Carrie's Anthropology 196m Blog

I've been checking out the inventory lists and I think we should start seriously narrowing down our possibilities for a basket to follow through the exhibit and get something picked ASAP.

I really like Mary's idea of using the McCloud Area Burden Basket. It would give us a good opportunity to compare a well-worn used basket to one that wasn't used. I think this basket has a lot of potential for telling a good story.

Another idea is to pick a basket that has a known maker. If we could find some information about the maker, that could also tell a really good story. That leaves the 'Widow's cap made by Metaha from Requa, near Eureka' as a possibility.

Or we could use the "Shaman's basket" that Dr. C mentioned. Which one is that on the inventory list? Is it the trinket basket or maybe the elongated bowl with feathers? Is it OK to display something that may need NAGPRA consultation in the future?

What do you guys think would be best? I think that's all the ideas I have for now. I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday and watch the USA-Canada hockey game =)

I've seen a request or two for a little computer help, which I'm happy to do. I'll install the RSS feedreader that I use on my laptop and show anyone who needs how to set it up. I can also help with any lingering blogger questions.

Where are we meeting today? Depending on that, I'll be either in the museum or upstairs in 4005 (I think that's the right room). I'll be there by about 1:00 and can stay after as well.

UPDATE: I'll be in Mendo 1005 at about 1:00ish (providing there isn't another class in there at that time). It also sounds like Dr. C will provide some time to go over any questions at the beginning of class.

3 hours: reading the accession file, going through smugmug and reading/responding to blog posts, writing my blog posts.

1.5 hours: researching and writing a Cotton genealogy cheat-sheet.

1.5 hours: Doing research on Sloughhouse prior to going to the state archives.

1.5 hours: at the State Archives

30 minutes: Studying the basket exhibit at the California Museum.

Total: 8 hours

After my exciting afternoon at the state archives I hopped over to the California Museum to check out their baskets. It was a really beautiful exhibit. I thought it was interesting that they presented the baskets as art, by calling the show American Masterpieces, but they also gave some focus to the weavers and on the making of the baskets, I especially liked the display of a basket in the process of being woven, it was so cool to see the intricate design in the center with all the loose fibers coming out of it. It gave me a new appreciation for just how difficult it must be weave.

I really like how they had the raw materials available to see. If we can swing getting some of the plant material that our basket (when we pick it) was made of, I think it would really add some context to the first part of the exhibit.

I also liked how they numbered the baskets and then used those numbers to refer to the baskets in the larger narratives about the weavers on the wall. That might be a good way for us to refer people to other baskets as they are follow our "basket lifeway."

On a side note, the total geek in me got a thrill out of seeing R2D2 and C3PO on the first floor of the museum =)

Wow, the state archives are so cool! I went today to try to get the Slough house land grant. I did some research prior and found that it was likely first bought by a Jared Dixon Sheldon. He wasn't listed in their records, but a Joaquin Sheldon was for the correct year and in Sacramento County. I'm not sure if it is the correct land grant, but if it's not I'll do some more digging and see if I can find what we need. It's difficult to read, but I will bring it to class tomorrow so we can all check it out.

P.S. I found this great article from the Sac Bee in my Research: Sloughhouse wasn't always quiet, Enjoy!

I've been a bit confused on the genealogy of the Cottons and so wrote out some notes in an attempt to get all the scattered information into one area. I thought it might help others as well. I can't guarantee this is all correct, but I'll update as I find out more.

Father, Joel S. Cotton (Sr.): Killed himself April 1878 when Joel Jr. was 3. Buried in Pioneer Cemetery (as is his wife Catherine).

Mother, Catherine Dixon Sheldon: Born June 28, 1854. Died April 16 1875 (note: there is an error on the genealogy chart in the accession file, says 1975). Died shortly after our collectors birth.

Our collector, Joel S. Cotton (Jr.): Born March 23, 1875. Died October 28, 1952. Born near Slough House, Sacramento County (Saunder's Hall, Ca is noted in the genealogy page of the accession file). Buried in the MacKerricher family plot in Rose Memoral Park, Ft. Bragg, CA.

Wife, Evelyn Annie MacKerricher: Died at 92 yrs (still need to find dates). Parents were Duncan and Jessie MacKerricher. Married June 10, 1899. Family donated land for MacKerricher State Park. Buried in the MacKerricher family plot in Rose Memoral Park, Ft. Bragg, CA.

Children, John Sterling Cotton, Ruth Charmian Cotton, Dr. Norman Winfield Cotton.

Our Donor, Dr. Norman Winfield Cotton: (born? died?). Married to Dorothy K. Cotton.

Dorothy K. Cotton: (born? died? maiden name-maybe MacArthur?). Wrote a family history.

P.S. Thanks to those of you who found many of the links I integrated into this post!

So, I set up my blog last week to alert me whenever someone comments on one of my posts, which I thought would be really helpful in keeping me up-to-date with comments. By the way, you can do this by going into settings, then go to the comments tab and at the very bottom, you'll see "Comment Notification Email" enter your email and voila you're good to go.

Well...almost good to go. If you've already done this and have, like me, became frustrated by comments on your blog with the lack of email alerts in your inbox, check your spam folder. It seems the alerts were getting filtered out (by yahoo). If this is an issue for you, put noreply-comment@blogger.com to your safe list.

This should also work to alert you when someone comments after you on a post (I think, i haven't be able to try it yet). Caveat: I've noticed that some of our blogs allow you to "email follow-up comments" and some don't. I'm not sure why this is, but I have a suspicion it's dependent on having comments set to be Pop-ups (which you can set in the comments section of Settings). I will do more sleuthing around blogger and let y'all know what I find!

I've been thinking about the poster idea that Dr. C mentioned on her blog, and I really like the idea of thumbnails of each object. It could really give a good sense of the variety and beauty of the collection.

Out of my objects, I would like the household basket to be featured. I'm thinking something similar to this picture--a somewhat close up image that highlights the fine weaving.

I've been thinking this morning about how to organize ourselves as we start putting the exhibit together. I feel like we are all coming up with great ideas, but that everything is a little jumbled together. Some of us are excited about the Cottons and accessioning while it seems others are more interested in the NAGPRA side of things. Which I think is fantastic, but I worry that each of us may lose the big picture as we focus on our own points of interest.

So, with that in mind, I was thinking if we take the exhibit and break it up into parts it may become more manageable. The parts could be 1: before an object comes into the museum. the weaver, the materials, how was collected (could also have some focus here on was it made to be sold or to be used). 2: What happens to a object once it enters a museum 3: How does it leave the museum (NAGPRA).

We could create teams each working on a part of the exhibit, brainstorm ideas, come up with label copy, etc. There would, of course be a lot of communication between teams, but each of us would know what to focus primarily on...

Team 1: focus on the making of a basket, the materials and the weavers, the Cotton's, how he did the collection.
Team 2: explain how it came to the museum through a donor (would probably require some help from team 1) and focus on how an object gets accessioned, how it's inventoried, etc.
Team 3: how an object leaves the museum. NAGPRA, de-accessioning.

this is just one example of how to divide the exhibit, there are many other ways that may work better. Or Dr. Castaneda may have a way all planned out already, but I wanted to get my idea out there. Any thoughts?

I am disappointed that I wasn't able to make it to the Maidu Museum opening on Saturday, but it looks like I'll get to go next week.

Here's the breakdown of my lab hours for this week:

• 2 hours reading blog posts, brainstorming and writing my thoughts on my blog
• 1/2 hour researching RSS feeds and writing an "how-to" post
• 1 hour doing internet research on museums and on the Cotton's.
  

I meant to do a little intro into RSS feeds last week when Dr. C mentioned it her her blog, but that blasted cold kept me from it. Well, better late than never.

I am new into the wonderful world of the RSS feed, but after using it for a couple of weeks I'm in love. I didn't realize how many blogs I read on a regular basis! I know you can set up a feed that works with your phone, but I have a cheapo phone that does nothing but make calls (i know, how archaic!). So this post will focus on how you can set up a reader for your computer.

If you use iGoogle as your homepage, you can create an RSS feed through that which will then show up right on your homepage. I don't use iGoogle anymore, but I believe you can add a gadget that will give you an RSS feed. I think Dr. C uses this so maybe she can provide more insight about how this one works. I think Yahoo has a similar RSS feed "gadget" that can be put on that homepage, but I've yet to find it. If you use outlook I believe there is also a way to set up a reader there as well.

I opted instead to download a program called Feedreader 3.14 (http://www.feedreader.com/). Through the program, you create a blog list which will update automatically and display an icon in your system tray whenever a new post comes in. You can access your blogs through a window on your desktop and you have a choice to read them though that window, or open up the full blog online.

Thus far I'm very happy with feedreader, but there are a few drawbacks. Unlike iGoogle or Yahoo readers which are accessed via the internet, this is a program installed on your computer. If you use two computers, like a laptop and a desktop, you will have to download the program to each system. I haven't done this yet, but I have a suspicion that the two readers won't communicate with each other. It might be a pain to manage both readers. I've also noticed a delay in updates. Sometimes I won't be notified of a new post till 5 or 6 hours after it's been posted. This may be fixed by changing a setting with the program, but I haven't had time to check that yet.

That's what I've learned so far, but I pretty new to all this. I'll post updates if I find a better way to do a feed. If anyone out there has discovered a better way, let me know!

So, I got a cold and kinda fell out of the loop the past few days, but I'm back and wanted to offer my (delayed) two cents into the exhibit organization and title brainstorming...

Amanda mentioned in a comment to my post last week that her and Mary were talking about juxtaposing the process of accessioning an artifact vs. de-accessioning because of NAGPRA. I think this would be awesome. I'm thinking it would be great if we can follow how an object comes into a museum and then how it can go out.

We could show how it comes in using Cotton as our prototypical collector- I like the idea someone had of displaying his journal if we have it and I think it would be good to display his book of how much each item cost. Maybe even try to display those baskets that are on the receipt list so people can see the connection. I love the idea of a map of California, maybe we could overlay traditional tribal boundaries on the map so people can get a sense of the Native population in California. Holly's question is a good one though...if we pick baskets outside of CA to display this map might not be as useful.

As for the other side of the exhibit, how an object leaves a museum, I like the idea of including CalNAGPRA in the discussion. I also think it would be good to provide a sense of how many unrecognized tribes there are in CA. I'm am excited about this NAGPRA part of the exhibit, but I'm still not sure how we're going to lay it out. Should we create a fictional example object to follow through-maybe something similar to something we have displayed elsewhere? Or can we use an actual object from the Cotton collection? What do you guys think?

I have been wracking my brain for a week to come up with some title ideas, but alas, I am terrible at titles...so, I'll list my favorites:

I like Nessa's: "Weaving life through Native California" and I also very much like Stacie's "Exhibiting Native America: The Journey from Maker to Museum Display." What about combining the two? We could do "Weaving life through Native California: The Journey from Maker to Museum" --I like that, but maybe we could add something that alludes to the object leaving the museum, though I worry that would be too wordy.

I was at work on Friday and was informed that 2 student archaeology positions have open up. It's for the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) which is a small federal department within the USDA. I thought I would pass it along to you guys, in case you or someone you know is looking for an archaeology 'in' with the federal government.

I spent some time looking over Dr. Castaneda's museum links this afternoon, trying to focus mostly on learning about baskets, since I know virtually nothing about them. Based I my perusing, I've started brainstorming some ideas for our exhibit:

I like the idea Dr. Castaneda mentioned last week about focusing on the Cottons, and on the difference between a collector and donor. We could make displays talking about how something (like a basket) goes from maker to collector, to donor, and then finally what happens at the museum--donation process, accessioning, and care. We could also have a discussion on NAGPRA. Maybe we could follow an object through the reparation process. This would be a hypothetical object, I'm not suggesting we display anything that is culturally sensitive. Do you guys think this type of exhibit would be interesting enough for the general public?

I found this great site (thanks to our professor!), and I was thinking maybe we could focus on the collection of objects, with the Cotton collection in particular. Maybe we could do something like a compare/contrast of objects (baskets) made to be used and those made for collectors and tourists. In that same vein, we could also focus on baskets as objects to be used verses as art (function vs. form). I haven't seen any of the Cotton collection yet, so I don't know if this idea would work at all, but it was floating in my head so I figured no harm in throwing the idea out there!

Alright, that's all I have for now. Have a good evening all!

The pieces from the Cotton Collection that I will be working with are:

42 74-32-6
21 BAS0156 74-32-2-25
3 BAS0015 74-32-2-16

hmm...I wonder what they actually are! =)

• 2/4 - Created and customized blog. 2 hours
• 2/6 - Learned about RSS feeds and created a feed for the class. 1 hour.
• 2/8 and 2/9 - tried to help others with blog questions, and tried to figure out why my RSS feed wasn't working (think i got it now), and brainstormed some ideas for our exhibit (see blog post). 1 hour.
• 2/9 - Read classmate's blogs and links, and read museum links from Dr. Castaneda's blog. 2 hours.

Free museums tomorrow! www.sacmuseums.org/museumday.html

Huzzah!