The relationship between Aboriginal peoples and museums is marked by colonial legacy. The 19thcentury conviction that Aboriginal societies were doomed to extinction led institutions to shift all of their attention and conservation care to objects. For some communities, already facing diseases and many enforced social and cultural changes, this aggravated their sense of loss and made them apprehensive about and mistrustful of museums. Over the past few decades, identity affirmation and various reclamation mechanisms have changed the situation. A number of communities are now looking into the potential benefits of working with institutions that are specialized in heritage conservation. Loss of the nomadic lifestyle, mandatory schooling, and other assimilation measures also had a considerable impact on the transmission of culture, which was traditionally achieved through the family unit and through intergenerational transfer of knowledge and knowhow. The effects of globalization increased this impact. The case study of the Uashat mak Mani-Utenam community provides an interesting example. The creation of a museum in this community in the late 1990s caused discontent among community members, leading them to question the museum’s usefulness and take a hard look at redefining their own heritage. This article deals with the launch of a partnership project — more specifically with the first step, in 2006, of producing a participatory inventory. This inventory encompassed photographs and recorded information about the important aspects of the families’ heritage, as defined by the members of the community. The resulting collection gave rise to a new awareness of heritage, along with sometimes very personal, yet shared, methods for preserving the collective memory at home.