Dispatches from the Institute

July 18, 2013

When you hear the word “diorama,” you might think of the shoebox-sized projects common among elementary students. However, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Mashantucket, Connecticut, has made the concept appealing to all ages: using full-sized figures, the displays – often complemented by strategic lighting and sound effects – create realistic and engaging representations of Pequot life.

In contrast to the Summer Scholars’ previous tour of Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum is a self-guided experience that provides information on signs throughout the museum. However, mannequins are expertly crafted in their positioning and... read more

July 19, 2013
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If you researched New England Native Americans, you might gather information from primary sources such as treaties, maps, lectures, deeds, and journal entries. Of all the possibilities, would whaling records ever cross your mind?

For Guest Presenter Nancy Shoemaker, these records drive her examination of New England Native men in the whaling industry. This kind of employment was not uncommon because, as she explained, poverty made whaling one of the best choices in a world of limited choices. Exploitation of Native men still occurred on ships, but Shoemaker’s examination of crew lists and oral family histories has shown that Native men were less affected by negative “lazy Indian” stereotypes as they worked alongside white crew members and became petty officers.

She... read more

July 22, 2013
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There are many interesting things we can learn from anthropologists and their Native American informants. On July 22, Guest Presenter Margaret “Marge” M. Bruchac (Abenaki) showed us what we can learn about them. Her presentation offered a broad overview of twentieth-century anthropology by examining the relationships between several anthropologists and their informants, including, but not limited to, Franz Boas and George Hunt (Tlingit), Frank Speck and Gladys Tantaquidgeon (Mohegan), and Mark Raymond Harrington and Bertha Parker (Abenaki/Seneca).

Her research examines how these relationships shape the kinds of things anthropologists collected and how those items and their communities were/are represented in museums. What emerges from her research is biographical information... read more

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