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Cultural artifacts fortify bonds to Cherokee identity
Monday, July 14, 2025
Cherokee Nation
Preserving and promoting our Cherokee culture is a multifaceted mission rooted in carrying forward our most important Cherokee values as we grow stronger as a nation.
Whether it’s a new display featuring historic and cultural objects at one of our Cherokee Nation health centers, an heirloom community garden, a new podcast, or the newly opened Marble City Community Center, each effort adds to our collective strength. Every contribution — large or small — helps sustain our identity and ensures our stories endure for generations to come.
Many of our most significant efforts are coordinated through the Cherokee National Research Center here in Tahlequah, the capital city of the Cherokee Nation. The research center’s vault preserves a collection of more than 5,000 objects, including baskets, pottery, furniture, clothing and art.
Whether it’s historical preservation or active participation in our art forms, we prioritize community involvement. It’s a core tenet in many of our programs. In repatriation projects, Cherokee citizens participate as soon as artifacts are identified so that traditions may be upheld anywhere on the globe.
But as our mission grows abroad, we also want to identify treasures, cultural artifacts and art right here on our reservation.
Families may have an item of clothing, beadwork or basketry they have passed down through generations. Other families may have passed down property or lease documents signed by former principal chiefs. These all play a part in our cultural tapestry, and we want to help you understand it better.
Research Center staff are encouraging citizens to submit photos and contextual narratives of their family heirlooms that may be relevant to Cherokee culture or history. Subject-matter experts will collaborate with fellow Cherokees to connect them with historians or artists to properly catalogue family collections.
To take advantage of this opportunity, share brief descriptions and a photo on this website. The deadline to participate is July 18. Some citizens will be invited for in-person review at the Cherokee National Research Center during the upcoming 73rd annual Cherokee National Holiday. Through this new project, we want to help our citizens by providing historic and cultural context.
When it comes to cultural preservation, all Cherokees are invited to join. Our culture — who we are — is the true strength of the Cherokee Nation.
is the 18th elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, the largest Indian
tribe in the United States. He is only the second elected Principal Chief of the
Cherokee Nation from Vinita, the first being Thomas Buffington, who served from
1899-1903. Prior to being elected Principal Chief, Hoskin served as the tribe’s
Secretary of State. He also formerly served as a member of the Council of the
Cherokee Nation, representing District 11 for six years.
