Oak Native American Ethnographic Collection
About the Collection
The Oak Native American Ethnographic Collection is on permanent loan from the private collection of Jim and Vanita Oelschlager. The collection contains customary and contemporary Native American art and objects, and ancestral belongings.
Institute staff are working with our Advisory Council and other Indigenous cultural experts to assess our collections and ensure we are working ethically and in compliance with the newest NAGPRA guidelines. Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) is Federal Law that protects Indigenous human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony. Revised regulations went into effect in January 2024.
The Oak Native Ethnographic Collection has been taken off display while we consult with cultural experts. We are working to create a new exhibition that amplifies voices and perspectives around contemporary and customary Indigenous art, objects, and belongings. The Oak Native American Gallery is currently open through October 4, 2025, featuring the traveling exhibit St. Clair’s Defeat Revisited: A New View of the Conflict
Institute Speaker Series
The 2024-2025 Institute for Human Science and Culture Speaker Series featured Indigenous experts and scholars discussing the harmful historical collecting practices that brought ancestral belongings into museums and private collections; efforts to reconnect collection items to their communities of origin; and the reparative work of reclaiming communities’ cultural objects.
The final talk in the 2024-2025 Institute Speaker Series was held on May 28, 2025. Full recordings of all four lectures are now available online.
The Institute Speaker Series was funded by Ohio Humanities and presented in partnership with Summit Metro Parks.
North American First People's Day
In 2018, the Akron City Council declared the first Monday in October as North American First People’s Day, a day to honor Indigenous history, life and culture. In recognition of this day, the Portage Path Collaborative organizes community events around Summit County. The Institute for Human Science and Culture hosts additional events, including an annual lecture and art exhibition highlighting the work of a contemporary Indigenous educators, scholars, and artists.
The Institute did not hold any NAFPD events in 2024. The Oak Native Ethnographic Collection has been taken off display while we consult with cultural experts about the ancestral belongings we steward.