Checkered Past: The Shifting Anthropological Collections of the Field Museum

Level of Education of Students Involved

Undergraduate

Faculty Sponsor

Gretchen Buggeln

Discipline(s)

History

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Symposium Date

Spring 4-30-2026

Abstract

The Field Museum of Chicago is a highly respected institution nationally and internationally with an important legacy in scientific, ethnographic, and anthropological history. The legacy of their anthropological collections, however, is currently being questioned and is in flux. The anthropological exhibition Alsdorf Hall of Northwest Coast and Arctic Peoples is a clear example of this. The shifting collection displayed and discourse of how the exhibition is presented is a historiographical artifact that illustrates the museum practices of the past transitioning into the museum practices of the present. I explore the history of the current exhibition, installed in 1983 that largely has remained unchanged, along with previous iterations. Drawing on sources such as Museum Politics and Stewards of the Sacred, interviews with Field staff, and the perspectives of museum visitors, I develop the general public and academic perception of the exhibition. I also compare the Field’s most recent anthropological exhibition Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories and Northwest Coast within the lens of museum exhibition style and context to convey the change in museum exhibition practices over time. NAGPRA specifically is the main cause for the changes in the exhibition, and is explained as a whole and in this context. Compared to previous practices, the primary concerns of current exhibitions that regard Indigenous Americans are establishment and explanation of NAGPRA, personal stories or artifacts rather than sweeping, impersonal displays, and an emphasis on current Indigenous Americans and their lives. Northwest Coast has the NAGPRA element currently but lacks the other two. The exhibition is artifact-rich, but utilizes theatrical techniques to display the cultures of the Arctic and Northwest Coast, which may seem offputting to some visitors. This can be seen in the mask exhibits or the shaman diorama. This makes the exhibition an excellent learning tool, though not as intended.

Biographical Information about Author(s)

Helen MacWilliams is a Junior History major with Art and Humanities minors. She works in the VUCA Scene Shop and previously had an internship at the Porter County Museum. She intends to pursue Museum Studies or Public History post-graduation.

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