DIRECTOR’S LETTER .............................


LIVING OUR TREATIES A


mong the many visitors we wel- come at the Museum – and we hope to see a great many of you this summer, from families and


students to tribal delegations – some bring us profound reflections on our current situa- tion. One such group came recently from the Navajo Nation. To support the ongoing conversation sur-


rounding the exhibition Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and Ameri- can Indian Nations, we have made a practice of opening our collections facilities and ex- hibition cases to assist Native communities in explaining how treaties remain central to daily life today. We rely on many supporters to present original treaty documents at the Museum, including tribal leaders, exhibition project donors and our steadfast partner here in Washington, D.C., the National Archives and Records Administration. It was my privilege to host leaders of the


Navajo Nation and many others at the Mu- seum this February for an event honoring the 150th


anniversary of the Navajo Treaty of


1868. By placing the treaty on display in the gallery, along with a weaving and loom made by Juanita, the wife of Navajo leader Manu- elito in the late 1800s – an equally significant symbol of diplomacy – we engage visitors with the living history of these objects. By the time you read this, the treaty will be on its way to, or housed within, the Navajo Nation Museum in Arizona, the first time it has been on display there. We realize our mission to the fullest


through such exchanges with tribal com- munities and the public. I have written much about the topic of treaties and treaty making, and I would like to share the following excerpt from my foreword to the Nation to Nation catalogue that asks (and answers) the ques- tion, “Why treaties?” Treaties rest at the heart of Native American


history as well as contemporary tribal life and identity. The approximately 368 treaties that were negotiated and signed by U.S. commis- sioners and tribal leaders (and subsequently


4 AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER 2018


LEFT TO RIGHT: Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye, Director Kevin Gover, Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez, and Darren Pete, director, Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs–Indian Affairs, Depart- ment of the Interior, in the Nation to Nation gallery. More than 100 citizens of the Navajo Nation convened at the Museum to take part in the installation of the Naal Tsoos Saní, or Navajo Treaty of 1868 on Feb. 20, 2018.


approved by the U.S. Senate) from 1777 to 1868 enshrine promises our government made to Indian Nations. But they also recognize tribes as nations – a fact that distinguishes trib- al citizens from other Americans, and supports contemporary Native assertions of sovereignty and self-determination. Far from being dusty documents of dubious


relevance, treaties are legally binding and still in effect. Repeatedly recognized by the courts as sources of rights for Indian people and their Indian Nations, treaties carry the weight of the past and test the strength of our nation’s com- mitment to honesty, good faith and the rule of law. Promises between the leaders of nations, treaties inscribe solemn vows that cannot lightly be broken or ignored – a verity that Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black recognized in 1960 when he declared, “Great nations, like great men, should keep their word.”


The fundamental tenets of early treaty mak-


ing – the recognition of tribal governments and Indian consent – are alive and well…at least for the moment. The future is untold, and ul- timately the gains of Native Nations in modern times are set in fragile beads rather than carved in stone. Yet there is optimism in Indian Country that Americans will come to better understand their shared history with Indian Nations and that, as a result, they will join Native people in celebrating and upholding the rights enshrined in treaties. To learn more about the 2018-19 schedule


for treaty installations within the Nation to Nation gallery or the exhibition-related cata- logue, blog posts or symposia webcasts, visit AmericanIndian.si.edu.X


Kevin Gover (Pawnee) is the director of the National Museum of the American Indian – Smithsonian.


PHOTO BY PAUL MORIGI, AP IMAGES FOR THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN


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