Wampum Belts in American Museums

Virtual Talk: Wampum Belts in American Museums

In this virtual talk, learn about several wampum belts attributed to 17th century encounters among the Lenape/Delaware people and William Penn. Historically, Indigenous Native American wampum belts were created to encode and communicate tribal relations and diplomatic understandings. In museums, however, they have routinely been detached from the histories that gave them meaning and displayed as exotic relics. Through the “Wampum Trail” project, Dr. Bruchac has examined more than 200 wampum belts in American, Canadian, and European museum collections, aiming to recover object histories and re-awaken Indigenous meanings. This talk focuses on the following: one Lenape wampum belt (#HSP.1857.3) currently on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; two related belts (#053150, #053151) housed at the National Museum of the American Indian; one (#911.3.130.B) (a poor reproduction) at the Royal Ontario Museum; and one (#AM 1931-12) at the British Museum. Each was woven together with whelk and quahog shell beads, plant fibers, and leather strands. For each belt, Dr. Bruchac will share insights from her material analyses and photographic studies, highlighting weaving details and symbols that evoke both Lenape and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) modes of wampum construction.

Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac, in her multi-modal career as an ethnographer, historian, museum consultant, and performer, has long been committed to restorative interpretations of Indigenous history and material culture. At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Bruchac is an Associate Professor of Anthropology, Associate Faculty in the Penn Cultural Heritage Center, and Coordinator of Native American and Indigenous Studies. Her 2018 book – Savage Kin: Indigenous Informants and American Anthropologists (University of Arizona Press) – received the inaugural Council for Museum Anthropology Book Award. She directs a restorative research project – “The Wampum Trail” – that focuses on the history, meaning, materiality, curation, and repatriation of historical wampum objects in museums.

Free - advance registration required.

For more information, and to register, see Talks at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.