Main entry:

Turner, Hannah, 1986- author. aut

Title & Author:

Cataloguing culture : legacies of colonialism in museum documentation / Hannah Turner.

Publication:

Vancouver, BC ; Toronto : UBC Press, [2020]
©2020

Description:

xiii, 243 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 216-227) and index.
Introduction: "The making of specimens eloquent" -- Writing desiderata : defining evidence in the field -- On the margins : paper systems of classification -- Ordering devices and Indian files : cataloguing ethnographic specimens -- Pragmatic classification : the routine work of description after 1950 -- Object, specimen, data : computerization and the legacy of dirty data -- Conclusion: A museum data legacy for the future.
Issued also in electronic format.

Summary:

"How does material culture become data? Why does this matter, and for whom? As the cultures of Indigenous peoples in North America were mined for scientific knowledge, years of organizing, classifying, and cataloguing--hardened into accepted categories, naming conventions, and tribal affiliations --much of it wrong. Cataloguing Culture examines how colonialism operates in museum bureaucracies. Using the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History as her reference, Hannah Turner organizes her study by the technologies framing museum work over 200 years: field records, the ledger, the card catalogue, the punch card, and eventually the database. She examines how categories were applied to ethnographic material culture and became routine throughout federal collecting institutions. As Indigenous communities encounter the documentary traces of imperialism while attempting to reclaim what is theirs, this timely work shines a light on access to and return of cultural heritage."-- Provided by publisher.

ISBN:

0774863927 hardcover
9780774863926 hardcover
9780774863933 paperback
0774863935 paperback
(PDF)
9780774863940
(ePub)
9780774863957
(Kindle)
9780774863964

Subject:

National Museum of Natural History (U.S.) Case studies.
National Museum of Natural History (É.-U.) Études de cas.
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)
Cataloging of archival materials Case studies.
Cataloging of special collections in libraries Case studies.
Museums Collection management Case studies.
Ethnological museums and collections Case studies.
Indians of North America Material culture Case studies.
Museums and Indians Case studies.
Indians Material culture Case studies.
Indigenous peoples Material culture Case studies.
Catalogage Archives Études de cas.
Catalogage Fonds spéciaux Études de cas.
Musées Gestion des collections Études de cas.
Ethnologie Musées et collections Études de cas.
Peuples autochtones Culture matérielle Études de cas.
Musées et Peuples autochtones Études de cas.
ART / Museum Studies.
Indians Material culture
Cataloging of special collections in libraries
Cataloging of archival materials
Ethnological museums and collections
Indians of North America Material culture
Museums and Indians
Museums Collection management
Indigenous peoples Material culture North America Case studies.

Form/genre:

Case studies
Études de cas.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 309721
Call No.: BIB 254912
Status: External loan