Peabody to Unveil New Native American Exhibit

Staff members at the Peabody Museum are arranging buffalo robes and giving display cases a final dusting in preparation for the April 4th opening of a new exhibit on Native Americans.

The exhibit, called "Change and Continuity," will be the largest display of Native American artifacts in any university museum, said Ian W. Brown, assistant director of the museum. It examines the effects of European contact on Native American culture, he said, and opens in conjunction with a Peabody display of artifacts from Meriwether Lewis' and William Clark's expedition in 1804.

"There are approximately 500 objects, ranging from little shellfish hooks to totem poles," said Brown, adding that the Lewis and Clark exhibit featured 70 to 100 more pieces.

The Peabody Museum has specialized in Native American culture since its inception in 1867, said Brown. But storage renovations in the early 1980s closed the previous exhibit, and the new Native American display is significantly larger than its predecessor, said Brown.

"It's an exhibit we've been working on for almost six years now," said Brown.

The Display

To the left of the entrance is a caribou-skin cloak decorated with woven porcupine quills. The Native Americans, said Brown, "would take [the quills], boil them, flatten them with their teeth, then dye them and weave them."

Nearby is a multicolored basket weaving done by a Native American in the Northeast for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. "Whoever was doing this had a lot of fun, putting it together," said Brown, pointing to the miniature baskets and flowers hanging off the side and the words "forget me not" woven at the top. "We call it a 'whatnot,'" he said.

The display is divided into nine interculturegeographic areas, said Brown. In the Northwestarea stand totem poles and a largeyellow-and-brown exterior house post carved tolook like a tree. A wooden bear perches near thetop and paw prints trace its path up from theground.

"It's probably tied up with the bear-mothermyth," said Brown.

The museum acquired the objects throughexpeditions, donations and purchases, said Brown.

The Lewis and Clark objects were received fromthe Peale Museum in Philadelphia when it closed in1899. "The curator here ran over there at thattime and he had his pick," said Brown.

Assembling the exhibit cost more than a milliondollars and employed approximately 100 people,said Brown