Description
Preserving What is Valued: Museums, Conservation, and First Nations by senior conservator at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Miriam Clavir, explores the highly charged topic of cultural property and the repatriation of cultural materials. As a museum conservator with a duty to preserve objects, the author recognizes the conflicting interests of museum preservation and First Nations efforts to preserve and access cultural heritage. She begins the discussion with the standard account of museums and their historical development of conservation practices. The major section of the book deals with First Nations perspectives about museums, conservation practices, and cultural preservation. She draws on interviews with First Nations museum professionals as well as community members who all speak to the issues of maintaining the cultural heritage and integrity of living objects that connect the past to the present and on to the future. The New Zealand experience of the Maori is provided as a comparative study with the British Columbia examples. The value of this publication rests in the extensive quotes from First Nations cultural practitioners such as Gloria Cranmer Webster, John Moses, Kim Lawson, Rita Barnes, Dora Sewid Cook, Chief Ken Harris, Alfred Scow, Debra Sparrow, and Juanita Pasco. Their voices resonate with passion and knowledge for the respectful protection, restoration and use of their cultural collections.