Unearthing Indigenous Seed Collections: The State of Ethnobotanical Holdings in US Museums and University Repositories

Abstract Indigenous communities and scholars are calling for archaeologists and museum professionals to critically assess stewardship of Indigenous agricultural seeds and ethnobotanical collections housed in museums and other institutions and the rematriation of these important cultural items. Indigenous seeds retain cultural and religious significance along with diverse genetic information that could help revitalize Indigenous agriculture systems. Many seeds remain viable, making them especially vulnerable to appropriation and patenting by industrial agriculture corporations searching for climate-resilient seed varieties. We present results of a survey of US museums and universities to determine the prevalence of Indigenous seeds held in collections and to evaluate practices surrounding cataloging, care, storage, and researcher and descendant-community access. Results demonstrate that significant amounts of Indigenous seed stock are currently stored in museums and other institutional repositories, often due to ethnobotanical collecting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as ongoing archaeological activities from the twentieth century onward. Additionally, based on our findings, we suggest that failure to adequately steward these materials represents a significant risk for further disenfranchisement of Indigenous people from their cultural heritage. We propose pathways to enhance protections of Indigenous seeds and plant materials throughout acquisition and curation processes.