Collecting For A College Museum: Exchange Practices and the Life History of a 19th-Century Arctic Collection
The central role of exchange in museum collecting merits greater scholarly attention. We present an anthropological framework for analyzing exchange practices that illuminates the complex and shifting meanings collections accrue through their life histories. We illustrate this by examining the serie...
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ftoberlincollege:oai:digitalcommons.oberlin.edu:faculty_schol-1045 2023-06-11T04:08:31+02:00 Collecting For A College Museum: Exchange Practices and the Life History of a 19th-Century Arctic Collection Margaris, Amy V. Grimm, Linda T. 2011-01-01T08:00:00Z https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/faculty_schol/46 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2011.01112.x English eng Digital Commons at Oberlin https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/faculty_schol/46 doi:10.1111/j.1548-1379.2011.01112.x https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2011.01112.x Faculty & Staff Scholarship Museum collecting Arctic regions Smithsonian History of anthropology Digital media Anthropology text 2011 ftoberlincollege https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2011.01112.x 2023-05-12T05:48:56Z The central role of exchange in museum collecting merits greater scholarly attention. We present an anthropological framework for analyzing exchange practices that illuminates the complex and shifting meanings collections accrue through their life histories. We illustrate this by examining the series of late 19th-century exchanges that produced a small, but historically important, ethnological collection at the Oberlin College Museum from the North American Arctic. The analysis sheds new light on the uneasy development of ethnology from its natural history roots, and on the role of small colleges in furthering the modern sciences curriculum. Examining collection life histories by way of exchange practices also highlights new interpretive challenges that accompany old collections. Text Arctic Digital Commons at Oberlin (Oberlin College) Arctic Museum Anthropology 34 2 109 127 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Digital Commons at Oberlin (Oberlin College) |
op_collection_id |
ftoberlincollege |
language |
English |
topic |
Museum collecting Arctic regions Smithsonian History of anthropology Digital media Anthropology |
spellingShingle |
Museum collecting Arctic regions Smithsonian History of anthropology Digital media Anthropology Margaris, Amy V. Grimm, Linda T. Collecting For A College Museum: Exchange Practices and the Life History of a 19th-Century Arctic Collection |
topic_facet |
Museum collecting Arctic regions Smithsonian History of anthropology Digital media Anthropology |
description |
The central role of exchange in museum collecting merits greater scholarly attention. We present an anthropological framework for analyzing exchange practices that illuminates the complex and shifting meanings collections accrue through their life histories. We illustrate this by examining the series of late 19th-century exchanges that produced a small, but historically important, ethnological collection at the Oberlin College Museum from the North American Arctic. The analysis sheds new light on the uneasy development of ethnology from its natural history roots, and on the role of small colleges in furthering the modern sciences curriculum. Examining collection life histories by way of exchange practices also highlights new interpretive challenges that accompany old collections. |
format |
Text |
author |
Margaris, Amy V. Grimm, Linda T. |
author_facet |
Margaris, Amy V. Grimm, Linda T. |
author_sort |
Margaris, Amy V. |
title |
Collecting For A College Museum: Exchange Practices and the Life History of a 19th-Century Arctic Collection |
title_short |
Collecting For A College Museum: Exchange Practices and the Life History of a 19th-Century Arctic Collection |
title_full |
Collecting For A College Museum: Exchange Practices and the Life History of a 19th-Century Arctic Collection |
title_fullStr |
Collecting For A College Museum: Exchange Practices and the Life History of a 19th-Century Arctic Collection |
title_full_unstemmed |
Collecting For A College Museum: Exchange Practices and the Life History of a 19th-Century Arctic Collection |
title_sort |
collecting for a college museum: exchange practices and the life history of a 19th-century arctic collection |
publisher |
Digital Commons at Oberlin |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/faculty_schol/46 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2011.01112.x |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Faculty & Staff Scholarship |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/faculty_schol/46 doi:10.1111/j.1548-1379.2011.01112.x https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2011.01112.x |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2011.01112.x |
container_title |
Museum Anthropology |
container_volume |
34 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
109 |
op_container_end_page |
127 |
_version_ |
1768381803674992640 |