Artifact Stewardship & Cultural Return
Meherrin Indian Tribe (Kauwetsʔa·ka – People of the Water)
Preserving History. Honoring Responsibility. Restoring Relationships.
This page serves as a respectful point of contact for individuals, families, collectors, institutions, historical
societies, and museums who hold artifacts, cultural materials, or ancestral objects connected to the
Meherrin Indian Tribe of North Carolina, or to lands historically and presently occupied by the Meherrin
people.
Our goal is not accusation, pressure, or confrontation. It is relationship-building, education, cultural
responsibility, and ethical stewardship.
Our Approach
The Meherrin people understand cultural materials as more than objects. They are carriers of memory,
identity, history, responsibility, and relationship.
We recognize that many collections were created during periods when Indigenous consent, documentation,
and ethical standards did not exist. Many families and institutions now hold items in good faith, often
inherited across generations, without clear records of origin.
This page exists to: – Support ethical stewardship – Encourage respectful dialogue – Build cooperative
relationships – Promote cultural responsibility – Facilitate voluntary return and shared care – Ensure accurate
historical and cultural understanding.
What Types of Materials May Be Relevant
This may include, but is not limited to:
- Pottery vessels and ceramic fragments
- Stone tools and lithics
- Shell artifacts and ornaments
- Wampum and beadwork
- Wood, bone, antler, or copper objects
- Ceremonial or ritual items
- Burial-associated objects
- Trade-era Indigenous materials
- River-recovered or land-recovered artifacts
- Items labeled as “unknown tribe,” “local Indian,” or “pre-colonial”
- Items attributed to colonial counties within Meherrin territory
Historical & Territorial Context
The Meherrin Indian Tribe has occupied lands in what is now northeastern North Carolina and southeastern
Virginia for centuries. These territories include river systems, settlement sites, trade routes, and cultural
landscapes that remain central to Meherrin identity and history.
Artifacts recovered from this region may carry direct cultural affiliation to the Meherrin people, even when
records are incomplete or lost.
Ethical Stewardship Principles
We encourage all collectors and institutions to consider the following principles:
- Cultural materials are not commodities
- Provenance matters
- Context matters
- Consent matters
- Cultural affiliation matters
- Living descendant communities matter
Stewardship is not simply preservation — it is responsibility.
Voluntary Cultural Return, Donation & Shared Care
We respectfully encourage individuals and institutions to consider donating culturally affiliated items to
the Meherrin Indian Tribe so they may be preserved, interpreted, and cared for within a Meherrin-led
museum and cultural collection.
Donation is one meaningful option among several respectful pathways, which may include:
- Permanent donation to the Meherrin museum collection
- Voluntary cultural return
- Long-term or rotating loan agreements
- Shared stewardship models
- Cultural consultation and identification
- Educational collaboration and exhibition partnerships
- Documentation and provenance clarification
Donated items become part of a living cultural narrative, cared for by descendant communities and shared
with the public through education, interpretation, and preservation.
Every situation is unique. Dialogue comes first.
Why Contact Matters
Reaching out does not automatically mean surrendering an item.
It means: – Seeking cultural clarity – Seeking historical accuracy – Acting ethically – Opening dialogue –
Building relationship – Ensuring responsible stewardship
Many families want to do the right thing — they simply do not know who to contact or how.
This page exists to make that step easier.
Respectful Invitation
If you hold items connected to Meherrin history or territory, we respectfully invite you to reach out.
This includes: – Private collectors – Families with inherited collections – Landowners – Historical societies –
Museums – Universities – Researchers – Archaeology collections
All communication is treated with respect, confidentiality, and care.
Contact & Cultural Consultation
If you believe an item or collection may be culturally affiliated with the Meherrin people, please Contact us.
Shared Responsibility
Cultural preservation is not the responsibility of Indigenous communities alone.
It is a shared responsibility between: – Descendant communities – Collectors – Institutions – Scholars –
Museums – Families – Landowners – The public
We all carry a role in protecting history with dignity.
Closing Statement
The Meherrin people continue to live, speak, organize, and protect their culture.
Our history is not only in museums. It is in our families. It is in our rivers. It is in our land. It is in our
language. It is in our living communities.
Cultural materials belong to living cultures, not only the past.
Respectful stewardship today shapes cultural justice tomorrow.
We welcome dialogue, cooperation, and shared care for the protection of Meherrin cultural heritage.