Philadelphia Writing Project
Supporting Civically Engaged Argument Writing with Primary Sources
Museums, Artifacts, and Repatriation
Around the world, museums attract millions of visitors, educating and informing the public. Many museums display artwork, human remains, and other artifacts of human culture. However, some of these artifacts have contested ownership due to how museums acquired them, including through theft, military seizure, or unequal transactions.
Students investigate the question, "What should museums do with artifacts that communities want back?" They will consider and evaluate various arguments and claims, engaging with issues of identity, nationalism, and cultural heritage. Students will explore case studies of repatriation efforts, examine the ethical considerations, and discuss the impact of returning artifacts on both museums and originating communities.
FEATURED PRIMARY SOURCES
Legislation
H.R.5237 - Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. 1990. (Library of Congress).
CLASSROOM ROUTINE
Joining a Conversation in Progress
As a middle school social studies teacher, Mrs. Patten invited her students to dig into issues related to archaeology. Two primary questions came up in her class as she and students learned about archaeology: Should archaeologists dig up human remains, and what should museums do if communities request that artifacts be returned to them?
Students were joining conversations in progress. Drawing upon resources from the National Writing Project's College, Career, and Community Writers Program (NWP C3WP), Mrs. Patten's students to create an Atwoodian Table to represent the many viewpoints on these two issues. (The Atwoodian Table is named for its creator, NWP teacher consultant Dr. Robin Atwood, and is inspired by the Burkean parlor metaphor).
Students wrote down the viewpoints that were included in a single news video. Then, students added their own viewpoints to a table to represent the class's viewpoints.
After students created Atwoodian tables in their notebooks using the same video, Mrs. Patten provided the class with additional texts to explore that had more perspectives. Students selected two texts and added perspectives to their Atwoodian tables in their notebooks.
Later, as a whole class, students summarized the perspectives on the classroom white board. This was something students advocated for given that they had individually only read two additional articles. Students wanted to know all of the perspectives. They called their summary "Voices at the Table" and they taped up the texts they used next to the quotes they had selected.
CLASSROOM ROUTINE
Primary Source Analysis
Use the Primary Source Analysis Tool from the Library of Congress to support students in analyzing a photo from an archaeological endeavor in 1926. Mrs. Patten used this photo as an entry point into her unit. Encourage students to reflect:
What’s happening in the photo?
Who is in the photo?
When do you think this photo was taken?
Why do you think this photo was taken?
After an initial analysis, share the bibliographic record of the photo. Discuss with students which questions they now have answers to and what new questions they have. Below are example student responses.
TEXT SET
Introduce the Issue
Teachers may introduce the topic using one or more of the texts below. Instead of asking students their opinions up front, teachers should encourage students to identify the multiple perspectives of others on the issue.
Historical primary sources like photographs of early archaeology work can provide historical context for how some artifacts were acquired by museums.
News article introducing the topics of repatriation and colonialism. "Art of the steal: European museums wrestle with returning African art." (Christian Science Monitor, 2019).
News article written for students that invites them to consider multiple perspectives on the issue of artifacts in museums. "Was this statue stolen?" (Scholastic Junior, 2019).
News article describing a speech offered in defense of museums that artifacts from around the world. "Cuno illustrates museums’ role." (Yale Daily News, 2010).
Infographic describing how Germany returned over 1000 artifacts to Nigeria. "Germany returns Benin Bronzes to Nigeria." (Gulf News, 2022).
Go Deeper
Students can use these texts—or excerpts from these texts—to identify additional perspectives on the issue. Teachers and students may choose to focus on a particular set of artifacts, a specific museum, or the issue more broadly.
Historical primary sources may shed light on how thinking about cultures and communities deemed "exotic" or "other" has or has not shifted over time.
News article describing federal regulations requiring museums to obtain permission from Native American descendants to retain artifacts. "Museums to close exhibits featuring Native American artifacts, as new federal regulations take effect." (CNN, 2024).
Magazine article describing how Native American communities are getting artifacts back from the Smithsonian. "The road to repatriation." (Smithsonian Magazine, 2008).
News article describing the history and importance of museums. "A history of museums, 'The memory of mankind'." (NPR, 2009).
Public statements by museums on the repatriation of artifacts. "Benin Bronzes are scattered all over the world. We asked museums that hold them where they stand on restitution." (Artnet, 2021).
PLANNING & EQUITY INSIGHTS
Culturally & Historically Relevant Literacies: 5 Pursuits
In Cultivating Genius (2020) and Unearthing Joy (2023), Gholdy Muhammad introduced a Culturally and Historically Relevant Literacies framework. The framework encourages teachers to plan units using five pursuits that were central to the work and learning of Black literary societies.
A unit on museums and artifact repatriation may address each pursuit in these ways:
Identities: Students consider how various identities and life experiences inform how people interact with museums.
Skills: Students debate ideas and write argumentative essays to support their claims about museums and artifact repatriation. Students also consider what kinds of evidence would be most relevant to the claims they make and how to write a nuanced claim.
Intellectualism: Students learn about various cultures and communities, particularly those that may not be centered in typical school curricula. Students also learn about the history of colonialism as it is intimately tied to the modern museum.
Criticality: Students reflect on who is telling a story about a community from the past, why, and how. Students can also consider how colonialism, racism, and other power dynamics may shape this kind of human activity.
Joy: Students identify ways in which communities can celebrate their histories and pass on positive stories of creativity, resilience, and collaboration.
CLASSROOM ROUTINE
Connecting Evidence to Claims
As students develop their arguments, they may need support with leveraging evidence to strengthen their claims. The National Writing Project's College, Career, and Community Writers Program (NWP C3WP) provides resources for supporting students in identifying, summarizing, and connecting evidence to claims.
Check out this C3WP mini unit on "Connecting Evidence to Claims" for ideas about identifying evidence and explaining the importance of its connection to a claim. Below is a handout that invites students to work with a piece of evidence and expand upon what this evidence says and why it matters.
Say, Mean, Matter is one routine for working with evidence. Below are student annotations of a text about Egyptian artifacts in Western museums.
CLASSROOM ROUTINE
Making Moves with Evidence
NWP C3WP also includes a mini unit on "Making Moves with Evidence." This resource draws from Joseph Harris’s How to Do Things with Texts (2006). The handout below includes examples of the "Harris Moves" using texts related to museums and artifact repatriation.
![](https://www.google.com/images/icons/product/drive-32.png)
In Mrs. Patten's class, students color-coded and highlighted types of evidence in an example text using Harris's framework (illustrating, authorizing, extending, countering). Then, students revised their writing using each of the "Harris Moves" and texts from the mini unit.
Check out the student writing samples below from Mrs. Patten's class. What moves with evidence do you notice that her students used?
CLASSROOM ROUTINE
Writing and Revising Claims
As students develop their arguments, they may want to strengthen them by responding to evidence and ideas from others. The National Writing Project's College, Career, and Community Writers Program (NWP C3WP) provides resources for supporting students in writing "Nuanced Claims."
Check out this C3WP mini unit on writing and revising claims. Below is a handout that invites students to consider various pieces of evidence and incorporate some of the ideas into a revised claim.
TEACHER INQUIRY
Creating Spaces for Respectful Argument
In designing her unit on museums and artifacts for social studies, Mrs. Patten partnered with the English language arts teacher at her school to plan how to teach civic argument writing. She was reflecting on how recent cultural and political conversations were affecting her community and was concerned that students might frequently see contentious dialogue on social media, television, and currently in school board meetings.
Mrs. Patten and her colleague chose to frame their own practitioner inquiry around two questions, “What topics are worthy of argument writing?" and “How can be mindful of cultural conflicts in society while providing students spaces to engage in respectful dialogue?" They drew upon a chapter from Inquiry as a Stance: Practitioner Research for the Next Generation (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) to guide them. By adopting "inquiry as a stance," their work with argument writing transformed two classrooms and offered over 100 students opportunities to grow as a critical thinkers and writers.
Both teachers explored how they could create spaces and a framework for a culture of dialogue. Both believed in offering students opportunities to formulate their own opinions rooted in fact, evidence, and respectful listening. Both embraced possibilities for reading and writing with multiple perspectives to encourage students to deconstruct an argument into essential components and focus on how to recognize personal experience and connections. To achieve these goals, they leaned heavily on routines from the National Writing Project's College, Career, and Community Writers Program (e.g., Atwoodian Table, Harris Moves, sentence stems for writing claims and counter claims from They say/I say: Moves that matter in academic writing from Birkenstein and Graff) as well as strategies from the Library of Congress (e.g., primary source analysis) and Project Zero (e.g., "Connectm extend, challenge" and "I used to think, now I think"). These routines and strategies helped to make the moves of arguing and writing more clear to students and set the stage for respectful dialogue.
After their work together a student reflected on what they learned:
"I learned during this assignment that sometimes you have to go further into the explanation of your evidence than you had before. I learned about myself that it can be difficult to achieve when you already have something in mind that you want to stick to or keep in the piece. I think that argumentative writing is a really difficult type of writing, as it's quite difficult to create a powerful argument unless you have strong evidence and a strong claim you can defend and back up, which is the most important part of this type of writing."
At the end of the year students selected their own claims to research, wrote a persuasive piece, and spoke about in the classroom. Both teachers felt that their middle school students developed the ability to change their initial gut claim and to disagree while still maintaining respect for their peers.
Additional Planning Resources
Primary Source
Wonderful bronzes from Benin: Sculptures of a savage people. The Courier Democrat, 1914. (Chronicling America, Library of Congress).
*Please note: This primary source includes openly racist ideas. Prepare students and have clear learning goals for introducing this text.Primary Source
Head and crown of King Tut-ankh-Amen revealed with latest discoveries. Evening Star, 25 July 1926. (Chronicling America, Library of Congress).
Primary Source
Howard Carter, 1873-1939, with magnifying glass, leaning over mummy of King Tutankhamen as the first incision was made in the mummy wrappings, Feb. 1926. (Library of Congress).
Online Exhibition
Collecting memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress. (2024).
Informational Video
The case for museums. (The Art Assignment, 2018).
Informational Video
The problem with museums. (PBS Origins, 2019).
Informational Text
The world's most visited museums (Statista, 2024).
Unit Planning Resource
Who owns the Parthenon sculptures? (Khan Academy, 2024).
News Article
Hobby Lobby's illegal antiquities shed light on a lost, looted ancient city In Iraq. (NPR, 2018).
News Video
Museum works to repatriate artifacts looted from West Africa. (PBS News Hour, 2022).
News Article
After recent backlash, community members weigh in on Mütter Museum’s future (WHYY, 2023).
About This Page
This website features resources created by educators affiliated with the Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP), supported by a Teaching with Primary Sources grant from the Library of Congress.
The following Philadelphia Writing Project teacher consultants contributed to this page: Mrs. Patten, J. Ross, and J. F. Smith.
Some of the resources and approaches referenced on this page were developed by the National Writing Project's College, Career, and Community Writers Program.
This page was updated 11 July 2024.