Finding Balance in the Management of Sensitive Cultural Heritage Material in Extant Recorded Sound Collections

Abstract

In the wake of NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 1990), U.S. museums and archives are acutely aware of tangible cultural property issues. Cultural intellectual property remains legislatively neglected. Ethical precedent does exist, however, for museums and archives to treat intangible heritage with the same respect as tangible property. Recorded sound collections in many libraries, museums and archives in the United States hold ethnographic recordings of indigenous American cultures. These recordings are of immense value to the cultures and peoples they document as well as to those who study the history and development of humankind. Often they require special treatment or restricted access. Through the development of collections management policies and procedures, a responsible institution can identify sensitive recordings in its collections and isolate them for further investigation. By doing so, an institution can allow broader access to non-sensitive recordings and can begin the process of determining how to properly manage those that are culturally sensitive.