PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Janice Monger, President and CEO of Staten Island Museum
1:50:54
·
151 sec
Janice Monger, President and CEO of Staten Island Museum, provided testimony on the museum's efforts to preserve, display, and educate about Lenape cultural heritage. She highlighted the museum's collections, educational programs, and collaborations with federally recognized Lenape descendant nations.
- The museum has updated its permanent display of Lenape archaeological items and added a land acknowledgement.
- They offer educational programs on Lenape culture for New York City students.
- The museum is working on improving inventory documentation and NAGPRA compliance in consultation with Lenape nations.
Janice Monger
1:50:54
Greetings, chair Rivera and committee.
1:50:56
I'm Janice Monger.
1:50:57
I'm president and CEO of the Staten Island Museum, founded in 18/81 in a New York City Cultural Institutions group member.
1:51:05
Staten Island Museum maintains collections in natural science, history, and art, and all three of these disciplines have materials in the collection that are Native American and indigenous in origin.
1:51:15
The archaeologic the archaeology collection has approximately 35 100 items collected on Staten Island and in the surrounding region that can be attributed to the Lenape people and their ancestors.
1:51:26
The Staten Island Museum updated a permanent display of Lenape archaeological items along with the land acknowledgement in a central location to maximize visibility and forefront the Lenape collection for her museum visitors as they enter.
1:51:39
For decades, the Staten Island Museum's Education Department has offered the land of the Lenape lesson for elementary and middle school classes to introduce Lenape culture to New York City students.
1:51:50
During this lesson, students learn about the history of the Lenape in New York City region and see a demonstration of traditional tools.
1:51:57
In f y 24, the museum served 35 100 students from 155 classes for this lesson.
1:52:04
Over the last several years, the Staten Island Museum has made concerted efforts to develop relationships and build trust with Lenape representatives, especially the federally recognized Lenape descendant nations, the Stockbridge Muncie community, the Delaware Nation, and the Delaware Tribe of Indians.
1:52:19
And that's because we have collections that we're responsible for at the, you know, federal level and federal regulations.
1:52:27
We have open lines of communication with their respective tribal historic preservation officers, and endeavor to always involve the communities in projects related to their cultural heritage.
1:52:37
This year, Staten Island Museum was awarded a Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to update inventory documentation and reanalyze the archeology collection with the support of the 3 nations, and they have all agreed to consult on the project.
1:52:53
The museum has also been working on our NAGPRA compliance, and we've, repatriated, 4 ancestors in our collection and have a stewardship agreement for their care.
1:53:04
The Staten Island Museum staff and board are committed to continuing this important work of stewarding Native American collections in consultation with tribal represent representatives.
1:53:14
We look forward to continuing to deepen these relationships and work in partnership to expand interpretation of Lenape cultural heritage in their ancestral homeland of New York City.
1:53:24
Thank you.
