{"id":10712,"date":"2014-06-19T22:20:30","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T03:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservators-converse.org\/?p=10712"},"modified":"2014-06-19T22:20:30","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T03:20:30","slug":"42nd-annual-meeting-objects-session-may-30-collaborative-study-and-preservation-of-coastal-alaskan-native-material-culture-with-university-students-museum-staff-alutiiq-scholars-and-artists-an","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2014\/06\/19\/42nd-annual-meeting-objects-session-may-30-collaborative-study-and-preservation-of-coastal-alaskan-native-material-culture-with-university-students-museum-staff-alutiiq-scholars-and-artists-an\/","title":{"rendered":"42nd Annual Meeting, Objects Session, May 30, "Collaborative study and preservation of coastal Alaskan Native material culture with university students, museum staff, Alutiiq scholars and artists, and the visiting public""},"content":{"rendered":"

T. Rose Holdcraft presented a decade-long collaborative project between Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of\u00a0<\/a>Archaeology and Ethnology<\/a> (Cambridge, MA) and the Alutiiq Museum and\u00a0Archaeological Repository<\/a> (Kodiak, AK). \u00a0The joint initiative, funded by a IMLS Save America’s Treasures grant in 2011, sought to conserve and enhance access to an at-risk Alaska Native collection in the Peabody Museum.\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe collection\u00a0includes four Alutiiq kayaks and over 100 associated objects, including harpoons, kayak models, and skin-constructed parkas,\u00a0pouches, boots, among others. \u00a0Items of particular import include a\u00a0rare warrior’s kayak identified as Alutiiq by its\u00a0bifurcated bow, as well as the only known example of a full-sized double bladed paddle*. Many\u00a0of the collection items\u00a0were acquired\u00a0from a US Army surveyor working in Alaska circa\u00a01867. At that time, ocean going watercraft remained\u00a0the primary means of\u00a0transportation. Alutiiq kayaks are thus culturally and historically significant, yet knowledge of their manufacture method had nearly been lost\u00a0because\u00a0their use was formerly preserved largely\u00a0through oral history.
\nAlutiiq consultants included Sven Haakanson, former director of the Alutiiq Museum, Alutiiq elder\u00a0Ronnie Lind, Alutiiq skin-sewer Susan Malutin, and traditionally-trained\u00a0Kodiak Alutiiq kayak-maker Alfred Naumoff. \u00a0Workshops taught at\u00a0the Peabody included skin\u00a0sewing techniques by Susan Malutin, and kayak model building by Alfred Naumoff. \u00a0In addition to two site visits,\u00a0video conferencing and camera scopes enabled\u00a0communication with consultants\u00a0so that sampling requests, treatment, and housing decisions could collaboratively advance from afar.
\nA publicly accessible work space was created in the Peabody galleries, in which the treatment of the kayaks and other objects was undertaken. \u00a0Conservators were available to answer questions from museum visitors three afternoons per\u00a0week. Meanwhile, a\u00a0dedicated Facebook<\/a> page provided project updates and highlights. \u00a0Related educational programs included an object-centered Museum Anthropology course, which was conducted within the gallery work space as well as the lab.
\nAdditionally, PMF-MALDI-TOF<\/a> was used to characterize skin and sinew thread types. Humpback whale sinew was identified on one kayak, as well as bearded seal skin (formerly presumed to be sea lion skin)! The analytic results\u00a0enable comparisons between current and historical material use. \u00a0Study and stabilization of the collection\u00a0will\u00a0enable its long-term loan to the Alutiiq Museum, thereby preserving and repatriating traditional knowledge to the Alutiiq community.
\n*According to\u00a0Sven Haakanson, a contemporary Alutiiq artist carved\u00a0a new paddle from a sketch of the double-bladed original in the Peabody’s collection. \u00a0After testing it in Kodiak, he reports that his\u00a0paddle’s exit from the water is silent as compared to plastic versions. \u00a0For those interested, Haakanson plans to\u00a0teach double-bladed kayak making in Seattle.<\/em>
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T. Rose Holdcraft presented a decade-long collaborative project between Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of\u00a0Archaeology and Ethnology (Cambridge, MA) and the Alutiiq Museum and\u00a0Archaeological Repository (Kodiak, AK). \u00a0The joint initiative, funded by a IMLS Save America’s Treasures grant in 2011, sought to conserve and enhance access to an at-risk Alaska Native collection in the Peabody Museum.\u00a0 … Continue reading “42nd Annual Meeting, Objects Session, May 30, "Collaborative study and preservation of coastal Alaskan Native material culture with university students, museum staff, Alutiiq scholars and artists, and the visiting public"”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":10236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,32,16],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-10712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annual-meeting","category-objects","category-specialty-sessions","tag-aics-42nd-annual-meeting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}