Collections

Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History

MUSEUM RESEARCH TRAINING USING SMITHSONIAN COLLECTIONS
The Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA) is a research training program offered by the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History with major funding from the Cultural Anthropology Program of the National Science Foundation. The program seeks to promote broader and more effective use of museum collections in anthropological research by providing a supplement to university training. Each summer SIMA supports 10-12 graduate students who want to use collections in their research. 

Using Smithsonian collections, experts, and visiting faculty, SIMA:
-introduces students to the scope of collections and their potential as data 
-provides training in appropriate methods to collect and analyze museum data 
-makes participants aware of a range of theoretical issues relating to collections 
-positions students to apply their knowledge within their home university. 

The curriculum, including both seminars and hands-on workshops, teaches students how to navigate museum systems, select methods to examine and analyze museum specimens, and recognize the wealth of theoretical issues that museum data can address. 

For more information on SIMA visit: http://anthropology.si.edu/summerinstitute


Deadline: 1 March 2015

Ancient Culture Goes Online as National Museum Digitises


Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia
by Christopher Scott, January 29, 2014

 After nine years of locating works, cross-checking records, photographing and finally cataloguing, the National Museum has unveiled its online database, which features more than 16,000 entries ranging from ancient statues to paintings and manuscripts.
Launched on January 3, the database is the only fine arts system of its kind in Cambodia, with its web presence enabling museum curators to locate and document works, as well as providing the public with access.
Funded by the Leon Levy Foundation, the National Museum of Cambodia collaborated with the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS), an international, non-governmental organisation that supports and promotes research and scholarly exchange with Cambodia.
“It’s extremely important for Cambodians as well as researchers, whether they be just generally interested in Cambodian art, wanting to actually locate, write about or research something in particular in the collection,” Darryl Collins, project director and member of the CKS board of directors, said.
Prior to the online database, museum records were scattered in three different formats, with several French card cataloguing systems, Khmer handwritten inventory lists and a pre-existing database.
“Before it was rather laborious; virtually you had to turn up on the doorstep of the National Museum Of Cambodia to talk to the curatorial staff or the director and find out about a particular piece,” Collins said.
More here. 

Special Hearst Museum Tour


Please join us for a tour of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology's storage facilities on Wednesday, November 14 from 9-10:30AM.  There are only 17 spots available for this special event hosted by Ira Jacknis and Jonathan Goodrich of the Hearst Museum of Anthropology.  The first to reply get to join the tour.  Tour attendees must pay for their own transportation to the Hearst off-site storage facility at 1100 67th Street, Oakland.

Please e-mail CMA board member Jennifer Kramer at jennifer.kramer@ubc.ca if you wish to attend.

SAR Looks to Expand

The 105-year-old School for Advanced Research could double the size of its east-side Santa Fe campus due, in part, to a new relationship with a national foundation.

The anthropology and archaeology institute is moving toward buying 7.44 acres immediately south of its 7.8-acre campus of 40 years at 660 Garcia St.

The school has a contract to acquire the undeveloped land from the Howells family -- relatives of Martha Root White and Amelia Elizabeth White, wealthy New Yorkers who moved to Santa Fe in the 1920s to build a large home, called El Delirio.

More here

Museum on 9/11, Talking Through an Identity Crisis

It seemed self-evident at the time: A museum devoted to documenting the events of Sept. 11, 2001, would have to include photographs of the hijackers who turned four passenger jets into missiles. Then two and a half years ago, plans to use the pictures were made public.

New York City’s fire chief protested that such a display would “honor” the terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center. A New York Post editorial called the idea “appalling.” Groups representing rescuers, survivors and victims’ families asked how anyone could even think of showing the faces of the men who killed their relatives, colleagues and friends.

More here

And, one of your editors' own contributions to the debate here.

Death of a Museum

CEDAR FALLS --- Michael Stahr pulls open a storage drawer at the University Museum and gazes at the collection of objects at his gloved fingertips. He hefts a rock specimen in his hand and examines it, replaces it and scribbles on his clipboard.

"I'm going through the entire geological collection and judging which rocks are best to keep in the collection," said the Davenport senior who will graduate from the University of Northern Iowa in May with an earth sciences degree. "I'm getting actual experience and using my expertise."

Seated at a desk nearby, Reinbeck graduate student Zach Moye carefully handles a worn leather holster and a stack of frayed drab olive green knapsacks. He started cataloging Civil War military memorabilia months ago, then items from the Spanish-American War and now pieces from World War I.

Read More here

NPS Searchable Online Database

Now live online at www.museum.nps.gov

This searchable online database provides access to thousands of images and records from the National Park Service (NPS) museum collections. NPS museum collections include diverse disciplines and have unique associations with park cultural and natural resources, eminent figures, and park histories. Online visitors can perform simple or advanced searches by keyword, park name, object name, people, places, and date. Visitors can also browse or search collection highlights and park summaries.

These objects come from National Park Service (NPS) museums. NPS museums collect objects specific to the mission of the individual parks and interpret those collections in their original context. The collections are site-specific, that is, they pertain to that particular NPS site. With the exception of house museums, most other museums gather thematic collections from many different sites and house them in one place.

This project is an ongoing initiative. The records found in this database will vary in the level of detail. Records and images will be updated and added on a continued basis. Currently there are 44 parks with collections online representing over a million objects. We expect this number to grow considerably in 2012.

Please browse, enjoy, and learn from the collections!

The Blackfoot Shirts Project

Great to see some media for the 2011 CMA Ames Prize winners ...

The shirts date back nearly 200 years, made from elk and deer hide and some decorated with porcupine quill embroidery, hide fringe, and strands of horse and human hair. They were once proudly worn by the Blackfoot people of North America. However, few Blackfoot had ever seen the shirts, kept in a museum in England. ...

More here

Natural History Museum of Utah Opens

The new Natural History Museum of Utah will finally get its chance to show off.

It will open its doors to the public on Friday, Nov. 18. The museum is located in the Rio Tinto Center, adjacent to Red Butte Garden at the University of Utah.

With more than 1.2 million objects in the collection, the museum represents all 29 counties in the state.

Of those 1.2 million items, the museum will display 3,600 in 10 galleries.

More here

Mathers Museum Merges with Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology

Sarita Soni, Indiana University associate vice president for research and vice provost for research at IU Bloomington, has announced a reorganization of two cultural institutions on the Bloomington campus. The Mathers Museum of World Cultures and the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, both supported by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research at IU Bloomington, are merging, bringing together important collections of millions of archaeological, anthropological and historical materials.

More here