Lower Sioux Community Council

The Lower Sioux's Cansa'yapi Cultural Department will develop a plan to establish a digital archive for the tribe to better preserve and share its cultural legacy with future generations. The project team will gather tribal community input on cultural items to be archived; identify sources for the archive's contents, including tribal community members, relatives, and external institutions, such as museums that have Dakota art work; assess existing IT capacity; and develop a project management plan. A pilot engagement plan will introduce archiving to the community through workshops on digital photography and artifact conservation led by partners from the Minnesota Historical Society and the Midwest Art Conservation Center. Community members will be asked to donate 20 digital photographs and 10 digital interviews/stories. The tribe will host two workshops to introduce a digital archive app to the community and invite future contributions so the tribe can work together with its members and partners to build the archive.