Overview

As an historical account of the exchange of “duplicate specimens” between anthropologists at the Smithsonian Institution and museums, collectors, and schools around the world in the late nineteenth century, this book reveals connections between both well-known museums and little-known local institutions, created through the exchange of museum objects. It explores how anthropologists categorized some objects in their collections as “duplicate specimens,” making them potential candidates for exchange. This historical form of what museum professionals would now call deaccessioning considers the intellectual and technical requirement of classifying objects in museums, and suggests that a deeper understanding of past museum practice can inform mission-driven contemporary museum work.

Full Product Details

Author:   Catherine A. Nichols, Nichols
Publisher:   Berghahn Books
Imprint:   Berghahn Books
ISBN:  

9781836950691

ISBN 10:   1836950691
Pages:   268
Publication Date:   01 July 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Tables List of Abbreviations Chronology Lists of Relevant Smithsonian Institution/USNM Personnel Acknowledgements Introduction: A Bowl’s Journey, There and Back Again Part I: The Museum Through the Lens of Specimen Exchange Chapter 1. The Smithsonian and the Museum: Specimen Exchange as a Bridge between Joseph Henry’s Research Institution and Spencer Baird’s Grand Cabinet Chapter 2. Spencer Baird’s U.S. National Museum & Early Trends in Exchanging Anthropological Duplicates (1861-1880) Chapter 3. Networking the National Museum: Exchanging Anthropological Duplicates (1882-1920) Chapter 4. Giving & Receiving: Specimen Exchange Between Curators & the Shaping of Anthropological Collections Part II: The Duplicate Chapter 5. Duplicates: Specimens in Motion Chapter 6. Catalogs, Classification and Contingency: Designating Duplicates Conclusion: Museum Pasts and Futures Appendix Bibliography Index

Reviews

“This is an excellent and important contribution to scholarship…(Nichols) has also done a fine job of explaining how a focus on duplicate exchange transforms our entire (mis)understanding of museums as places only for accumulation and preservation.” • Ira Jacknis, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology

Author Information

Catherine A. Nichols is an Advanced Lecturer in Cultural Anthropology and Museum Studies at Loyola University Chicago, where she serves as Director and Curator of the May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection. Previously she was the Assistant Curator at Arizona State University's Museum of Anthropology. Her work on exchanges at the Smithsonian Institution and Field Museum has been published in Museum Anthropology, Museum and Society, and History and Anthropology. In addition to curatorial work, she is currently developing critical digital projects with museum databases and archival systems.

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