Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Annual Report of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Volume 44 Spring 2019
1 1
About the Museum
The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology aims to inspire creative and
critical thinking about global cultures, past and present, and to foster
interdisciplinary understanding of the material world. Established in 1956,
it sponsors original research, innovative teaching, and public education
while stewarding a collection of over one million archaeological and
ethnographic objects. The museum serves Brown University’s students
and faculty, the city of Providence, the state of Rhode Island, and the
general public
brown.edu/Haffenreffer
facebook.com/HaffenrefferMuseum
twitter.com/HaffenrefferMus
instagram.com/Haffenreffer_Museum
Contexts
Editor: Kevin Smith
Copyright 2019 Brown University | Produced by the Office of University Communications
On the covers: Front cover: Providence from College Hill, Courtesy of Brown University.
Back cover: Kuba cloth (detail), Democratic Republic of Congo, mid-20th century, Gift of
Cesare Decredico.
2 2
I am very pleased to report some exciting news!
From the Director
The Haffenreffer Museum is preparing for a much-
anticipated move! With the support of President
Christina Paxson and Provost Richard Locke,
we are embarking upon a multi-year project to
resituate the museum to Providence, Rhode Island.
Robert W. Preucel
under the administration of President Gordon Gee,
but the need remains as pressing as ever.
3
March, 2018 July, 2018
In the News
Museum receives a grant from Deputy Director Investigates
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Viking Travels in North America
Last March, the museum received a $500,000 Kevin Smith received a crowd-funded research
grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. grant through Experiment.com to conduct new
The grant, entitled “Engaging the Americas: research with Museum Research Associate
Reinvigorating the Native American Collections Christopher Wolff (University of Albany) on
of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, archaeological collections from the only
Brown University” is enabling museum staff to documented Viking site in North America –
document, conserve, and reorganize the Native Newfoundland’s L’Anse aux Meadows. In late
American ethnographic and archaeological July, they traveled to Parks Canada’s collection
collections. For more information on “Engaging facility in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, to analyze
the Americas”, see page 7. stone fire-starters carried by the Vikings to, and
from, the site. They were privileged to work with
Birgitta Wallace, who has overseen fieldwork
and research at L’Anse aux Meadows since
May, 2018 the 1970s, and were interviewed and filmed
Registrar participates by a crew from German state television for a
in American Institute for series on the Vikings in North America that
will air during the summer of 2019. For more
Conservation’s Annual Meeting information on this research, see page 21.
The American Institute for Conservation’s (AIC)
45th Annual Meeting sessions, in Houston, Texas,
centered on the theme “Materials Matter.” The
museum’s registrar, Dawn Kimbrel, attended a Museum Research
symposium “Whose Cultural Heritage, Whose Associate and Deputy
Conservation Strategy,” participated on a panel, Director Interviewed by
“Talking Grants – Hear from IMLS Reviewers,”
and offered a poster session during for the Canadian News Media
Collection Care Network Idea Fair. As editor for Michèle Hayeur Smith and Kevin Smith
the Collection Care Network, she also attended published a study that shows that the Dorset and
the Collection Care Network and American Thule people, ancestors of today’s Inuit, created
Institute for Conservation’s Publications spun yarn some 500 to 1,000 years before
Committee business meetings. Vikings arrived in North America. The finding,
made possible in part by a new method for dating
fiber artifacts contaminated with oil, is evidence
of an independent, indigenous development of
June, 2018 fiber technologies – using wild Arctic animals’
Research Associate receives hair, wool, and tissue – rather than a transfer
new NSF grant of knowledge from Viking settlers. They were
interviewed live, coast-to-coast, on CTV –
Michèle Hayeur Smith has been awarded a new
Canada’s largest television network – and for
grant by the National Science Foundation for her
nearly a dozen Canadian newspapers and online
three-year project: “Archaeological Investigation
science news sites.
of the Eastern North Atlantic Textile Trade and
Globalizing Economic Systems.” This is her third
NSF award from Arctic Social Sciences that she
has done through the Haffenreffer Museum. For
more information on this grant and Michele’s on-
going research, see pages 9 and 22.
4
December, 2018 May, 2019
In the News
Museum receives a Director participates in
transformative grant from The TAG-Syracuse
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Robert Preucel gave two papers at the
The museum received a major $5,000,000 grant Theoretical Archaeology Group meetings in
from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Syracuse, NY. The first was on the problematic
grant, entitled “Transforming the Haffenreffer implications of the growing interest in ontology
Museum at Brown University” is enabling at the expense of addressing indigenous
museum staff to document, conserve, and community needs and the second (with Sam
reorganize the ethnographic and archaeological Duwe) addressed methods of decolonizing
objects in the Haffenreffer collections. See Southwestern Archaeology.
From the Director for more information, and
page 8 for more information on “Transforming
the Haffenreffer.” Registrar attends annual
meeting of the American
Institute for Conservation
Director gives a paper at Dawn Kimbrel, the museum’s registrar, will
TAG-Deva, England attend the American Institute for Conservation’s
Robert Preucel gave a paper at the Theoretical annual meeting entitled “New Tools, Techniques,
Archaeology Group meeting at the University of and Tactics in Conservation and Collection
Chester, England. The paper offered a critique of Care” in Uncasville, Connecticut with student
the ontological turn in archaeology and made a registration assistant Elsabet Jones (Brown ’20).
plea for the value of collaborative research.
June, 2019
April, 2019 Manager of Museum Education
New Faculty Fellow selected and Programs to attend annual
Our Faculty Fellows Program is an opportunity
for faculty to develop and refine their skills
meeting of the Association of
in object-based pedagogy. We have appointed Academic Museums and Galleries
Yannis Hamilakis as a new faculty fellow. He will Leah Burgin will participate in the annual
be curating an exhibition on the nomadic age and meeting of the Association of Academic
refugees in the Mediterranean. Museums and Galleries from June 27-30, 2019
at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
6
Engaging the Americas: Re-invigorating
Grants and Projects
the Native American Collections of the
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
Robert Preucel, Director, and Kevin Smith, Deputy Director
This year, the Museum received a grant of The project will facilitate:
$500,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
1. e
ntering object records into
for a four-year (2018-2022) project intended
the Museum’s collections
to strengthen the care of and scholarship on
management system
our core Native American archaeological and
ethnographic collections. 2. p
hotographing the Museum’s
holdings of Indigenous North,
The Haffenreffer Museum’s ethnographic
Central, and South American
collections were largely acquired by Rudolf
material culture
Haffenreffer in the 1910s and 20s during his
trips across the United States to inspect his 3. e
stablishing conservation
investments and properties in the West, as priorities for the Museum’s
well as through connections and alliances that Native American objects, and
he built across the Eastern United States. His stabilizing items of beadwork,
ethnographic collections have special strengths quillwork, and hide-work that
in the material culture of Native American are currently too fragile or
societies during the late 19th and early 20th unstable to be moved safely
centuries in the Great Plains, the American
Southwest, California, Southeastern Alaska, the 4. r ehousing and reorganizing
Great Lakes, the Northeast, and the Canadian Rudolf Haffenreffer’s extensive
Subarctic. Some of these collections have been archaeological collections from
published by Barbara Hail in three exhibition southern New England.
catalogs – Hau Kola! The Plains Indian Collection
This project will contribute to
of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
Brown’s institutional goals regarding
(Barbara A. Hail, 1981), Out of the North: The
education, research and community
Subarctic Collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of
engagement. First, increasing the
Anthropology (Barbara A. Hail and Kate C. Duncan,
accessibility of these collections
1991), and Gifts of Pride and Love: Kiowa and
will provide immediate and direct
Comanche Cradles (Barbara A. Hail, ed., 2000).
benefits to Brown’s efforts to increase
The Museum’s archaeological collections contain educational opportunities for Native
more than 45,000 specimens. Most are from American faculty and students and
Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts’ foster scholarship about and with
Narragansett Bay drainage basin. Haffenreffer’s Native American communities by
records identify the counties, towns, villages, enhancing its capacity to integrate
crossroads, and at times farms from which the material record of Native American
at least 20,000 of the artifacts came, but not achievements – past and present – into
the time periods they represent, which were educational and research-based initiatives.
unknown during his lifetime. Reorganizing and Second, the inclusion of students, including
rehousing these collections, using Haffenreffer’s Native American students, from Brown in
documentation of their find spots and current the process of improving these collections’
knowledge of their age will allow these artifacts conditions and accessibility, within the context
to be systematically organized for the first of these campus-wide initiatives, will provide
time as a valuable resource for understanding immediate educational opportunities for
the development of Native American cultures introducing a new generation of museum
and communities across New England and for professionals to these materials.
contributing new information on eastern North
American prehistory.
7
Grants and Projects
Transforming the Haffenreffer Museum of
Anthropology
Robert Preucel, Director, and Kevin Smith, Deputy Director
The HMA has received an extraordinary grant of
$5 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
for use over the next four years (2019-2022)
to assist with the costs of inventorying our
collections and transferring them from their
current location in Bristol, RI to a newly renovated
facility in Providence.
8
Grants and Projects
Archaeologically Investigating Women’s
Involvement in Trade Across the North Atlantic
Michèle Hayeur Smith, Museum Research Associate
In the spring of 2018, I was awarded a $650,103
research grant from the National Science
Foundation’s Arctic Social Sciences program for a
project entitled “Archaeological Investigations of the
Eastern North Atlantic Textile Trade and Globalizing
Economic Systems” (Award number 1733914).
This three-year grant will support continued
archaeological research on the development of
trade networks across the North Atlantic and
women’s roles in weaving cloth and participating
in these trade networks for 1000 years – from the
Viking Age until the early nineteenth century. It
builds upon two earlier grants, the first of which
supported the study of women’s roles in Icelandic
textile production through the analysis of nearly
9,500 archaeologically recovered fragments
of cloth from Iceland. The second three-year
grant, with a one-year supplement, allowed a
Colorful post-medieval warehouses rise above the site of the medieval
comparative study of textile production in the
harbor in Bergen, Norway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
medieval Norse colonies of Greenland, the Faroe
Islands, and northern Scotland. This new grant
takes the analysis farther east – to the emerging The project will employ a mixed methodology to
urban trade centers of medieval Norway, England, document and analyze ancient textiles in existing
Ireland, and Denmark through which North museum collections from rural and urban North
Atlantic women’s textiles passed as trade goods, Atlantic and European contexts. Radiocarbon
and from which other materials needed in the dating, dye and material analyses, strontium
North Atlantic’s islands were obtained. isotope analyses, and X-Ray Fluorescence
(pXRF) will be employed to further characterize
Historical studies frequently suggest that trade
North Atlantic collections and compare them to
in the Middle Ages connected the North Atlantic
previously collected data assemblages (see page
islands to only one country – first Norway and
23). Bringing together analyses ranging in scale
then, after 1600, Denmark. However, analysis of
from trans-continental trade to assessments
the cloth itself and legal systems of measurement
of individual women’s handiwork and to their
for its standardization suggests that nearly 1,000
products’ elemental and isotopic signatures,
years ago communities in Iceland made cloth to
this project will help us to continue building
meet demands in London and other European
an engendered, interdisciplinary perspective
markets. This suggests that at least 1,000 years
on trade, women, and the emergence of early
ago, women in places as far away as the islands of
globalized economies in the North.
the North Atlantic were making cloth for distant
markets and that the ways they produced their This year, my research has taken me to Norway
wares changed in response to distant demands. to review collections from the cities of Bergen
This is important because it suggests that (pictured here) and Trondheim, and the long-
women’s work was key to developing commodity abandoned port of Borgund Kaupang. Upcoming
markets that were the ancestors of today’s research in Ireland, Denmark, and the United
market economies. By understanding how early Kingdom, along with collaborative research
international trade began in the North Atlantic here at Brown, will expand the frameworks
and eventually expanded as far as the Volga for analysis as we trace the products of North
river, I hope to learn more about the emergence Atlantic women from their home islands into the
of today’s globalized trade systems, how trade emerging marketing networks of Europe and the
affects women’s labor, and how people make circumpolar world.
decisions about what to make and what to trade.
9
The Circumpolar Laboratory Inventory Project
Grants and Projects
Annalisa Heppner, Circumpolar Laboratory Inventory Project Coordinator
We have made a lot of progress since starting “I’m a first-year student in the Master’s in
the Circumpolar Laboratory Inventory Project in Public Humanities program here at Brown. I
2018. In our first year, we focused on conducting came to the Circumpolar Lab as a collection
a “basic” inventory of the collection and created management assistant and have been working
a spreadsheet that describes every artifact and primarily on photographing, digitizing, and
its location within the CPL. In Year 2, we will organizing the Onion Portage and Cape
refine what we learned during the inventory, Krusenstern collections from Alaska, which
making sure that what goes into the museum’s includes data entry as well as rehousing objects
database is as close to perfect as we can get in archival containers with updated labels. I’ve
it, and we will photograph, re-house, and label really enjoyed getting a sense of the daily activity
every cataloged object. that happens behind-the-scenes in museums,
and I find that even in the short time I’ve worked
Most importantly, the CPL is being integrated
here the collections already appear to be more
into life at Brown. Over the past year, we
transparent and accessible, though the process
hired four students as collections assistants,
of fully organizing is still underway. Being able
each from a different department. I’m really
to handle and interact with the objects in these
excited that none of the students had any
collections is arguably the best part of
prior experience in Alaskan archaeology and
the work, and one of the objects I like
that we’ve been able to explore these objects
best is an 800-year-old comb made
together. Here are a few comments from two
of ivory from the Cape Krusenstern
of the project’s excellent student employees.
collection. The comb is around three
It’s been a great experience to introduce them
inches long, with six prongs. The four
to inventory practices and the archaeology of
in the middle are intact, and the two
NW Alaska:
on the outside are broken. The
“My work at the Haffenreffer has been one of my prongs are connected to an
favorite parts of this year. I didn’t have any prior imperfect square base that
experience in either museology or archaeology has curved carvings around
before starting, and exposure to the field has the edge for decoration,
sparked a new interest and helped shape the with a small carving in
course of the rest of my undergrad experience! the center that looks a bit
It’s so cool to be able to get experience in what like a stick figure with
real museum work is like while still an undergrad. no arms or a head. The
While it definitely involves a lot more card handle is just under an
catalogue work and labeling than one might hope, inch in length and is
even that’s been interesting, as object labels carved with a pattern
reveal information not just about the archive but that is similar to the
about the archaeological work which went into edges of the square
their acquisition. The work I actually get to do base, but in the shape
with the artifacts themselves – mostly labeling of a triangle. The comb
and storage optimization – means I get to see a itself reminds me a bit
lot of different types of artifacts, as well as lot of of a hand, and I often
different instances of similar tools. My favorite think about giving it a
artifacts to see are leister prongs – the barbs high-five. But a comb
on ancient Iñupiat fishing spears, but I’m also is not a hand, so I’ll
interested in harpoon parts, microblades, etc. likely tuck it back
for similar reasons: I love the parts of compound into a box with other
tools that serve both as “functional” parts of the labeled artifacts
object, as well as elements that can be removed that have been rehoused and
and replaced as they experience wear.” get on with my work.”
10
The Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum
Friends
Emily Jackson, Museum Operations and Communications Coordinator
The Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum was Memberships support the Museum’s events,
established forty-seven years ago with the goal programs, and publications – including Contexts.
of encouraging “a close association between As a gift to all donors, the Museum provides a
the community and the Museum.” Membership complementary membership in the Association
is a tried and true path for museum audiences of Science and Technology Centers’ (ASTC)
to participate in the museum’s activities. reciprocal Passport Program, which provides
Since 1972, the Friends have helped to make our members with free or reduced access
Haffenreffer Museum events, exhibits, and to nearly 300 museums across the United
programs possible. Today, the group boasts States and around the world. The most popular
nearly 3,000 members from around the world donation level is the Family membership and
and continues to grow each year. we are thrilled to be able to share this gift of
museum experiences with families all over
Our 2,835 Friends come from diverse
the United States. This year, the Haffenreffer
backgrounds – members of the public interested
Museum opened up a new membership level,
in anthropology or museums, alumni who
Plus One, to allow individual members to bring a
started their careers or developed important
friend on their museum trips.
memories through the Museum, and current
members the Brown University community. Through the support of its members, the
To support its mission to the campus, the Haffenreffer Museum hosted public events
Haffenreffer Museum offers free memberships this year that were attended by more than
to Brown University students and faculty. 300 guests. These programs included guest
Today, more than 1,700 students at Brown – 1 lectures, a Global Game Night, a special panel
out of every 6 students – are members of the event – Seventh Generation Rising: A Discussion
Museum, compared with just 24 in 2002 and 81 with Native Youth Activists – and other events
students in 2010, the year we first offered these that not only brought new insights to our local
free memberships to the campus community. community, but also reached global audiences
Student memberships allow us to reach out on YouTube. Since the Friends group has grown
across departments to all parts of campus with and continues to expand, the Museum also hired
news about our activities, our programs, and two student employees, Nidhi Bhaskar and
opportunities for students to engage with us in Aaron Cho, as Membership Assistants to help
research, exhibition development, our Student coordinate and process memberships.
Group, outreach, assistance with programs, and
Each year, the Museum looks for new ways
all of the other activities described in this issue
to encourage close associations with the
of Contexts.
community and to invite Friends to participate
in the Museum. In the coming year, we plan to
transform our higher levels of membership
into “giving circles” that will allow Friends
to target membership gifts higher than
$100 towards specific goals – “kick starting”
scholarships, the acquisition of objects for the
collections, support for students working with
the museum’s collections, conservation of the
Museum’s objects, and more. You, our Friends,
These stickers, handed out to students and appearing on
are a vital part of the Haffenreffer Museum’s
computers around campus, were designed by Annalisa
regular activities, and we appreciate your
Heppner, Circumpolar Laboratory Project Coordinator
continued support.
11
Knowledge Lost Found Shared: India in a
Teaching
Global Context
Holly Shaffer, Assistant Professor of History of Art & Architecture
This term my students in The Arts of India were of the god Krishna, were made by Indian artists
faced with a challenge in their engagement who traveled to America in 1986 to display their
with objects in the Haffenreffer Museum: only artistic processes at the Festival of India, hosted
a few were actually made in India. A stone by the Smithsonian Institution.
sculpture of the elephant-headed Hindu god
With the generous support of Leah Burgin,
Ganesha was once in the Jenks Museum,
Thierry Gentis, and Kevin Smith among others
Brown’s former museum of natural history.
at the Haffenreffer, and steady research in
Carved in Indonesia around the ninth century,
the CultureLab and campus libraries, the
this iconic sculpture was purchased, picked
students have collaborated over the course of
up, or elsewise obtained from an unknown
the class to create an exhibition that highlights
temple by Baptist missionaries in the nineteenth
the entanglements of Indian arts with those
century. A wooden painted mask made by the
produced across the globe in connection to the
Guro people in western Africa, displays the
extensive movement of objects and people. They
figure of Mami Wata, a water spirit whose
have questioned “how knowledge is revealed
imagery is entwined with European fantasies
and disseminated, suppressed and obfuscated,
of Indian snake charmers
revived and adapted, through these objects”
and Indian goddesses
and faced difficult questions. For one, “how
mass printed in vibrant
should we,” they have asked, “as students
color lithography in
and curators, approach the display of
circulation overseas.
works with fragmented histories?” They
A bronze sculpture
have titled the show Knowledge Lost
of the Hindu
Found Shared: India in a Global
goddess
Context to acknowledge the gaps
Durga, as
in knowledge as well as the gains.
well as a
Their exhibition will be on view
conch shell
in the Haffenreffer Museum’s
carved with
display cases in the Stephen
narratives
Robert ’62 Campus Center and the
from the life
Rockefeller Library by the end of
the term.
12
From Dog Sleds to Oil Rigs
Teaching
Bathsheba Demuth, Assistant Professor of History and
Environment and Society
A 2018-2019 Faculty Fellowship from the we learned about how they came to be in the
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology brought Haffenreffer’s collections and about the artists
great things to my course The Arctic: Global and societies that made them.
History from the Dog Sled to the Oil Rig, a seminar
My students were particularly excited to see
for first-year students. My goal in the class is to
physical versions of themes we had read about
share my love of two things with my students –
in class. In particular, after several weeks
the Arctic, and using the tools of a historian to
learning about how Iñupiat and Yup’ik cultures
write compellingly about it. But one of the most
understand human relationships with the
challenging things about this class, for me, was
natural world as filled with transformation –
our distance from the Arctic – my students have
people becoming animals, animals becoming
no direct experience with the peoples, places,
people, and other shifts in shape – seeing how
and species that make the region distinct. While
these same concepts are expressed in artwork
we read a wide range of academic works and
was a highlight of the semester.
watched documentaries, the physical realities
and cultural contexts of the Arctic remain far Using the collection also let students expand
away. Working with the Haffenreffer collections beyond the usual history paper format. Each
offered a local bridge to the north, giving our student wrote a “biography” of one of the objects,
seminar a tactile, intimate encounter with describing its physical details, materials, and
artifacts and artwork. visual impact, while also putting it in cultural
and historical context – what the etchings of a
After a visit to the Haffenreffer collections in
sailing ship on a piece of walrus ivory referred to,
Bristol, RI to see the larger collection, curator
for example. It was a chance to make historical
Thierry Gentis selected an array of objects
arguments with different kinds of evidence – and
to bring to the Haffenreffer’s exhibit space
to practice descriptive, narrative writing. In
on Brown’s Main Green. There, students saw
short, thanks to the accommodating, generous
several Inuit woodblock prints; tools made from
staff and their support throughout the course,
whalebone, caribou antler, and metal; soapstone
the Haffenreffer expanded the horizons of our
carvings and etched walrus ivories. They even
class beyond Brown.
had the chance to handle whale baleen. Over
the course of several visits with the objects,
13
Reading Object Biographies
Teaching
Dr. Lauren Yapp, Postdoctoral Fellow in International Humanities,
Brown University
What can an object teach us – about In March, my class had the unique
the people who made it, the cultures in opportunity to ask “what can this object
which it held meaning and function, and teach us” through direct engagement
the histories of empire, exchange, and with the Haffenreffer Museum’s own
encounter that propelled its journeys Southeast Asian collections. Over
across land and sea? Equally so, what several visits to CultureLab generously
can an object teach us about our own facilitated by the curator, Thierry
institutions (museums, universities, Gentis, students were able to examine
academic disciplines…) and the and handle a diverse selection of
particular ways of looking and labeling, objects from the region. Each student
displaying, and knowing on which they ultimately chose one object and
are founded and sustained? These are conducted research into its complex
the questions my students grapple with origins, travels, uses, and contexts. The
in ARCH 1494: Southeast Asia’s Entangled following are excerpts from three of
Pasts: Excavated, Curated, and Contested, these “object biographies,” inspired by
a course that explores the politics of the student’s encounters with an Ifugao
archaeology, museums, and heritage hat from the Philippines, a Javanese
preservation in Southeast Asia over the keris (ceremonial dagger), and a Thai
last two centuries. Buddha statue.
14
Audrey Therese Buhain, Comparative Literature, Class of 2022
Teaching
“Despite all of the secularizing work enacted upon your image, there are visible
signs of worship on your body that persist – tangible reminders of religiosity in its
purest form, uncorrupted by a shift to the sheer aesthetic. When believers would
come to venerate you at the altar, they would’ve broken the artificial sanctity of
the exhibition. Thierry recalled that sometimes, their incense would literally seep
into the pores of your stone renderings, forever marking your image with the
offerings of worshippers.
Your current form, however, has sustained much more stubborn marks. The
turrets of your headpiece and armor are blackened, sharp testaments of
human use on the otherwise gleaming surface of your figure. And even
along these planes of your body, gold leaf has come undone in chunks,
testimonies of the centuries-past reverence of worshippers’ forceful
application of even more gold onto you – as if they wanted to literally
embalm you in richness. They respected you so much that the strength
of their golden touch could even distort your lean form into a lump
of gold: a “corruptive” gesture so unconcerned with devaluing your
aestheticism, yet so pure in the desire to worship you.”
15
Decolonizing the Museum
Teaching
Robert W. Preucel, Director
On March 6, the Museum co-sponsored and should live, then it is essential that we consider
participated in the “Decolonizing the Museum how we should live together with one another.
Teach In” organized by Ariella Azoulay, Yannis Sarr and Savoy hold that it is possible to repair
Hamilakis, and Vazira Zamindar. The Teach In colonial ruptures by rebuilding ties and renewing
was a response to the recent report by Felwine them around ‘reinvented relational modalities.’
Sarr and Benedicte Savoy commissioned by
Sarr and Savoy argue that restitution is about
the French government for the temporary
meeting specific African needs by preserving
or permanent restitution of African cultural
their own heritage for their own purposes and
heritage held by French museums. Kevin Smith
for the benefit of world’s cultures. This report,
and I both gave remarks. Here is some of what
and other efforts to decolonize the museum,
I presented:
suggest that we can anticipate and, indeed,
should welcome challenging conversations
about heritage, patrimony, ownership,
colonialism, and sovereignty long into the
future. We should expect that these issues will
play out in different ways in different parts of
Europe, in specific African countries, and in
other parts of the world. We should also be
open to the idea that restitution of objects is
part of a broader project of decolonization and
that this project will take its shape and form
in relationship to conversations about land
rights, language revitalization, and control over
natural resources.
16
Museum Collaborations: Repair and Design
Futures at the RISD Museum
Kate Irvin, Curator of Costumes & Textiles, RISD Museum
Exhibitions
In early summer 2017, I had the pleasure of Spanning the globe and more than a century,
mining the Haffenreffer’s collections in Bristol the objects generously lent by the Haffenreffer
alongside Assemblages Mellon Fellow Professor reveal darns, patches, and stabilized areas that
Steve Lubar. Guided by the knowledge and have prompted socially and environmentally
expertise of curator Thierry Gentis and the engaged thinking in a range of departments
museum’s registrar Dawn Kimbrel, we were and disciplines across the RISD and Brown
in search of visibly and expressively repaired campuses. Several Brown classes have
objects, in particular textiles or items mended intersected with the exhibition this academic
using textile techniques. Many of the pieces that year: Steve Lubar’s Skills: From the Medieval
Thierry unearthed that day and on successive Workshop to the Maker Movement, Wendy
visits are now prominently displayed in the RISD Edwards’s Accessorizing Painting, Elizabeth
Museum exhibition Repair and Design Futures, Lord’s Political Ecology: Power, Difference and
a show that investigates mending as material Knowledge, and Ariella Azoulay’s What are
intervention, metaphor, and call to action. Human Rights? Imperial Origins, Curatorial
Practices and Non-Imperial Grounds.
In their making and maintenance, the featured
Haffenreffer collection objects reflect the As part of the course Repair: Museum, Material,
emotional value and labor of repair. They range and Metaphor that I taught with Steve Lubar in
from an intensively patched ensemble made Spring 2018, a group of students individually
and worn by Malian hunter and historian/ curated study drawer groupings in the RISD
storyteller Fodé Keita; Kenyan gourd containers Museum’s Donghia Costume and Textile
with celebratory beaded and leather mends; Gallery to connect with the exhibition. Now
a Nigerian Ogoni puppet with a broken arm on view, these displays illustrate a variety of
enmeshed in a fiber cast; a pair of beaded interpretations of the theme of repair: “Tools
and appliquéd Cree Métis leggings; a Kiowa of Repair: Objects Used for Sewing” by Weezie
cradleboard made by Hoy-Koy-Hoodle and Haley (Brown ‘19); “Forensics of Repair:
repaired by Kiowa artist Vanessa Jennings; Looking for Motives in Repaired and Mended
toddler-sized Converse sneakers beaded Garments” by Kenna Libes (Brown MA‘19);
by Kiowa artist Teri Greeves; and appliqué “Can Textiles Repair a Broken Heart?: Apparel
arpilleras made by Chilean women as banners and Accessories Used for Mourning” by Robin
protesting abuses perpetrated by General Wheelright Ness (Brown MA’18) and Marjorie
Pinochet’s military dictatorship. O’Toole (Brown MA’18), and “On Darning:
Examples of Repair, Reinforcement, and
Adornment” by Jeremy Wolin (Brown/RISD’19).
17
Mending the Break
Exhibitions
18
Connecting People, Places, and Spaces:
Exhibitions
Visitor Engagement in the Gallery and Online
Isabella Robbins, Public Humanities (MA), Fellow in the Native American and
Indigenous Studies Initiative, citizen of the Navajo Nation
Uniting the Haffenreffer Museum’s two current This semester, I worked with Emily Jackson and
exhibitions, Drone Warriors and Sacred is Sacred, Leah Burgin to interpret the responses and put
is a map of the world that asks museum visitors them on a digital platform, highlighting the most
to respond to a question: “What’s a place you common responses as well as those we thought
want to protect?” Visitors can write their special were compelling and interesting. This interactive
places on pieces of tape and place them on the aspect of the exhibitions allows us, and the
map. Based on the types of responses we have broader public, to see what our visitors consider
received, participants chose to interpret the important and worth protecting, just as Standing
question in different ways. Out of more than Rock and Bears Ears are to us. We hope this
1,500 responses, some identified places like online component will help us to expand the
Puerto Rico, Mauna Kea, Mount Hope, and the exhibitions’ conversations about protecting
Arctic; others chose animals like polar bears, sacred spaces into the digital sphere.
rhinos, and pandas; and still others wrote calls
to action like “protect women’s rights,” “protect
clean water,” and “stop gentrification.”
Revisiting #CrowdCurated
Emily Jackson, Museum Operations and Communications Coordinator
#CrowdCurated was an experimental crowd- first stage of #CrowdCurated, the posts had
sourced project connecting physical objects a combined 925 points of engagement (likes,
and virtual engagement by inviting the audience comments, and shares), and had reached
to play an active role in exhibit curation. The thousands of people.
project began as a question about the circulation
The three objects with the most engagement
of digital images of museum collections: does
were a 19 th century Tlingit Frog Dish (with 79
sharing images of these objects actually
votes), an Acheulean Handaxe (77 votes), and
translate into real-world museum interactions?
a Zuñi Beaded Owl (92 votes). Haffenreffer
Ultimately, the goal of #CrowdCurated was
Museum staff were pleasantly surprised to
to research the connection between digital
find that the objects picked by the audience
media and materiality, and to engage with
serendipitously represented the three main
the Haffenreffer Museum’s online and real-
branches of the museum’s holdings: its
world audiences.
ethnographic, archaeological, and non-western
In September 2018, the Haffenreffer Museum art collections. All three of these objects
began the online campaign by posting 15 were put on exhibit in Manning Hall Gallery on
object images to the museum’s social media October 20th, 2018, with an opening reception on
platforms – Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. International Archaeology Day.
Each social media post included an object’s
As a museum of material culture, the virtual
image, a brief description, an interesting fact
world of social media poses interesting
about it, and a few carefully-selected hashtags.
questions. How can we bridge the online and in-
Every comment, share, and like were counted as
gallery experience? How can virtual engagement
a vote towards that object being on display, but
enrich in-person interactions? Social media is
every vote also helped to bolster social media
a revolutionary tool for building connections
engagement overall.
across geographical, cultural, and even
During the course of the #CrowdCurated linguistic boundaries, offering new opportunities
project, the Haffenreffer Museum’s profiles for participation in museum practices. With
saw increased traffic and following across all projects like #CrowdCurated, the Haffenreffer
platforms. Each #CrowdCurated post reached Museum is excited to explore these online-
hundreds of people, in some cases more than offline opportunities.
a thousand on Facebook. By the end of the
19
The Continuous Path: Pueblo Movement
Research
and the Archaeology of Becoming
Robert Preucel, Director and
Samuel Duwe, Assistant Professor of
Anthropology, University of Oklahoma
Sam Duwe and I are thrilled that our edited
volume The Continuous Path: Pueblo Movement
and the Archaeology of Becoming has now been
published by the University of Arizona Press.
This project was a collaborative endeavor
embracing fundamental Pueblo concepts of
“being and becoming” as expressed through
movement and what this means for the
interpretation of archaeological data. While
we are proud of the finished volume, we are
most excited by the unfinished and ongoing
discussions between the archaeologists,
anthropologists, and tribal scholars and
community members brought together over the
course of this project.
20
Tracing Viking Voyages in North America
Kevin P. Smith, Deputy Director and Chief Curator
Did the Vikings explore North America? If so, the pockets of the Vikings – their trace element
where did they make first contact with the signatures provide information on where these
Research
peoples of the Americas? Medieval Icelandic stones were picked up and, therefore, where
sagas describe three or more voyages around these Viking Age explorers traveled. Previous
1000 AD by Norse explorers from Iceland and analyses of red jasper fire-starter fragments
Greenland to lands on the west side of the from the site suggested that its occupants had
Atlantic Ocean that they called Helluland (Flat come from Iceland and Greenland, but in July,
Stone Land), Markland (Forest Land), and 2018 I reviewed the archaeological collections
Vínland (the Land of Vines or Wine). from L’Anse aux Meadows with Christopher Wolff
(Museum Research Associate and Associate
In 1960, a Norwegian explorer, Helge Ingstad,
Professor of Anthropology, University at Albany).
and his archaeologist wife, Anne Stine Ingstad,
Together, we doubled the number of fire-starters
located a Viking site at L’Anse aux Meadows, on
known from the site by identifying ones made
the northern tip of Newfoundland. Excavations
from North American cherts. To our surprise,
there during the 1960s and 1970s revealed
we were able to put the pieces of two separate
three large turf-walled halls and five smaller
fire-starters back together, linking all three of
outbuildings, all built in Icelandic styles and
the large halls together with material evidence
dating to around 1000 AD. Three butternuts
that demonstrates they were occupied at the
(Juglans cinerea)—a type of walnut that grows
same time.
no further north than the area of Québec City
and the northern border of Maine—suggested We are now using a non-destructive technique
voyages further south. On this basis, L’Anse called X-Ray Fluorescence to compare the
aux Meadows has been interpreted as a base chemical signatures of these fire-starters to
for exploring farther into North America. The geological samples of chert from around the
site was designated the first UNESCO World coasts of Newfoundland and beyond. Our initial
Heritage site in 1978, with the justification that results suggest that these Viking Age explorers
“L’Anse aux Meadows is the first and only known not only knew the resources of the region around
site established by Vikings in North America and the site quite well but also explored more than
the earliest evidence of European settlement in two days’ sail down the west and east coasts
the New World. As such, it is a unique milestone of Newfoundland, and on their travels picked
in the history of human migration and discovery.” up new raw materials to start their fires and
carried them back to their base at L’Anse aux
However, many questions remain about L’Anse
Meadows. Two other fire-starters—the ones that
aux Meadows. Although it has been assumed that
we fit back together—present puzzles. So far,
all of the buildings are contemporaneous, some
they don’t match any known raw materials from
investigators have recently suggested that the
Newfoundland, suggesting that they hold the
three halls were built during separate expeditions
keys to identifying additional voyages outwards
perhaps decades or generations apart. And
from this European beach-head in the Americas,
although the butternuts suggest voyages to the
and perhaps identifying the areas where the
south, we still don’t know how widely the Norse
people of the Old World met Native Americans
traveled from this base or even how well they
for the first time.
knew the area immediately around it.
This project was crowd-funded through
Fragments of the stones the Vikings used to
the generosity of 36 donors through
start their fires hold clues to their travels. These
Experiment.com.
fire-starter fragments are like matches from
21
Strontium Isotope Analysis of North Atlantic
Research
Cloth and Woolen Products
Michèle Hayeur Smith, Haffenreffer Museum Research Associate
In my new NSF-funded project, “Archaeological
Investigations of the Eastern North Atlantic
Textile Trade and Globalizing Economic Systems”,
we will be carrying out strontium isotope
analyses on wool, using an innovative method
developed by Karin M. Frei from the National
Museum of Denmark to track the movement
of cloth and shed new light on North Atlantic
trade networks. Historical sources suggest
that medieval Icelanders and other residents
of the North Atlantic Islands traded cloth they
produced with merchants from Norway and
other parts of Northern Europe for goods that
they needed. My research has documented
that the textiles that women wove on these
islands showed changes through time, and
the research identified imports they received
from abroad. Initial work on textiles from the
medieval Norwegian port of Bergen suggested
that many pieces there came from the North
Atlantic islands but could not demonstrate that
definitively. Strontium isotope analysis may hold
the key.
22
Shedding Light on Cape Krusenstern’s
Research
Enigmatic Etched Pebbles
Annalisa Heppner, Circumpolar Laboratory Inventory Project Coordinator
One of the true benefits of having an active
Circumpolar Lab is the opportunity it affords
for research and collaborations on campus. In
Spring 2019, the university’s Multimedia Lab and
Center for Digital Scholarship hosted a series of
workshops called “3D for Everyone.” I attended
to learn more about the 3D technologies on
campus and struck up a conversation with
Patrick Rasleigh from the Center for Digital
Scholarship and Lindsay Elgin, a photographer
for the Center for Digital Scholarship. Through
conversations with Patrick and Lindsay, we
decided to conduct a small pilot project to
explore a suite of ancient etched pebbles
from the Ipiutak settlements on Alaska’s
Cape Krusenstern.
23
Lessons from the Sewing Circle
Collections
Dawn K. Kimbrel, Registrar
The Sewing Circle, a group of Brown sewing skills by making costumes in the Theatre
undergraduates, met every Sunday during Arts Department; Olivia Maliszewski creates
the Spring 2019 semester to attach accession beadwork; Kelly O’Brien sews traditional Yup’ik
number labels to Guatemalan textiles acquired garments; and Elsabet Jones brings collection
in 2017 and 2018. These four students came inventory skills that keep the project on track.
to the Haffenreffer with hand skills and an Through their combined efforts, in one semester,
interest in direct care of collections. Charlotte the group sewed 326 labels onto the textiles,
Senders began making her own clothes at age preparing the items for the next phases of
5 using a stapler, at Brown she refined her collection care – photography and rehousing.
Sewing Circle, from left, clockwise, Elsabet Jones, Charlotte Senders, Olivia Maliszewski, Kelly O’Brien
25
Bowl
Nazca—Peru, 200–600AD Miniature Water jar
Walter Feldman Collection Acoma Pueblo—Acoma,
New Mexico, 20th century
Walter Feldman Collection
Jar
Collections
Nazca—Peru, 200–600AD
Walter Feldman Collection
Vomitivo
Taino—Dominican Republic,
13th–15th century
Gift of Vincent and Margaret Fay
Commemorative male
figure (detail)
Konso—Ethiopia, early
Architectural panel 20th century
India, late 19th or early Gift of Timothy Phillips
20th century
Walter Feldman Collection
Crocodile sculpture
Melanesian—Papua New Guinea,
Dance paddle
20th century Collected, 1941-1945
Austral Islander—French Polynesia,
Gift of Gail Caddell
early 19th century
Walter Feldman Collection
to the arts faculty at Brown in 1953 and taught until United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842,
his retirement in 2007. It is unlikely that Walter knew which surveyed and explored the islands of the
the full history of his Austral Islands paddle when he Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands for the
purchased it. These beautiful paddles are among the United States government. This paddle and a few
best-known examples of Polynesian art. Although their other survivors now in the Haffenreffer Museum
original purpose is unclear, they were likely used as are part of a rare collection of circum-Pacific
dance paddles but may have also been produced to fill objects from the Exploring Expedition that were
early demands for exotic souvenirs. presented by the Smithsonian to the Brown
University in the 19th century.
The Feldmans’ Austral Island paddle is part of a
small group of objects within the Feldman bequest Among the 481 objects donated by 22 donors
that are of great significance to Brown University for this past year, some highlights include: a group
having originally being part of the Jenks Museum of Taino amulets from Lauren B. Fay; and a
collections – Brown University’s “Lost” Museum. The trigonolith, a zemi and a manatee bone vomitivo
paddle retains its original Jenks catalog number, 774, from Vincent and Margaret Fay that enrich the
written in yellow ink on the top of its pommel. This Fay’s extensive pre-Columbian Taino collection
also allows us to confirm that it was collected by the housed at the Haffenreffer. The gift by Timothy
27
Skirt
Micronesian—Ifalik atoll
Cloth Field collected by Catherine Lutz, 1977–1978
Kuba—Congo, mid-20th century Gift of Catherine Lutz
Gift of Cesare Decredico
Sickles
Swiss Lake Dwellings, Lake Neuchatel, Mask
Bronze Age, 2000–1500 BC Kwese—Democratic Republic of the
Walter Feldman Collection (ex Jenks Congo, early 20th century
Museum, Brown University) Gift of Timothy Phillips
Phillips of an impressive Konso figure during the late 1960s, adds important materials
from Southern Ethiopia and a Kwese from an area previously not represented in the
mask from the Democratic Republic collection. A delicate necklace of wampum, created
of Congo are important additions to our by contemporary Wampanoag artist Elizabeth James
African collection. Another major addition is Perry on the basis of 17th century examples bridges
a Nayarit pre-Columbian figure from Alan centuries and cultures, while extending our efforts to
and Jill Rappaport. A magnificent gift support and acknowledge the work of contemporary
of architectural panels, clothing, and Native American artists.
material culture from indigenous
Finally, Professor Catherine Lutz donated her
Paiwan, Rukai and Yami communities
field collection of basketry and other items from
in Taiwan from the family of the late
Ifalik Atoll made during her 1977-78 field work
George Shelley, collected during his
in Micronesia. These and the many other objects
doctoral research in anthropology
donated by generous donors continue to enrich the
Pre-Columbian Male Ceramic Figure museum’s collections. Each object has stories to
Nayarit —Nayarit State, tell, and each can be the subject of research and a
late 15th century springboard for teaching.
28 28 Gift of Alan and Jill Rappaport
Ruth Riverview Returns to Port
Dawn Kimbrel, Registrar
The Haffenreffer Museum formally This year, Brown University’s Campus Collection
deaccessioned and transferred a model Committee, chaired by Joseph Meisel, voted
schooner, the Ruth Riverview, to the Indian and to approve the deaccession and transfer the
Colonial Research Center (ICRC) in Old Mystic, Ruth Riverview to the ICRC without delay. When
Connecticut. The deaccession proposal involved informed about the proposal, the Haffenreffer
research and an open process consistent with family took pleasure in hearing that the schooner
Brown’s collections policies. “would gain public visibility after almost 120
years, at an institution that celebrates local New
England History”. The Haffenreffer Museum
staff expresses gratitude to Robert Mohr (Brown
Class of ’66), ICRC board member, for managing
the ICRC review and approval process, and for
transporting the oversize model on a custom-
built carrier to the banks of the Mystic River. So,
with this, the Ruth returns home.
29
Studying the Amazon at
Collections
Brown and at the Museum
Violet Cavicchi, Graduate Student, Department of Music
An international group of scholars working
in Amazonian studies visited the Haffenreffer
Museum’s Collections Research Center in
Bristol, RI, as part of a workshop entitled
“The Once and Future Amazon: New Horizons in
Amazonian Studies” that took place on February
21-24, 2019. In their visit to the Center, the
workshop participants met with director
Robert Preucel, deputy director Kevin Smith,
and curator Thierry Gentis. Materials from the
Kaxinawá collection, which was donated to
Brown by Kenneth Kensinger in the 1970s, were
of particular interest to workshop participants.
30
Reaching Out: Bringing the Museum to PreK-
Educational Outreach
12 Classrooms and Community Partners
Leah Burgin, Manager of Museum Education and Programs
This year, the museum’s outreach programs Additionally, we returned to the Museum of
brought hands-on activities to more than Natural History and Cormack Planetarium’s
2,100 preK-12 students in Rhode Island, annual STEM week with our “Humankind’s First
Massachusetts, and Connecticut. We offered Toolbox” program. Visitors explored some of
long-standing programs and piloted new humanity’s oldest technologies – stone tools –
experiences, working with campus and with Circumpolar Laboratory Inventory Project
community partners along the way. Coordinator Annalisa Heppner, and discovered
how to make stone tools through the flint-
For “Think Like an Archaeologist,” the museum
knapping expertise of Pinar Durgun, Curatorial
continued to collaborate with the Joukowsky
Assistant for the Mellon-funded “Engaging the
Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World,
Americas” project.
the RISD Museum, Providence Public Schools,
and the Rhode Island Historical Society. We
returned to Roger Williams, Nathanael Greene,
and Nathan Bishop middle schools, providing
opportunities for sixth graders to dig into the
science of archaeology through four hands-on
classroom sessions and a field trip to the RISD
Museum, Haffenreffer Museum, or John Brown
House Museum.
31
Bridging Campus and Community Through
Museum Programs: A Year of Conversations,
Presentations, and Hands-On Explorations
Leah Burgin, Manager of Museum Education and Programs
Public Programs
Thanks to the incredible support of student Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Mellon Postdoctoral
employees, Museum staff, and Friends of the Fellow in the Department of Political Science,
-
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, this year Mary Tuti Baker (Kanaka Oiwi, Native Hawaiian),
we reached 600 students, faculty, and members moderated the heartfelt and inspiring discussion.
of the general public through our programming.
NAISAB, Native American Brown Alumni (NABA),
Our current exhibitions, Drone Warriors and and the museum joined together for the “Chante
Sacred is Sacred, inspired many of our programs. Tin’sa Kinanzi Po (People Stand with a Strong
We partnered with the John Nicholas Brown Heart): Still Standing Up for Standing Rock”
Center for Public Humanities and Cultural panel, which featured Christopher Walton, Bobbi
Heritage for an installment of their “Public Jean Three Legs (Standing Rock Sioux), and
Humanities Now: New Voices, New Directions” Philip Sanchez ‘05. Jennifer Weston ‘97 (Standing
lunch talk series. Curators Isabella Robbins Rock Sioux) moderated the discussion, which
(Diné) and Gregory Hitch kicked off the series was followed by screenings of Sanchez’s 360°
with “What We Learned: Curating Bears Ears and video Black Snake—a virtual reality short film
Drone Warriors,” reflecting upon their curatorial experience featuring citizens of Standing Rock.
journey and sharing lessons learned with the
To round out our exhibition-themed
campus community.
32
programming, cultural activist, filmmaker, and of poetry, LETTERRS, for the Barbara Greenwald
former fellow at the Center for the Study of Race Memorial Arts Program. And the director of
and Ethnicity in America (CSREA) Angelo Baca Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum, Laura
(Navajo) took us behind-the-scenes of his award- van Broekhoven, (above, right) critically engaged
winning documentary, Shash Jaa’: Bears Ears. with the multiple afterlives of coloniality
Co-sponsorship from CSREA and NAISAB helped materialized in the Pitt Rivers Museum’s spaces,
the Museum organize a screening of Shash Jaa’, collections, labels, and cases in her talk for the
which featured the perspectives of an all-Navajo Barbara A. and Edward G. Hail Lecture Series,
filmmaking crew regarding the formation of “Emerging Co-Curatorial Approaches and the Pitt
the inter-tribal coalition that formed to protect Rivers Museum.”
Bears Ears.
We also offered several opportunities throughout
The Museum’s endowed public lecture series the year for the public and campus communities
continued this year, opening with Mary Miller to engage creatively with the Museum. In
(Yale University) delivering the Jane Powell addition to staying open late for student-led
Dwyer Memorial Lecture. Her talk, “Were They art activities during Providence Gallery Night
Enslaved? A New Look at Maya Figurines,” in April and May, we brought back the very
unpacked the complexity of Maya social life by popular Escape the Haffenreffer! escape room
examining figurines from Jaina, an island off the game for two weekends, (above left) celebrated
Yucatan mainland known for elite burial sites. International Archaeology Day in October with a
Tom Thornton (University of Oxford) investigated hands-on open house and archaeology-themed
the intersections between Northwest Coast photo booth, and piloted a new program with the
Indigenous oral traditions and global climate Providence Gaming Guild—Global Game Night—
change in this year’s Shepard Krech III Lecture, for World Anthropology Day in February.
“Sacred Mountains, Climate Change, Resilience,
Thank you to those who joined us throughout the
and Adaptation among Southeast Alaska
year! Keep an eye on the Museum’s social media
Natives.” We partnered with the Literary Arts
and monthly e-newsletter for information about
department and its “Writers on Writing” series
next year’s programming!
to bring Orlando White (above, center; Diné of
the Naaneesht’ézhi Tábaahí and born for the
Naakai Diné’e) for a reading of his newest book
33
Flannery McIntyre
Students and Interns
Undergraduate, Archaeology, Medieval Cultures, and Music, Class of 2019
I feel very grateful However, my work for the past year as an EPC
for the many has had the greatest impact on my conceptions of
opportunities I’ve how museums can and should engage with their
had to work at communities. Going into 6th grade Providence
the Haffenreffer classrooms and introducing middle schoolers
Museum as both to archaeological concepts and methods has
a Visitor Services been an inspiring experience. Witnessing the
Coordinator (VSC) students’ excitement and enthusiasm about
and as an Education archaeology as they ask questions about the
and Programming presentation or try to piece together a broken pot
Coordinator (EPC) helped me realize the importance of museums
during my time as and universities engaging in community outreach
an undergraduate in a very personal way. Devising other types of
at Brown. As a museum programming – such as the Escape
VSC, I have witnessed differences in how people Room and Global Game Night – alongside Leah
approach and interact with the museum, from Burgin and my other EPCs also allowed me to
students examining specific objects for a class explore the different ways museums can engage
project to Providence community members with the public, as well as the affordances and
exploring the museum for the first time and limitations of a museum space for these types
adding labels to the gallery map. My time at the of programs.
Haffenreffer has also increased my knowledge
Flannery McIntyre is a senior working on her
and awareness of museum and cultural
thesis exploring changing perceptions of gender
heritage issues outside the normal scope of
and identity in seventh-century England through
my coursework.
bed burials. She enjoys playing the harp and
visiting all types of museums.
Janie Merrick
Undergraduate, Archaeology and History, Class of 2019
My favorite part discuss their thoughts and experiences about the
of working at the current exhibits with me. Given that the content
Haffenreffer as a of the two current exhibits is largely about
Visitor Services indigenous land, I believe that conversations
Coordinator and discussions about the exhibits are such
has without a important ways to process this topic and to
doubt been the think critically about what’s happened at Bears
conversations I’ve Ears and Standing Rock. Exchanging thoughts
had with visitors. and interpretations of the exhibits with visitors
I’ve loved hearing has allowed me to learn and grow in my own
about people’s understanding of indigenous and sacred land
various experiences at both places. It’s been quite inspiring to see
and what they are so many people who care about the exhibits as
bringing to the much as I do and I love getting to be a part of
way they interact each visitor’s unique experience at the museum.
with the exhibits at the museum. Visitors at the
Janie Merrick is a senior at Brown University
Haffenreffer range anywhere from my student
where she studies Archaeology and History,
peers to Rhode Island tourists, and I love the
with a focus on gender. She is passionate about
opportunity to hear about what brought each
museum education and believes strongly in the
visitor to the museum that day, and what they’re
importance of making museums an accessible
interested in seeing and learning. Visitors are so
and meaningful space for all.
engaged, and I feel honored when they want to
34
David Cazares
Students and Interns
Master’s student, Public Affairs
Serving as an Education and It was also exciting to be a teaching guest at
Programming Coordinator the Brown/Fox Point Early Childhood Education
(EPC) has been a rewarding Center, a preschool near Brown, and introduce
experience as I had the preschool students to the lives of children 200
opportunity to pursue years ago in Rhode Island. I appreciated how our
projects I would have never lesson plan incorporated the lives of Indigenous
imagined embarking on. In children and children of English settlers. In a
particular, the Think Like matter of an hour we had the chance to “travel
an Archaeologist program back in time” in order to learn about the toys and
allowed me to apply my knowledge and teach games children from the past played with. By
middle school students in Providence public the end of our adventure, the students quickly
schools about archaeology. This was special for noted that Indigenous children and children of
me, as I have a deep passion for education and English settlers from the 18th century were
ensuring students learn about subjects well not so different from themselves. Hearing
beyond the traditional coursework, something I this was fulfilling as it was clear the students
believe Think Like an Archaeologist accomplishes. were intrigued by learning about different
Each time I was in the classroom I saw it as an cultures and time periods. Overall, my time
opportunity to engage students by exposing with the Haffenreffer Museum has exposed me
them to a new interest with the hopes they to different environments, giving me a deeper
would go home and tell their parents/guardians appreciation about the work museums do beyond
about everything they learned. As someone the display of exhibits.
who attended public schools, I found this to be
David Cazares is a graduate student originally from California,
a gratifying experience as I truly believed fellow
where he earned his bachelor’s degree in urban studies at
EPCs and I were paying it forward. the University of California Irvine. His passions include social
justice, poetry writing, and community outreach.
Anton Manzano
Master’s student, Sociology
One of my most memorable really afraid that I would forget some important
moments as an EPC was information about the artifacts we were
when the team and I worked presenting to the students and their families;
together one weekend to however, I got the hang of it and my confidence
host Escape the Haffenreffer. started to build. By the end of the day, I was very
Nothing made me happier much exhausted, but it was rewarding to have
than working with such a shared some knowledge about certain artifacts
bright and understanding with the visitors. This was also the first time all
group of people, first and the EPCs came together to make such an event
foremost, and it was very fulfilling seeing the happen successfully.
participants enjoy their experience and analyzing
I will really miss interacting with the museum
some of the artifacts displayed in the museum.
staff and my fellow EPCs. I am so thankful to
This is one experience I will never forget, and it
have experienced working in a museum and
was actually because of Escape the Haffenreffer
with such a great group of people. Other than
that I had the opportunity to get to know my other
that, I will also miss teaching the children in the
fellow EPCs.
schools we were assigned to give lessons on
We also had an open house for parents’ archeological concepts. All in all, this was really
weekend. I was quite nervous explaining a holistic experience.
some of the artifacts in the museum. Being an
Anton Manzano hails originally from the Philippines. After
Anthropology concentrator during my time as an
having lived in three countries, Anton developed an interest
undergraduate student in Brown, I was already for Anthropology because of the cultural nuances he noticed
exposed to a few archaeological concepts in my in the three places. He also takes interest in other social
classes. However, I never really had to explain sciences, such as Sociology and Economics.
any of what I had learned to anyone. I was
35
Students and Interns
36
This Year with the Haffenreffer Museum
Students and Interns
Student Group
Bella Cavicchi, Education Studies, Class of 2021 and
Melissa Alvarez, History of Art and Architecture, Class of 2021
The two of us have long been interested in As we reflect on our past year and look ahead to
museums, a fascination that led us to join the plan for the next, one sentiment stands clear: we
Haffenreffer Museum Student Group (HMSG) want the HMSG to be an educational platform,
as first-year students last spring. While neither space, and community for students interested in
of us had previous experience working in careers in museums - or who simply enjoy going
museums, we nevertheless shared a strong to museums and want to meet individuals who
passion for museum education, curation, and are similarly enthusiastic!
practice – something that only developed as we
visited local museums, such as the RISD Nature
Lab and the Roger Williams National Memorial
Center, and worked on different projects,
including cataloging the Joukowsky Institute’s
collection. When our first year at Brown came to
a close, we took on the role of co-presidents for
the HMSG, excited to continue and expand the
group’s membership.
37
Acknowledgements
Institutional Partners
National Museum of Scotland
Danish National Museum/Nationalmuseet
Parks Canada, Dartmouth Archaeological Laboratory
Historical Museum of the Faroe Islands/Føroya Fornminnissavn
Greenland National Museum/Nunatta Katersugaasivia/Grønlands Nationalmuseum
Icelandic Institute of Natural History/Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands
Icelandic Archaeological Institute/Fornleifastofnun Íslands
National Museum of Iceland/Þjóðminjasafn Íslands
University of Iceland/Háskóli Íslands
Akomawt Educational Initiative
School for Advanced Research
Amerind Foundation
Cochiti Pueblo
38
Friends Board Faculty Associates
Jeffrey Schreck, President Elizabeth Hoover, Assistant Professor of American
Elizabeth Johnson, Secretary Studies and Ethnic Studies
Peter Allen, Rhode Island College Steven D. Lubar, Professor of American Studies, History
Edith Andrews, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head of Art and Architecture, and History
(Aquinnah) Patricia Rubertone, Professor of Anthropology
Gina Borromeo, RISD Museum William S. Simmons, Professor of Anthropology
Kristine M. Bovy, University of Rhode Island
Richard Locke, Provost
David Haffenreffer Predoctoral Fellow (6th Year
Rudolf F. Haffenreffer
Barbara A. Hail, Curator Emerita
Interdisciplinary Opportunity)
Mikhail Skoptsov, Department of Modern Culture
Daniel Smith, Chair, Department of Anthropology
and Media
Peter Van Dommelen, Director, Joukowsky Institute of
Archaeology and the Ancient World
Robert W. Preucel, (Ex Officio)
Kevin P. Smith, (Ex Officio) Programs and Education
Leah Burgin, Manager of Museum Education
and Programs
Administration Kathy Silvia, Outreach Coordinator
David Cazarez, Education & Programming Coordinator
Robert W. Preucel, Director
Jasmine Chu, Education & Programming Coordinator
Douglas Anderson, Director of the
Isaac Leong, Education & Programming Coordinator
Circumpolar Laboratory
Anton Manzano, Education & Programming Coordinator
Kevin P. Smith, Deputy Director/Chief Curator
Flannery McIntyre, Education &
Thierry Gentis, Curator/NAGPRA Coordinator
Programming Coordinator
Dawn Kimbrel, Registrar
Geralyn Ducady, Education Program Affiliate
Rip Gerry, Exhibit Preparator/Photo Archivist
Emily Jackson, Museum Operations and
Communications Coordinator
Annalisa Heppner, Circumpolar Laboratory Inventory Student Employees
Project Coordinator Elsabet Jones, Registration Assistant
Pinar Durgun, Curatorial Assistant, Nidhi Bhaskar, Membership Assistant
“Engaging the Americas” Aaron Cho, Membership Assistant
Lewis Turley, Haffenreffer Museum Charlotte Senders, Sewing Circle Participant
Collection Technician Kelly O’Brien, Sewing Circle Participant
Olivia Maliszewski, Sewing Circle Participant
Alfie Fuertes, Curatorial Assistant (CLIP)
Research Ariana Wescott, Curatorial Assistant (CLIP)
Christian Casey, Visitor Service Coordinator
Michèle Hayeur Smith, Research Associate
Bella Carlos, Visitor Service Coordinator
Christopher B. Wolff, Research Associate
Rob Kashow, Visitor Service Coordinator
Wanni Anderson, Research Affiliate
Flannery McIntyre, Visitor Service Coordinator
Edward (Ned) Dwyer, Research Affiliate
Janie Merrick, Visitor Service Coordinator
Nicholas Laluk, Research Affiliate
Sara Mohr, Visitor Service Coordinator
Kaitlin McCormick, Research Affiliate
39 39
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Non-Profit
Brown University Organization
Box 1965 US Postage
Providence, RI 02912 PAID
Permit No. 202
brown.edu/Haffenreffer Providence, RI