Anthropological dioramas are museum installations that use plaster sculptures to display artifacts. Such displays have been strongly criticized since the 1980’s, yet Native-American-run institutions such as the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Connecticut still employ dioramas. In this paper, I will show how the use of dioramas by Native Americans has a long tradition that has been largely forgotten today. Dioramas created by Native American anthropologist Arthur Parker before WWI for the New York State Museum in Albany are the first examples of this tradition. As I will demonstrate, they expressed a political activism that was inherent both in the iconography of their scenes and in the way their specimens were fabricated. Focusing on the clothing created for these dioramas, I will argue that this clothing claimed an “authenticity” that was crafted through specific practices involving Indigenous peoples. Moreover, this quest for authenticity was related to a broader statement about the liveliness of Native American cultures. Finally, I will emphasize that the production of authenticity was a key preoccupation in many East Coast museums in the first decades of the twentieth century.
Noémie Etienne and Ruth Phillips.
Anthropological dioramas are museum installations that use plaster sculptures to display artifacts. Such displays have been strongly criticized since the 1980’s, yet Native-American-run institutions such as the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Connecticut still employ dioramas. In this paper, I will show how the use of dioramas by Native Americans has a long tradition that has been largely forgotten today. Dioramas created by Native American anthropologist Arthur Parker before WWI for the New York State Museum in Albany are the first examples of this tradition. As I will demonstrate, they expressed a political activism that was inherent both in the iconography of their scenes and in the way their specimens were fabricated. Focusing on the clothing created for these dioramas, I will argue that this clothing claimed an “authenticity” that was crafted through specific practices involving Indigenous peoples. Moreover, this quest for authenticity was related to a broader statement about the liveliness of Native American cultures. Finally, I will emphasize that the production of authenticity was a key preoccupation in many East Coast museums in the first decades of the twentieth century.
Noémie Etienne and Ruth Phillips.