Museum Collection - World Cultures Collection

The World Cultures Collection comprises nearly 48,000 ethnographic, art and archaeological objects from around the world. Objects represent ancient, traditional and contemporary cultures, with an emphasis in Africa, Asia, Native America and Oceania. The collection incorporates three subcollections: the Ethnographic Collection, the Textile Collection and the Caplan Collection of Folk, Fantasy and Play.

Ethnographic Collection

Since the museum's founding in 1925, the collection has grown to include nearly 14,000 objects representing every continent, many eras and countless cultures. The collection is very broad and represents the great diversity of techniques and materials used by people all over the world to make things from the resources available to them.

Highlights of the collection include:

• wooden ushabti tomb figure related to the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I (1290-1279 BC, New Kingdom)
• Hawaiian chief's helmet (called a mahiole, 19th century, Hawaii)
• Japanese friendship doll gifted to the United States school children during a special doll exchange between the United States and Japan in 1927-1928
• Native American objects collected ca. 1880 by a Buffalo Soldier belonging to the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army
• collection of Inuit tools, utensils, personal items and clothing collected in Alaska during the 1930s by medical missionaries Henry and Molly Greist
• tau tau effigy cliff tomb figures (20th century, Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, Indonesia)

Textile Collection

The textile collection holds approximately 2,500 objects from an array of world cultures and includes pieces from everyday clothing, ceremonial and celebrational attire, folk costumes and a range of accessories. Objects represent a variety of global materials and manufacturing techniques, including hand and loom weaving, dying, printing, embroidery, beading, metalwork, leatherwork, fiberwork and quilting.

Highlights of the collection include:

• woman’s ribbonwork “wearing” blanket (late 19th c., Osage peoples, Plains region, North America)
• suit of Samurai armor (Edo Period, 1615-1868 AD, Japan)
• Egungun dance garment (Yoruba peoples, Nigeria, West Africa)
• two auklet bird skin parkas (ca. 1900, St. Lawrence Island Yupik peoples, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, Arctic region, North America)
• ceremonial owl dance garment with mask and bat dance garment with mask (ca. 1965, Guerrero, Mexico)
• story quilt depicting travels of Hmong refugees (Hmong peoples, Minnesota, USA)      

Collecting and Fieldwork

The Curators of the World Cultures collection work to care for, shape, research and interpret the collection.  New objects are added to the collection primarily through donations and purchases.  Sometimes, objects are hard to find in the United States and can only be acquired through travel to other countries.  In 2008, Curators traveled to Cairo, Egypt to purchase authentic, contemporary objects in Egyptian marketplaces for the Take Me There: Egypt! exhibit.

The World Cultures Curators

Tris Perkins, Educator/Curator
Tris Perkins obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with a certificate in African Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington and her Masters degree in African Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  While her primary interests are in sub-Saharan African culture and art, she loves to learn about and work with all world cultures materials and peoples.

Jennifer Leach, Curator
Jennifer Leach obtained her Bachelor’s degree in History and Journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington and her Master’s degree in History with an emphasis in Native American Studies and Applied History at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma.  Her primary interests are in Native American basketry and beadwork.