Recent visits to the collections

July 27, 2009 — Janet Echelman and David Feldman (Artist)
 
Reason for visit — Janet Echelman, an American artist specializing in public art installations and sculpture,  along with her husband David Feldman, toured the collections with Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp.  During the visit several fishing traps and nets from Papua New Guinea (New Britain and the Northen Coast) were viewed and investigated by the group.  Some of Janet's major installations include the Phoenix Civic Space (opened in 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona) and She Changes (opened in 2005 in Portugal).


July 13, 2009 - August 5, 2009 — Terry Dowd Inc. (TDI) (Chicago, IL) - http://www.terrydowd.com
 
Reason for visit — Over the last several weeks a crew of 6 individuals led by Senior Project Manager Geoff Browne of TDI have been working in the Museum's old Pacific Research Lab (PRL) with Regenstein Conservator, JP Brown, Registrar, Misty Tilson, and Regenstein Collections Manager, Christopher Philipp, to pack the objects form the Pacific collections traveling to México for the "Moana" Exhibition.  In total, some 28 crates with the 140 items (represented by 124 catalog numbers) and their corresponding exhibit mounts were readied for shipment to México.  The "Moana" Exhibition, organized by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), was originally scheduled to open on September 1st in Monterrey, México, however, due to a delay, is now being rescheduled for a later date.

Packing of Kiribati Suit of Armor:

July 8, 2009 - August 7, 2009 — Michael F. Seiler (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
 
Reason for visit — Mike Seiler has spent the summer as an intern in the Department of Anthropology working with conservator JP Brown.

June 22, 2009 - August 12, 2009 — Madi Holland (student of Connecticut Wesleyan University)
 
Reason for visit — Madi Holland has spent the summer as an intern in the Department of Anthropology working with collections manager Christopher Philipp. 

June 8, 2009 - August 12, 2009 — Jessica Hagemann (graduate of Notre Dame University)
 
Reason for visit — Jessica Hagemann has spent the summer as an intern in the Department of Anthropology working with collections manager Christopher Philipp.
 
April 21, 2009 — David Said (Editor, Oceanic Art Society Newsletter, Woolahra, New South Wales, Australia)
 
Reason for visit — Mr. Said paid the Museum's Pacific exhibitions several visits during the week and also had the chance to tour the Pacific collections with Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp.  Mr. Said was interested in seeing objects from the famous A.W.F. Fuller and A.B. Lewis Collections.  Mr. Said said that he had always wished to see the NguzuNguzu (war canoe prow charm) from the Solomon Islands that was proported to have incorporated in its construction, the spectacles of a missionary that was killed and eaten in the Solomons.  It just so happened that this item is one of the pieces selected to travel to Mexico later this year and was sitting out on a table in the front of the storage room for Mr. Said to see.  Philipp showed Mr. Said the old PRL storeroom as well as the Oversize storeroom in the Collections Resource Center so that he could see how the Museum has upgraded its storage facilities since 2000.

April 6-9, 2009 — Carlos Mondragón (Centro de Estudios de Asia y África – El Colegio De México, México City, México)
 
Reason for visit — On his first return visit to the Field Museum, Dr. Mondragón spent the better part of the week meeting with several museum staff members in regards to the "Moana" Exhibition organized by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).  While it was Carlos' main goal to research the archives and records for label information for the now 140 items represented by 124 catalog numbers, he also attended to questions regarding the photography of collections for the exhibition catalog for which he is the editor.  Dr. Mondragón also had time to do a quick survey of his area of interest, the Banks and Torres Islands of Vanuatu with Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp.  Philipp recorded Dr. Mondragón as he explained the uses, functions, and significance of many of the over 160 items from these island groups in northern Vanuatu.  Carlos also informed the Museum that there has been a change in plans and that the "Moana" Exhibition is now scheduled to open at the Nave Lewis in Monterrey and then travel at the Museum of Anthropology in México City.

 

 

Dr. Carlos Mondragon in CRC Pacific Storage viewing and recording information about the Vanuatu collections from the Banks and Torres Islands

(© 2008, Christopher J. Philipp)

March 27 and 28, 2009 — Dr. Ramón P. Santos (Executive Director, University of the Philippines Center for Ethnomusicology) and Monica Santos (Ph.D. student at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana)

Reason for visit — Collections managers Christopher J. Philipp and Jamie Kelly hosted a visit to the Museum’s extensive collections from the Philippine Islands by Dr. Ramón P. Santos and his daughter, Monica Santos.  It was Dr. Santos’ intent to examine the over 300 musical instruments in the collection for the purpose of comparing these, mostly turn of the century instruments, with those, mostly dating to the 1950s, at the University of the Philippines Center of Ethnomusicology.  With limited time and since the collections were so rich, the group only looked at about one third of the musical instruments in the storerooms.  However, while visiting the Oversize storeroom in the Collections Resource Center, Dr. Santos and his daughter were shown a percussion beam from Palawan that Dr. Santos had not previously encountered.  Afterwards the group visited the records room and Philipp pulled out a photo taken in 1908 by the collector, Fay Cooper-Cole, of the same musical instrument illustrating the women who played this instrument. According to Dr. Santos, this instrument is most likely not being made or used currently.  Dr. Santos and his daughter also met with the Pacific Island and Southeast Asia Curatorial Team curators, Dr. Anne Underhill and Dr. John Terrell and also had time to visit Ruatepupuke II with Philipp.  This was hopefully the first of many interactions to come between the Field Museum and the University of the Philippines Center for Ethnomusicology - www.upethnom.com.
 













Ramon Santos with Chris Philipp looking at Philippine drum in storage and Ramon Stantos and Monica Santos visiting Ruatepupuke II

(© 2008, Christopher J. Philipp)
   
March 12 and 13, 2009 — Field Museum Members
 Reason for visit — On March 12th and 13th, 2009 the Museum held its 58th annual Members' Nights.  During these 2 nights some 14,000 people had the chance to see what goes on behind-the-scenes at the Museum.  This year visitors once again were able to visit the storeroom in the Collections Resource Center dedicated to the Pacific Collections and meet the Collections Manager and Move Team Members responsible for moving the 65,000 piece Pacific collection into the new facility.  Highlighted by the team this year was a selection of the more than 130 artifacts from the collection that represents the largest loan on record for the Anthropology Department.  This collection is currently being conserved and prepared for travel for an exhibition touring at two Mexican Museums: the National Museum of Cultures, in Mexico City (September 20-November 22, 2009) and then at the Nave Lewis in Monterrey (December 10, 2009-February 8, 2010).

 

 

February 17 and 20, 2009  — Dr. Pauline Van Der Zee (University of Ghent, Arts Sciences, Belgium)

Reason for visit — Dr. Van Der Zee, while visiting the United States for a conference in Minneapolis, decided to pay us a visit to see what we have in our Pacific collections.  She toured the collections with Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp and was overwhelmed by the quantity of material (2,222 objects) from her area of interest; West Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), Indonesia.  She also had lunch with Philipp and Dr. John Terrell.  She also scheduled a return visit later in the week in order to look at just a few pieces of particular interest; a mbis pole and parts of a men's initiation house brought to the Museum in the 1991 and  given to the Field Museum by yayasan kemajuan dan pengembangan asmat (The Asmat Progress and Development Foundation) as well as older figural house parts collected by A.B. Lewis between 1909 and 1913.  We expect to hear back from Dr. Van Der Zee in the near future as there just wasn't time to look at all of the pieces of interest in such a short amount of time!
February 17 and 20, 2009  —  Yu-Ping Chen (The National Taiwan University)

Reason for visit — Yu-Ping and Jesse Czekanksimoir of the Field Museum's Zoology Department toured the Pacific collections with  and Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp.  Yu Ping worked together with Czekanksimoir while at the Palau National Museum.  She is currently working on finishing her PhD on land tenure systems of Palau.
February 16-18, 2009 — Raffaela Cedraschi (Museo Nacional de las Culturas / National Institute of Anthropology and History, México City, México)

Reason for visit — Dr. Cedraschi paid us a return visit in order to finalize the selection of objects to be loaned from the Field Museum to INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History) for their temporary exhibit on the Pacific set to open later this year.  She also provided a select list of artifacts to be photographed for inclusion in the exhibition's catalog.  The list of objects now includes 138 items represented by 125 catalog numbers and represents the largest loan of objects ever from the Department of Anthropology.  The objects are scheduled to ship from the Field Museum to México in August and will be exhibited in both México City and Monterrey.
February 16-17, 2009 — Mark Kent (Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand) 

Reason for visit — Mark Kent, an object support preparator in mountmaking stopped by to visit Ruatepupke II on his way from Wichita, Kansas, where he was installing the Whales exhibit from Te Papa, to Canada.  While here he also toured the Pacific collections with Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp to see the new CRC storage facility, and met with Regenstein Conservator J.P. Brown, and Pam Gaible, the head of our exhibition's mount shop.
February 12, 2009 —Tobias Sperlich (Department of Anthropology, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada)

Reason for visit — Tobias Sperlich was here to study whale tooth necklaces from Western Polynesia in an attempt to establish diagnostics to determine between historical and cultural.  While here he looked at about 10 such necklaces in storage with Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp.  He also met with and had lunch with Dr. John Terrell.
November 18-21, 2008 — Vincent H. Stefan, Ph.D., D-ABFA (Department of Anthropology, Herbert H. Lehman College - CUNY)

Reason for visit — Dr. Stefan visited the Museum in order to conduct research on some of the Museum's Pacific Island material, specifically from Polynesia (Easter Island and the Marquesas Islands), Micronesia (Marianas Islands), and Vanuatu.  
November 13, 2008 — Alice Pomponio, Ph.D. (St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY)
 
Reason for visit — Dr. Pomponio visited the Field Museum’s Pacific collections with Regenstein Curator Dr. John Terrell and Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp to see the new CRC storage facility and our holdings in the Tami/Siassi collections from the Huon Gulf region.  Dr. Pomponio shared several intersting stories regarding her fieldwork in the region.  The group came across several gems in the collections, some of which may lead to further investigation, including a pillow that was collected from the family with whom Dr. Pomponio had  lived while in the area, as well as a mask of tapa cloth (malo in Mutu) the likes of which Dr. Pomponio had never seen before.





 
 

Alice Pomponio holding catalog number 268644. (head rest) and with John Terrell discussing catalog numbers 137878. and 138879. (ladles) from the Siassi Islands

(© 2008, Christopher J. Philipp)
October 6-10, 2008 — Raffaela Cedraschi (Museo Nacional de las Culturas / National Institute of Anthropology and History, México City, México)

Reason for visit — Dr. Cedraschi explored the Field Museum’s Pacific collections with Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp during this weeklong visit in hopes of finding appropriate pieces to request for loan for the proposed temporary exhibit on Pacific themes in collaboration with the Field Museum and Te Papa Tongarewa.  Their selection process was informed by the meetings held the week prior with Sean Mallon, Carlos Mondragón, and Philipp, and was assisted by loans conservator Tina Gessler who provided consultation and conservation assessments. Dr. Cedraschi now has a list of over 200 items for possible inclusion in the planned exhibition in 2009 in Mexico City.













Rafaella Cedraschi with conservator Tina Gessler while selecting objects for temporary exhibit in Mexico City

(© 2008, Christopher J. Philipp)
  
October 1-3, 2008 — Raffaela Cedraschi (Museo Nacional de las Culturas / National Institute of Anthropology and History, México City, México), Sean Mallon (Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand), and Carlos Mondragón (Centro de Estudios de Asia y África – El Colegio De México, México City, México)

Reason for visit — To explore the idea of doing a temporary exhibit in Mexico City on Pacific themes in collaboration with The Field Museum and Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand, meetings were held in Chicago to discuss the parameters and possibilities for such an exhibit.  Sean Mallon and Carlos Mondragón, who are either from the Pacific or work in the Pacific, were invited to lend their expertise on Pacific Island matters and with regard to the formulation of this exhibition.  The week was a very successful one and was mainly devoted to fleshing out the main messages and organizational concepts or themes for the exhibition.  Regenstein Collections manager Christopher Philipp represented the Department of Anthropology during these curatorial brainstorming sessions.  The group also toured behind the scenes in exhibits and in the collections, and met with Exhibitions and Anthropology staff to discuss timelines, budgets, and other concerns.  While this was Dr. Cedraschi’s second visit to the Museum, Mallon and Mondragón got their first glimpses of the Museum’s vast Pacific holdings and hope to return in the near future.  The discussions also helped to structure and inform the object selection process that Dr. Cedraschi and Philipp then undertook the following week to develop a preliminary loan list.

Rafaella Cedraschi, Sean Mallon, and Carlos Mondragon meeting with Field Museum staff and visiting the Pacific collections with Chris Philipp

(© 2008, Christopher J. Philipp)
 

July 25, 2008 — Mr. and Mrs. David Pugh

Reason for visit  — The Department of Anthropology was recently paid a visit by Mr. and Mrs. David Pugh. Mrs. Betty Pugh, the granddaughter of Dr. Albert B. Lewis, and her husband were able to view many pieces collected by her grandfather between 1909 and 1913 while on the Joseph N. Field Expedition to German, British and Dutch New Guinea on display as well as behind the scenes in collections. Regenstein Collections Manager Christopher J. Philipp and Move Team Collections Assistant Niko Herzog hosted the visit that toured the Museum’s Exhibition Halls, Regenstein Laboratory, old PRL collections storage, new Collections Resource Center, and Department’s records room. Some stories were shared over lunch and photos exchanged regarding A. B. Lewis and his time before and after serving as curator at the Field Museum between 1908 and 1940. Mr. and Mrs. Pugh are currently in the process of donating 2 additional pieces that her grandfather collected while on the 1909-1913 Expedition to add to the Museums holdings of Pacific material culture.

David and Betty Pugh looking at a house plank from Huon Gulf, Papua New Guinea collected by A.B. Lewis

(© 2008, Christopher J. Philipp)

David and Betty Pugh looking at photos and paperwork with Regenstein Collection Manager Chris J. Philipp

(© 2008, Christopher J. Philipp)

Betty Pugh holding a bark cloth from New Britain collected by A. B. Lewis

(© 2008, Christopher J. Philipp)
 
 June 25, 2008 — Caitlin Andrew and Katie Quinn Nadel (Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin)

Reason for visit — To discuss a possible joint Lawrence University–Regenstein Internships project in 2009 to create a set of guidelines, web pages, and protocols for use of Chicago's Marae by communities outside the Museum for conflict arbitration and multicultural education.

June 23-27, 2008 — Raffaela Cedraschi, National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mexico City (http://www.inah.gob.mx/).

Reason for visit — To explore the possibility of doing a temporary exhibit in Mexico on Pacific themes in collaboration with The Field Museum and Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand.

Raffaela Maria Cedraschi Caverzasio was born in Ticino, Switzerland, on September 13, 1961, and has lived in Mexico since 1983.

She studied to be a translator in the Ubersetzer-und Dolmetscherschule of Zurich between 1979 and 1983.  Once in Mexico, she pursued a career in Ethnology at the National School of Anthropology and History until 1989 and in 1994, did one year of graduate work in Asian and African Studies at the Colegio of Mexico.

In 1985 she was a research assistant at the National Museum of Cultures of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, and in 1987 she became curator of Africa for the museum.  She has participated in various temporary and traveling exhibitions, including "Africa Without Limits: Mexican Collections" (National Museum of Cultures, 1993), and "Body and Spirit of Africa: Collections of Rene Bustamante" (Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca, 1998), "Africa: Collections from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco", 2002), as well as the redevelopment of the permanent Hall of Africa for the National Museum of Cultures in 1996 which was awarded honorable mention for the Miguel Covarrubias Design Award (INAH, 1996)

She has many published articles about African art and cultures., like "Africa south of the Sahara" (in Black Africa against Apartheid, Veracruz, IVEC, 1991), "The other face of life: Masks of the World" (brochure that accompanies the exhibition of the same name, Mexico, INAH, 1992), "Africa without limits: Mexican Collections" (Mexico, INAH, 1993), "Forms and Symbols: Reflexions on the significance of African Art" (in African Body and Spirit, Mexico, MACO, 1997) and "The alchemy of forms: African Arts in Mexico" (in Africa: Collections of the Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco, Mexico, INAH, 2002).

May 17, 2008 — Eruera Wharehinga (Te Whanau-a-Ruataupare, Tokomaru Bay) and Arapata Hakiwai (Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington)

Reason for visit — Both were revisiting the marae and our collections (they were here with everyone else who came from Aotearoa in April 2007 to participate in the 125th Anniversary Celebrations honoring Ruatepupuke II) as part of the "Close Encounters" hui on the 15th-17th of May.

May 12, 2008 — Mandy Treagus, Ph.D. (University of Adelaide)

Reason for visit — Dr. Treagus briefly visited the Museum's Polynesian collections to do further research on H. J. Moors and the touring group he organized for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. She was interested in finding out what the Museum received from this group and in viewing those objects. Dr. Treagus discovered that 28 artifacts were originally accessioned from the Oceanic Trading Company (our Accession No. 11) after the World's Columbian Exposition, 23 of which are still in the Museum's holdings (other items such as a 16' long canoe were later exchanged with Museums as far away as Brooklyn). These items still in the Museum included Samoan kava bowls, slit drums, and bamboo pillows. Dr. Treagus shared with us that the touring group organized by Moors was not exclusively Samoan and included other Islanders from around the Pacific.


April 21, 2008 — Robert J. Foster, Ph.D. (University of Rochester)

Reason for visit — In 1939 the Buffalo Museum of Science (New York) fostered an official exchange with The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Buffalo exchanged 134 pieces of Melanesian material culture from their P. G. Black Collection (our Accession No. 2210) for 45 Field Museum objects from Indonesia and Melanesia.  Interested in the former collection and The Field Museum's current holdings of shell money from Melanesia, Dr. Robert J. Foster of the University of Rochester visited the Museum in April to see our collections firsthand.  He also gave us a copy of his 1995 publication entitled Social Reproduction and History in Melanesia: Mortuary ritual, gift exchange, and custom in the Tanga Islands.