Squaxin Island Museum Library and Research Center

Abstract

Tribal museums and the libraries that serve them are spaces where tribes can not only preserve their history and culture for tribal citizens and visitors, but can also function as a place where the community can learn together, build relationships, and incorporate ancestral knowledge into their daily lives. In this paper, discuss the broad issues of tribal museums and the role tribal libraries play in communities. We then introduce readers to the difficult history that started the museum, as well as the focus on the library within the Squaxin Island Museum Library and Research Center (MLRC). We tell the story of the Squaxin Island MLRC and examine the role of the library in this cultural hub, including the ways the tribe has taken control over their story through a self-publishing project. The article concludes with reflections on the future of the MLRC as well as a reflection on how the library incorporates Indigenous ways of knowing in a museum setting.