Museum Studies Commons^™

Collaborating With Chicago Urban Communities: The Unforeseen Challenges Of Better Museum Practices, Dionisia Ann Mathios

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on better museum practices, social justice museums, and the unforeseen challenges that museums encounter when collaborating and consulting with communities. More specifically, this project looks at the National Public Housing Museum (NPHM) and the exhibit Report to the Public: An Untold Story of the Conservative Vice Lords (CVL), which was co-created with the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. Both Chicago institutions worked with public housing residents and the former CVL, a 1960s gang, to give voice to two often unheard communities. Through an anthropological and museum studies perspective, this thesis summarizes the history of museum practice as well …

Internationalization: Utilizing The University Museum, Adrienne Turnbull-Reilly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A review of the literature on the nature of international education in the United States reveals that although most international students want to engage socially and academically with their peers, many encounter cultural, linguistic, and institutional obstacles. Using this information to guide interview questions and format workshops, the author explored the question of how university museums can contribute to a more holistic and enriching educational experience for international students on American campuses, using the University of Denver as a case study. Findings from workshops and interviews conducted by the author reveal similar obstacles (cultural, linguistic, and institutional) when engaging students …

Language And Museums: Supporting Alaska Native Languages Through Collaborative Networking, Heather J. Mcclain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the ever-increasing risk of language loss and possible extinction of the world's Indigenous languages, museums are quickly becoming active supporters and valuable resources for communities engaged in revitalization initiatives. Although working with language material is inherently difficult for museums because of their traditionally object based nature, it is imperative for museums to focus on the documentation and preservation of language as intangible cultural heritage (ICH) because of the vital connection between language and culture. This thesis examines how museums in Alaska, particularly the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, Alaska Office, are supporting Alaska Native language and cultural revitalization through collaborative …

Representing Race Responsibly: A Case Study Of The Social Responsibility Paradigm In Colorado Museums, Angela Rueda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although museums have moved towards more reflexive practice, misrepresentation continues to be a concern. How then can museums successfully represent racial and ethnic groups that have historically been marginalized or misrepresented? In this thesis I argue that with greater integration of the social responsibility paradigm--which argues that museums can be agents of social change-- museums may be able to improve representation. During the summer of 2013, I conducted field research that explored how the social responsibility paradigm was or was not being enacted at The History Colorado Center and Museo de las Americas. This thesis offers a critical analysis of …

Museum Representation : Ethnostatic Representations Of Culture, Brynna Elizabeth Tussey

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Museums act as knowledge production centers for cultural objects. The knowledge produced and distributed frequently portrays the Other as being immobilized in ethnostatic history. Models and modes of representation serve to reinforce these perceptions, rather than aid in the development of new forms of knowledge production. Through the discussion of these models, my research presents new theoretical perspectives for the agencies within the museum, and proposes possible new models for displaying objects from other cultures and the dialogues around said objects.

Soldiers Of Science--Agents Of Culture: American Archaeologists In The Office Of Strategic Services (Oss), Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

"Scientificity" and appeals to political independence are invaluable tools when institutions such as the American School of Classical Studies at Athens attempt to maintain professional autonomy. Nonetheless, the cooperation of scientists and scholars with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), among them archaeologists affiliated with the American School, suggests a constitutive affinity between political and cultural leadership. This relationship is here mapped in historical terms, while, at the same time, sociological categorizations of knowledge and its employment are used in order to situate archaeologists in their broader social and political context and to evaluate their work not merely as agents …

Redefining, Crafting, And Re/Presenting Contemporary Ethnicities: Honduran National Identity, 1994–2006, Cordelia A. Frewen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, Fourth World populations, including those in Honduras, have been steadily gaining partial recognition of cultural rights; yet often official discourses of national identity continue to subsume cultural traditions of indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. Honduras's heterogeneous ethnic pluralism has historically been combined to promote a more cohesive national identity of a homogenized, mayanized, indo-Hispanic mestizaje. Exclusion and mis- or under-representation of indigenous groups is reinforced by popular imagination, particularly in the cultural heritage and tourism sectors. Firmly situated within regional Latin American and global trends, over the past two decades, official discourse on …

Woven Kin: Exploring Representation And Collaboration In Navajo Weaving Exhibitions, Teresa Maria Montoya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following recent trends in scholarship that establish museums as complex sites where representations of Native American cultures are actively negotiated, this thesis explores the relationship between representational strategies and the employment of critical Indigenous methodologies by museum institutions in the display of Navajo weavings. A postcolonial theoretical framework is utilized to analyze six Navajo weaving exhibition installments over the past decade. Additionally, a critical reflection is offered about the development of the author's collaborative exhibition, Na'ashjé'ii Biką' Biyiin (Chant of the Male Spider): A Holistic Journey with Diné Weaver Roy Kady, that reveals both the rewards and challenges of …

Ua100/2/3 Training School & College High Memorabilia Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Memorabilia related to Training School & College High School.

Ua97/8 Ogden College Memorabilia, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Memorabilia has been donated by and collected from various sources. Many of the earliest artifacts have come into the WKU Archives with no surviving documentation.

Most of the items in the collection are for exhibit purposes only. Images may be requested from the WKU Archivist. Items may be pulled for researchers by prior appointment.

If you have items that may be of interest to the WKU Archives, please contact us at the address above. Large three-dimensional objects may be accessioned through the Kentucky Museum. See allied and related materials for a list of these items.

A Kachina By Any Other Name: Linguistically Contextualizing Native American Collections, Rachel Elizabeth Maxson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Museums collect and care for material culture, and, increasingly, intangible culture. This relatively new term for the folklore, music, dance, traditional practices, and language belonging to a group of people is gaining importance in international heritage management discourse. As one aspect of intangible cultural heritage, language is more relevant in museums than one might realize. Incorporating native languages into museum collections provides context and acts as appropriate museology, preserving indigenous descriptions of objects. Hopi katsina tihu are outstanding examples of objects that museums can re-contextualize with native terminology. Their deep connection to Hopi belief and ritual as well as their …

Feather Evidence Helps Clarify Locality Of Anthropological Artifacts In The Museum Of Mankind, Carla J. Dove

Pacific Studies

Species of birds used on ethnographic artifacts collected during the eighteenth century and stored at the Museum of Mankind (British Museum) were identified by using microscopic and whole-feather characters. One of the objects (VAN 345), labeled as having been collected on Vancouver’s voyage to Tahiti, was a feather pendant made of long strands of chicken feathers with small red feathers at the base. The small red feathers were examined microscopically, compared with museum study skins of all possible species, and identified as Vestiaria coccinea (‘I‘iwi). Since this species is known only from the Hawaiian Archipelago, it was determined that the …

Vol. 20 No. 4 (1997): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Contributors: Vol 20 No. 4, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Contributors list of Vol. 20 (1997): Pacific Studies Full Issue 4

Introduction: Imaging, Representation, And Photography Of The Pacific Islands, Max Quanchi

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Making Histories: The Torres Strait Expedition Of 1898, Elizabeth Edwards

Pacific Studies

The Cambridge Torres Strait Expedition used photography to address two agendas, both of which were grounded in the temporal ambiguities of photography. Photography was used first as an integrated tool of anthropological investigation, particularly in the field of salvage ethnography and through “reenactment”; and second as a site of social interaction between the expedition and the Torres Strait Islanders through the exchange and display of photographs. I argue that these two agendas and their function as “history” are grounded in the temporal ambiguities inherent in photographic inscription. The first, the scientific, depended on the construction and representation of a “static” …

In Search Of “Men Of Nature”: Paul Wirz’S Photography In New Guinea, 1916–1955, Andrea E. Schmidt

Pacific Studies

Between 1916 and 1955 the Swiss anthropologist and collector Paul Wirz (1892– 1955) took several thousand photographs during his research trips to New Guinea, where he stayed with the Marind-anim of the south coast, at Lake Sentani, in the highlands with the Western Dani and the Enga, at the Papuan Gulf (Gogodala), and in the Sepik and Maprik areas. For his black-and-white–dominated photography Wirz used first gelatin dry-plate technology, later roll film. The photographs served as illustrations for his numerous publications, and, sometimes hand-colored, as lantern slides for his lectures. In content, Wirz believed that photography should above all document …

Official/Unofficial Images: Photographs From The Crane Pacific Expedition, 1928–1929, Virginia-Lee Webb

Pacific Studies

The Crane Pacific Expedition was privately funded by Cornelius Crane and institutionally sponsored by the Field Museum, Chicago. Originally planning a pleasure trip, Crane offered to fund and organize a scientific one for the museum. The expedition circled the globe from November 1928 to October 1929, and collected over 18,000 specimens of all types for various departments at the Field Museum. Sculptures were also collected and given to several museums. However, the Crane Expedition is particularly significant for its photographic record of the Sepik River, New Guinea. One official photographer, Sidney N. Shurcliff, was documented, yet five men are now …

Vol. 20 No. 4 (1997): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Pacific Islands Collections At The California Museum Of Photography, University Of California–Riverside, Felicia R. Beardsley

Pacific Studies

More than twenty thousand photographs in the collections at the California Museum of Photography, University of California–Riverside (UCR CMP), document a century of history in the Pacific region. Most were taken between 1870 and 1930, many by a corps of unnamed photographers dispatched by stereographic companies to collect images for commercial purposes. There were also individuals like Harry Pidgeon, who crossed the Pacific documenting all aspects of life in the region. The Pacific images in two of the principal stereographic collections at UCR CMP, the Keystone-Mast Collection and the Harry Pidgeon Collection, are described. These collections have not been cataloged, …

Collaborative Regional Anthropology In New Guinea: From The New Guinea Micro-Evolution Project To The A. B. Lewis Project And Beyond, Robert L. Welsch

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Sandra Bamford's Review Of Dirk Smidt, Pieter Ter Keurs, And Albert Trouwborst's Pacific Material Culture: Essays In Honour Of Dr. Simon Kooijman On The Occasion Of His 80th Birthday, Sandra Bamford

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Alan Howard's Review Of F. Allan Hanson And Louise Hanson's Art And Identity In Oceania, Alan Howard

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Louise Lincoln's Review Of Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin's Leben In Linie, Muster Und Farbe: Einführung In Die Betrachtung Aussereuropäischer Kunst (Life In Line, Pattern, And Color: An Introduction To The Study Of Non-European Art), Louise Lincoln

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Louise Lincoln's Review Of Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin's Leben In Linie, Muster Und Farbe: Einführung In Die Betrachtung Aussereuropäischer Kunst (Life In Line, Pattern, And Color: An Introduction To The Study Of Non-European Art), Louise Lincoln

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Regional Variation And Local Style: A Neglected Dimension In Hawaiian Prehistory, Patrick V. Kirch

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Phillip Lewis's Review Of Louise Lincoln's Assemblage Of Spirits: Idea And Image In New Ireland, Phillip Lewis

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Renée Heyum's Review Of Louise Hanson And F. Allan Hanson's The Art Of Oceania: A Bibliography, Renée Heyum

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Andreas Reischek And The Maori: Villainy Or The Nineteenth-Century Scientific Ethos, Erich Kolig

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Marie J. Adams' Review Of Rod Ewins' Fijian Artefacts: Tasmanian Museum And Art Gallery Collection, Marie J. Adams

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.