New collaboration sheds light on the history of Sámi objects in the Nordiska museet’s collections

The Sámi Museum Siida in Finland, the Nordiska museet in Sweden, and the Giellagas Institute at the University of Oulu in Finland are launching a collaboration focused on Sámi cultural heritage. The project will research the background information of old Sámi objects collected from the area of Finland in collaboration with Sámi communities. The collaboration is part of the Sámi Museum Siida’s Ellos min árbi – Long Live Our Cultural Heritage project (2025–2028), which is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

The aim of this collaboration is to study and document the provenance, including the specific origin, collection history and scope, of Sámi artefacts in the Nordiska museet’s collections. The collection includes a total of nearly 700 objects.

– This collaboration is significant for the Sámi Museum Siida. We want to deepen our understanding of the background of the Sámi collections and strengthen their connection to the Sámi community. The main goal of this work is to reintegrate the knowledge associated with these objects into living Sámi culture. I hope this project can mark the beginning of the objects’ return home, says Taina Máret Pieski, Director of the Sámi Museum Siida

– Nordiska museet is thrilled to be part of this unique collaborative project with the Sámi Museum Siida and the Giellagas Institute. For the first time since the Sámi artefacts entered Nordiska museet’s collections, we have the opportunity to trace their history and origins. I sincerely hope that our collaboration will inspire more museums to follow our example, says Sanne Houby-Nielsen, Director of Nordiska museet.

– We are delighted that this project allows us to advance duodji (Sámi handcraft) research in a way that is socially significant. It is extremely important that the backgrounds of old Sámi objects are studied in collaboration with the Sámi people. The knowledge revealed through these objects deepens our understanding of our ancestors’ lives and ways of thinking. It guides us into the future, says Sigga-Marja Magga, director of the Giellagas Institute

The objects and the results of the provenance research will be presented at public community events, which will begin in late fall 2026. At these events, participants will be able to view objects from the Nordiska museet’s collections via remote connection to Stockholm. The events offer opportunities for dialogue and knowledge sharing and strengthen community-based collection work.

The project also aims to explore the significance of community-based collection work for the Sámi people and to understand the communities’ wishes regarding the return of the collections. When the objects of the ancestors and the knowledge they contain are returned and integrated into the inherited knowledge and skills of the community, they also take on new meanings. Through collective work, the role of the objects extends from emotional archives to conversation starters and sources of inspiration.

As part of this collaboration, Siida and the Nordiska museet, together with Eeva-Kristiina Nylander, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oulu’s Giellagas Institute, are researching issues of particular interest to the Sámi people, such as how, where, and by whom the objects were added to the museum’s collections. The research findings will be made easily accessible to the Sámi community.

The Sámi Museum Siida’s community-based project “Ellos min árbi – Long Live Our Cultural Heritage” explores and examines the nature of Sámi repatriation and community work, and how Sámi objects returned to their homeland can best become part of living Sámi culture. The project systematically strengthens Siida’s national and international repatriation work, which aims to return Sámi collections to the Sámi community in Sápmi.

Additional information:

Taina Máret Pieski
Museum Director, CEO
Sámi Museum Siida
tel. +358 (0)50 535 1574
taina.pieski@samimuseum.fi

Sanne Houby-Nielsen
Museum Director
Nordiska museet
tel. +46 (0)8 519 546 20
sanne.houby.nielsen@nordiskamuseet.se

Eeva-Kristiina Nylander
Postdoctoral researcher
Giellagas Institute for Saami Studies
University of Oulu
tel. +358 (0)40 7045153
eeva-kristiina.nylander@oulu.fi