Pathfinders

Zambia

Maori

Blackfoot

Native Hawaiian

Penobscot

Pima

Indigenous Architecture

Museums Featuring Indigenous Cultures

Indigenous Languages

Downloads

 

Museums Featuring Indigenous Cultures

Museums featuring indigenous cultures have evolved over time from representing an outsider’s view of native culture to placing a greater focus on the perspective of the Native artists and community members from which the collections are derived. This Pathfinder serves to provide resources for those interested in finding out more about museums and their indigenous collections.

Where can I find resources to begin research on Native American art and culture?

This source is a great starting point for research in the arts. One can find information on Native American artists, styles of art, geographical location, and can see many images of the work online.

A kid-friendly website that has a useful reference section with online dictionaries and encyclopedias, categories to choose from as well as a search bar to customize research.

I am planning a trip to the Southwest in the summer. How can I find out which museums have good collections of Native American artwork and artifacts?

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I am a high school senior in an honors English class and I need to write a paper on indigenous art in museums. Where can I find relevant articles?

  • “In Search of the Primitive.” Utne Reader 38 (March/April 1990): 21.
  • Rust, Carol. “Native American Art.” Southwest Art 31(3) (August 2001): 263-70.
  • Hill, Richard. “The Museum Indian: Still Frozen in Time and Mind.” Museum News 79(3) (May/June 2000): 40-4, 58-61, 63, 66-7, 74.

Help! I need to write a paper on art museums, but I don’t really even understand the terms I’m reading in the articles. Where can I go to find explanations or definitions of art terminology?

  • Artlex is an art dictionary that gives definitions for art terms along with images to help describe their meaning.

I need to find some information about the rights of Native Americans concerning their artifacts. Where can I go to find any of these documents, if they exist?

  • Tribal Museum Network has downloadable files of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act among others.
  • NativeWeb is an Internet resource for all things Native American. Just click on “ Resource Center” then “Law and Legal Issues” subcategory, then “International Documents and Sources” for a wealth of documents.

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I am very interested in becoming a museum professional, so I would like some information both on the museum profession in general, but also important issues as well. Where can I find this information?

For an in-depth look into the profession:

  • Edson, Gary, ed. Museum Ethics. London and New York: Routledge, 1997.
  • Sherman, Daniel J. and Irit Rogoff, eds. Museum Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994.
  • Townsend-Gault, Charlotte. “Impurity and Danger.” Current Anthropology 34(1) (February 1993): 93-101.

 

Good Luck with your research! If you need any help, please contact a librarian or email me with your questions at cancella@ischool.utexas.edu