CAG on museums: Documenting ethnographic collections

While making the new records for a recent acquisition of 14 objects collected from various regions of Papua New Guinea objects in the 1960s, some of the finer issues of metadata collection have been brought to my attention. By metadata, I mean the ‘structured data about data’ that is compiled in a computer and paper database about the objects that a museum holds. Some of the recent acquisition objects have been used for hunting or other purposes, and some are tourist arts. Museums document collections to help with research, curate exhibitions, develop education programs, and generally to share information about collections. Documentation work is what a few of my colleagues refer to as ‘the boring part of museum work.’

Axe, possibly tourist object 1960s, Mount Hagen Western Highlands

It’s not really boring, but it is the less glamorous part of the whole museum gig. Acquiring objects in my opinion is a really important part of the life of the museum collection. Collections aren’t meant to be stagnant in time and representative of an idea of the past. Especially for ethnographic collections, representing cultures not normally represented in the ethnographic present means continuing to build collections from the recent past and present is very important to the future.

Boar's tusk with cord attached, Siku clan, Central/Western Highlands

The partial benefit of acquiring new objects now is that most museums have very high standards of information acquisition alongside these objects or art pieces. That means that in the future there will hopefully be a lot more metadata connected to the databases in which we document collections, but it also means there are so many more issues of documenting collections.

Carved statue, Central Highlands

*Just some thoughts I’ve had while documenting (ethnographic) collections:

-The need for a consistency of terminology structure so that in the present and future users of the database may find the data they are looking for

-Will the information on the database be linked to the web for public searches and what does that mean

-Collection management works best when issues of access, use, and the rights to objects are put on a database directly at acquisition because chasing copyright permissions and doing paperwork IS actually boring

-And very importantly for ethnographic objects, the cultural groupings, language groups, and boundaries that we categorize information into for cultural objects might not always be so easy to restrict within specific terminology for the database- how do you create levels of metadata that might be useful for descendants, researchers, museum colleagues, and general audiences

CAG on museums: African art and artistic inspiration

I’ve been working at the Great North Museum Hancock for two months now, and I’m finally getting more familiar with their ethnographic collections. I’ve discovered a collection of mainly Dogon and Ashanti artworks collected in the 1970s. As far as African art goes, I don’t have a world of experience and knowledge, but I was reminded of the first presentation on Dogon art that I ever saw in my favorite documentary series The Tribal Eye.

In this series, David Attenborough treks across the world exploring the arts of tribal cultures in 1975. The first episode in the series is on the life and customs of the Dogon people of Mali. Attenborough draws a connection between the fervor for Dogon artworks in the European art world and also links the use of African artifacts that inspired artists like Picasso.

Me looking at a Dogon equestrian god sculpture in the stores

The idea of ethnographic collections being inspired by European art world collection trends has been looked at as one of the least culturally valid reasons to assemble a collection, but in reality expressions of art from all parts of the world have been inspiring collectors and viewers of these artworks across continental boundaries. For example, there was a copy of the Ice Age female figure found in Italy (thought to be 22,000 years old) that Picasso had in his studio for inspiration. This figure can be seen in the current ‘Ice Age Art: arrival of the modern mind’ exhibition at the British Museum.

Female figure lent to British Museum by Château-Place Charles de Gaulle, copyright BMP

The point being, there hasn’t been much work on the Hancock collection of 1970s African art (purchased by the Hatton Gallery), but I’m really excited to look deeper into the collection and come up with some interesting research points.

After all, even one of biggest collectors of Dogon art, Lester Wunderman said, ‘Dogon art can hardly be called primitive. It contributes to expanding and enriching the life of those for whom it is carved; it is an integral part of Dogon society. Nor is that society as I saw it, necessarily primitive either...It is simply another course, an alternative method of human organization.’

Asanti bronze weight, man with fowl and bowl

These collections weren’t made as part of an agenda to classify and categorize cultures, unlike many world collections, but were seen as a way of relating to another world through the shared paradigm of art.

Ashanti bronze weight, man with rifle