Objects of Myth and Memory
American Indian Art at the Brooklyn Museum
A visually stunning book, Objects of Myth and Memory presents
masterworks of North American Indian art in a precise social and
historical context.
Description
The Brooklyn Museum has played a major role in presenting and
interpreting North American Native art. Its commitment to this field
began in 1903, when R. Stewart Culin was appointed to head its new
Department of Ethnology. During three trips to the Northwest in 1905,
1908, and 1911, Culin collaborated with Dr. Charles F. Newcombe and
bought several pieces from Newcombe's own collection, including
objects from the Haida, Kwakiutl, Nootka, and Salish as well as some
Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Athapaskan pieces. By 1912 the museum's
collection included more than 9,000 pieces.
Objects of Myth and Memory is the first publication devoted
to this fascinating and influential early collection. It includes two
interpretive essays on Culin's career as well as 250 individual
entries which illustrate and annotate his most important
acquisitions.
A visually stunning book, Objects of Myth and Memory
presents masterworks of North American Indian art in a precise social
and historical context and offers fascinating glimpses of the
collecting process.
Reviews
The essays provide a fascinating surf of “first contacts” from New Zealand, England, southern Africa, and the Pacific Northwest, from the eighteenth century to today […]. A plentiful range of new approaches to the genre of the contact narrative distinguishes this impressively interdisciplinary collection, with contributions from historians, anthropologists, linguists, and literary critics.
- Sophie McCall
Exhaustive research by the authoris into the extensive Culin archives held by the museum has produced a fascinating story of a museum career and of a collecting history.
- Choice
This convincing and solid collection encourages assessment and reassessment of contact narratives. … Ten scholars from various fields, including history, anthropology, linguistics, and literature, engage in this informative work. …Edited by University of Victoria historian John Sutton Lutz, the chapters in Myth and Memory integrate a number of global indigenous perspectives. Lutz's extensive insight regarding native and newcomer relations provides a solid basis for editorial expertise of this compendium.
- Corinne George, Simon Fraser University
Myth & Memory injects an interesting and crucial “new” narrative into the historical record.
- Kelly Chaves