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Mukurtu Midwest


Mukurtu Midwest is a regional hub that provides support and training in Mukurtu CMS to tribal and non-tribal cultural heritage institutions in Wisconsin and the western Great Lakes. The Midwest Hub was established at WiLS in 2017 in partnership with the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation at Washington State University and the iSchool at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as part of the IMLS-funded Mukurtu Hubs & Spokes initiative.

“The histories and heritage of American Indian nations are priceless. By serving as a midwestern Mukurtu training hub, WiLS and UW-Madison are honored to support tribes as they document their communities as they see fit.”

Omar Poler

WiLS is excited to continue the Mukurtu Midwest Hub work thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The three-year program, Curating Indigenous Digital Collections (CIDC), will advance the creation and preservation of digital collections in Wisconsin’s tribal archives, libraries, and museums. The program will fund a series of post-graduate fellowships to support knowledge preservation and language revitalization in Wisconsin Native Nations.

The 2021-2022 CIDC Fellow is Sarah Lundquist, a Ph.D. candidate in Language Sciences at UW-Madison. Sarah’s research focuses on the Ho-Chunk language, as well as Native American language preservation and promotion more broadly. She brings experience in working with institutions including libraries, archives, and museums in support of language reclamation efforts. Sarah is working closely with multiple divisions of the Ho-Chunk Nation Department of Heritage Preservation, including the Hoocąk Waaziija Haci Language Division and the Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center, to improve access to audio and video recordings of Ho-Chunk language lessons and gather knowledge from community members to describe historic photographs of tribal elders.

Mukurtu (pronounced MOOK-oo-too) is developed by the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation at Washington State University. It is a free, open source content management system designed to support the unique needs of Indigenous libraries, archives and museums. Mukurtu’s cultural protocol-based and community-driven archival platform empowers communities to create their own digital systems of cultural preservation and access in relevant and ethically-minded ways.

Mukurtu Midwest Hub staff are dedicated to a community-driven approach to preserving and sharing Indigenous heritage.

Mukurtu Midwest Partners
National Endowment for the Humanities Seal