Contemporary Perspectives

The French Royal Collections from North America have crossed boundaries of cultures, geography, and time. The participation of Native American specialists in the research is essential to integrating new discourses and contemporary perspectives on these collections, highlighting their polyphonic history.

Exhibition « Wampum / Otgoä »

The Wampum / Otgoä exhibit is the culmination of three hundred years of relationship building and the past four years of collaboration. This unique and unprecedented partnership between Ganondagan, the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (Paris)  and the McCord Museum (Montreal) will weave a friendship between peoples and across time. Perhaps more importantly, it will pave the way for future collaborations between European and Native American Indigenous museums that are mutually…

Behind the Scenes of the Choctaw Video for the Exhibit “An Inquisitive Prince”

Although the “An Inquisitive Prince” exhibit at Versailles closed in December 2021, our teams are still working together to further understand the items in the collection. Currently, we are working on a plan to bring items from the royal collection to the Choctaw Nation for a temporary exhibit at the Choctaw Cultural Center in Durant, Oklahoma. But before these items arrive stateside, we want to reflect on our collaboration with the musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac thus far and share how…

Halito [Hello]

In 2016, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Historic Preservation Research Associate Jennifer Byram reached out to the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac to inquire about possible Choctaw items in their museum collections. This outreach to institutions was part of creating the Chahta Imponna Database , a virtual collection of skilled works that showcases Choctaw production techniques not commonly in use and that are held in museum collections in the United States and internationally.

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