chris Patrello.
“It’s the culmination of many years of work with community partners to determine the best way forward,” he said. “So it’s the product of that process.”
Colorado has been viewed as a national leader in returning Indigenous artifacts under a Congressional law, passed in 1990, called the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the University of Colorado’s Museum of Natural History were two of the first institutions in the country to repatriate their entire collections.
Institutions in the state, including federal agencies with offices here, have made available 95.6% of the more than 5,000 Native American remains they had possessed — double the national rate, The Denver Post has reported.
The Museum of Nature and Science’s existing North American Indian Cultures Hall is advertised as a way to “experience the incredible diversity among Native American groups and the practicality and artistry of their everyday objects,” according to the museum’s website. “As you travel through the various regions you can explore authentic reconstructed dwellings, including an Inuit snow house, a Northwest Coast clan house, a Navajo hogan, and a Cheyenne tipi. Along the way, examine beautifully crafted weavings, basketry, beadwork and pottery.”
The exhibition’s replacement will note the explicit involvement of Indigenous people, Davis promised.
“We will reimagine exhibition curation, collecting, programming and conservation practices with respect to Indigenous culture, heritage and belongings,” she said. “We recognize that there is more work to be done, and we are committed to working with, and for, community members as we move forward in reimagining our practices.”
But there’s no timeline for reopening the space, Patrello said.
The museum is inviting visitors to share their views using a scannable QR code located on the statement and on the museum’s website, dmns.org.
