The Social Patina of the Beardsley Collection
THE SOCIAL PATINA OF THE BEARDSLEY COLLECTION: A MUSEUM ETHNOGRAPHY A Thesis Presented to the faculty of the Department of Anthropology California State University, Sacramento Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in Anthropology by Carrie Dee Cohen SPRING 2016 © 2016 Carrie Dee Cohen ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii THE SOCIAL PATINA OF THE BEARDSLEY COLLECTION: A MUSEUM ETHNOGRAPHY A Thesis by Carrie Dee Cohen Approved by: __________________________________, Committee Chair Terri A. Castaneda, Ph.D. __________________________________, Second Reader Joyce M. Bishop, Ph.D. ____________________________ Date iii Student: Carrie Dee Cohen I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis. __________________________, Graduate Coordinator Jacob L. Fisher, Ph.D. __________________________ Date Department of Anthropology iv Abstract of THE SOCIAL PATINA OF THE BEARDSLEY COLLECTION: A MUSEUM ETHNOGRAPHY In 1956 an assortment of approximately 232 objects, photo albums, books, and personal papers were donated to the Sacramento State College Department of Anthropology. The Beardsley Collection, as it is now known, was amassed around the turn of the 20th century by George F. and Alice W. Beardsley of San Francisco and Carmel, California, and comprises ethnographic, natural history and decorative art objects from Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and North America. My research traces and analyzes the shifting sociohistorical significance and value of the Collection through three phases of its commodified career: first as a privately developed collection that reflects the lives and subjectivities of the Beardsleys, second as a museum acquisition and embodiment of mid-twentieth century disciplinary concerns, and lastly as, itself, a museum “artifact” worthy of ethnographic inquiry.
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