Kohlstedt, Sally Gregory (Author)
Endeavour: Review of the Progress of Science
Volume: 40
Issue: 1
Pages: 7-23
Museum objects have biographies shaped by their material, geographical and cultural origins, their initial intended purpose, and the ways in which they are valued and interpreted by curators and public audiences. Often one object becomes highly symbolic of a particular group even as its presentation over time reflects changing perceptions of the culture as well as the individual object. A Maori hei-tiki – a small but distinctive greenstone pendant – collected by Charles Wilkes on his United States Exploring Expedition in 1840 provides insight into changing museum practices, museum networks of exchange, the impact of professionalizing expertise in ethnology and anthropology since the late nineteenth century, shifting public interests and expectations, and, indeed, the unanticipated ways in which museum objects find their way into exhibition, in this case at the Smithsonian Institution. The material resilience and embedded historicity of the hei-tiki remain as a counterbalance to its versatility as an object useful in multiple stories over nearly two centuries.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
McCarthy, Conal;
(2014)
“Empirical Anthropologists Advocating Cultural Adjustments”: The Anthropological Governance of pirana Ngata and the Native Affairs Department
(/isis/citation/CBB001201589/)
Chapter
McCarthy, Conal;
(2012)
Carving Out a Place in the Better Britain of the South Pacific: Maori in New Zealand Museums and Exhibitions
(/isis/citation/CBB001201468/)
Article
Priscilla M. Wehi;
Hemi Whaanga;
Steve A. Trewick;
(2012)
Artefacts, Biology and Bias in Museum Collection Research
(/isis/citation/CBB988516615/)
Article
Jillian Walliss;
(2011)
Nature, Nation and Museum: The Mid-Twentieth Century New Zealand Experience
(/isis/citation/CBB372265802/)
Article
R. Crane;
(2017)
Show and Tell: TJ Parker and Late Nineteenth-Century Science in Dunedin
(/isis/citation/CBB620101522/)
Book
Moore, Sarah J.;
(2013)
Empire on Display: San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915
(/isis/citation/CBB001550146/)
Book
Mary Elizabeth Boone;
(2019)
"The Spanish element in our nationality": Spain and America at the world's fairs and centennial celebrations, 1876-1915
(/isis/citation/CBB472840489/)
Book
Blanchard, Pascal;
(2008)
Human Zoos: Science and Spectacle in the Age of Colonial Empires
(/isis/citation/CBB001033417/)
Book
Elena Canadelli;
Marco Beretta;
Laura Ronzon;
(2019)
Behind the Exhibit: Displaying Science and Technology at World's Fairs and Museums in the Twentieth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB534895435/)
Thesis
Sneddon, Matthew T.;
(2009)
Representing Tradition in an Age of Progress: Technology and American Identity in Exhibitions and Museums, 1824--1952
(/isis/citation/CBB001562862/)
Article
William S. Walker;
(2011)
“We Don't Live Like That Anymore”: Native Peoples at the Smithsonian's Festival of American Folklife, 1970––1976
(/isis/citation/CBB911454252/)
Chapter
Wayne Orchiston;
(2016)
The Skies Over Aotearoa/New Zealand: Astronomy from a Maori Perspective
(/isis/citation/CBB502559862/)
Article
Conal McCarthy;
(2009)
“Our Works of Ancient Times”: History, Colonization, and Agency at the 1906-7 New Zealand International Exhibition
(/isis/citation/CBB603032226/)
Thesis
Quintero, Camilo;
(2007)
Trading in Birds: A History of Science, Economy, and Conservation in UnitedStates-Colombia Relations
(/isis/citation/CBB001560717/)
Chapter
Ewan Johnston;
(2008)
‘A Valuable and Tolerably Extensive Collection of Native and Other Products’: New Zealand at the Crystal Palace
(/isis/citation/CBB520991338/)
Article
Green, David A.;
Orchiston, Wayne;
(2004)
In Search of Mahutonga: A Possible Supernova Recorded in Maori Astronomical Traditions?
(/isis/citation/CBB001252019/)
Article
Meg Parsons;
Karen Fisher;
(2021)
Historical smellscapes in Aotearoa New Zealand: Intersections between colonial knowledges of smell, race, and wetlands
(/isis/citation/CBB643567365/)
Article
Conal McCarthy;
(2005)
Objects of Empire? Displaying Maori at International Exhibitions, 1873-1924
(/isis/citation/CBB713385306/)
Chapter
Laing, Patricia;
(2002)
Spirituality, Belief and Knowledge: Reflections on Constructions of Maori Healing
(/isis/citation/CBB000201984/)
Article
Harry Allen;
(2020)
Jack Golson, Roger Green and Debates in New Zealand Archaeology
(/isis/citation/CBB975045685/)
Be the first to comment!