In the foreword to this highly original volume, Richard Leventhal, the director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, explains that the museum is not just a repository of artifacts and other items. “The Museum, instead, is a place of people and ideas about human societies and cultures, a place of living, active objects. It is a place where the living present can connect to the living past.” To carry out this mission, museum staff members have gotten 78 Native Americans to discuss one object each in the museum’s collection that has connections to their culture.
In so doing, the authors connect the past with the present in an impressive fashion. For example, George Horse Capture discusses an exquisite beaded shirt of the Gros Ventre dating to about 1900. Dextra Quotskuyva, a famous Hopi potter, interprets two Sityaki bowls made in the 15th century. Most of America’s best known tribes are represented, and the reader gets a new perspective on 78 amazing works of art.
Beautifully illustrated and produced, this volume is a real contribution to museum management as well as a delight to read and behold. —Mark Michel
