Museum Studies Commons^™

Medicine And The Museum: An Experiential Case Study In Art History Pedagogy And Practice, Marcia Brennan

Art History Pedagogy & Practice

This article brings three scholarly and professional perspectives to bear on museum-based learning experiences for undergraduate pre-medical and STEM students. In the first section, Marcia Brennan describes the seminar on “Medicine and the Museum: Clinical Aesthetics and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston” that she teaches at Rice University. Brennan is a modernist art historian, and her discussion focuses on the ways in which classes such as this can contribute meaningfully to undergraduate pre-medical and STEM education. Brennan collaborated with Joshua Eyler, who served as Executive Director of Rice University’s Center for Teaching Excellence. In the second section, Eyler discusses …

Feminist Curating: What It Means And Why It Matters, Sally Brown

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This article outlines a proactive feminist curatorial methodology to encourage feminist curated exhibitions leading to greater recognition for under and misrepresented artists and impacting statistics of representation.

Lessons From Controversy: Interpreting The Sand Creek Massacre In Colorado, Katherine Rose Hoadley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a case study of the 2012 History Colorado Center exhibit, Collision: The Sand Creek Massacre, 1860s – Today. Collision was an exhibit that attempted to showcase the history of the Sand Creek Massacre – an 1864 event where well over one hundred peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho people were murdered by the 3rd Regiment of the Colorado Military District. Collision remained open for a little more than a year – this thesis interrogates the reasons behind its closure and its status as a controversial museum exhibit. The findings of this thesis show that a lack of collaboration …

People And Place: A Journey Through Film, Tourism, And Heritage, Sarah Beals

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Old Tucson Studios is a theme park where film, tourism, and heritage all converge through the American Western genre. During national social change, Westerns increase in number to reflect national values and identity. Westerns that ally with landscapes and people are potentially the most powerful storytelling tool in mainstream media. My research shows that this paring of people and place creates a prevailing image in the audience’s memory. The results suggest that the current image of the West comes from films made between 1951-1970, despite there being newer Westerns. John Wayne and saguaro cactus are enduring images with historic, cultural, …

Behind The Exhibit: Exploring The Processes Of Indigenous Rights Representation At The Canadian Museum For Human Rights, Madison Caroline Dillard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Focusing on the representation of Indigenous human rights at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, this study examines how museums can represent, educate, and advocate for Indigenous human rights. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out at the museum in July 2019 and the literature on anthropology and human rights, decolonizing museum practices, and museums as spaces for human rights dialogue. The study shows how museums can change their history of racist and inaccurate representation of Indigenous people. Through extensive and “deep collaboration” between Indigenous partners and museum staff, Indigenous culture, history, and rights …

Manifestations: Displays Of Internal Beliefs And Perspectives, Manuel Ferreira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims at better understanding and sharing the internal beliefs, influences, and insights of specific Field Museum staff in regard to exhibitions and the future of the Field Museum. It is people that make up museums and create exhibitions, and their beliefs not only influence and guide them, but also their institution and what they develop. Grounded in museum anthropology, and framed by new and critical museology, entanglement, contact zones, museum as method, and a queer mezclando (mixing) perspective, this research employs museum ethnography as a way of exploring relations and meanings among museum staff, beliefs, and manifestations. In …

Framing Representation: An Ethnographic Exploration Of Visual Sovereignty And Contemporary Native American Art, Laura A. Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The nature of this research is to explore the idea of visual sovereignty within contemporary Native American art, and how this concept engages with practices of decolonization. Through conducting semi-structured interviews with five artists who selfidentify as Native American, I explore how the artists engage with this concept, what visual narratives their artwork presents, and how their works function as acts of decolonization. I connect their narratives to a broader conversation of critical museology and museum anthropology within museum spaces including how to reconsider the art/artifact divide, how to frame Indigenous arts reception through Indigenous aesthetics, and how their narratives …

Beyond Interventions: A Case Study Of The Denver Art Museum’S Native Arts Artist-In-Residency Program, Madison Sussmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Denver Art Museum’s Native Arts Artist-in-Residency Program is an inter-departmental project dedicated to the collaboration between the museum, artists, and visitors. The residency and the physical studio were established to formalize artist involvement in the museum. There is no written mission statement for the program, but visitor engagement is central to the organization of the program and experience of the artist. This thesis explores the question: What can the experiences of the artists and museum professionals involved in the Native Arts Artist-in-Residency program tell about the residency’s contribution to critical museology and decolonization? Through exploring the definitions of critical …

Ua1c11/108 Jonathan Jeffrey Negative Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Negatives taken by Jonathan Jeffrey.

The Colonial Gaze In Aotearoa New Zealand: Origins, Residue, And Means For Mitigation, Juliet Levesque

History Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

When Repatriation Doesn’T Happen: Relationships Created Through Cultural Property Negotiations, Ellyn Demuynck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the discourse of repatriation in connection to the Encounters exhibition held by the National Museum of Australia in 2015. Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander artifacts were loaned to the Australian museum by the British Museum. At the close of the exhibition, one item, the Gweagal shield, was claimed for repatriation. The repatriation request had not been approved at the time of this research. The Gweagal shield is a historically significant artifact for Indigenous and non- Indigenous Australians. Analysis takes into account the political economy of the two museums and situates the exhibition within the relevant museum …

A Political Perch: A Historical Analysis And Online Exhibit Of The U.S. Senate Clerk's Desk, Olivia Bowers

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience aims to highlight the importance of the historical object and accurately document the complete history of the former United States Senate Clerk’s Desk, placed in the newly built chamber in 1859 and removed in 1951. The desk’s first and last occupants were Kentucky natives and civil servants, and its current resting place is in Western Kentucky University’s Kentucky Museum. Through research that began in the nation’s capital, and a journey to follow the desk’s paper trail, the object’s massive historical legacy and close ties to the state of Kentucky may live on. Along with …

By Land And By Sea: Displaced Samplers Reveal Women On The Move, Lynne Anderson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Until the middle of the nineteenth century most American girls embroidered as least one needlework sampler as part of their education. A first sampler demonstrated the girl had learned to sew a few different stitches, copy the alphabet, and “write” her own name in thread. If instruction continued past these basics, subsequent embroideries might reveal more advanced needlework techniques and the girl’s expanding literacy. Each sampler was considered a significant accomplishment—by the girl herself, her teacher, her family, and even potential suitors. Embroidered samplers were treasured objects, framed and displayed in the home or tucked away safely for posterity. When …

Artistic Philanthropy And Women’S Emancipation In Early Twentieth-Century Italy, In The Life And The Work Of Romeyne Robert And Carolina Amari, Maria Luciana Buseghin

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Romeyne Robert, married as Ranieri di Sorbello, started an embroidery school in 1904 in Umbria, at the family’s country estate of Pischiello. Her goal was to teach young peasant women to emancipate themselves by learning the craft of embroidery. She was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement in America and by contemporary programs developed in settlement houses along the East Coast. Their aim was to help the emancipation of immigrant women from Italy by fostering the recovery of artisan skills. At the Sorbello Embroidery School, Romeyne rediscovered the Renaissance technique originally called the punto Umbro, later renamed punto Sorbello. …

Many Makers: Collaborative Renewal Of Chahta Nan Tvnna (Choctaw Textiles), Jennifer Byram

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Using an Indigenous research model of relationality to community and to land, this paper presents the production of a 1700’s style skirt in bison and dogbane fiber by a group of Choctaw textiles artisans. By translating existing archaeological and textual resources into newly produced garments, these practices communicate the research to the Choctaw community in an accessible and inspiring format. Textiles discussed in this paper are made with twining and oblique interlacing techniques using dogbane, bison, and nettle yarns decorated with natural dyes, pigments, or shells. Members of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma revitalized a traditional art that had been …

Camelid Fleece And The Hidden Histories Of Colors In The Andes, Penelope Dransart

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This article explores the significance of natural fleece colors that are often hidden by dyeing processes. The earliest domesticated alpacas and llamas probably resembled vicuñas and guanacos, their wild counterparts. By 3000 years ago, differences were beginning to emerge in the coats of alpacas and llamas. Dyers, spinners, and weavers learned to exploit these variations to complement and extend the range of possibilities offered through the use of dyed yarns. The evidence from the Siguas and Nasca cultural traditions considered here is both direct and indirect, taking into account textile remains and the depiction of camelids on ceramics. It indicates …

Aso Òkè Weaving Techniques And Perception In Iseyin, Oyo State, Nigeria, Idowu Jamiu Diyaolu, Halima Ronke Omotosho

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

There is need for more women to be involved in weaving activities in southwestern Nigeria. The study examined the techniques employed in local weaving in Iseyin and associated factors, as well as the perceptions of consumers on the woven fabrics. The study was carried out in Iseyin, a city in Oyo State, Nigeria, reputed for weaving aso-oke. Cluster sampling was used to select twenty weavers while simple random sampling was used to select eighty consumers. Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data then analyzed and interpreted using descriptive statistics and correlation. The result showed that most of the weavers …

Making Siapo In Leone Today, Regina A. Meredith Fitiao Mfa

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Siapo is the Samoan word for painted bark cloth. It’s an art form that has been a part of many Pacific island nations for centuries. At one time it flourished in American Samoa, namely the village of Leone, where a group of women worked consistently with it. One of those women is my great aunt, the late Mary J. Pritchard, who taught me the rudiments of making siapo back in the early 1970s, while later it was her daughters who inspired me to become the siapo maker I am today.

“Making Siapo in Leone Today” is an elucidation of my …

Behind The Scenes: Hidden Stories Of Craftswomen Of Punjab, India, Anu H. Gupta

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Creating phulkari, an embroidered craft of Punjab, for the market involves a value-chain of people for converting a solid fabric to an ornamented piece with embroidery. A pillar of this value-chain is domestic craftswomen. Being part of an informal sector, these women are susceptible to being exploited at home as well as by designers, vendors, and several others involved in the value-chain of production and marketing of craft. Many of them are pushed to the background not only by their family members but also by the people or vendors who give them work. Their individual contribution is acknowledged only when …

Ethnoarchaeology Of The Textile Chaîne Operatoire. Searching For Evidence Of Prehispanic Textile Production In Domestic Sites, Bárbara Cases

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

It is proposed that detailed knowledge of the textile production sequence currently carried out by Aymara weavers of the Altiplano of Tarapac  (northern Chile) constitutes an important reference to link material and immaterial aspects and generate indicators with which to address pre-Hispanic textile production in domestic sites, the locations where fabrics would have been produced and used. This research is conceptually framed by the anthropology of technology, which considers material production as a social act. The recording of textile production processes (cha ne op ratoire) was carried out using an ethno-archaeological approach to build a bridge between the present—with known …

Casting A Wide Net: The Value Of Collaboration And Outreach With Source Communities In The Analysis Of Historic Native American Fishing Nets, Annabelle Fichtner Camp, The Lenape Tribe Of Delaware

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Lenape Tribe of Delaware is one of two recognized tribes within the state of Delaware. Having only gained state recognition in 2016, the group is actively working to regain the lifeways of their ancestors that have been lost in the aftermath of colonization and systemic oppression. This paper discusses collaborative research between the author, a student in Art Conservation, and the Lenape Tribe of Delaware into the once-crucial practice of net-tying. It addresses the impetus for the project and its role in object-based decolonization and Indigenous knowledge reclamation. The research was inspired by the last known Lenape netmaker, Clem …

Modernist Influences In Churchill Weavers Textiles: 1922-1949, Sarah Stopenhagen Broomfield

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

“Modernist Influences in Churchill Weavers Textiles: 1922-1949” is an interdisciplinary study of the Berea, Kentucky, handweaving production center, Churchill Weavers, which operated from 1922 to 2007. It documents craft production from Kentucky’s Appalachian foothills that exhibited a fusion of traditional and modern craft practices while incorporating a modernist design style. The study highlights traditional hand weaving production with a modern look from the interwar period, coming from a location not typically thought of as a center for innovation, national, or international movements. The study examines textiles designed by Eleanor Churchill in the beginning decades of the company and woven on …

The Yuraq Haku, Or Plain Mantle: A Long Tradition Of North-Central Perú, María Elena Del Solar, Crestina Jara

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The haku is a shawl indispensable for depicting the lives of women and men in several districts of the department of Hunuco, in north central Peru. It is used daily in rural tasks and domestic life, and it shines during public festivals as a clear representation of local identity. The skill of the spinners in achieving an exceptionally fine yarn makes the serene beauty of these handsome cloths of a single, even color stand out. Almost transparent, the four-selvage cloth is woven on a backstrap loom of native cotton or of sheep’s wool diverse in hue. The mark of the …

The Souls Of The Dead: Images Woven In Women’S Clothing Of The Jalq’A Cultural Area (South-Central Bolivia), Veronica Cereceda

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Both their style of dress and, particularly, the textile designs that distinguish them already at a first look have made three ethnic groups stand out in south-central Bolivia: “Llameros,” “Yamparas,” and “Jalq’as” inhabit neighboring lands in the departments of Potos and Chuquisaca. Ethno-historians and archaeologists define the pre-conquest and early colonial past of these contemporary identities as only two groups: populations belonging to the great ayllus of the high plains, Norpotosinos (Llameros) and Yamparas, with their two political centers: janan (upper) in Jatun Yampara and urin (lower) in Quila Quila.

Today the panorama is more complex: the two Yamparas centers …

A Walk Through Contemporary South Asian Textile “Daatsans”, Rohma Khan

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Dasatangoi is a Persian word for the centuries old, rich tradition of oral storytelling as practiced in the subcontinent. The epics that have passed on from one generation to another tell magical stories of adventure, war, religious anecdotes with immense details such as Arabian Nights, Dastaan-e-Ameer Hamza, and Mahabharata. Inspired by this subcontinental tradition, the presentation focuses on how these rich epics were translated into visual narratives in various indigenous textiles such as in Persian shikar-gahs and the subcontinent’s Chamba rumaals. In addition, it shows how these guided and made skeletal references for contemporary textile artists in Pakistan. Therefore, the …

Cassimere: Hiding In Plain Sight, Peggy Hart

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In the nineteenth century, cassimere was one of the most produced woolen fabrics in American mills. Cassimere appears in nineteenth century texts, as in George Cole’s Complete Dictionary of Dry Goods, first published in 1890. Cole describes cassimere as “the general term applied to that class of allwool cloths used for men’s clothing, woven either plain or twilled, coarse or fine of “woolen” yarn.” Cassimere is much in evidence in census reports of wool manufacture from 1837 to the early 1900s. It appears early in the twentieth century in the Thomas Register of American Manufacturers Buyers guide of 1905-06 under …

Stories Of Welcome Blanket Makers: Towards A Philosophy Of Craft, Alesia Maltz

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Welcome Blanket was created as a craftivism response to Trump’s call for a border wall. “Imagine if the massive distance of this wall was re-conceptualized and re-contextualized not to divide, but to include. Instead of a wall, a concrete line, to keep people out, what if lines of yarn became 3,500,640 yards of blankets to welcome people in?” The 3,200-blanket goal was quickly achieved and shown in the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago. Then, with enclosed notes from the makers welcoming newly arrived immigrants, the blankets were distributed to refugees and immigrants in several resettlement communities …

The Lost Narrative Of Natalia Shabelsky’S Collection Of Russian Textiles, Lauren Lovings-Gomez

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

A culturally significant, vibrant group of textiles gathered in the nineteenth century by Natalia Leonidovna Shabelsky, praised by critics and celebrated worldwide, was nearly lost to history. Born in Taganrog, Russia, in 1841, Shabelsky moved after her marriage to a rural estate in the Lebedinsky region where she developed an interest in the indigenous textile practice of ethnic Russia. She collected and preserved examples of embroidery and lace, as towel ends and costume accessories, all filled with traditional motifs such as the Tree of Life, the Sirin, and the Mother Goddess in her various guises. At the end of the …

The Maker’S Mark?: An Examination Of An Embroidered Rebozo And Its Potential Signature, Eleanor A. Laughlin

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Mexican rebozos (scarves/shawls) range in material, design, and function from those worn by indigenous women made of maguey or cotton and used to carry children or heavy loads, to those made of silk that feature fancy dyes or embroidery, which serve as accessories for special events. Among the historic embroidered examples is a subtype called the “landscape” rebozo, which featured scenes of quintessentially Mexican locations or events stitched into the fabric of the scarf. Most rebozos, in the past as in the present, were made by anonymous artisans. However, one example bears a sign that may be a signature and …

Ways Of Life And Works Of Weaving And Dyeing In Okinawa: Toward A Possible Solution Of Carry On Concern, Yuka Matsumoto

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost insular prefecture, has a rich variety of weaving and dyeing traditions, but it is in the midst of issues including an aging local population and depopulating rural communities. Thus, one of the most vexing concerns is how to carry on the weaving and dyeing traditions. This study aims to find ways to ameliorate the condition in Okinawa by analyzing how the lives of Okinawa people relate to the traditional weaving and dyeing in the modern era and by understanding the current significance of them to people’s lives.

This study uses nineteen cases from all over Okinawa, and …