Documenting Oberlin’s Native Arctic Collection
Session I, Panel 4 - Curation | Classification
Moderator: Mir Finkelman, Curatorial Assistant at the Allen Memorial Art Museum
Record for Cori Mazer. Additional record for Alice Blakely: https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/seniorsymp/2017/presentations/5/
Abstract
We are exploring a group of 36 cultural objects in the Oberlin College Ethnographic Collection. Collected by naturalists in the late 19th century, the objects hail from Native communities across Alaska and Canada, and made their way to Oberlin College through an exchange with the Smithsonian Institution in 1889. The goal of this research is to document each of the objects (through photography and writing preliminary condition reports) and research their cultural contexts in advance of a planned future physical exhibition on Oberlin’s campus. Our project will culminate in a digital exhibition where students, scholars, and Native communities may view a selection of the objects. The knowledge gained through our research will greatly enhance the information Oberlin has on these special objects and also make them more accessible to the public.
Documenting Oberlin’s Native Arctic Collection
King Building 341
We are exploring a group of 36 cultural objects in the Oberlin College Ethnographic Collection. Collected by naturalists in the late 19th century, the objects hail from Native communities across Alaska and Canada, and made their way to Oberlin College through an exchange with the Smithsonian Institution in 1889. The goal of this research is to document each of the objects (through photography and writing preliminary condition reports) and research their cultural contexts in advance of a planned future physical exhibition on Oberlin’s campus. Our project will culminate in a digital exhibition where students, scholars, and Native communities may view a selection of the objects. The knowledge gained through our research will greatly enhance the information Oberlin has on these special objects and also make them more accessible to the public.
