Tuesday, May 6, 2014

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

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

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)

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

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

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

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