Laura Eliff Cruz/Courtesy photo

UNITARIAN CHURCH NEWS RELEASE

The Unitarian Church of Los Alamos is hosting a forum on Change Through Museum Collections Stewardship presented by Laura Elliff Cruz at 11:45 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 27. The church is located at 1738 North Sage Street in Los Alamos.

For centuries, museums have been the accepted authority on Indigenous cultural items. Museums have acquired and amassed indigenous belongings for their own use and benefit with minimal consideration from source communities. Museum displays present a version of history that is often disconnected from descendant communities and Indigenous ways of
knowing.

Hear from Laura Elliff Cruz (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) about her 21 years of experience
in the museum field. Laura Elliff Cruz is currently the Head of Collections at the School for
Advanced Research, Indian Arts Research Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Highlights of
this talk include ethical returns and federal compliant laws for museums, building
relationships, collaborative projects that help reawaken and revitalize stories that respect and
recenter concepts of culturally appropriate care for museum cultural items, and brief highlights
from the Indigenous Collections Care Working Group, which was established in 2021.