Congratulations to the U-M ReConnect/ReCollect project! The project, which focuses on the Philippine collections at U-M, has been awarded the 2025 Council Exemplary Service Award from the Society of American Archivists. Ricardo L. Punzalan and Deirdre de la Cruz, who co-direct the project, work in collaboration with many faculty and staff on campus, including Jim Moss, collection manager at UMMAA.
From the award announcement: "WHEREAS, the R/R project has demonstrated notable commitment to developing and testing culturally-responsive and historically-minded stewardship of the Philippine collections at the University of Michigan (and beyond); and WHEREAS, the R/R project has framed its work using reciprocal principles of reparative scholarship, reparative curation, and reparative connections to communities, for Philippine archival and museum collections that other North American institutions can emulate; and WHEREAS, the R/R project has published an online toolkit that serves as a dynamic hub of adaptable and practical resources, including Points of Origin, a documentary film by Orlando de Guzman, that document and share the R/R process before wider audiences; and WHEREAS, the R/R project has conducted a series of consultations with Filipin/x communities, artists, and Indigenous cultural bearers, distributed copies of archival materials to Indigenous source communities, Universities, and cultural heritage institutions in the Philippines; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the ReConnect/ReCollect: Reparative Connections to Philippine Collections at the University of Michigan and its collaborators be honored with a 2025 SAA Council Exemplary Service Award for their outstanding work."
Read more about ReConnect/ReCollect.
Photo: Master basket weaver and Kankana-ey culture bearer Johnny Bangao, Jr. examines baskets in U-M's Museum of Anthropological Archaeology Philippines collection.
