How the cultural material collections of modern nations are preserved for future generations depends on the relationships developed with communities of origin. This in turn depends on the preparedness, and ability, of professionals to engage with Indigenous epistemologies and with social and cultural issues that have framed relationships between Indigenous communities and institutions. Two subjects at the University of Melbourne, Garma Fieldwork and Respect, challenge the conventional ways in which studies of Indigenous people are used to inform communities of practice in collecting institutions. This paper explores how students are taught to understand the various ways cultural information is presented and transmitted; and how enriched academic learning is provided through first hand experience of people whose social and cultural world is described in specialist literature, with its emphasis on literary knowledge acquisition. Both subjects support students to engage as professionals in cultural transmission that is textual, visual, oral, or performed.