Research & Acquisition

On-going research helps keep your cultural center alive, dynamic, and creative.

Tutorials

  • Navigating the General Facilities Report This webinar introduces the American Alliance of Museums General Facilities Report (GFR). The GFR was designed to make the museum lending process easier by capturing information about the borrowing facility but can seem like an overwhelming task. This NMAI presentation breaks down each section of the report making the GFR seem like a much less daunting project.
  • Accessing Native Resources from the National Archives Federal filing systems and shifting Federal agencies often make locating records difficult. This session introduces the Native Communities Program, a new National Archives' resource providing step-by-step instructions for locating these important records, as well as opportunities for further training, hands-on practice, and a Citizen Archivist mission to make specific community records more easily accessible in the future.
  • Bringing Cultural Materials Home Indigenous cultural items are held by museums and other collecting institutions throughout the world. Many of these institutions have established formal programs to work with Indigenous communities, including repatriating or loaning items. This webinar provides information on identifying where culturally specific collections are held, researching institutional loan and repatriation policies, establishing positive relationships, and what happens after the items are brought home. The repatriation of the return of 100 Tewa pots to the Poeh Cultural Center serves as a case study.
  • Returning Home: Borrowing Objects from the Collections of the National Museum of the American Indian Presenters from the Smithsonian National Musuem of the American Indian outline how to prepare and plan for loans from NMAI, including important timelines, budgeting, applications, surveys, assessments, shipping, and environmental considerations. 
  • How to Locate Archival Materials at the Smithsonian Institution  This presentation demonstrates how to locate Native American archival materials within Smithsonian Institution online collections. Learn how to access online collections and quick search techniques for locating materials.
  • A Guide to Searching Prints & Photographs Division Collections at the Library of Congress This video provides a guide to researching collections maintained by the Prints & Photographs Division at the Library of Congress. Topics include a discussion of collections that relate to Native American and Alaska Native communities, and strategies for searching for collection descriptions and digitized content are demonstrated.
  • Finding and Requesting Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society Learn about the American Philosophical Society's online archival catalog and collection finding aids and how to utilize the Indigenous Subject Guide to locate materials. The methods for requesting materials are also described.
  • How to Navigate the Collections of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress Learn how to navigate the Library of Congress' online catalog to access Native American materials in the American Folklife Center. This video describes how to locate assistance in determining rights and reproductions, as well as digitization status, of items within the collections.
  • How to Navigate the Online Catalog of the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress  In this video, presenters describe the variance of collections and items maintained by the Manuscript Division and demonstrate how to navigate the Division's online catalog. Resources for researchers, digital collections, and methods for contacting reference staff are also discussed.
  • Introduction to Collections Search Center and the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archive This video provides an overview of the two main online databases used at the Smithsonian Institution for finding materials: the Collections Search Center and SOVA (Smithsonian Online Virtual Archive).
  • Navigating the Newberry Library Website and Catalogs to Find Indigenous Language Materials  Learn about the Newberry Library's extensive Indigenous language collection, which includes published and unpublished resources for hundreds of languages across North and Central America. Presenters demonstrate how to navigate the Newberry Library's online catalog to locate language resources as well as special events.
  • National Anthropological Archives: An Orientation to Collections Access and Resources Presenters from the National Anthropological Archives (NAA) discuss the history of the institution, on-site and online access to collections, digitization, and reproduction of materials.
  • National Museum of Natural History: An Orientation to Collections Access and Resources This webinar introduces the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and provides instructions on searching collections, as well as the processes involved in requesting appointments and loans.
  • Welcome to the National Museum of the American Indian - An Orientation to Collections Access Presenters from the National Museum of the American Indian provide an overview of the NMAI Collections Department and Programs, how to access the NMAI collections from home, and how to access the collections at the NMAI Cultural Resource Center in Washington, D.C.
  • Essentials of Photogrammetry This video provides the basic requirements needed for the process of Photogrammetry, combining various images to produce a 3-dimensional representation of an object.
  • Shooting Photogrammetry This tutorial provides a demonstration of the equipment necessary for shooting photogrammetry, such as such as a color checker, iPad, an application called Theodolite Pro, and a digital camera that can shoot camera RAW.

Tools

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Public