The Oberlin College Ethnographic Collection is comprised of 1,600 ethnographic objects that were acquired in the late 19th and 20th centuries as donations from missionaries, naturalists, and lay people. Some of these objects were obtained through exchange with the Smithsonian, like the Oberlin Arctic Collection. 

Oberlin College acquired the Arctic collection through institutional trading practices in 1889. During this time, The Smithsonian frequently distributed teaching collections composed of artifacts from the Arctic, Subarctic, and American Southwest. The Oberlin Arctic Collection is roughly double the size of the average teaching collection distributed by the Smithsonian. 

Eventually, the Arctic Collection was incorporated into the Oberlin College Museum (founded in 1895 as a natural history cabinet), but the trade itself was conducted by Albert A. Wright, professor of geology and natural history, prior to the museum’s formation. During this time, these items were acquired for the enrichment of curriculum in the natural sciences, not for their scholarly value. 

It is unclear what happened to the arctic collection upon arrival at Oberlin, as there are no records to indicate that it was studied, exhibited, or used as educational material in classrooms. The Oberlin College Museum closed in 1959, and the Arctic Collection–as part of the larger ethnological collection–became administered by the Anthropology department. A lot of the collection fell from public awareness, and it was only rediscovered in recent years. 

The Arctic Collection is currently being housed under the supervision of the Anthropology Department at Oberlin college, where it is being overseen by the Associate Professor & Chair of Anthropology and Archaeological Studies, Amy Margaris. The Oberlin College Ethnographic Collection has been digitally archived. The collection has only recently assumed a new pedagogical role as the centerpiece of a class offered to students through the Anthropology Department. This class is working to understand where the collection fits in with its historical ties to the Smithsonian and ties to indigenous Alaskan communities today. To do this, the class conducted, recorded, indexed interviews, and created an accessible database in an effort for knowledge repatriation and democratizing access to this collection. The class focuses on themes such as cocuration, indigenous “maker movements” and knowledge repatriation, physical repatriation and the law, and digital approaches to making physical collections more accessible in an effort to inform the decisions made about the future of the collection. 

(Margaris and Grimm, 2011).​​​​​​​