Museums are weird if you think about them long enough. We walk through these quiet, climate-controlled halls, staring at beautiful things behind thick glass, and we usually don't ask where those things came from. We just assume they belong there because, well, it's a museum. But for the people of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, those items aren't just "artifacts." They are living ancestors. They are stolen memories. This is the heavy, uncomfortable, and deeply moving heart of the What Was Ours documentary, a film that basically forces us to confront what happens when a culture is put in a box and kept hundreds of miles away from the people who created it.
It's a road trip movie, technically. But not the fun kind with snacks and singing.
Director Mat Hames follows an Eastern Shoshone elder named Philbert McLeod and a young Northern Arapaho journalist, Jordan Dresser, as they travel from the wide-open plains of Wyoming to the basement archives of the Field Museum in Chicago. They are looking for their history. They are looking for things their grandfathers wore. Honestly, seeing them stand in a cramped elevator in a massive city, knowing they are about to see items that haven't felt the Wyoming wind in over a century, is gut-wrenching. The film doesn't rely on flashy graphics or dramatic reenactments. It just lets the silence do the talking.
The Problem With Museum Basements
Most of us think of museums as these noble institutions of learning. And they are, in a way. But for Indigenous communities, museums can feel like crime scenes. The What Was Ours documentary shines a bright light on the fact that thousands of sacred objects—everything from pipes to intricate beadwork and even human remains—are sitting in drawers. They are tagged with numbers. They are touched by researchers wearing white gloves who might know the chemical composition of the leather but don't know the prayer that goes with it.
Jordan Dresser, who co-produced the film, started this journey because he wanted to tell the story of his people. He realized that to tell that story, he had to find the physical pieces of it. It’s a massive task. You’ve got the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which was passed in 1990 to help tribes get their stuff back. But here is the thing: the process is a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s slow. It’s expensive. Sometimes, the museums don’t even know what they have.
The film captures the sheer scale of the loss. When Philbert and Jordan finally get into the archives, the emotion is thick. Philbert sees a Shoshone ghost dance shirt. He doesn't just look at it; he connects with it. You can see the shift in his eyes. For him, this isn't a "specimen" from the late 19th century. It’s a relative that’s been kidnapped.
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Jordan Dresser and the New Generation of Protectors
One of the most compelling parts of the What Was Ours documentary is the focus on the generational gap. You have Philbert, who carries the traditional knowledge and the direct pain of the past. Then you have Mikala SunRhodes, a young Powwow dancer and student who joins the journey.
Mikala represents the future.
She's trying to figure out how to be a modern teenager while carrying the weight of her heritage. When she sees the beadwork in the museum, she isn't just impressed by the skill. She's looking at the patterns. She’s realizing that her ancestors were artists whose work was taken and categorized by people who didn't understand the soul behind the stitches. It’s a lot to handle. Honestly, most kids her age are worried about exams or social media, but she’s literally traveling across the country to reclaim a piece of her identity.
The film does a great job of showing that repatriation—the act of returning these items—isn't just about moving an object from Point A to Point B. It's about healing. It's about bringing the spirit of the people back home so the next generation can grow up seeing their own history in their own community, not in a basement in Chicago or Washington D.C.
Why Repatriation is So Complicated
You might be wondering: why can't the museums just give it all back?
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It seems simple. It isn't.
First, there’s the issue of "provenance." Museums want to be 100% sure where an item came from. If a collector bought it in 1880, did they buy it fairly? Was it stolen? Was it traded for food during a famine? Proving these things a hundred years later is nearly impossible. Then there is the "preservation" argument. Some curators (the older school ones, mostly) argue that tribes don't have the facilities to keep these items safe from decay.
The What Was Ours documentary pushes back on that idea hard.
It asks the question: what is the point of "preserving" a sacred object if it's dead? If it's sitting in a drawer where no one can pray with it or learn from it, is it actually being saved, or is it just being hidden? The Wind River community eventually built their own tribal museum, the Wind River Tribal Visitors Center, to prove they could care for their own history. They shouldn't have to prove that to anyone, but they did it anyway.
Looking at the Impact of Alviera
The film also touches on the role of Alviera, a Shoshone elder who worked as a linguist and cultural preservationist. Her presence in the narrative reminds us that language and objects are tied together. If you lose the object, you might lose the word for it. If you lose the word, you lose the concept. It’s a domino effect of cultural erasure that the people in this documentary are desperately trying to stop.
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What’s really cool—and kinda sad—is seeing how much these items mean to the community when they finally get to interact with them. It’s not just about the past. It’s about the "now." The What Was Ours documentary shows that these items have the power to revitalize a language and a way of life that the government tried to stomp out for decades.
Beyond the Screen: How to Support Tribal Sovereignty
So, you watched the film, or you're planning to. What now?
It’s easy to feel bad and then just move on with your day. But the issues raised in the What Was Ours documentary are happening right now. Every single day, tribal nations are fighting legal battles to get their ancestors' remains back from universities and private collectors.
- Educate yourself on NAGPRA. If you live near a major museum or university, check their records. Most of them have public reports on how many Native American remains and funerary objects they still hold. The numbers are usually shocking.
- Support Tribal Museums. Instead of only visiting the "Big City" museums, seek out tribal-run cultural centers. Places like the Wind River Tribal Visitors Center or the Museum of the Cherokee Indian are where the real stories are being told.
- Check the labels. When you are in a museum, look at how things are labeled. Does it say "Gift of [Wealthy Person]"? Think about how that wealthy person got it. Start asking those questions.
The What Was Ours documentary isn't just a movie for people interested in history. It’s a movie for anyone who cares about justice. It’s about the right to own your own story. It’s about the fact that a beaded moccasin in a drawer is a tragedy, but that same moccasin back on the reservation is a miracle.
If you want to dive deeper, you should look into the work of the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA). They have been at the forefront of the repatriation movement for years. They provide resources for tribes and help track down stolen items that show up at auctions in Europe.
Ultimately, the film leaves us with a sense of hope, but it’s a guarded hope. Jordan and Philbert didn't get everything back. They didn't solve the whole problem. But they started a conversation that can't be ignored anymore. They showed that as long as the people remember, the objects aren't truly lost. They are just waiting to come home.
Actionable Steps for Viewers
To truly engage with the themes of the documentary, you can take these specific steps to support the ongoing efforts of indigenous communities:
- Research Local Land History: Use tools like Native-Land.ca to identify which indigenous nations traditionally inhabited the area where you live. Understanding the local context is the first step toward recognizing the importance of local cultural items.
- Audit Your Local Institutions: Many local historical societies or small-town museums hold indigenous artifacts without the proper expertise to care for them or the legal standing to keep them. Contact your local museum board to ask about their NAGPRA compliance and their relationships with local tribes.
- Support Indigenous Creators: One of the main themes of the film is the importance of indigenous people telling their own stories. Seek out documentaries, books, and art created by members of the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes to hear their perspectives directly.
- Follow the Repatriation News: Follow journalists like Jordan Dresser or organizations like the National Alliance of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO). They provide updates on current legislative battles regarding the protection of sacred sites and the return of cultural property.