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Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums : Welcome

This guide is intended to assist students participating in the iSchool's Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums program.

Ask Us About This Guide!

The guide was created by Zoey Colglazier and Lizzie Oswalt. They were both students (now graduated) in the Library and Information Science Master's program at UW-Madison.

For questions about TLAM, contact tlam@ischool.wisc.edu.

Thank You Friends of the UW Madison Libraries.

This guide was made possible by a generous grant from the Friends of the UW Madison Libraries. We thank the Friends for their support of this project.

Welcome to TLAM

This guide is intended to be an introduction to Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (TLAM) within the UW-Madison Information School. Use the links on the side to dive in and find information on the TLAM program, our community partners around the state, and LIS resources related to tribal instiutions.

Tribal nations are sovereign and thus retain the inherent right to govern themselves. That extends to making decisions about their historical and cultural institutions. Indigenous peoples have maintained their own practices for knowledge organization and preservation for thousands of years. Historically, western Euro-centric ideologies have violated Indigenous cultural sovereignty through theft of artifacts, delegitimization of knowledge systems, and reluctance to repatriate items such as ancestor remains and funerary objects. We respect tribal nation sovereignty, and this guide is designed to provide resources to students so they can support tribal goals.

Land Grant Universities

It is important to recognize that the University of Wisconsin (as well as dozens of other colleges across the country) is a land-grant institution. This means that land for the campus as well as for an income stream came from stolen lands administered under the Morrill Act of 1862. These lands were not just in Wisconsin, but from all over, and the money gained from stealing these lands funded universities. We must acknowledge this truth.