The disciplines of museum collections and archives, after decades of separation, have finally begun to converge again. Despite the rise in prominence of museum archive literature beginning in the 1990s, practical guides for museum archive work and structuring of collections are still few and far between. Colonialist values of knowledge stratification and prioritization of a Western worldview have contributed greatly to the divide between fields, and decolonial work in both fields must include an assessment of the superstructures they fall under.

In this thesis, I explore the current intersection of museum cataloging and archival description by interrogating their colonial histories and the rationale behind their current standards, and by outlining the work that needs to be done to create a decolonial approach to museum archives. Through this work, I hope to contribute to the ongoing relationship between archivists and museum professionals in a way that allows both fields to appropriately preserve their forms of cultural heritage, and present a potential avenue for a new kind of museum archival practice that is capable of handling multiple contexts simultaneously.