The First Hundred Years of the Museo Nacional De Arqueología Y Etnología of Guatemala
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Copyright by Sarah Jacquelyn Carney 2013 The Thesis Committee for Sarah Jacquelyn Carney Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: The First Hundred Years of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología of Guatemala APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: Julia E. Guernsey Kimberly L. Jones The First Hundred Years of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología of Guatemala by Sarah Jacquelyn Carney, B.A. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 Dedication To my family. Acknowledgements I would have never completed this thesis without the support of many people. First, I would like to thank Dr. Julia Guernsey for helping me find an engaging topic and then navigate through its development. Second, I would like to thank Dr. Kimberly Jones for her careful consideration of the issues at hand and her guidance in strengthening my argument. Third, I would like to thank all those individuals who generously took the time to meet with me and give me direction and resources for this thesis. Dr. Marion Popenoe de Hatch, one of the kindest people I have ever met, introduced me to an incredible wealth of resources in Guatemala, and Dr. Federico Fahsen gave me insightful perspectives about the nature of Guatemalan museums as well as his own personal memories of the early museums. Dr. Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos directed me to resources on the development and results of archaeology in Guatemala in addition to discussing with me his own personal insights from his work as curator of the Museo Popol Vuh. Licenciado Juan Carlos Meléndez also took time away from his role as Director of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología to meet with me, providing me with a modern perspective of the direction of the Museo and kindly opening up the museum’s resources for me to utilize in my research. Fourth, I would like to thank the entire Casa Herrera community, but especially Milady Casco, for getting me settled in Guatemala and making my stay a lovely experience. v Finally, I would like to thank my family and my friends for supporting me throughout this entire process. I am especially appreciative of the incredible Molly Wahlberg, without whom I would not have been sane enough to complete my degree. Thank you all. vi Abstract The First Hundred Years of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología of Guatemala Sarah Jacquelyn Carney, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Julia E. Guernsey This thesis considers the development and growth of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología of Guatemala during its first hundred years of existence within the context of the social, political, and cultural developments of the times. Covering the period from 1866 to 1967, it first provides basic historical information about the growth of the Museo Nacional as an institution, which itself was a convoluted process full of museum closures and relocations. Subsequently, three main factors that affected the development and direction of the Museo are examined—namely, the European museum model, Pan-American ideologies, and Guatemalan nationalism. Each factor is addressed in its own separate chapter, which not only delves into the origins of the factor itself, but also, and most importantly, its appearance in the museum space and how it shaped museum development. Finally, the conclusion discusses how to address the lasting effects of the European museum model and Pan-American ideologies in the museum space, and that the “national” aspect of the objects in the collection should be emphasized. Overall, this thesis conducts an investigation of factors that have historically affected the Museo vii Nacional of Guatemala in order to call attention to their enduring influence on the exhibition and public reception of the artifacts so that contextually richer displays for the objects can be developed in the future. viii Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1: Introduction – Scope of Project, Background and Methodology .......... 1 The Museo Nacional de Arqueología and Etnología and Previous Studies .. 2 Methodology and Historical Breadth ............................................................. 5 Explanation of Content and Main Argument ................................................. 7 Chapter 2: General History of the Museo Nacional de Guatemala ........................ 9 Colonial Precursors ........................................................................................ 9 First National Museum .................................................................................. 9 The Second Incarnation of the Museo Nacional .......................................... 13 The Creation of the First Museo de Arqueología ........................................ 15 The Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología ....................................... 19 Chapter 3: The European Museum Model ............................................................ 26 Development of the European Museum ...................................................... 26 The Museum’s Translation to the New World ............................................ 28 Development of an Ethnological Section .................................................... 31 The Drawbacks to the Museum Model ........................................................ 37 Chapter 4: Pan-American Ideologies .................................................................... 41 Intra-Latin American Ideologies .................................................................. 41 U.S.-Inspired Pan-American Ideologies ...................................................... 46 Pan-American Manifestations in the Museo Nacional ................................ 51 Chapter 5: Guatemalan Nationalism ..................................................................... 55 Nineteenth Century Nation-Building ........................................................... 55 Twentieth Century Guatemalan Nationalism ............................................... 60 ix Chapter 6: Conclusion ........................................................................................... 66 Bibliography ......................................................................................................... 76 x List of Figures Figure 1: The Sociedad Económica Building c. 1875 .......................................... 11 Figure 2: Palacio La Reforma ............................................................................... 14 Figure 3: Outside view of the Salon de Té c. 1943 ............................................... 17 Figure 4: Inside the Salon de Té c. 1943 .............................................................. 18 Figure 5: Map of the Museo Nacional from 1953 ................................................ 20 Figure 6: The Classic Maya Hall, or the third archaeological hall ....................... 22 Figure 7: The Modern Museo Nacional ................................................................ 24 Figure 8: Ethnological diorama of men planting maize ........................................ 34 Figure 9: The ethnological display showing ceramic continuity .......................... 35 Figure 10: Meeting of members of the Pan-American Union, 1910 .................... 48 xi Chapter 1: Introduction – Scope of Project, Background and Methodology Cultural artifacts present social histories and knowledge in a powerful and unique manner. Through their tangible forms, one can access the more elusive mindsets, beliefs and values of a culture—sometimes with greater insight and validity than through any other means. Consequently, the preservation of such objects and the mediation of their relationship with the public becomes an immense and delicate task—one that is traditionally assumed by museums. Yet museums themselves are often at the nexus of competing social and political forces, which, when woven into the fabric of the museum’s history, can color and distort the meanings of the artifacts they hold. Therefore, when evaluating the effectiveness of any museum in presenting the stories of artifacts to the public, it becomes an essential task to examine the history of the museum and isolate the forces that have shaped it. Only once these forces have been identified and analyzed can work be done to untangle their legacies from those of the objects themselves, allowing the richer, more complete stories of the artifacts to come to light. The purpose of this study lies in undertaking just such a project—creating a historical picture of a museum, shaped by traceable social and political forces, that allows us to understand how these forces have affected the presentation of objects and the messages they have been sending in the museum space. While there are thousands of museums around the world that could provide adequate case studies for such a project, museums in Latin America provide interesting and complex examples, as legacies of the Iberian conquest and colonial occupation of the Americas have often distorted and confused the presentation and interpretation of artifacts indigenous to the region. More 1 specifically, archaeological and ethnological museums are at the center of the debate about the distinction between art and artifact, and as such their displays can determine whether the objects