The Brooklyn Museum has played a major role in presenting andinterpreting North American Native art. Its commitment to this fieldbegan in 1903, when R. Stewart Culin was appointed to head its newDepartment of Ethnology. During three trips to the Northwest in 1905,1908, and 1911, Culin collaborated with Dr. Charles F. Newcombe andbought several pieces from Newcombe's own collection, includingobjects from the Haida, Kwakiutl, Nootka, and Salish as well as someTlingit, Tsimshian, and Athapaskan pieces. By 1912 the museum'scollection included more than 9,000 pieces.


Objects of Myth and Memory is the first publication devotedto this fascinating and influential early collection. It includes twointerpretive essays on Culin's career as well as 250 individualentries which illustrate and annotate his most importantacquisitions.


A visually stunning book, Objects of Myth and Memorypresents masterworks of North American Indian art in a precise socialand historical context and offers fascinating glimpses of thecollecting process.