Lab Hours Week 11

12 hours total spent researching objects and entering data

Lab Hours Week 10

1 hour and 45 minutes spent as a docent in the museum

1 hour spent researching my artifacts in the library

15 minutes spent going through class blogs

Lab Hours Week 9

2 hours spent in the library researching my objects
1 hour spent working on the NAGPRA blog post
30 minutes spent reading through class blogs

Repatriation

1.) "In approximately the 1940s or 1950s, 193 cultural items of ivory, 
bone, wood, and stone were removed from the Iyatet site, in Nome 
County, AK, by anthropologist Mr. J.L. Giddings and local guide Mr. 
Louis Nakarak. The objects were subsequently purchased by Mr. William 
Holman of Pacific Grove, CA. Mr. Holman then donated the objects to the 
Monterey Museum of Art on November 20, 1978. The 193 objects of 
cultural patrimony are 42 harpoon or projectile points, 38 pendants or 
beads, 3 fire-starters, 4 hand tools, 6 fishing weights, 37 carvings, 1 
scraper, 3 dogsled runners, 1 club, 4 needles or awls, and 54 other 
objects made of ivory, bone, wood and stone.
In the 1978 Deed of Gift to the Monterey Museum of Art, Mr. Holman 
notes that the objects were excavated from a site 125 miles east of 
Nome, AK, and were said to date to 6,000 years or more before present. 
The location and site of Iyatet matches this description, and the 
Native Village of Shaktoolik in Nome County, AK, is the nearest 
community that claims cultural affiliation with the site and with the 
objects of cultural patrimony removed from the site. The Native Village 
of Shaktoolik has made a claim to these objects and, through 
consultation, has provided information in support of that claim."

 Federal Notice

2.) "At an unknown date, a basket (item 75-6-4) was donated to the SFSU 
Treganza Museum. The coiled basket with a three-stick warp in a round, 
shouldered, narrow necked jar shape measures 8.3 cm in height and 14.2 cm in 
diameter and is made of willow, bracken-fern, redbud, yucca and bird quills. 
There are no records at the Treganza Museum concerning acquisition of this 
item.
Based on ethnographic research and consultation with the Santa Rosa 
Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California, (Tachi Yokut Tribe) 
and the Tubatulabals of Kern Valley, a non-Federally recognized Indian group, 
the basket has been identified as a treasure basket or Osa. This type of 
basket was used for the storage of sacred items such as crystals, abalone 
ornaments and paint and was used to hold a rattlesnake for the rattlesnake 
dance during both Yokut and Tubatulabal spring ceremonies.
Based on consultation, ethnographic research, and museum records, the 
basket is culturally affiliated with the Santa Rosa Indian Community of the 
Santa Rosa Rancheria, California, (Tachi Yokut Tribe) and the Tubatulabals of 
Kern Valley, a non-Federally recognized group. The Tubatulabal people are 
intermarried with the Yokuts in the Kern County area of California. 
Descendants of these Yokuts and Tubatulabals are members of the Santa Rosa 
Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California, (Tachi Yokut Tribe) 
and the Tubatulabals of Kern Valley, a non-Federally recognized Indian group."

 Federal Notice

3.) "Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item in the Possession of the

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University,

Cambridge, MA (February 20, 2011) In 1880 Ernest T. Jackson collected a

buffalo horn spoon in Montana. Sixty-six years later, a relative of Jackson

donated it to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. According to the Peabody's records, this spoon came from a Crow grave.

Classified as an "unassociated funerary object," the spoon was scheduled

for repatriation to the Crow Tribe of Montana."

 
(American Indian Art, Volume 27 (2): 82, Spring 2002)

Lab Hours Week 8

Spent 1 hour and 45 minutes docenting at the museum on Thursday
Spent 30 minutes looking through the different catlogues at the library
Spent 2 hours and 30 minutes going through my catalogue and working on the assignment
Spent 30 minutes looking through class blogs

Lab Hours Week 7

Spent about 4 hours in the museum this week. One day I helped put the tapa cloth up. Another day I helped with the mounting of text and pictures. The last day I helped with cleaning up (vacuuming the museum, wiping glass cases, putting away tables).

Spent another hour going through class blogs and spent a good amount of time reading through people's job-related blog posts.

Job Related Blog Entry

1.      I have not had a museum job in the past, nor do I currently have one. 
        
        One of my classmates last semester referred me to her friend who is a curator at the Crocker Art Museum, Ms. Marie-Claire.  Her and I emailed each other for a time about the process of acquiring a job at a museum. She told me that she would would recommend staying close to home, if I lived in Sacramento I could successfully cultivate a meaningful network rather than uprooting myself for a few months at a time. This is similar to Burcaw's number two point on how to get a job which states that museum workers have got their first job through personal acquaintance with museum directors. 

2. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco seeks a Curator in Charge, European Paintings. The position oversees a collection of more than eight hundred works from the fourteenth to the early twentieth centuries at the Legion of Honor Museum.

Key responsibilities include the stewardship and study of the collection and organization of exhibitions, in addition to the management of departmental operations, participation in public programs and education, and cultivation of donor support.

The successful candidate will have a PhD in art history and a minimum of five years of museum work in the field of European paintings, including experience as a supervisor and project leader, along with a commitment to scholarship and publication.

(Western Museums Association)

      The reason why I picked this job is because if I were to have a job at a museum, I would want it to be as a curator. The other reason is that the Legion of Honor Museum is my favorite museum in this area. This museum is my go-to place on special occasions such as Valentine's Day and birthdays. Fine Art museums in general are my favorite types on museums. In fact, if I were not majoring in Anthropology I would be majoring in Art History with the goal to work at a Fine Art museum.

Skill sets and/or professional experience

Experience in handling artifacts

Experience in exhibit fabrication and installation 

Ability to solve problems critically 

High organization skills

Lab Hours Week 6

Spent 2 hours in the museum on Thursday with my team

Spent 1.5 hours working on re-editing the label cards 

Spent 30 minutes going through class blogs

Lab Hours Week 5

1 hour spent meeting with my group
3 hours spent researching
30 minutes spent going through other people's blogs

Lab Hours Week 4

Wednesday- Spent 1 hour researching my objects
Thursday- Spent 1 hour discussing storyboard ideas with group
Friday- Met with group and spent 1 hour and 30 minutes working on storyboard
Saturday- Spent 45 minutes working on storyboard
Monday- Spent 2 hours and 30 minutes working on storyboard and 15 minutes going through class blogs

Total: 7 hours

Buddhist prayer on palm leaf

I was researching my items and came across this pretty interesting article on the process of creating palm-leaf sutras(one of my items is a Buddhist prayer on a palm leaf).

Dai (Thai) people create "civilization on palm leaves"

Here are some pictures from the article:

Here's what the engraved Buddhist prayer from the Beardsley collection looks like up close:

Lab Hours Week 3

45 minutes spent working on my Deed of Gift and posting it onto my blog

20 minutes spent looking through class blogs

15 minutes spent reading through Alice's travel journals that Carrie posted

Deed of Gift

Maria's gift was a silver bracelet her cousin bought for her in New York.

Lab Hours Week 2

3 hours and 30 minutes spent at the Statewide Museums Collection Center

The tour was very cool. I especially loved looking at all of the canoes and carriages. Learning how to make mounts was also interesting.

Lab Hours Week 1

1 hour and 20 minutes spent creating blog and adding URLs to my blog list
20 minutes spent looking up accession numbers
40 minutes spent at the museum pulling my objects and taking pictures
20 minutes spent uploading my object pictures to my blog

Object Pictures

74-2-35 Two ivory handle brushes with black tassels

74-2-47 Buddhist prayer on a palm leaf

74-2-76 Lahala mat perforated 2"X12"

74-2-73 Wicker weave square lid

74-2-29 Three birds nests

All of my items

1st Entry: Assignment of Objects

On Tuesday we were assigned our objects. I have not yet had the chance to see them in person but here are my accession numbers:

74-2-35(a&b)    P10  : two ivory handle brushes with black tassels

74-2-29      CAB-I-692  : three birds nests

74-2-47      A8  : Buddhist prayer on a palm leaf

74-2-73      C4  : wicker weave square lid

74-2-76      C4  : Lahala mat perforated 2"X12"