The director of the Mukwonago Community Library is getting ready to take a trip to California to give back something the library has had that was stolen decades ago. It will make Mukwonago Library the first public library in Wisconsin and the third public library in the country to return tribal artifacts under a new federal regulation that started this year.
"This collection that is going back to Wilton Rancheria Tribe was removed from a grave sometime in the early in 1900s we think. That item is going back in time for reburial,” said Abby Armour, director of the Mukwonago Community Library.
Armour says in the 1960s the library was willed a collection of more than 12,000 Native American artifacts that are currently on display at the Red Brick Museum. However, the man who gave the library the items was a buyer and seller of Native American artifacts including culturally sensitive items. They are returning one artifact from the collection to the Wilton Rancheria Tribe in California. The library says few records exist that show where they are from.
"Our collection, we have items from all over the country. So it is not as simple as just turning to a single tribe. It is like playing a giant game of telephone trying to connect the right item to the right tribe,” said Armour.
Under new federal regulations, museums and places that accept federal funds must get consent from tribes or descendants before displaying cultural items. Jesus Tarango, the tribal chairman of Wilton Rancheria says he is excited to learn an artifact of theirs in coming home.
"I think people really thought it was okay to take things that weren't theirs and that it wasn't a big deal, and people now are finding out that 'that' has a home. It had a purpose. It had a place,” said Tarango.
He says this new federal regulation gives him hope more of their tribe's history will be returned to them and other native people.
"There is a large amount of our artifacts that we know are still sitting today in universities, museums, and whatnot. And so, the return of this artifact, I think, is a sign as to where we're going,” said Tarango.
Armour will be returning the artifacts to the tribe next Thursday. The library is currently in talks with nine other tribes about items in the collection.
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