New publication centers Indigenous voices and Great Lakes cultural heritage
The Eiteljorg Museum is set to release a powerful new book, In the Company of Our Relatives: The Richard Pohrt, Jr. Collection, offering an Indigenous-led perspective on a remarkable collection of Great Lakes Native art. Departing from traditional museum narratives, the publication centers the voices of Native contributors who share personal, community-rooted connections to the cultural belongings featured.
Available starting September 16, the 303-page book features full-color photography and essays from 20 Native authors, all of whom are descendants or culture bearers from the tribal nations represented in the collection. The project was guided by co-editors Monica Raphael (Anishinaabe / Sičáŋğu Lakóta), Hoback Curator of Great Lakes Native Art, Cultures, and Community Engagement at the Eiteljorg, and Mary Deleary (Chippewas of the Thames First Nation), Ph.D.
The collection itself—acquired by the museum in 2019 through a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.—includes more than 400 cultural items created by Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes between the late 1700s and mid-1900s. Originally assembled by Michigan collector Richard Pohrt Jr., the works remained in excellent condition prior to their acquisition by the Eiteljorg.
Referred to by contributors as “relatives,” the cultural belongings include intricately beaded bandolier bags and moccasins, ribbonwork clothing, decorated cradleboards, carved bowls, and utilitarian tools. Represented tribal nations include the Bodwéwadmi (Potawatomi), Cree, Ho-Chunk, Huron, Kickapoo, Lenape, Menominee, Meskwaki, Mohawk, Myaamia (Miami), Odawa, Ojibwe, Otoe-Missouria, Shawnee, and Wyandot.
In 2024, support from Lilly Endowment Inc. also funded a convening that brought together Great Lakes Native representatives to engage directly with the collection. That gathering helped shape the essays in the book, many of which offer personal and intergenerational insights into the objects’ cultural and spiritual significance.
The museum will celebrate the book’s launch with a public event on Tuesday, September 16, during another Great Lakes Native Art Convening. Visitors are invited to attend two public panel discussions featuring the book’s editors and contributing authors at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., both included with regular museum admission. Event details can be found at Eiteljorg.org/events.
In the Company of Our Relatives will be available for purchase through the Eiteljorg Museum Store for $69.95. Citizens of federally recognized Native American tribes and Canadian First Nations are eligible for a 20% discount.
While the Eiteljorg Museum frequently publishes softcover exhibition catalogs, In the Company of Our Relatives stands out as its most extensive and ambitious publication since the 2017 release of Native Art Now!, a major retrospective celebrating contemporary Native art.
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