Donating to the collection

The Woodland Cultural Centre holds contemporary art (works by Indigenous artists), artifacts (objects such as clothing and tools) and archival material (two dimensional items such as documents, photographs, maps, and born digital content). If you have an artifact, artwork, or archival records you think the Centre might be interested in, we would love to hear from you!

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I WANT TO DONATE AN OBJECT OR ARCHIVAL RECORDS TO THE Centre?

Please fill out our online submission form below. Please do not bring in your donation before first connecting with a staff member.

When a donation submission is received, members of our collection team will review the donation on the basis of:

Condition

The physical condition of artifacts or archival material will be examined and the extent and cost of treatment needed established. Objects or archival material in poor condition will not be accepted unless they are rare or unique.

Documentation

Consideration will be given to contextual information, provenance, and details on fabrication and function of an object. Information about the creator of archival material, who cared for it, and how it was used is also important. Such information is essential for future collections management activities.

Relevance

The Museum will consider how the object or archives fits with the Museum’s collection mandate and whether it will bring a new perspective to the existing collection.

If we choose to accept your donation you will be asked to bring in the item or archival material and to fill out the relevant paperwork.

Unfortunately, we are not able to accept donations that do not fit our criteria.

Once a donation is made, it’s important to understand that the Centre will have full discretion as to the use, display and disposition of these items as it may deem to be in its best interests. Because of space limitations, we cannot guarantee that any specific artifacts will be permanently displayed.

Examples of items we would be interested in receiving include:

• Indigenous art, professional (particularly from our Support Communities of Wahta, Tyendinaga and Six Nations)
• Objects with traditional relevance to our Support Communities (Wahta, Tyendinaga, and Six Nations); i.e., Mohawk (or other Six Nations’ language) hymn books, tourist inspired raised beadwork from the 19th to early 20th centuries, etc.
• Objects relating to the Six Nations Fall Fair and pageant, Wahta Cranberry Festival, and Tyendinaga Fall Fair and Landing commemoration.
• Photographs of our Support Communities (Wahta, Tyendinaga, and Six Nations), specifically those that identify people, places, buildings, and events. These records can be digital in format.
• Journals, diaries, ledgers, and other archival materials detailing the lives or businesses of people in our Support Communities (Wahta, Tyendinaga, and Six Nations)
• Objects, images and materials related to the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School
• Objects, images and materials related to the experience of the COVID-19 Pandemic in our Support Communities (Wahta, Tyendinaga, and Six Nations).

The Museum is unable to accept archaeological materials without professional field notes (arrowheads, etc.). It also unlikely that stereotypical materials and baskets will be accepted unless the item has provenance and extreme rarity (i.e. potato print basket, Jay Silverheels’ Tonto memorabilia).

In accordance with the Centre’s Sacred and Sensitive materials policy, the Museum does not accept items such as Medicine Masks. The Centre can help with the return of such items to the community so that they may be used for their ceremonial purposes.

If you have any questions or trouble completing the form, please connect with us.