This year marked the 10th annual repatriation conference organized by the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA). The conference was hosted at the end of February by the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe’s Paragon Resort in Marksville, Louisiana. The Peabody Institute of Archaeology was one of several co-sponsors, celebrating ten years of the conference, dedicated to learning and sharing our work in repatriation.
Melanie O’Brien, program manager of the National Park Service NAGPRA program, leads training at the annual repatriation conference.
A highlight of the conference is spending time with friends and colleagues from Tribes, federal agencies, and museums who all share in the day to day work of repatriation. While NAGPRA and repatriation have made headlines over the course of the last year, with reporting by ProPublica and many local news outlets, as well as the attention garnered by the new regulations and duty of care provisions, most people don’t completely understand the behind the scenes and day to day work involved in repatriation. Spending time with other engaged in the work is really meaningful. It’s also a great opportunity to meet new people and learn new things.
A fun feature of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe’s resort and casino is a replica bayou in the lobby complete with about twenty alligators (we counted, or tried to).
Another highlight was an opportunity to visit the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe’s museum and cultural center, which features the Tunica Treasure. The Tunica Treasure was found by looters in the late 1960s who disturbed a Tunica cemetery in West Feliciana Parish. The treasure included late eighteenth century trade goods and Native-made items, including one of the largest caches of glass beads in the Western Hemisphere. The Tribe’s success in recovering the historic belongings in state court helped them regain federal recognition, which had been lost during the federal government’s termination era. While some might be surprised to see burial items displayed, its important to remember that each Tribe makes their own decisions about what happens with their cultural heritage, reflecting their sovereignty.
Conservation lab built and operated by the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe in their work to preserve the Tunica Treasure.
Mark your calendars! PA Giving Day is Wednesday, March 26, 2025!
PA Giving Day represents a critical milestone in our fundraising efforts for the Peabody. Last year we raised 65% of the Peabody’s annual support from 57 donors in just one day. This year our goal is to exceed previous success by engaging even more PA alumni and friends of the Peabody in this collective day of giving.
For those inspired to give early, please visit the PA Giving Day page here! Please be sure to select the “Peabody Institute of Archaeology” under the “designation” section. Any gift made in advance of the event will count toward PA Giving Day totals.
This year we hope to have more match challenges and even more support! Be sure to follow our social media on PA Giving Day for some inspiring posts from students who have been impacted by the Peabody.
A Dialogue Between Director for Advancement Initiatives, Jennifer Pieroni, and former Peabody Institute Work Duty student and current Peabody Advisory Board member, Ben William Burke ’11.
Archaeology isn’t just about uncovering and studying ancient items—at Andover, it’s about shaping a more informed, ethical, and engaged society. By learning archaeology, Andover students gain experiences to understand the world better, think critically, and contribute meaningfully to the future by better understanding the past.
At a recent Peabody Institute meeting, I met Ben William Burke ’11, whose enthusiasm for the Peabody was inspiring. As a new member of the Andover community, I wanted to understand why the Peabody had left such an indelible mark on Ben and why he continues to support it today.
By email, Ben shared: “As a work duty student at The Peabody, I received unparalleled access to its extensive collection and cultural immersion programs. These experiences brought me face to face with — and taught me the value of — perspectives different from mine. In those moments, I was challenged to understand before correcting, to empathize before judging, and to build on the past in a way that respects it.”
Ben Burke ’11 (Back row, third from the right) on the BALAM student trip. This was a multi-week cultural immersion and archaeological adventure through the greater Yucatán Peninsula sponsored by the Peabody Institute.
Today’s Andover students gain the transformational learning opportunity of being a part of an organization that leads in the field of repatriation and reflects Non Sibi by teaching students that archaeology is not just about personal discovery but about responsibility: to the past, to descendant communities, and future generations. Through hands-on study, students engage in meaningful, ethical work prioritizing respect over self-interest.
Ben noted, “There is not an avenue in my life that isn’t positively affected by The Peabody’s lessons in empathy and respect. I support The Peabody because I understand the value in learning to value other’s perspectives – especially when they are different from my own.”
Supporting the Peabody means investing in education that shapes responsible scholars and professionals. By supporting the Peabody with an annual gift, you can help elevate a place where teaching and learning are deeply connected to respect, collaboration, and cultural preservation. Join us in ensuring that the study of archaeology serves our Andover students and also society as a whole.
Rebecca Bowers’ Math 360 students spent a cold February day exploring the ancient hunting technology of the throwing board or atlatl. Peabody educators provided an introduction to the atlatl–which first appears around 21,000 years ago in Upper Paleolithic France and was used throughout much of the world. Acting as a lever and extension of the arm, the atlatl allows users to throw six foot darts at great velocity and distance. Students examined Arctic throwing boards, as well as a replica of the fawn or doe spear thrower hook from Mas d’Azil cave in France. Ms. Bowers provided some formulas to model projectile mathematics. Students collected their own data with multiple trials on the Vista. At least one throw exceeded 170 feet, which is pretty impressive!
Among the newest student clubs on offer to the Phillips Academy community as of this term is the Andover Anthropological Society: a group of students of superior intelligence who recognized ahead of their peers that doing research with cultural materials is incredibly fun, and an excellent use of one’s free time.
Now with a membership of ten, club members selected as their inaugural project an accession of Arctic materials surface-collected by Patricia Hume near Utqiagvik (previously Barrow), Alaska during six summers between 1959-1969, and donated to the Peabody Institute in 1998. Meeting weekly at the Peabody, so far the AAS has received collections handling training and begun to build direct experience doing close-looking analysis of cultural materials; perused the Pat Hume accession file and visited storage, doing archival research AND learning some basics of museum practice (I’m very efficient); learned about the Bureau of American Ethnology and delved into 20th century ethnographies from the region (thank you, OWHL reference librarians!); and started to explore various themes and approaches for their group project. These have included connecting collections to Iñupiaq language, exploring notions of gender and household structures, and questioning anthropological terms like “effigy” to build more robust interpretations of people’s material expressions of spirituality and religion – just to name a few.
AAS members closely examining “household” items from the Pat Hume accession and debating whether I was messing with them in my claims for what they were. [Not pictured: all the female members of the club. I promise it was just unlucky they had to leave before I could take any photos…]
Whichever direction(s) the club ends up taking, what they learn will enter into the Peabody’s database, enhancing our own understandings of these collections here and the ways in which we’ll be able to connect others to them in the future.
I happen to have the privilege of serving as faculty advisor for this club, and it has been a joy getting to know these students, and having them teach me about Iñupiat culture. Bookmark this blog and stay tuned to learn more about the AAS from the AAS itself!
For the past two years, the Peabody has been dealing with an endlessly noisy neighbor. Falls Music Center, a new home for music at Phillips Academy, has been under construction since early 2023.
The noise started early in construction as a massive mountain of dirt was excavated from the building site. Next came the drilling for the geothermal wells. We could feel the vibrations in the ground as the wells reached 500 feet deep in an effort to maintain PA’s commitment to sustainability. Alas, despite our repeated (yet playful) requests, we were not allowed to sift through the back dirt to look for pieces of Phillips Academy history.
Over the next months, the building rose behind us and carried all the sounds of construction as the steel frame went up and carefully crafted practice and performance spaces were built. Most spaces within Falls Music Center are acoustically separated to isolate noises and capture the most “live” sound possible. The sounds were a constant background to much of our work moving back into the Peabody after our building project.
My favorite discovery during the construction was that the window in the main stairwell of the Peabody looks directly into the glass stairwell of the Falls Music Center. I have to admit that more than once I tried to wave at the construction workers. Unfortunately, no one waved back.
Towards the end of 2024 the fences around Falls Music Center came down, the sidewalks were repaved, the grounds were cleaned up, and the sounds diminished. I can’t say that we have missed them, but we definitely notice their absence.
Now, Falls Music Center is open to students and I look forward to a new type of noise – the stray notes from the incredible student musicians and sound of increased student presence in our little corner of PA.
This term, the Peabody has a student volunteer workforce assisting us with making mounts for the moccasins that we care for. Currently, the moccasins are wrapped in tissue and housed in boxes. This housing situation is stable, but it can be improved. On the positive side, the boxes protect their contents from dust and debris. They are also stackable, which was a space-saving necessity prior to the renovation. Inside the boxes, the tissue prevents movement, but the moccasins are resting on their sides. In addition, some of the boxes are overfilled and need to be de-densified.
Workflow for Moccasin Mount.
Our goals for this project are two-fold. The first is to design and construct external supports for pairs of moccasins that prevent them from rolling on to their sides or off the mount.
The second goal is to create soft internal supports. Leather items, like moccasins, can be subject to flattening if they do not have additional support. Since the moccasins are laying on their sides in the boxes, the flattening can lead to additional deformation. If left unaddressed, flattening and deformation will cause permanent creasing which requires careful conservation to reverse.
For the first step, the volunteers practiced making external mounts for their own footwear using cardboard. A few elements of the mount were altered after we saw the construction of the initial design. When the design is finalized, the volunteers will be using archival blue board covered in soft Tyvek fabric to house the moccasins.
The next step will be to practice making internal supports. These supports are essentially tubes constructed of stockinet filled with polyester fiber. The ends are stitched together to ensure the poly-fil doesn’t come out of the tube. Once fabricated, these will be inserted into the moccasin, helping keep their shape and resist the flattening effect of gravity.
The volunteers are making great strides with their practice work, which means they will soon start making mounts for the moccasins. We will keep you posted with an update in the future.
If you are interested in seeing what kinds of mounts your institution can make use of, please see this pdf from History Nebraska. It was an excellent source of inspiration.
Last month we were delighted to welcome back Ramson Lomatewama to Phillips Academy Andover (PA) where he worked with students and campus community members in fused glass workshops.
Ramson Lomatewama is an award-winning Hopi glass artist, kachina doll carver, jewelry maker, and published poet from Hotevilla, Arizona. This is his second year working with the Peabody Institute to bring fused glass workshops to the PA campus community. Ramson has also participated in various virtual, and in-person talks at PA, sharing his poetry, art, and life stories with students and the broader public. You can view these virtual talks on our Peabody YouTube page.
Ramson speaking to one of the fused glass community workshops.
Ramson creates stained glass, blown glass, and fused glass art. Ramson’s glass art is viewed as “a contemporary expression of ancient and artistically rich people… evoking a beautiful, yet humbling mindscape which we all long to find.” He is the first hot glass artist from the Hopi Tribe. Ceremonies and cultural activities continue to play a major role in his life. He has showed works at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Museum of Northern Arizona, Fusing Traditions, a traveling exhibition, and the San Diego Museum of Man (now known as the Museum of Us).
Stained glass artwork by Ramson Lomatewama.
Blown glass ‘spirit figure’ sculptures by Ramson.
Blown glass vessel by Ramson.
Ramson is an educator on several levels. Early in his career, he was a middle school and high school teacher, and for many years, served as adjunct faculty at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Ramson also taught glass art for Hopitutuqayki (The Hopi School), an arts apprenticeship program located on the Hopi reservation. Ramson’s studio, Hotevilla Glassworks, is the first and only Hopi owned working glass studio. Check it out here!
Students at work, creating their own fused glass pieces in their class workshops.
Working with fused glass seemed a little daunting at the beginning of the workshops, but a quick demonstration by Ramson with helpful instructions gave students the courage and motivation to dive in. The plethora of glass pieces to work with – stringers, millefiori, frit, swizzle sticks, dichroic, and ribbons – came in many shapes, textures, and colors. Students worked side by side creating their pieces of art, asking Ramson questions about his techniques and listening to stories about his life and art journey.
“Working with fused glass, you need to be prepared to forfeit control…” was Ramson’s important insight that would hold true from assembling our glass pieces to the final kiln firing of our pieces. No matter the shape or size of your glass piece – after firing – it would melt down to around 6mm thick. Ramson calls this the “6mm rule.” I found it best to go into a fused glass design with no plan, as your final product would tend to come out a little different from what you’d imagine… most of the time it would look even better!
This year I created two pendants and (hopefully) some pieces to assemble into earrings. You can see my “before and after” photos of my glass pieces at the end of this blog. In the meantime, see below for some finished pieces by PA community members.
Finished fused glass pieces from the PA community workshops.
We are very fortunate to have acquired a stained-glass piece that Ramson created for the Peabody. We look forward to completing its installation in the Peabody’s front transom window once the next iteration of the building renovation is complete.
Ramson’s stained glass piece, commissioned by the Peabody.
We are very grateful for the time that Ramson dedicates to working with and educating our PA students and campus community! We hope to have him back next year! For more information about Ramson and the PA fused glass workshops, check out this article by the Andover Magazine (i.e. page spread #10-11, Digging Deeper article).
Our Peabody annual report for academic year 2023-2024 has just been released! This report features educational participation at the Peabody, building project updates, work duty, and more! In addition, our annual report features new acquisitions, institutional highlights, and workshops along with updates on our collection and NAGPRA work. Thank you to everyone who supported the completion of another wonderful year at the Peabody!
Inclusive editing of catalog records is an important aspect of contemporary museum, library, and archival practice, or for any space maintaining a catalog of records for people to access and learn from. In particular where catalog records are themselves pieces of history, written at times when accepted language usage was different from what it is today, it can be necessary to return to the descriptions we rely on to access materials and rewrite them to remove what we now recognize as harmful language. In this way we can provide users with more accurate, respectful, and inclusive terminology, and disrupt the barriers created by prior language.
While incredibly vital work, accomplishing these changes can often be slow, at times requiring a thoughtful and collaborative approach to determine what language is correct in place of what was used previously; extensive research to fill missing gaps; and/or the development of new processes or procedures for altering records, to document these changes so that our history is not erased – and then, of course, actually editing these records, sometimes one by one. The satisfaction gained from the effort can be immense, but the gratification is often delayed.
And, also, sometimes it’s ridiculously easy.
One common omission in catalog records is the names of women, often found identified as the wives of their husbands. I recently encountered one such woman in the Peabody Institute’s catalog while researching a Tohono O’odham basket in our care, donated by Mrs. Edmund Hamann. Looking to gain a better understanding of the basket’s arrival at the Peabody, I turned to its accession record, where I found the following:
A letter much like the one previous to it in the file, directed to Mrs. Edmund Hamann, but here with a very different greeting: Dear Mary.
Such a simple discovery, but one that thrilled me no end. No longer does Mary have to live in our records as the wife of Edmund, and no longer do we need to refer to her only in relation to him. She gets to have her own name.
The Peabody 