Mission

The Cultural Property Working Group will take the lead in fostering discussion, clarifying issues, and investigating a range of alternative approaches to managing, preserving, and providing access to cultural property, given the rights and responsibilities of cultural groups and stakeholders and archivists' interest in providing equal and open access to all.

This group will:

• Advise the SAA Council, officers, staff, and members concerning cultural property and cultural sensitivity issues;
• Prepare draft statements for SAA to issue;
• Develop positions for SAA concerning cultural property and cultural sensitivity issues;
• Represent SAA on cultural property and cultural sensitivity issues at meetings and in professional discussions; and
• Communicate and collaborate with all relevant SAA and external (ALA, AAM, etc.) groups.

Adopted by the SAA Council: August 10, 2009

The establishment of the Cultural Property Working Group represents the beginning of SAA's attempts to open a professional, national, and international discussion regarding the presence of cultural material in repositories. Some challenges in establishing the best practices for the culturally responsive care and use of Native American archival materials are illustrated in a specific discussion of Protocols for Native American Archival Materials. This Working Group broadens the discussion to include other repositories, professions, and cultures that face similar challenges when establishing best practices.