Journal of Museum Studies, Volume 8, Number 1 Journal of Museum Studies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA COLLEGE OF LIBERAL STUDIES CLS Journal of Museum Studies, Volume 8, Number 1 Journal of Museum Studies e-Journal of the Museum Studies Program VOL 8 | NO 1 | DEC 2014 Foreword The Breadth of Natural History Research by Michael A. Mares Talking God and Father Peyote: Preliminary Quantification of Curator Religious Pluralism and Contemporary Diné Success in Life Science Natural History (Navajo) Art Collections by Daniel C. Swan and Dakota H. Stevens by Jessa L. Watters and Cameron D. Siler Edited by Michael A. Mares CLS Journal of Museum Studies, Volume 8, Number 1 CLS Journal of Museum Studies, Volume 8 Number 1 (Dec. 2014) http://jms.ou.edu CLS Journal of Museum Studies is currently published online by the College of Liberal Studies, MALS Museum Studies Program, the University of Oklahoma. Your use of the CLS Journal of Museum Studies archives indicates your acceptance of the Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://jms.ou.edu. Museum professionals, students, and other readers are encouraged to distribute the articles published in this journal as widely as possible, to use them in classes, and to reprint them as needed. For commercial use of any of these articles Cover Photograph: Mother Earth, Father Sky and the Yeis (e.g., charging for articles, republishing figures, tables, text, etc.), Dancers, 2006. Jackie Black, Diné (Navajo), Red Valley, New permission must be obtained from the Editor. All questions Mexico. Acrylic on canvas. Sam Noble Museum. relating to the journal should be directed to the Editor. Journal Editor Publisher contact information available at http://jms.ou.edu. Dr. Michael A. Mares, Director, Sam Noble Museum and Joseph Brandt Professor, Department of Biology, University of Each copy of any part of a CLS Journal of Museum Studies Oklahoma transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or PDF file of such transmission. Editorial Board Gail Kana Anderson, Assistant Director/Curator of Collections, CLS Journal of Museum Studies is an independent not-for-profit Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma publication dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly articles in the field of museum studies. For more Marcia Britton, Executive Director, Wyoming Council for the information regarding CLS Journal of Museum studies, please Humanities, Laramie, WY contact Dr. Michael A. Mares at [email protected]. Byron Price, Director, University of Oklahoma Press and Charles Publication date: December 2014 M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West, The CLS Journal of Museum Studies is issued annually (with University of Oklahoma individual numbers appearing as they are completed) by the College of Liberal Studies, MALS Museum Studies Program of Dr. Mary Jo Watson, Director and Regents’ Professor, School of the University of Oklahoma. The CLS Journal of Museum Studies Art and Art History, University of Oklahoma is designed to provide a worldwide e-journal as a publication outlet for students enrolled in the Museum Studies Program of Dr. Daniel C. Swan, Curator of Ethnology and Professor of the College of Liberal Studies of the University of Oklahoma. Anthropology, Sam Noble Museum, University of Oklahoma The journal is also designed for use by faculty in the CLS MALS program. Any topic of relevance to the field of museum studies is The CLS Journal of Museum Studies is published annually by the considered suitable for publication in the journal. College of Liberal Studies, MALS Museum Studies Program, the University of Oklahoma Contributions may be solicited by the Editor from museum professionals not affiliated with the MALS Museum Studies Manuscripts submitted for the Journal and all correspondence con- Program. Please contact the editor directly if you wish to publish cerning them should be addressed to Dr. Michael A Mares. Guide- in the CLS Journal of Museum Studies. lines for contributors are given on the last page of this volume. All submissions are reviewed by one or more members of the Copyright © 2014 by the College of Liberal Studies, University Editorial Board or by outside reviewers. of Oklahoma. Designed by Traci Fuller, on a format established by Dr. Michael A. Mares. i CLS Journal of Museum Studies, Volume 8, Number 1 Table of Contents iii Foreword The Breadth of Natural History Research by Michael A. Mares 1 Talking God and Father Peyote: Religious Pluralism and Contemporary Diné (Navajo) Art by Daniel C. Swan and Dakota H. Stevens 15 Preliminary Quantification of Curator Success in Life Science Natural History Collections by Jessa L. Watters and Cameron D. Siler ii CLS Journal of Museum Studies, Volume 8, Number 1 Pentaceratops (world’s largest) on display at the Sam Noble Museum (left). Aquilops (smallest and oldest ceratopsian) skull placed on the Pentaceratops horn (right). Both are Sam Noble Museum specimens. FOREWORD The Breadth of Natural History Research Michael A. Mares Sam Noble Museum and Department of Biology University of Oklahoma E-mail: [email protected] niversity natural history museums, like Oklahoma’s Sam There are not many research organizations that deal with the Noble Museum, have a broad mandate that is driven complexity of life in all of its forms, past and present, and in the U by the great breadth of the museum’s collections (from complex interweaving of the cultures that make up our humanity. dinosaur fossils to tissues; from study specimens of living species Each object, organism, and concept illustrated through publications, from throughout the world to Native American art, artifacts, and exhibits, and programs, can not only be appreciated, but can be languages). Indeed, more than 120 countries are represented in the understood within the tapestry of life past and present. Museums 10 million objects and specimens that make up the museum’s many educate and entertain while at the same time helping us understand collection areas. our place in the world. In a sense, they give us hope that we are part of a continuum of life and living that traces its roots to the first In some respects, a large natural history museum is like a university, life forms, and that will go on into a future that we can only dimly where research and education cover an enormous range of topics. discern. Our ability to peer across time into the future in a limited Unlike most universities, however, university museums, while manner is enhanced by the stories and the research of the curators being research institutions where cutting edge research takes place, and their students as they interpret the collections. educate not only undergraduate and graduate students, but also K-12 students and non students, from the youngest children to the My friend, the late Stephen Jay Gould, used to tell a story about the most senior citizens. Museums are a place where society can gather importance of the primacy of objects in museums, where having for accurate information on science and culture—information the real object imbues those specimens and artifacts with almost supported with real objects and real specimens. talismanic status. He was working with blind people in an attempt iii CLS Journal of Museum Studies, Volume 8, Number 1 to make their visits to the Air and Space Museum more meaningful. You need to know that in Air and Space, most of the aircraft are hanging from a very high ceiling, perhaps 40 feet above the visitor’s head. How does one make such objects meaningful to visitors who lack sight? As a test, the museum produced a miniature copy of the Wright Flyer, the first ever airplane, and the one that lead to the marvelous array of airships and rockets and spaceships that we have today after the Wright brothers sailed over the Kill Devil Hills and into history in 1903. A blind person testing the model noted that the model was excellent and gave him a good feel for the airplane, but he said it only had meaning if it were placed exactly below, and in the exact same position, as the original Wright Flyer hanging from the ceiling. At that point the model became a real reflection of the plane and the visitor was able to experience the “real” Wright Flyer. Such is the power of the real object. Museums separate themselves from other organizations in that museums are all about the original objects. In the Sam Noble Museum, these may range from the largest ceratopsian dinosaur (Pentaceratops, pictured above) to the oldest and smallest ceratopsian, Aquilops, which was described only this December. Untitled, 2014, Sammie Largo, Diné (Navajo), Mentmore, Both are in the museum’s collection and are shown above. These New Mexico. Colored pencil on paper. Sam Noble Museum. specimens are the real reflection of dinosaur evolution over a 60 million year span of time and are unique. The second article, “Preliminary Quantification of Curator Success in Life Science Natural History Collections, by Dr. Cameron Siler The Sam Noble Museum also has extensive collections of Native (Curator of Herpetology) and Jessa Watters, both of the Sam Noble American materials, whether archeological artifacts from the Museum, examines and discusses the value of museum collections Caddoan culture of Oklahoma that reach back in time almost 1,000 and the contributions of museum scientists in university affiliated years, to art produced today by the people of the Caddo Nation and and standalone museum environments. These Sam Noble Museum many other tribes. Artists working today are seeking new forms for scientists surveyed curators across a large number of natural their art through well-established cultural memes. These artists are history museums in 11 countries to determine what the academic, producing the art that graces the museum’s Native art collection.