Document Type
Other
Date of this Version
11-30-2017
Publication Source
On the Wampum Trail: Restorative Research in North American Museums
Abstract
In May 2014, three members of the “Wampum Trail” research team (Dr. Margaret Bruchac with research assistants Lise Puyo and Stephanie Mach) set out to follow a century-old trail left by University of Pennsylvania anthropologist Frank G. Speck. Our field research led us across the Northeastern United States and Canada, visiting museums with collections of wampum (woven shell bead) belts and collars. Our goal is survey these collections and conduct interviews to construct more detailed object histories for wampum belts in regional collections. With funding from the Penn Museum and the Department of Anthropology, we made an ambitious list of wampum in museum collections to examine. Our areas of focus included: collections that illustrate wampum manufacture (for example, Fort Shantok in Connecticut and the Campbell site in New Jersey); wampum belts connected with the Seven Nations Confederacy; and collections linked to Frank Speck (one of the founders of the Penn Department of Anthropology).
Recommended Citation
Bruchac, M. (2017). Restorative Research in North American Museums. On the Wampum Trail: Restorative Research in North American Museums, Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/anthro_papers/177
Date Posted: 25 May 2018
Comments
This is an archived copy of a blogpost from Margaret Bruchac's research blog, https://wampumtrail.wordpress.com/.