CONTEXTSThe Newsletter of the Friends of the

Haffenreffer Museum of AnthropologyFall 2007-Fall 2009 Volume 36, 1-2

Changing TimesWhat a difference these years have made! Two years ago, we were standing in hard hats in the former Narragansett Electric plant in downtown Providence, explor-ing it as a new site for the Haffenreffer Museum. Today, plans for the former Electric plant are, as they say, history, and the main museum in Bristol is closed to the public and being converted to stor-age. How did we get to this point?

To answer this question, we have to turn the clock back several years. Following the tragic Station Nightclub fire in 2002, Rhode Island re-thought fire safety stan-dards and enforcement. In 2007, the town of Bristol determined that the Mu-seum was sub-standard in fire suppres-sion, fire alarm, and ADA requirements and that Brown would have to make changes or close to the public. The Mu-seum was proving deficient in another important way: we had an outbreak of mold in an over-packed storage area that was going to be costly to remediate.

The upshot: like their predecessors, Pres-ident Ruth Simmons and Provost David Kertzer decided that it made little sense to invest in a physical plant 18 miles dis-tant from students and revived the plan to move the Museum to as near main campus as possible. The last iteration of this plan — the planned move to the former Old Stone Bank on South Main Street in Providence — had collapsed in the change from the Gregorian to the Gee administrations.

Hence the hardhats in the former Elec-tric plant, another external evaluation of the Museum, more rounds of meetings, and once again hope that the University would at long last step up to the plate to acknowledge the import of the gift by the Haffenreffer family, in 1955, of the Museum, its collections, and hundreds of acres of land known as the Mount Hope Grant in Bristol.

But none of us planned for the Bear Mar-ket. Over months, as the full impact of

global recession was becoming clear, we met with Brown’s central administration, Facilities Management, Public Health and Safety, and other departments as we considered and rejected a series of plans. First to come and go was the for-mer Electric plant. Next was a building in Providence’s jewelry district. Third was space in a gigantic warehouse in Crans-ton. Fourth was another storage site in town. Finally we were back at the Mount Hope Grant and contemplating a series of budgets, each slimmer than the pre-ceding as budgets crashed at Brown, hiring was “paused,” and positions disap-peared.

And that is where we are today. In Au-gust, 2008 the Museum in Bristol closed to the public. Only the staff remain, thanks to new fire alarm systems. We are hard at work cleaning out spaces no lon-ger habitable (because deemed danger-ous) and relocating collections. We are now completing the conversion of gal-leries into storage; overseeing the instal-

Midsummer at Mount Hope in Bristol, Rhode Island

continued on page 3

BROWN

Inside This Issue:

Changing Times

Thinking about Things

Spirits of the Air

Donations andAcquisitions

Education

Programs

Exhibitions

Staff News

Membership

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From the DirectorCONTEXTSNewsletter of the Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Brown UniversityVolume 36, 1-2

Friends Board

Jeffrey Schreck, President

Susan Hardy, Vice President

Diana Johnson, Treasurer

Andrew Davis, Secretary

Peter Allen

Gina Borromeo

Kristine M. Bovy

Bolaji Campbell

Robert Emlen

Peter Haffenreffer

Barbara Hail

Alice Houston

Elizabeth Johnson

David Kertzer, Provost

Winifred Lambrecht

Catherine Lutz, Chair, Department of Anthropology

Cassandra Mesick

Sylvia Moubayed

Marianne Ruggiero

Henry Schwarz

Loren Spears

Patricia V. Symonds

Shepard Krech III, ex officio

Kevin P. Smith, ex officio

Museum Staff

Shepard Krech III, Director

Kevin P. Smith, Deputy Director & Chief Curator

Thierry Gentis, Associate Curator & Collections Manager

Geralyn Hoffman, Curator of Programs & Education

Rip Gerry, Exhibits Designer/Storage Manager/Photo Archivist

Carol Dutton, Office Manager

Anthony Belz, Manning Hall Greeter

Sarah Philbrick, Digital Access Coordinator

Kathy Silvia, Outreach Coordinator

Michelle Charest, Proctor

Dear Friends,

As you can see from the lead story in this issue of Contexts, we have had a rough ride. Or, for those who recall the project to move the Museum halted in its tracks in the 1990s, after a change in administration, another rough ride. They seem to be the lot of the Museum at Brown, where progress most often is measured in millimeters.

We started to write this issue long ago but repeatedly delayed its completion because we wanted to say something definitive and our lot kept changing. At last we know where we stand; as with most tales, there’s some good news and some bad news.

In a nutshell, ever since the town of Bristol, Rhode Island, issued an ultimatum to Brown to bring the Museum into line with changing fire codes — tightened in the wake of the tragic Station Fire — and Brown responded by saying “No,” we have been on a roller coaster. Brown decided instead to revive the idea to move the Museum. Twenty months ago we thought we knew what was going to happen: we were headed for Dynamo House, the former power plant in downtown Providence. But then the recession deepened and, as its full impact on Brown worsened, so did our fate. Dynamo was off the plate, and we then were asked to consider warehousing the collection and housing the staff in a building in the jewelry district, then in Cranston, then in a third site near Providence. Finally we retreated to the Mount Hope Grant, our home for over half a century. With some changes the fire marshal approved the buildings as warehouses but banned the public from the premises.

In all our recommendations we have privileged, to the extent possible, preservation and safety of the collections. Indeed, in converting the Mount Hope Grant to storage with HVAC, we have emphasized to despondent friends who recall the old place, “Just think like an artifact. They’re saying ‘whoopee!’”. They — the objects — are of incalculable value and await the day when Brown can get its act in gear. We have lost our on-site education programs — including their revenues — but are throwing energy into re-imagined outreach programs. We still have Manning Hall on the main green on campus — a 2,000 square foot gallery for exhibitions. Our staff remains small and because we have been drawn off on seeking solutions to our problems, we have not been able to offer the seminars that result in exhibitions. Nevertheless, we have figured out a way to involve at least one graduate student, Casey Mesick, in the key role in a new exhibit on New World antiquities that will open in Manning in May 2010. It will replace Believing Africa, an exhibit that has had a good run and received an excellent review in African Arts. Finally we continue to attract appreciative audiences to programs and events offered at various locales on campus.

We hope, as always, that some reading this Newsletter will want to get involved with the Museum as a docent or volunteer, will join the Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum, or will visit us in Manning Hall on campus. We also welcome your support and encouragement. My email is below.

Shepard Krech IIIDirector and Professor of Anthropology krech@brown.edu

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lation of HVAC equipment in both main buildings to reduce temperature and humidity fluctuations; converting the garage into space for Manning Hall exhi-bition development; and have attached, to the main museum, a temporary trail-er for photographing, processing, and mitigating mold-infected artifacts. Our only relief is that we hope not to have to move collections twice — from Bristol to temporary storage, and from there to a permanent new home, when the econ-omy improves.

By July 2010, we expect the Museum’s collections to be better protected and more efficiently stored and catalogued. This will improve our ability to support research and exhibitions. And we hope to go digital to make collections maximally accessible through the internet to scholars, collectors, and students.

As we redirect our focus inward, we will not forget the campus or the larger public. As for the first, Manning Hall remains our showcase for the collections. Despite the need for full involvement of our staff in what we call “The Project” of converting a museum to a storage site, we will open a new exhibition on New World antiquities in May 2010. The lead curator is a graduate student in anthropology. As for the latter, while on-site education programs are no longer possible in Bristol, education staff are redirecting energy into a retooled outreach program for schools.

We remain confident that our efforts will position the Museum to take advantage of whatever the fates have in store. Only time will tell what that might be.

Changing Timescontinued from page 1

Right: The Upper Gallery at the Mount Hope Grant

being transformed from exhibit space into collections storage

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Visit the Museum on Facebook,and at our new web site:

www.brown.edu/Haffenreffer

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Spirits of the Air Takes FlightShepard Krech III’s most recent book, Spirits of the Air: Birds and American In-dians in the South (University of Georgia Press, 2009), is the first major synthesis of the neglected relationship between birds and North American Indians. On the American Southeast, Spirits of the Air details how Native people incorpo-rated birds in diet and material culture, as well as how birds figured in politics, war, religion, myth, ceremony, and in-cantations for good or malevolent ends. Spirits of the Air was lauded in advance

notices by historians, anthropologists and environmental historians as “su-perbly researched” (Raymond Fogelson) and “insightful” (Carolyn Merchant) and by field ornithologists as a “wonderful surprise” (Donald and Lillian Stokes) and a “landmark” work (Kenn Kaufman). In 2010, Spirits of the Air received the South-ern Anthropological Society’s James Mooney Award for the best book written on the South from an anthropological perspective.

Research

It is rare, in anthropological museums, to be able to connect objects to their makers or their original owners. From the antiquity of archaeological speci-mens to the suppression of information about artists in the ethnographic arts market, the reasons for museum speci-mens’ anonymity are myri-ad. Yet, sometimes objects help us to find their owners, their makers’ motives, and their movements. A humble wooden box in the Haffen-reffer Museum’s collections, carved from a single piece of birch and lacking its lid, is one such. Dwight Heath, emeritus professor of an-thropology at Brown Uni-versity, and his wife, Anna Cooper Heath, purchased the box from a Danish antiques dealer in 1970 and do-nated it to the Museum in 2002. Identi-fied by the antiques dealer as a salt box, perhaps from Iceland, it entered the Mu-seum’s records as such.

This year, the Museum’s deputy direc-tor, Kevin Smith, re-examined the box after spending time in the collections of the National Museum of Iceland at the end of an NSF-sponsored excavation. He determined that it was an Icelandic needle case (prjónastokkur) decorated in a style dating to the early 19th cen-tury. Chip-carved decoration along both long sides, at first seemingly geometric,

Thinking About Things: An Artifact’s Biographyhides an inscription – as humble as the box itself – in block-letters called höfðal-etrar. Although one side is badly dam-aged, enough remains to read: GUÐRUN ÞORODSDOTTR | PRJONASTOK ÞINN – “Guðrún Thóroddsdóttir, [this is] your needle case”.

Knitting needle cases were objects linked not only to household production but also to the intimate relationships between men and women on Icelandic farms. Knitting, introduced to Iceland in the 16th century, was an essential part of women’s daily routines by the early 1800s and boxes for knitting needles were found in every household. How-ever, like other “intimate” objects owned by individual women rather than by the household, they became objects upon which considerable effort was expended and to which great emotional attach-ment was given. Men generally carved needle cases while courting to demon-strate their intentions, skill, and affection

for the women they loved. If accepted, a woman made it clear that she was also accepting the carver, himself. Women normally kept these tokens of devotion safely, used them daily, and passed them on to their daughters.

Who was Guðrún Þóroddsdóttir? Of just nine women with this name in Icelandic

censuses from 1703-1870, only two were married dur-ing the period when this box was made. One of these women was born in 1777, married in 1799, and lived as a housewife – raising at least seven children – on a series of small farms in Ice-land’s southern plains. The other, born in 1782, mar-ried her husband, Gísli Guð-mundsson, around 1806.

Together, they lived in a mountainous district northeast of Reykjavík, where he became a local leader. She was a respect-able married housewife who ran a small farm and raised six children. She never moved from the valley where she was born and the census records are silent about her death.

One of these two women was almost certainly the owner of our prjónastokkur, but how did it arrive in a Danish antique shop? The 19th century was a difficult time in Iceland, during which many small farmers emigrated. Some settled in Can-ada, many near Ottawa or in Manitoba, where Icelandic newspapers are printed to the present day. Others moved to Europe, especially to Denmark, which had ruled Iceland since 1389. The same ships that carried Icelanders from their homes also brought wealthy European “adventure tourists” to Iceland and many returned with souvenirs they purchased at farms or from Reykjavík’s merchants. Whether carried abroad by Icelandic emigrants or carried away by Danish tourists, the Haffenreffer’s needle case expresses a humble tale of love and de-votion in a world of upheaval and glo-balization that touched even this distant corner of the world and scattered its people and things distantly – even, sur-prisingly, to Bristol, RI.

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Aboubacar S. Kaba. Mask/headdress, Ode-Lay association. Port Loko, Makene district, Republic of Sierra Leone.

Anne Hausrath. Rubbing of a Maya stela. Dos Pilas, El Petén, Guatemala.

David G. Rikerby. Pre-Columbian figure, Quimbaya, Columbia; six “betty” lamps, Maroon, Suriname; two bows with a set of arrows and a comb, Zarate, Brazil.

William and Anna Colaiace. Mask, Guadalajara, Mexico; baskets, khol case, women’s wedding costume and necklace, southern Egypt; baskets and khol container, Mali; baskets, Yemen.

Professor Emeritus Dwight B. Heath and Anna Cooper Heath. Architectural singha carving, Toba Batak, Sumatra, Indonesia. Donated in honor of Stanley Simon, M.D.

Benjamin J. Gilson, M.D. 19th century pipe bag decorated with quillwork. Great Plains.

Professor Alfred Decredico. Donations from the Decredico Family Collection. Helmet mask, pos-sibly Limba, Republic of Sierra Leone. “Agbada” robe, Yoruba, Nigeria. Mask with knife superstruc-ture, black antelope mask, and a red antelope mask, Eastern Pende, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Norine Duncan. Collection of thirteen ethno-graphic objects from Africa and the Americas.

Erick Tulman. Early burl bowl, New England.

Barnet and Jean Fain. Classic Maya polychrome cylinder vessel. Collection of twenty-two dance masks, Guatemala.

Eileen McCuster McDermott. Twenty four eth-nographic artifacts collected on Ponape, Truk and Uman Islands, U.S. Trust Territory, South Pacific.

Anonymous. Collection of Pre-Columbian artifacts: Mixtec bichrome urn, Mexico; Maya urn depicting a solar deity, Quiche, Guatemala; pair of “sonriente” figures, Veracruz, Mexico; female fig-ure, Nopiloa, Veracruz; terra cotta mask, Quimbaya or Kalima, Columbia.

Paul A. Cohen. Pre-Columbian stone figure of a warrior, Costa Rica.

Professor Philip and Marcia R. Lieberman. Two Thangka paintings, Nepal.

Ronald D. Normandeau. Collection of five Pre-classic figures from Jalisco and Colima, Mexico.

Mary Katherine Burton-Jones. Collection of eight ethnographic artifacts from Africa and the Pacific.

Edward King. Collection of archaeological lithics, Rhode Island.

Valerie Fisher. Collection of archival material and a brass casting from Ghana.

Susan Farnum Nichols. Neckerchief slide, inscribed “Presented by the Haffenreffer Family, Narragansett Pow-wow, Mount Hope, Bristol, RI

1946”. Donated in the memory of Stephen Edward Farnum.

Carol and Atle Gjelsvik. Ceramic vessel, Acoma Pueblo, Arizona.

Lucy Chang. Collection of Chinese books, rub-bings, scrolls, and a water pipe.

Professor Walter Feldman. Collection of Old World archaeological specimens, Europe. Collec-tion of Pre-Columbian terracotta figurines, Mexico, Pre-Columbian ear spools, Chimu, Peru, and a book, “Ancient Mexico in Miniature.”

Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Rosenthal. Thirteen contem-porary Inuit sculptures.

Marcia R. Lieberman. Collection of 148 photo-graphs of Laos and Ladakh.

Robert W. Barnett. Three masks, Mexico. Col-lected by Edward MacLean, 1950s.

Mrs. Theckla Snell. Three Pre-Columbian figu-rines, Ecuador. Collected 1958-59.

Dr. David and Linda DiCecco. A woman’s outfit, a man’s outfit and a “boubou” robe, Ibo, Nigeria.

Dr. Mark Rapoport, M.D. Seventeen figures, Garai and other tribes, Central Highlands, Vietnam.

Anonymous. Five iron hoe currencies, Mambila, Cameroon, and five iron hoe currencies, Idoma, Nigeria.

Alison Collins Fay, Brown ‘03. Collection of 302 adornos from terracotta vessels, Taino, Dominican Republic and Grenada.

Vincent and Margaret Fay. Two anthropomor-phic bone amulets and an anthropomorphic stone amulet, Taino, Dominican Republic.

Christine Teper Charest. A goose egg Pysanky (Ukrainian Easter egg), made by Ms. Charest.

Dawn Spears. Examples of corn husk dolls, made by Dawn Spears.

Collection of sixty-five ethnographic Amazonian artifacts, transferred from the Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Yup’ik Kayak, exhibited in Chicago’s Columbian World Exposition of 1893. Transferred from the Brooklyn Museum.

Ethnological collections of the Dartmouth Chil-dren’s Museum. Transferred from the Dartmouth YMCA.

Three Pre-Columbian textile fragments and a spindle, Peru. Transferred from the Museum of Primitive Art and Culture.

Peter Irniq, commission of an Inuit Inuksuk.

Thomas Urban, Brown ‘09. Field collection of contemporary Zapatista and Mayan artifacts.

Fr. Paul Luniw. Examples of Pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs) by Father Paul Luniw.

Donations and Acquisitions

Donations

Transfers

Purchases

Views to Remember —The Haffenreffer’s InuksukIn October 2007, Peter Irniq, Inuit elder, artist and former Nunavut Crown Commissioner built a lasting monument, an Inuksuk, on the Museum’s grounds in Bristol. For centuries, Inuit built stone inuksuit (pl.) across the Arctic as hunting and navigation aids, coordination points, and markers for places with sacred or memorial roles in the cultural landscape. In recent years, inuksuit have become symbols of indigenous rights and survival, especially in Canada, where they stand at the center of the flag of Nunavut – the first indigenous self-governed state or province in the Americas – and stand for Canada, itself, as the emblem of the 2010 Winter Olympics. As a young man, Peter Irniq built inuksuit near his home community of Repulse Bay and learned from his elders the meanings of the many different types of these stone sentinels. As an elder himself, he has built inuksuit for the Canadian Museum of Civilisation, the Heard Museum, the Field Museum, Dartmouth’s Hood Museum and now the Haffenreffer Museum.

For the Haffenreffer’s inuksuk, Peter Irniq chose stones from the foreshore and slopes of Mount Hope to recall the significance of the land and sea, high peaks and watery foreshores to New England’s indigenous people. Stones from a prehistoric Wampanoag hearth, a 19th century field wall, and even one of the Haffenreffer Museum’s exhibits recall those who have lived and cared for this land from earliest times to the present. This inuksuk, grounded in the land and history of Mount Hope, reflects the many threads that came together here, and stands beside the Museum today with a smaller counterpart. Peter Irniq positioned our inuksuk so that one sees through its “window” the summit of Mount Hope to the southwest and the site of the first fighting in King Philip’s War to the northeast. Although it is a memorial to the past, created as a representation of indigenous sovereignty and survival, he stressed that he intended it also to be a reminder that a globally shared future, with justice for all people, is built on hope and concern for connections to the physical world around us, as well as an understanding of the past upon which we stand, together.

Inuksuk built by Peter Irniq on The Mount Hope Grant in Bristol, RI

Education

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For years, the Haffenreffer Museum’s schools programs included both on-site offerings that brought children to our base in Bristol and outreach programs that took our collections into the schools. Our emphases on these approaches shifted regularly in response to our own abilities to handle school groups on-site and to schools’ ever-shifting needs and priorities. With the museum’s buildings in Bristol now closed to the public and schools facing recessionary cuts, our education programs have shifted to an exclusive focus on outreach programs.

Our newly expanded Culture CaraVan takes hands-on learning experiences directly into the classroom. Schools, senior centers, afterschool programs, and community groups choose from eight programs built on solid anthropological foundations and using objects from our Education Program’s extensive collections. Four programs exploit the Museum’s traditional strengths in the indigenous cultures of New England, the Plains, the Southwest, and arctic Alaska. Two draw on methods of archaeological and cultural anthropological enquiry to guide students toward appreciations for the human past and cultural diversity. Two new programs rolled into schools this year. One, Indigenous People of Central America, developed in part by Met High School intern Kaitlynn Dulude, charts the experiences and cultures of indigenous Central American people from their roles in building vast Pre-Columbian

Culture CaraVan Charts a New Course for the Museum’s Education Program

civilizations to their contemporary challenges and opportunities within New England communities. The second, Sankofa: African Americans in Rhode Island, initiated by Linda A’Vant-Deishinni, examines the cultures of West Africa, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the experiences of enslaved Africans in New England, Rhode Islanders’ roles in ending slavery, and African American lives in New England today.

Making the shift to off-site programs could not have been accomplished without reorganization and generous support from students, Brown University’s administration, and external foundations. In 2008, Brown University’s Office of the President generously provided scholarships for 1400 third through eighth grade students from under-funded schools in Providence, allowing them to participate in programs that had been beyond their reach in Bristol. Many of those students’ teachers found Culture Connect: Experience the Cultures of the World (previously rarely booked) to be an important springboard for discussions of cultural tolerance in the classroom. Building on those experiences, Culture Connect became a regular Culture CaraVan offering and a template for relevance.

In 2009, we purchased a new van with support from the FAO Schwarz Family Fund and the Haffenreffer Family Fund that ensures our ability to take Culture

CaraVan on the road throughout Rhode Island and adjacent Massachusetts. We were also given a satellite base in the Anthropology Department’s Giddings House that makes it easier to service the Providence community and to integrate Brown University students into outreach programs. Students from Brown and beyond are already actively engaged in Culture CaraVan. Jason Urbanus (Ph.D. candidate, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World), Emma Maines (Brown, Anthropology, 2010), Katie Meyers (Brown, English, 2010), Katie Perdue (Providence College, Anthropology), and high school students Cara Boyd, Alison Bryant, John Mack, and Lisa Mangiarelli helped in the schools or assisted in developing lesson plans that will soon be available on-line for teachers.

How has it worked? By bucking recessionary budgets affecting schools’ abilities to pay for field trips or to dedicate teachers’ time outside the classroom, Culture CaraVan serves the needs of an increasing number of public and private schools by providing quality programs at rates lower than it had cost to bus students to Bristol. Teachers’ responses have been extremely positive. In conversations and in written evaluations we hear such expressions as, “The interactive experience was incredibly valuable. The Culture CaraVan was outstanding!” and “[I] was uncertain about not going to the museum and not getting the same kind of experience, but we did!” Teachers who counted on us for years now book the classroom-based program while teachers in distant school districts who previously could not come to the Museum have added us to their curriculum. Keep your eyes open for our new van, as Culture CaraVan treks to schools near you!

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Programs

During the 2008 and 2009 academic years, programs in Bristol and on the Brown University campus spanned the globe, bringing top scholars to Brown to explore cutting edge issues in archaeol-ogy, anthropology, and museum studies. Family programs, hands-on workshops, public performances, and thought-pro-voking lectures gave visitors of all ages and interests new perspec-tives on their world and its cultural diversity.

Doran Ross, director emeritus of UCLA’s Fowler Museum, the 24th Jane Powell Dwyer lec-turer, kicked off the 2008 aca-demic year with “The Tongue is Sharper than the Sword”: Oratory and Art among the Akan of Ghana, and in Octo-ber, Peter Irniq, Canadian Inuit leader and artist, presented An Inuit Perspective on Global Climate Change and created an inuksuk in Bristol for the Barbara Green-wald Memorial Arts Program (see side bar, p.5). Martin Gallivan, of the College of William and Mary, discussed Archaeo-logical Investigations at Werowocomoco, Capital of the Powhatan Chiefdom and a week later we celebrated our 6th annual Honoring the Harvest celebration in Bris-tol with members of the Pokanoket tribe. Finally, in December, Kate Chadbourne, of Harvard University’s Department of Celtic Languages and Literature, sang in the holiday season at Mount Hope with White Horses in the Dark: Winter Solstice Traditions in Ireland and Britain.

In the spring of 2008, Jessie Little Doe Baird (Mashpee-Wampanoag Tribe) dis-cussed work underway with MIT to re-build and revitalize the Wampanoag lan-guage in The Language of the Land: From Assimilation to Reclamation. The 2008 Edward G. and Barbara A. Hail Lecture brought Janet Berlo of the University of Rochester to Brown University to query the probity of the art world in NOT Na-tive American: Falsifications, Misrepresen-tations and Vexed Identities in the Field of Native American Art. Returning to Africa, Konrad Tuchscherer of St. John’s Univer-

Programs Going Strong

sity examined the his-tories of little-known writing systems across sub-Saharan Africa in Treasures of the Hidden Chest. We rounded out the year with three days of family programs, including a beading

workshop led by Elizabeth Hoover, and by hosting Rhode Island’s Archaeology Day in Bristol.

In the fall of 2008, Russell Thornton (UCLA) explored the progress, promise, and moral premises of repatriation in Repatriation and Healing the Trauma of Native American History. Lecturers and film-makers Dale and Doug Miles (San Carlos Apache) presented The Apaches and the Borderlands Conflict and a film, Apachelypse Now, to examine burning is-sues in contemporary Apache communi-ties. Our 7th annual Honoring the Harvest celebration took place in Bristol and Kate Chadbourne returned, this time to Man-ning Hall, to reprise White Horses in the Dark for a standing-room-only crowd.

In early 2009, Winter Fun enticed fami-lies to come to Manning Hall and RISD’s Bolaji Campbell surveyed African Mask-ing Traditions: Meaning, Motif, and His-tory from art historical, anthropologi-cal, and African perspectives. The ECHO Festival of the Performing Arts joined us in March and master artist Paul Luniw demonstrated the art of making Pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs) in the 2009 Bar-bara Greenwald Memorial Arts Program. Allen F. Roberts (UCLA) took us to the streets of contemporary Senegal in the

2009 Jane Dwyer Memorial Lecture: Mystical Graffiti and the Refabulation of Dakar. Shepard Krech III filled Manning Hall as he discussed his most recent book, Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South, and Colleen Cutschall (Brandon University) and Emil Her Many Horses (National Museum of the American Indian), the Edward G. and Barbara A. Hail lecturers for 2009, discussed their exhibi-tion Identity by Design: Tradition,

Change, and Celebration in Native Ameri-can Women’s Dresses. In addition, families came to work with local artist Christine Teper Charest in pysanky workshops dur-ing school vacation week and we hosted a performance by Brown University stu-dents, working under the direction of Michelle Bach-Coulibaly’s New Works/World Traditions dance troupe, focused on public health issues in Mali.

In coming years we will continue to work with students and faculty to en-sure that our programs and speakers serve the campus well, while bringing new perspectives to the public and our Friends. Although our buildings in Bristol are closed to the public, we hope to ex-plore creative opportunities for outdoor events suited to that venue. Come and join us throughout the year. We look for-ward to seeing you!

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Exhibitions

Reimagining the Americas Opens May 29Reimagining the Americas, the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology’s newest exhibit, brings together innovative anthropological ideas and evocative artifacts from the Amazon to the Arctic to plumb the cultural diversity of the Americas before European contact and explore the forgotten histories of its indigenous people. Building on recent discoveries and methods developed by archaeologists and anthropologists over the past decades, Reimagining the Americas will use cutting-edge perspectives to illustrate intriguing, often complex, histories through artifacts of ceramic and stone, jade and gold, bone and textiles that illuminate the past and expose themes that resonate with present and future concerns. From the arrival of humans in the Americas to the rediscovery of ancient Amazonian cultures and the deciphering of lost histories written by the Maya and Aztec, Reimagining the Americas challenges us to rethink the past and to recognize 13,000 years of indigenous achievements before Europe looked to the west.

Believing Africa Closes After Breaking Attendance RecordsBelieving Africa, the Haffenreffer’s acclaimed exhibition, closed its two-and-a-half year run on December 23rd, 2009, having been seen by nearly 27,000 people. Believing Africa, which opened in Manning Hall during Commencement Weekend, 2006, was the product of Brown University and RISD students, working with faculty and museum staff to examine inter-relationships between religious experience, daily life, politics, and overlapping faiths, today and in the past across the African continent. Glowingly reviewed by African Arts magazine, Believing Africa attracted visitors from around the world, served seminars from six regional universities, and formed the basis for graduate and undergraduate papers in anthropology, public humanities, and other disciplines.

Facing MesoamericaOn September 28, 2007, Facing Mesoamerica opened to the public in a newly redesigned gallery on the Mount Hope campus in Bristol, RI. Facing Mesoamerica brought together representations of human faces and bodies in stone, ceramic, shell, and jade from the Haffenreffer’s collections to provide a personalized introduction to the Pre-Columbian cultures of Central America and to challenge prevailing ideas about the function and meaning of the “portrait”. Facing Mesoamerica also explored the current state of Mesoamerican archaeology, considered ethical challenges faced by collectors and museum professionals in working with Pre-Columbian collections, and delved into the logistical challenges and cutting-edge research questions that drive scholarship at Brown on the Pre-Columbian past. Facing Mesoamerica, a favorite with visitors, closed to the public on August 30, 2008.

Dancing Tradition, Masking ChangeDancing Tradition, Masking Change – the second of the Haffenreffer’s Central American exhibitions mounted during Brown’s “Year of Focus on Latin America” – opened on April 23rd, 2008 in Bristol, RI, and ended its run on August 30th, 2008, when the galleries at Mount Hope closed. Dancing Tradition, Masking Change, curated by Brown University student Allison Pappas (Anthropology, 2008) used a stunning collection of recently donated 18th-19th century masks from Guatemala to reveal contradictions and opportunities in masked dances, rooted in Pre-Columbian ritual but veiled within Western traditions, and performed in the festivals of contemporary Guatemalan Maya communities. Focusing on the “Dance of the Spaniards and the Moors”, Dancing Tradition, Masking Change examined alternate endings and variable readings of the dance’s central characters that reconfigure traditional identities and enmities while allowing cultural tensions to be expressed in the code of the dance.

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Staff News

Geralyn Hoffman joined the Haffenreffer Muse-um’s staff as Curator for Programs and Education in July, 2007, succeeding Keni Sturgeon in the po-sition when she became

Deputy Director for the Mission Mill Mu-seum in Salem, Oregon. Geralyn came to us from the San Diego Museum of Man’s Education Department. A New Eng-lander by birth, Geralyn brings with her a background in archaeology, collabora-tive programming with Native American communities, and museum education.

Sarah Philbrick has worked with the Mu-seum on exhibitions and other projects since the hectic days of Believing Africa’s installation. A graduate of RISD, a pho-

tographer of exceptional talent, and a graphic designer, she has filled the Mu-seum’s Digital Access Coordinator posi-tion since Elizabeth Cooper moved on to the corporate world in June, 2008.

Casey O’Donnell, one of the most familiar faces at the Bristol base for many visitors, moved from his position of Head Guard/Greeter to manage the Museum’s shop and sup-

port its office when Rayne Baer moved on to oversee the shop at the Providence Children’s Museum. With the closure of the Museum’s galleries in Bristol, Casey worked in the main office until the siren song of jurisprudence called to him. He is now pursuing a degree in law at Roger Williams University.

Linda A’vant-Deishinni led the Museum’s out-reach programs and coordinated school pro-grams and our docent corps until schools cut back their discretionary

spending for school visits and outreach budgets during the recession of 2008-2009. She is deeply missed.

Jennifer Trunzo, the Mu-seum’s guard and greeter at Manning Hall for sev-eral years, completed her Ph.D. through Brown University’s Anthropol-ogy department and is now Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Au-gusta State University. Anthony Belz followed Jennifer in Manning Hall and has been welcom-ing our visitors there ever since.

The Museum has been lucky to attract a sterling cadre of interns over the past years. Katie Dulude, a high school student at Providence’s MET school, assisted the Education

Program for two years and helped to author the curriculum for the Museum’s

new outreach program Indigenous Peoples of Central America. Amy Smith (URI Anthropol-ogy, 2009) and Nina Hel-lebrekers (MET school and Utrecht University) are cataloging and sort-ing the Museum’s ar-chaeological collections from New England, with an eye toward develop-ing local exhibits.

Robert Gordon-Fogel-son (Brown) and Nathan Arndt (URI) are assisting curatorial staff in rehous-ing, inventorying and caring for the collections. Daily, their efforts are improving access to our collections, which have never looked so good!

The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication demonstrated by our docent volunteers for forty years. This photo was taken at the summer 2008 recognition luncheon. Docents were presented with Presidential Service Awards, through a Federal recognition program. Standing from left to right are: Elizabeth Johnson (5 years, Bronze Award); Donna Edmonds Mitchell (1 year); Elaine Gennari (1 year); Mags Strain; Kathy Silvia (9 years, Bronze Award); Sharon Hayden (5 years, Bronze Award); Kay Hughes (11 years, Bronze Award); Monique Chaffa (5 years, Bronze Award); Terry Fran-cis (15 years, Silver Award); Shelly Shatkin (5 years, Bronze Award); Frances Amanna (1 year); Nancy Regan (1 year). Seated from left to right: Geralyn Hoffman (Curator of Programs and Education); Linda A’vant-Deishinni (Education Specialist); Bernadette Pace (1 year); Ray Richard (9 years, Silver Award, and also received an Outstanding Volunteer Award from the Volunteer Center of Rhode Island); and Walter Smith (1 year). Not pictured are Michelle Casalegno (1 year); Nancie Merlino (4 years, Bronze Award); and Henry Schwarz (3 years, Silver Award). Although school programs no longer come to Bristol, docents continue to work with the Education program on various projects.

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Mr. & Mrs. Robert FaulknerMarcella GossRichard & Elizabeth GouldDr. & Mrs. Thomas GreggSture & Doris KarlssonWinifred LambrechtMr. & Mrs. Barrie LeeDr. & Mrs. Patrick MaloneProfessor & Mrs. Robert MathiesenLois MyersDr. Calvin E. OyerMr. & Mrs. Richard PhilbrickJane RobertsJeffrey SchreckWin SharplesStephanie SimoniMary Ann SmithLouis V. SorrentinoJane StarkeyArmand VersaciDianne K. WeaverCatherine WilliamsMr. & Mrs. Randal Woods

Haffenreffer Society ($1000+) Mr. & Mrs. Roy GreenwaldPeter Haffenreffer, IVDwight & Anna HeathMr. & Dr. Artemis JoukowskyJoan Davies McCartyAlva WayMt. Hope Society ($500 - $999)Dr. & Mrs. Charles CooperDavid HaffenrefferSusan HardyGiddings Society ($250 - $499)Andrew Davis, Esq. Mrs. Robert DavisAlice W. HoustonDiana JohnsonDr. Paul E. SapirHenry SchwartzSaville Society ($100 - $249)Edith AndrewsEloise AngiolaMr. & Mrs. Gordon C. BeetonAlice Boss-AltmanDr. & Mrs. Sidney S. BramanCarter & Lucy BuckleyDr. & Mrs. Alton ByersBolaji CampbellRichard & Inge ChafeeMr. & Mrs. Charles CollisJose Delgado, MDMr. & Mrs. Robert ElderMr. & Mrs. Norman FainTimothy ForbesProf. & Mrs. Maurice GlicksmanCharles GreenwaldSidney Greenwald Catherine HadadJean R. HaffenrefferBarbara Kirk Andrews HailMarcelle HarjoKenneth Hertz, MDMr. & Mrs. Kirk HutchingsAlma & Fred Ivor-CampbellElizabeth JohnsonShepard Krech, IIILouise LamphereMr. & Mrs. Stanley Livingston Jr.Mr. Timothy and Dr. Rebecca MoreMr. & Mrs. Paul C. Nicholson, Jr.Mr. & Mrs. Nathaniel PhilbrickDaniel SiegelWilliam SimmonsMr. & Mrs. George SissonJoyce SmithLoren SpearsDr. & Mrs. Paul ZimmeringContributing ($50 - $99)Mr. & Mrs. John AllenDeborah BarchiDr. & Mrs. Edwin BogerH. Wayne Carver, II MDKim ClarkProfessor & Mrs. Hadassah DavisJoan DorseyLarry Ducady

Monni AdamsFerdinand & Beverly Bach IIIJean Haffenreffer BakerTheresa BellMr. & Mrs. John BockstoceMr. & Mrs. Harry BrightmanWilliam BrillStacy ChidekelPaul A. CohenMr. & Mrs. Douglas DorseyMr. & Mrs. Barnet FainAlison Collins FayVincent & Margaret FayClaudia Giangola & John MenserMr. & Mrs. Adolph Haffenreffer, IIIDavid Haffenreffer Jr.Frederick HaffenrefferKarl HaffenrefferDr. Mark HaffenrefferRobert HaffenrefferMr. & Mrs.Theodore HaffenrefferTimothy & Bobbi HamillNorman HurstMary Katherine Burton JonesKenneth KensingerMr. Peter & Dr. Anita KlausMr. & Mrs. Robert LaibleSamuel M. MencoffWilliam C. Mithoefer Kristen MoranJoan PearsonTimothy PhillipsAnn RoyPresident Ruth Simmons William B. SimmonsPhyllis H. StetsonDavid & Ashley WagstaffDon & Beverly WeiheEllen & Dick Wilson

Mr. & Mrs. Arthur ParkerJean & Richard PearceBruce J. PhillippiPaul & Mary Ann PontarelliPortsmouth Free Library Mr. & Mrs. Richard PrestonMr. & Mrs. Walter Quevedo Mr. & Mrs. Saul RicklinMr. & Mrs. Ronald RodriguesRogers Free LibraryMr. & Mrs. Richard RudowskeDavid SavittMargot SchevillMr. & Mrs. Steve SchnipperDr. & Mrs. Robert ShollerDr. Nancy SmithMegan SmithCarolyn & Jeremy StarrPatricia SymondsJulie TalbuttGeorge & Rosemary TamaroJoanna TaylorElliot TeichmanJoann TeixeiraPatricia TinkerSandee TomKristen WestmorelandKimberly J. WindMr. & Mrs. Robert L. ZoccaSamuel D. ZurierDual/CoupleDennis Stark & Robert AmarantesMr. & Mrs. Will AytonMs. Judy Harrison Bates & PriscillaMr. & Mrs. Peter BaylorDr. & Mrs. Patrick T. ConleyMr. & Mrs. Bruce CrooksDylan DeCoster & Jess RongoAnnette DunkelmanJohn FlournoyAbbott & Sarah GleasonMr. & Mrs. Robert GrantMatthew GutmannMr. & Mrs. John HarkeySusan & Scott HastingsBob & Doris KleinLarry & Joyce LaCroixDaniel Lanier & Carol EntinBeverly Larson & Gary WatrosRuth MailleJohn A. MetaxasMr. & Mrs. Raymond OlsonBeverly Pepe & Charles RoyAlden & Bob ReadMr. & Mrs. Robert ReichleyMr. & Mrs. Frederick RockefellerDon & Julia SchimMr. & Mrs. Gary SchweighardtPaul & Roberta SegalMr. & Mrs. Robert ShaddAlfred & Wendy SoaresRichard & Sarah Zacks

IndividualPaul G. Benedum, Jr.David BernsteinBetsy BruemmerJulie CerritoMartha Christina

FamilyPeter & Susan AllenRick & Carol AndersonDr. Clinton Andrews & Ms. Ellen CotterPamela S. AngeliniAnne D. ArchibaldJames AshleyEva P. BasehartBaxter FamilyMr. & Mrs. Craig BrazdaBruce BrazilBrownell LibraryJonathan CainKin ChanMr. & Mrs. J. Tyler ChaseTroy & Sonja ChisolmMichael CollinsGale B. CopansCara Coraccio-BellantoneSuzanne DalbonErika Davis-PitreMaureen DelavioGrant DulgarianSara EichlerDavid Eifler & Rachel Morello-Frosch Amelia L. EntinPaja FaudreeWalter & Mary FitzhughEric & Maggie FriedfeldYolanda GarciaYoel GoldsteinDiane GoodwinMark HackleyMr. & Mrs. Donald HallKrista HarrisMr. & Mrs. Robert HarrisProfessor & Mrs. Barrett HazeltineMary & Glenn HelmStephen HerzogMr. & Mrs. Chuck HobbsKim HouffNancy IaconoManisha JainJoanna KitchHarold & Ellen KoehnMr. & Mrs. Eric KulaMr. & Mrs. Jack KurtzCindy LauSusan LeporeOmi LockeKeith & Cheryl MardenMr. & Mrs. Paul MathesonPamela McNultyRobin MinkusTony & Mei MokRobin S. MorganMary Grace NelliganLuong NguyenMr. & Mrs. John NicholasSusan Farnum NicholsMr. & Mrs. Edwin NicholsonNorth Kingstown Free LibraryKevin O’Brien, VMDSteve PanitzRafael PantojaAmy Parelman

Donors Circle

Honorary Members

General Membership

Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum, 2010 Membership

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Anne ChristnerSheryl CohenSally Hill CooperJoanna CoppolaRobert EmlenRod EvansLaura FrenchPavel Garcia-VanegasSusan GiffordMargaret GradieHarold Hewes Jr.Roger B. HirschlandPeter JacobsonArthur B. KernSheila KramerBarbara LeggRobert LevDoris LittleElinor Hail MadeiraJone Pasha MorrisonPearl NathanSheila O’BrienMarcus PaivaMary B. PittsAnn ProkopowiczElaine ReedMarianne RuggieroWilliam ShortDr. Jessica SkolnikoffAmy SommerMadeleine St. DenisKeni SturgeonJean TalbotRobert A. Walsh, Jr.David WatsonVirginia Weeks, MDBill and Sandra WhiteJoseph WilsonBrown/RISD StudentsMorgan AlbertsonVanessa AmouyalMaria AndersonSabrina AntonelliLindsay BabbittKate BaeHayley BalleriniWilliam BarnetKelly BayAmanda BeardLucy BoltzJennifer BoulayRaymond BresslerKatrina BrockwehlFei CaiSam CarterClarissa CeglioMichele CharestYilan ChenLawrence ChungKaila ClarkeNeal CohenJacob CombsAnn Crawford-RobertsSamuel Angelo CrisantoStephen DoucetBochay DrumNathan EinsteinJonathan EricsonFraser EvansNkechi Christine EzeWeiyue FengJennifer FraryJason GaudetteRubens GhenovGene Goldstein-Plesser

Brendan HainlinePeter HatchNara HernandezLauren Stephanie HessMaria HwangMaria Lisa ItzoeLorin JakubekHelen JohnsonTalia KaganDebra KaoTyler Kasindorf-MantaringRachel LambYeppii LeeTheresa LiiOlivia LindenJingyu LiuJoy LiuSara LlansaDavid ManningBrian MastroianniArthur MatuszewskiKatherine MeadJonathan MiglioriForrest MillerLansing MooreHannah MoserErica MullenNoa NessimBao NguyenTara NobleOsarenoma OkunborMila OwenMelissa PalmiscianoQinglan PengMiriam PlavinSara PowellTara PrendergastAbe PressmanDaniella PrinceRubina RatnaparkhiJason ReederChristine ReiserTyler RogersDiego Ramos RosasMs. Meg RotzelJoshua RoweClaire RussoBarbara RuttenbergElizabeth RyanAdam SacksDaniel SaenzCayla SaretDiana ShifrinaOlivia SingerBridget SmithMara SmithMatthew SmithJessica SmithBecky SoulesEvan SumartinDikshya ThapaAlyssa ThelemaqueAlyssa TifftSailesh TiwariJohnathan TranTam TranKati VastolaEmily ViggianoEmily WalusLynda WhiteCatherine WilsonJenny YuJovian Yu

ComplimentaryMr. & Mrs. Charles AhlgrenSusan & Byron BellKathleen A. BurtJeanne ButlerLucy ChangWilliam & Anna ColaiaceAlfred DecredicoDr. & Mrs. David DiCeccoNorine DuncanCynthia FarnhamProf. & Mrs. Walter FeldmanLawrence GordonAnne HausrathElizabeth HooverJulianne Jennings GuerciaMr. & Mrs. Gustavus Ide, Jr.Aboubacar KabaDavid KertzerKathleen KlareDoug & Sarah KleinPhilip & Marcia LiebermanKathleen LukeMr. & Mrs. Norman McCulloch, Jr.Eileen McCusker McDermottCatherine McKinleyCharles D. Miller, IIISylvia MoubayedRonald NormandeauMark RapoportDavid G. RickerbyWanda RickerbyJoan & Phillip RitchieDr. & Mrs. Daniel RosenthalDoran RossKao Saechao

In MemoriamThe Museum and the Friends Board note with great sadness the pass-ing of Charles J. (Jack) Cooper, a long-time friend of the Museum, after prolonged illness, in November 2009. Jack and his wife Sally Cooper, an emerita Brown Corporation member, were staunch supporters of the Museum’s planned move to the Old Stone Bank in the late 1990s. Over the years they have been consistent supporters of the Edward G. and Barbara A. Hail Lecture Fund and, although living distantly from Provi-dence, have remained constant advocates for the Museum, its programs, its collections, and its role on the Brown University campus.

Mr. & Mrs. Leonard SanfordStanley Simon, MDTheckla SnellThomas UrbanJudith M. Van RiperJim WaringJeff Barnett WinsbyStaffAnthony BelzCarol DuttonThierry GentisRip GerryGeralyn HoffmanSarah PhilbrickKathleen SilviaKevin SmithVolunteersFrances AmannaMichelle CasalegnoMonique ChaffaKatie DuludeTerry FrancisEdward GammonsElaine GennariSharon HaydenKay HughesNancie MerlinoDonna Edmonds MitchellBernadette PaceNancy ReganRaymond RichardShelly ShatkinWalter SmithMags Strain

Your memberships support the Museum’s programs and activities. We look forwad to seeing you at our events!

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Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology

Contact the Museum:Brown UniversityP.O. Box 1965Providence, RI 02912

Tel. 401-253-8388Fax 401-253-1198

www.brown.edu/Haffenreffer

Manning Hall Gallery HoursBeginning May 29:Tues. - Sun., 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Non-ProfitOrganizationUS Postage

PAIDPermit No. 202Providence, RI

Sunday, March 7, 4:00 p.m.ECHO Festival of the Performing ArtsCelebrate — Song, Dance & Story!Salomon 101 / DeCiccio Family Auditorium Brown University Campus

Thursday, March 18, 5:30 p.m.Kate ChadbourneFires of SpringList Arts Building, Room 120Brown University Campus

Monday, April 12, 5:30 p.m. Ann Fienup-RiordanOur Way of Making an Exhibit2010 Barbara A. and Edward G. Hail LectureBarus & Holley Building, Room 166Brown University Campus

Sunday, May 2, 4:00 p.m.Inca Son: Music & Dance of the AndesBarbara Greenwald Memorial Arts ProgramSalomon 101 / DeCiccio Family Auditorium Brown University Campus

The staff of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, from the top of the stairs to the base: Tony Belz (guard/greeter, Manning Hall), Kevin Smith (Deputy Director/Chief Curator), Geralyn Hoffman (Cu-rator for Programs and Education), Michelle Charest (Proctor), Thi-erry Gentis (Associate Curator), Jason Urbanus (Intern, Joukowsky Institute, Brown), Kathy Silvia (Outreach Coordinator), Nathan Arndt (Collections Intern, URI), Robert Gordon-Fogelson (Collections Intern, Brown), Rod Pacheco (Buildings/Grounds), Carol Dutton (Office Man-ager), Sarah Philbrick (Digital Access Coordinator).

Coming Events

Brown Universityp.o. Box 1965Providence, RI 02912

Reimagining the Americas OpensSaturday, May 29, 10:00 a.m.

Manning HallBrown University Campus