NIBSDA was created to cast light upon these truths of the historical assimilative period of the Indigenous experience in the United States. Making boarding school records more accessible to boarding school survivors and their descendants in a digital archive is essential to understanding this history and its consequences on Tribal Nations.
In negotiating these pursuits, you may encounter content that can trigger secondary trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); we encourage individuals to seek counseling or healing if you experience any stress related to boarding school history. Indigenous peoples are warned that NIBSDA may lead to other external resources that contain images, names, and references to deceased persons.
Some historic materials made digitally accessible carry the attitudes of their time and may be hurtful today. NIBSDA is committed to providing access to these items and strive to contextualize, enculturate, and indigenize information that is written from a colonial lens through descriptive records and, where considered necessary, statements and/or notices attached to digital objects that issue a warning about potentially sensitive content.
STATEMENT OF POTENTIALLY HURTFUL HISTORICAL INFORMATION
In navigating the primary source archival collections found in NIBSDA, you may encounter harmful or offensive language that may appear in the historic record which do reflect attitudes and systems of control of the time. While some descriptions in NIBSDA finding aids or catalog records are authored by staff, others reflect remnant or legacy language and sentiments used by the people and organizations that created the material
NIBSDA is taking the following steps to address offensive language, restrict certain information out of scope, and to contextualize content in its featured archival collections:
1) Reparative description 2) Flagging and Excluding Historical Materials that contain culturally sensitive information 3) Retaining (contextualizing) harmful legacy descriptions when it has relevant historic and recordkeeping value 4) Review of Data Aggregation Conventions and Best Practices 5) Receptive and Responsive Take-Down Request Apparatus
RESOURCES THAT ALLOW YOU TO SPEAK WITH SOMEONE NOW
All of these resources are free, confidential, and available 24/7.
·National Suicide Prevention Lifeline | 1-800-273-TALK (8255) | Support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals
·Crisis Text Line | Text HOME to 741741 | Text with a Crisis Counselor, a real human trained to bring texters from a hot moment to a cool calm through active listening and collaborative problem solving.
·Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline | 1-800-273-TALK (8255), Veterans Press 1 | Text 838255 | Chat online at: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net | Connect with caring, qualified responders with the Department of Veterans Affairs
·Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline | 1-800-662-HELP (4357) | For individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders
·National Sexual Assault Hotline | 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) | You will be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault provider near you
·Domestic Violence Hotline | 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) | Chat online at: www.thehotline.org | For anyone experiencing domestic violence, seeking resources or information, or questioning unhealthy aspects of their relationship