Indigenous Perspectives: Interpretation and Stewardship of Cultural Heritage in Museums
A selection of relevant works from the Kemper’s collection will be on view from 4:00-5:00pm, and light refreshments will be served.
Presentations will address the creation and use of cultural objects as integral parts of cultural lifeways within Native communities, the impact of NAGPRA rulings on Tribal repatriation efforts, and the role of encyclopedic museums in collecting, presenting, and interpreting art and cultural objects.
Presentations by:
James Pepper Henry is the Director Emeritus and CEO of the First Americans Museum (FAM), a new cultural institution located in Oklahoma City. Its mission is to educate the broader public about the unique cultures, diversity, history, and contributions of the 39 federally recognized tribes that were removed to Indian Territory, now the state of Oklahoma. Most recently, “Jim” was the Executive Director of Oklahoma’s premier art, history, and culture museum, the Gilcrease Museum. He co-led the successful $65 million campaign to update and expand the facility. He has previously served as a commissioner on the Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission, as Director and CEO of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ, as Director and CEO of the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, and as former Associate Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Jim is a member of the Kaw Nation of Oklahoma and of Muscogee Creek heritage. He is the inaugural Director of the Kaw Nation’s Kanza Museum.
Carrie Wilson has over 20 years of experience working on behalf of tribes to repatriate cultural objects. She is a NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) specialist and has previously worked on issues related to the repatriation of human remains and funerary items, historic preservation, and archeology. She is a Quapaw citizen and of Eastern Shawnee and Wea descent.
Alexander Brier Marr, the associate curator of Native American art, joined the Saint Louis Art Museum in 2016.Marr started as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Native American Art at the Museum before receiving his current post in June 2023. Previously, Marr was the Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Native American Art at the Portland Art Museum, where contributed major research to a forthcoming traveling exhibition of the Axel Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast art. He co-edited an extensively revised 2016 edition of “Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Museum.” Marr received a doctorate from the University of Rochester. He received his master’s degree in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester and an undergraduate degree in Art History with honors from Beloit College.
This program is supported through funding from the Department of Art History & Archaeology and the Program in American Culture Studies, and is co-sponsored by the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.
Registration for this event has closed. Please contact Alison Eigel Zade (ealison@wustl.edu) to be placed on the waitlist.