Cataloguing Culture: Legacies of Colonialism in Museum Documentation

by Hannah Turner

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 cataloging 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 field records, the ledger, the card catalog, 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 the ongoing colonization of this cultural heritage in the archive.

Genres: Museums, Nonfiction, Research, Cultural

260 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2020

Reviews

[Meghan Hoefling · Rating 4 out of 5]

really interesting! i do wish the writing was a little more accessible, because it's such important work. also wish there was a better discussion on potential solutions for upsetting colonialism in archives 🫶

quoties!!!
"What kind of legacy has this left us? It is one...that sees Indigenous bodies and even DNA as property operationalized for nationalist capitalist expansion and control."

"We are so used to this world of print and images, that we can hardly think of what it is to know something without indexes, bibliographies, dictionaries, papers with references, tables, columns, photographs, peaks, spots, bands. -Latour"

"Yet the narrowness of this classification denies its actual use as a ceremonial healing object and is, essentially, a denial of the affective relationships objects and belongings had with communities, a denial that is then replicated in the catalogue."

"Looking deeply at the sociotechnical practices of documentation in a museum anthropology department is one way to grasp how we can begin to make strange, to upset, and to deconstruct the normalized and moralized institutional infrastructures within which all these practices are embedded."

[Abigail Thomsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necessary reading for all collections folks

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As one who catalogs collections, reading Turner is validating. Expectations suggest that museum collections are readily accessible and known, but that is only a possibility because of the monumental task of cataloguing and records management.

Turner makes visible the largely invisible work of cataloguing in museums and reveals the nuances of its history specific to ethnographic and anthropological materials and belongings. It’s a fascinating read. It fills in many of the gaps I had in understanding the collection I work with and the many strange and fascinating notes found in the records. I’ll be referring to the notes and bibliography to continue learning in this area. A great addition to my bookshelf. Maybe I should get a second copy for the office…

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turner turned her years-long research into an excellent case study about why museum documentation matters, how it continues a colonial legacy, and how it can be used now to right historical wrongs. This seems like it would be especially useful for museum professionals, but the writing style is accessible to non-specialists as well.