Overview
The heyday of anthropological collecting on the Northwest Coast took place between 1875 and the Great Depression. The scramble for skulls and skeletons, poles, canoes, baskets, feast bowls, and masks went on until it seemed that almost everything not nailed down or hidden was gone. The period of most intense collecting on the coast coincided with the growth of anthropological museums, which reflected the realization that time was running out and that civilization was pushing the indigenous people to the wall, destroying their material culture and even extinguishing the native stock itself. Douglas Cole examines the process of collecting in the context of the development of museums and anthropology. The main North American museums with Northwest Coast collections – the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, the Royal British Columbia Museum, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa – were intense rivals in the race against time. For the new edition of Captured Heritage, Douglas Cole has written a preface in which he outlines developments since the book’s first publication in 1985. Since that time, for example, the Kwagiulth Museum and Cultural Center on Quadra Island and the U'Mista Museum and Cultural Center at Alert Bay have been successful in having some of their artifacts repatriated.
Full Product Details
Author: Douglas Cole
Publisher: University of British Columbia Press
Imprint: University of British Columbia Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.20cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.520kg
ISBN: 9780774805377
ISBN 10: 0774805374
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 01 January 1995
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
A new door has been opened by Douglas Cole on the scramble. The rivalry of the collectors. As I visit the museums of the world this book will haunt my steps. - Ron MacIsaac, What's Happening? Captured Heritage is a major contribution to museum history and to an understanding of the nature of collecting on the Northwest Coast prior to 1930. As museums work out new management and ownership relationships with First nations, reference to the complex historical relationships outlined by Cole will arise over and over again. - Ann Stevenson, The Midden
Author Information
Douglas Cole was for many years a member of the Department of History at Simon Fraser University and a respected historian of British Columbia. He is co-editor of The Journals of George M. Dawson (UBC Press, 1989) and To the Charlottes (UBC Press, 1993).
