Documenting Smithsonian Institution canoe collections from the Pacific Islands

Description

Blog article for the Smithsonian Institution's Recovering Voices program describing my research as Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2022) documenting c. 300 canoe-related objects from the Pacific Islands at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). I conducted research on collector fieldnotes, letters, and photographs in the National Anthropological Archive (NAA), along with footage of canoe-building and use in the Human Studies Film Archive. The aim of the project is to draw out stories of Indigenous voyaging and American collecting in the region, to map the provenance of the canoes, and to make this knowledge accessible for Oceanic canoe makers, voyagers, and communities.