Tribal group looking to save iconic pow wow exhibit at Milwaukee Public Museum

Like many Milwaukee area schoolchildren who went on field trips to the city’s premier public museum , Jennifer Forecki was fascinated by the dozens of lifelike models in the Native American pow wow scene.

But unlike her fellow students, Forecki could boast that she was one of the models. A descendant of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation , she was 6 years old when her likeness was captured for the exhibit that opened to the public in 1993.

“Growing up it was always like my trump card to other little kids to be like, ‘Hey, I’m in the museum’ and explain why,” she said. “I was ‘little kid’ famous, which was really fun.”

Today, Forecki is part of a committee of mostly Milwaukee-area Natives who are trying to save the exhibit after museum officials announced it would not be part of the new museum building scheduled to open in 2027. Museum officials said they would bring only two of the 37 pow wow models to the new museum.

It's not yet clear what saving the exhibit would look like, but could include splitting it into multiple exhibits at multiple locations.

“We are working diligently to find a new home for the exhibit because (museum officials) were going to put it in storage,” said Carol Amour, who helped organize the committee.

Amour is not Native, but her late husband, George Amour of the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe Nation in northern Wisconsin, is one of the models in the pow wow exhibit.

Many on the committee had hoped the modern pow wow exhibit — created in collaboration with Indigenous people — would continue to be displayed in the museum's new home.

“At first, there was a bit of resentment and anger, but we realized that’s the Native relationship with museums a lot of times,” said Paul Smith, a committee member and member of the Oneida Nation . “We have to move on. We can’t always let museums define us. It’s in our hands, now.”

Groundbreaking exhibit shows Indigenous peoples in the present

The pow wow scene is the centerpiece of the “A Tribute to Survival” exhibit and features life-sized figures modeled after real Indigenous people from Wisconsin dressed in their finest regalia dancing during the “grand entry.”

It shows Indigenous peoples as they are in the present day, which was groundbreaking for museums at the time.

“For me, growing up in Milwaukee, it kind of gave us a voice,” Smith said. “All the folks up there were part of my childhood being mentors and role models. It was really great for me growing up and now I can share that with my son.”

He said it was striking how a visitor can look at the modern pow wow scene and then turn around and see the buffalo exhibit showing how Indigenous peoples used to live.

The buffalo scene was typical of many museums in the country, showing only Indigenous peoples of the past. Tribal members say that left visitors with the impression that Indigenous peoples were only in the past. The modern pow wow scene helped change that perception.

“It made people realize we weren’t just a historical group of people and that we were still here,” said Deanna Porter, a committee member and a descendant of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation. “We’re resilient and we’re relevant. It’s a great educational tool, especially for non-Native people to see that.”

Amour said the exhibit was one of the first major museum exhibits in the country to be worked on collaboratively with Indigenous people, rather than just being about Indigenous people.

“That was a big thing at that time,” said Diane Amour, committee member and Carol Amour’s sister-in-law. “Museums had displays about us, but didn’t include us in the making of them.”

In a statement, museum officials said that tribal members "were involved in every aspect of the exhibit’s creation, from serving as models for the life-cast figures, to creating regalia for the dancers, to writing the labels, choosing collections items, and planning its grand opening.”

Exhibit could be split between museum, tribal institutions around Wisconsin

Museum officials have said none of the exhibits in the current museum will be brought to the new building exactly as-is.

“Rather, elements of current exhibits will be refreshed and reimagined in thoughtful and engaging ways for the exhibits in the future museum,” officials said in a statement.

They said they plan to incorporate at least two of the figures from the current pow wow scene into a future area of the new museum: “Winifred and Spencer Kellogg Gallery: Wisconsin Journey.”

“This exhibit continues to serve as a model for collaboration with origin communities and provides authentic representation that still creates a positive impact on visitors, especially tribal members,” a statement from museum officials said.

The 37 pow wow models sit on a turntable that once moved in a circle, but now doesn’t move due to mechanical issues.

It is surrounded by displays with artifacts from the past. Many artifacts have recently been removed; in their place are signs that read the piece was removed in order to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Museums around the country are having to comply with the act and return stolen or excavated artifacts to their rightful owner tribes.

More: The Milwaukee Public Museum houses 1,600 Native American remains. Will they be returned to their tribes?

More: Wisconsin museums must comply with new federal rule about certain tribal artifacts

Carol Amour said one idea is to split the remaining pieces of the exhibit, which also includes dozens of informational panels about treaty rights and survival, into several exhibits at tribal institutions around the state, such as at tribal museums and libraries on reservations.

“The museum will give us all the figures that don’t find a home,” she said. “One is going to the veterans museum in Madison. Some of the loved ones of the models who are no longer with us don’t want the models on display, so they’re going to their families.”

Visitors will then be encouraged to travel to these places in a circuit tour of tribal reservations.

Tying it all together will be a documentary, Amour said, that should be completed by July 2026.

More: As Milwaukee Public Museum builds new home, this group campaigns to preserve old exhibits

Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tribal group looking to save iconic pow wow exhibit at Milwaukee Public Museum