Controversy over Park Management

In the 1960s and 1970s the American Indian Movement grew as Native peoples began to demand treaty rights and better treatment from the U.S. Government. Major changes ensued in the ways that law and government treated Native Americans. Culturally, an interest in traditional Native American ways of life emerged.

With their treaty rights demands, Native Americans began to call for more religious and cultural rights and control of their sacred places. As an unambiguously sacred place, Pipestone became a point of interest. Lakota and Dakota people from communitiesin South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota visited Pipestone in numbers, and became troubled by depictions of Native Americans in National Park Service exhibits. In the exhibits, Native religions and cultures were discussed in the past tense and too much emphasis was placed on white settlers, especially George Catlin, instead of Indigenous people. In general, the exhibits were framed by a 1950s era settler view of Native Americans and reproduced stereotypical, even offensive, images of Native people.¹

To many Native people, the presentation of pipes in exhibits could also be offensive. Of the 60 pipes on display, 20 were displayed with stem and bowl joined. To many Lakota and Dakota people, the bowl and stem should only be joined in ceremony. Thus, the perpetual display of joined pipes was seen as a particularly egregious show of disrespect towards certain Native peoples.

²In general, the old exhibits had been framed by a 1950s era white view of Native Americans and reproduced stereotypical and offensive images of Indians.

Contemporary display reflects Pipestone National Monument's  consultation with Native tribes toward more respectful orientation to the sacred place. 

Beginning in the early 1990s, the Park Service agreed to a renovation of the exhibits and the visitor center after consultation with tribal officials, dramatically improving the depictions of Native peoples and cultures, and orienting visitors to the reality that they are in a sacred place of ongoing significance to Native peoples.  Updates to the Park Service curation of the memory and management of the site can be found at here.