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The Center for Restorative History:�"Repair, Restore, Reconnect"

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Responsibility to the Public

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Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R) Veterans, 1930s

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Signing of legislation establishing the NMAAHC, 2003

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Responsibility to the Public

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  • Celebrate and Memorialize

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  • Tell the Truth

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  • Be Inclusive, Engaging and Relevant

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  • Be Issue-oriented

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  • Think Globally

Responsibility to the Public

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  • A Shared American Story, Beginning in Africa
  • A Story of Slavery AND Freedom
  • Foundation of the Modern World
  • A Human Experience

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  • Juxtapose Profit and Power Against the Human Cost
  • Resilience and Resistance in the face of Brutal Efforts to Dehumanize

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Slavery and Freedom Exhibition

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Middle Passage Space: A Sacred Space

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Transatlantic Slave Trade Wall

Middle Passage Wall

Compelling

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Transatlantic Slave Trade and Middle Passage Design

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Complicating Our National Story

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The Power of the Object:

Making a Collection from Scratch

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Empowering people to create a just and compassionate future by exploring, preserving, and sharing the complexity of our past." ��- NMAH Mission Statement 

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Patty Arteaga,

Project Manager

Nancy Bercaw, 

Deputy Director and Curator 

Caroline Fiertz,

GPEP Alumni Internship

Program Manager

Daniela Jiménez, PhD

Archivist

Modupe Labode,

Curator

Mike Johnson,

Advancement Officer

Center for Restorative History Staff

Jose Centeno-Melendez,

Oral Historian 

Magdalena Mieri,

Programs and Engagements Lead

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Center for Restorative History Staff

Melinda Machado,

Director of OCM

Valeska Hilbig,

Deputy Director of OCM

Affiliated Staff  

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Orlando Serrano, PhD,

Facilitator of Theory & Practice

Decolonization Co-Lead

Sam Vong, PhD, 

Curator of Asian Pacific American History

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Tsione Wolde-Michael,  

Director and Curator

Jarrett Smith,

Decolonization Liaison & Co-Lead 

Hillery York,

Museum Specialist 

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What is Restorative Justice? 

Principles of Restorative Justice

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    • Collectively Identify Harms

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    • Collectively Address Needs

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    • Collectively Determine Obligations 

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What is Restorative History? 

Restorative History

  • Examines root causes
  • Confronts the legacies of injustice 
  • Amplifies the practice of community engagement 
  • Calls for a reassessment of our collections 

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Restorative History in Practice:  

  • Co-curation 
  • Critical Convenings
  • New Approaches to Scholarship 
  • Strategic Partnerships 

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CRH at a Glance:�8 Pilot Projects

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Community Engagement & Mutual Capacity Building

    • Nation of Sanctuary – 6 sites; 5 years
    • BLM Collecting Initiative – 5 sites; multi-year
    • Undocumented Project – 6 sites; 3.5 years

Collections

    • African American Collections Inventory 
    • Emmett Till marker; program and exhibition

Strategic Partnerships

    • Decolonization Working Group 
    • GPEP Alumni Internship Program

Engaged Scholarship

    • Theory and Methodology (presentations at AHA; AAAM)
    • Products: 1 Workshop; 1 NMAH-wide Convening; 2 Publications

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Photo by José Centeno-Melendez

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�CRH at a Glance: Where We Work 

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FY 2021

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Alabama

California 

District of Columbia

Georgia

Illinois

Maryland

Minnesota

Michigan

Mississippi

Nebraska

North Carolina

              

                                                

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FY 2022

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Arkansas

Louisiana

New York

Texas

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FY 2023

South Carolina                                  

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�CRH at a Glance:�How We Work 

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   In Communities

    • 2-3 year sustained process
    • Relationship building and co-curation
    • Mutual capacity

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   In the Center

    • Lab/Prototyping space
    • Consensus-based work model 
    • Piloting simultaneous work across departments in single setting

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Learn

    • Establish relationships.  Hear from a wide variety of stakeholders. Identify areas for mutual capacity building.  Learn how local stories relate to the national. 

Collaborate

    • Collaboratively develop the curatorial vision and scope of the project. Refine interpretation together. Plan implementation of mutual capacity building  (typically in the form of NMAH facilitated trainings.) 

Collect

    • Formalize the collection of objects and oral histories.  Finalize plans for mutual capacity building efforts. Where possible, provide collections assessments, share oral histories, and offer feedback and/or support to local partners.

Build

    • Implement mutual capacity building efforts. This final step is crucial in demonstrating respect and cementing confidence in the ongoing process of co-curation, by which community expertise and consultation remain central to interpretation.

Piloting Best Practices: Community Engagement & Co-curation 

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Nation of Sanctuary: �The Making of America

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    • Funded by SI Latino Center and Asian Pacific American Center
    • Examines sanctuary politics using an intersectional approach
    • Engages audiences in rethinking the making of America
    • Documents the shared and divergent histories of  APAs, Native Americans, African Americans, and Latinx peoples

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    • Restorative History Principles:
      • Documenting neglected histories
      • Exploring intersections of migration studies, indigeneity, class, race, gender, sexuality, disability, and region

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��The Undocumented Organizing Collecting Initiative

  • Funded by SI Latino Center and Asian Pacific American Center
  • Collecting undocumented youth activism
  • Active in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Nebraska, North Carolina, California, and Mexico City

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  • Restorative History Principles: 
    • Community engagement
    • Co-curation
    • Mutual capacity building

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Photo by José Centeno-Melendez

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��The BLM Collecting Initiative

  • Collecting history of BLM from 2012 onward in partnership with local communities
  • Document, preserve and share objects and stories centering Black life, activism, cultural producers and protest
  • Active in Washington, D.C.
  • Proposed expansion to Minneapolis, New York, Chicago, California, Mississippi and Atlanta

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  • Restorative History Principles: 
    • Community engagement
    • Co-curation
    • Mutual capacity building

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Photo by  Nancy Bercaw

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The African American �Collections Inventory

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  • Funded by Collections Care and Preservation & Fund 
  • Reclassification and inventory of Black Political History Collections
  • Restorative History Principles: 
    • Collections Reassessment 
    • Implementing Reparative Descriptive Practice

All photos by José Centeno-Melendez

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Strategic Partnerships

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  • Decolonization Working Group  
  • Restorative History Principles:
    • Redressing Harm
    • Building Trust
    • Critical Convenings
    • New Approaches to Scholarship

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Strategic Partnerships

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  • Pipeline Internship for Goucher Prison Education Partnership Alumni 
  • Restorative History Principles:
    • Accountability 
    • Redressing Harm
    • Building Trust
    • Diversifying the Museum Field

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Spark!Lab Intern from the NMAH Internship Program

GPEP scholars in their classes

GPEP scholars in their classes

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Why do Restorative History at NMAH?

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Outcomes

    • Build trust.
    • Create intellectual framework.
    • Lead critical conversations. 
    • Establish clearinghouse for best museum practices.
    • Target and coordinate strategic partnerships inclusive of colleges and universities.
    • Provide a functional framework for NMAH’s distinct and overlapping interests with Smithsonian Museums and Centers. 

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Thank You