Overview:
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition is raising concerns over proposed closures of National Archives facilities in Chicago and San Francisco, warning that reduced access to federal records could hinder survivors, descendants and Tribal Nations seeking information about the Indian boarding school era. NABS is urging meaningful tribal consultation before any decisions are made about preserving, digitizing and providing access to these records.
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) is expressing deep concern over reports that the National Archives and Records Administration plans to close regional facilities in Chicago and San Francisco without meaningful consultation with tribal nations and Native communities.
In a statement, NABS said the archives hold records that document the lives and histories of Native people, including records that can be critical to boarding school survivors and their descendants seeking information about their relatives.
“These archives hold pieces of our relatives’ lives and histories,” NABS said. “For boarding school survivors and descendants, these records can help answer questions about where our relatives were sent and what happened to them.”
The coalition said access to historical records is particularly important as survivors, descendants, Tribal Nations and communities continue efforts to understand and document the history and lasting impacts of the federal Indian boarding school system.
NABS created the National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive (NIBSDA) to help make boarding school records more accessible to survivors, descendants, Tribal Nations, researchers and communities. The coalition said its work with the digital archive has reinforced the importance of access to records for truth-telling, accountability and healing.
“For survivors, descendants, and Tribal Nations, these records are not distant pieces of history. They hold the names, stories, and connections that families have spent generations searching for,” said Fallon Carey (Cherokee Nation), NABS digital archive director.
“Our work through NIBSDA has shown us just how important access to these records is,” Carey said. “Any decisions that make these records harder to access must include the Tribal Nations and communities whose histories they hold.”
NABS is urging the National Archives and Records Administration not to move forward with the proposed closures without meaningful consultation with Tribal Nations and Native communities.
The coalition specifically called for consultation regarding the preservation, digitization and accessibility of records held at the facilities.
NABS said the records are not simply historical documents but are part of the living histories of Native families and communities.
The proposed closures have raised concerns among tribal officials, historians, archivists and others who rely on federal records to research Native history, including the federal Indian boarding school era.
