First and foremost, The Institute for American Indian Studies (IAIS) seeks to provide resources for the preservation and resurgence of Indigenous knowledge and lifeways. From its inception, IAIS has worked to foster a bridge between Indigenous and non- Indigenous communities. Today, the IAIS museum provides Indigenous-led education that centers Indigenous perspectives for thousands of museum visitors and K-12 students every year, the majority of whom are non-Indigenous. For the past decade, our knowledgeable Education Department has been restructured by Darlene Kascak, Schaghticoke Tribal Nation (STN) and is now led by Irene Norman and Gabe Benjamin. During this time, IAIS has become a critical site of learning about decolonial histories for non-Indigenous Americans, as well as a site of research and cultural revitalization (through Indigenous-led workshops) for Indigenous peoples.

The Institute for American Indian Studies (IAIS) began in 1975 as a collaborative research hub between Indigenous (see our Hall of Elders) and non-Indigenous archaeologists and community members in western Connecticut formerly called the American Indian Archaeological Institute (AIAI). Through various partnerships and collaborations, IAIS has surveyed or excavated over 500 sites, including the remarkable discovery of a 11,000-year-old camp site—one of the earliest known archaeological sites in Connecticut. Excavations are done in consultations with local tribal groups. In 1991, AIAI became the Institute for American Indian Studies (IAIS) as focus shifted to incorporate education and outreach alongside research. This should have been a time of growth and development for IAIS, but due to nearly a decade of financial mismanagement and disrespectful treatment of local Indigenous leaders and knowledge holders by a former director, IAIS lost much of its relations of trust and reciprocal respect with local Indigenous communities. From 2000 onward, IAIS has worked to rebuild these broken relationships, and to center Indigenous experiences and knowledge by supporting and advocating for Indigenous-only regalia workshops that promote cultural revitalization. IAIS seeks to create a community space for local Indigenous people where they can feel welcome and at home. Our annual Veteran’s Day ceremony, which has taken place for nearly thirty years, honors Indigenous veterans of the armed forces. As our current Education Outreach Ambassador has asserted, “Truthful acknowledgment of our past is crucial to building mutual respect.” IAIS recognizes that, due to poor former leadership, it has a decade of false promises and missteps to reconcile.

Today, IAIS is dedicated to educating the public and K-12 students. Annually, we host Indigenous speakers and expert presenters on topics ranging from traditional music and art to history and modern politics and issues within Indigenous communities. We also run a monthly virtual book club “As They Speak: Native Voices in Today’s Literature” that is open to the public and attracts an international audience. Currently, our former Director of Education, Darlene Kascak, served as representative from IAIS alongside representatives from five Indigenous nations of Connecticut on the state education state standards council tasked with reconciling Indigenous history within public school curriculums. Schools with predominantly non-Indigenous students from Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts annually take field trips to the Institute’s Indigenous-led education programs and exhibits. Both public and private K-12 schools from across the nation contact IAIS looking for reliable and accurate information, while universities and museums reach out to our research staff to access our research collections, and to learn more about local cultural landscapes and Indigenous lifeways.

IAIS’s recent exhibits have focused on Indigenous survivance after Euro-American occupation. Recent exhibits have included “Uncivil Education,” an exhibit on Native American boarding schools (in pilot form); “I is for Indian,” a traveling exhibit which focused on negative and damaging stereotypes; “The Creator’s Game,” a history of lacrosse as an Indigenous created sport and its role as a method of asserting sovereignty; and “No Rest,” a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives exhibit. If you traveled through Bradley International Airport in Hartford  in 2022, you may have seen one of three installation spaces, “You’re on Indigenous Land,” a map of Indigenous life in pre-colonial Connecticut, MMIWR posters, or an exhibit on water shortage and use in Navajo lands versus non-Indigenous use in the U.S. Our Emerging Indigenous artists fellowship program provides a scholarship fund for Native artists across New England and New York, and you can see some of these artworks by contemporary Indigenous artists in our museum today. Within its Research and Collections Department, the IAIS manages over 6,000 ethnographic (post-European arrival) items and over 300,000 archaeological artifacts that represent hundreds of Native American and Indigenous peoples throughout the Western Hemisphere that range in age from over 12,000 years before present to the 21st century. Many of these ethnographic materials were collected by non-Indigenous settlers under unethical circumstances, and as a result, IAIS’s research staff strives to return cultural artifacts to their descendent communities wherever possible. Our research staff oversee our collection, consult on exhibits, and have published on IAIS’s collaborative research efforts. 

Former Director of Research, Dr. Lucianne Lavin, is the author of Indigenous Peoples of Connecticut: What Archaeology, History, and Oral Traditions Teach Us About Their Communities and Cultures and the forthcoming historical book on contact period New England, Between Two Wars and Two Rivers. Assistant Director Paul Wegner is currently completing a compendium of archaeological typologies titled, New England Pottery Typologies. Our research staff have hosted 18 annual Native American Archaeology Roundtables, on topics that range from 2020 “Martians, Atlantians, and Lost Tribes: Psueodoarchaeology and its impact on Native American studies” to “The Benefits of Multiple Perspectives for Interpreting our Local History and Cultural Heritage: Decolonizing Archaeology and Museum Studies”, which will be published as a collection titled Decolonizing New England Archaeology and Museum Studies: The Benefits of Multiple Perspectives for Enriching our American Histories and Improving Public Education (U of Arizona Press, forthcoming).