Rediscovered Minnesota: Exploring Dakota, Ojibwe, and Cree Ethnographic Objects in the Giacamo Costantino Beltrami Collection

FAIN: FB-55986-11

Tilly Leigh Laskey
Science Museum of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN 55101)

Museum Studies project to research a significant collection of Dakota, Ojibwe, and Cree objects dating from 1823 and housed in Italian Museums. The project is relevant to, and will be a future resource for the humanities fields of museum studies, anthropology, American Indian studies, and history. It targets NEH's Bridging Cultures initiative of cross-cultural understanding on American, American Indian, and Italian perspectives. This proposal will: 1) fully provenience and catalog the objects in Italy utilizing comparative analysis, archival research with primary documents and consultation with descendent communities 2) create an online database of the pieces 3) produce a scholarly publication, and 4) eventually (in later phases to be funded with alternative sources) bring the collection to Minnesota in exhibition form.

Media Coverage

Benvenuto! Rediscovering Minnesota in Italy (Media Coverage)
Publication: Science Museum of Minnesota | 2010 –11 Annual Report
Date: 6/1/2011
Abstract: One page coverage with photos of Laskey's work on ReDiscovered Minnesota and it's importance to the Science Museum of Minnesota.
URL: http://www.smm.org/static/annualreport/2011annualreport.pdf

Dall’America per conoscere gli indiani (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Federico Biffignandi
Publication: L'Eco di Bergamo
Date: 5/4/2012
Abstract: Article detailing Laskey's work at the Museo di Scienze Naturali, Bergamo and the importance of Bergamo's native son, Giacomo Beltrami.

Associated Products

How Tilly Laskey’s Study of American Indian Objects Brought Her To Italy (Blog Post)
Title: How Tilly Laskey’s Study of American Indian Objects Brought Her To Italy
Author: Zimmerman, Joel for Minnesota Original
Abstract: Blog article details initial work on the ReDiscovered Minnesota project and highlights Laskey's newsletter volume 2.
Date: 8/1/2012
Primary URL: http://www.mnoriginal.org/2012/08/how-tilly-laskeys-study-of-american-indian-objects-brought-her-to-italy/
Secondary URL: https://www.facebook.com/MNoriginal
Website: Minnesota Original

Science Buzz posts by Tilly Laskey relating to ReDiscovered Minnesota (Blog Post)
Title: Science Buzz posts by Tilly Laskey relating to ReDiscovered Minnesota
Author: Laskey, Tilly
Abstract: Seven blog posts relating to ReDiscovered Minnesota and the Giacomo Costantino Beltrami project and living in Italy. Science Buzz blog posts are written for a non-specialist audience.
Date: 10/1/2012
Primary URL: http://www.sciencebuzz.org/blog/authors/Tilly
Primary URL Description: Science Buzz, a division of the Science Museum of Minnesota

ReDiscovered Minnesota; exploring Ojibwe and Dakota material culture in Italy’s Beltrami collections (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: ReDiscovered Minnesota; exploring Ojibwe and Dakota material culture in Italy’s Beltrami collections
Author: Laskey, Tilly
Abstract: Giacomo Costantino Beltrami was an Italian explorer who visited the Northwest Territories (current day Minnesota) in 1823, and subsequently became dually obsessed with Native American culture and mapping the source of the Mississippi River. Legendary tales indicate Beltrami’s main protection was a red silk umbrella, which distinguished him as an outsider to Dakota and Ojibwe people. Although Beltrami lost his rights to the Euro-American “discovery” of the sources of the Mississippi River to Schoolcraft in 1832, his legacy as a collector and documenter of Native American culture far outlasts that honor. The red umbrella still exists as part of the Beltrami Collections in Italy, along with 97 Native American objects collected during the 1823 trip. Beltrami practiced more direct ethnology than was common at the time. His travelogue, though flawed, describes Ojibwe and Dakota people, their daily activities, discusses their appearance, material culture, and perhaps most importantly, their names. Particularly, Beltrami documents Indigenous women in a manner not seen with other early explorers or anthropologists. This paper will detail selected objects in the collection, their connections to Beltrami’s narrative, their provenience, and how ideas about gender, cultural exchanges, and tribal designation has been expanded through comparative research and consultations with Dakota and Ojibwe cultural specialists. This project and research at museums in Italy is funded in part by a 2011 National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship award.
Date: 6/5/2012
Conference Name: Native American and Indigenous Studies Association

ReDiscovered Minnesota Newsletters, volumes 1-4 (Article)
Title: ReDiscovered Minnesota Newsletters, volumes 1-4
Author: Laskey, Tilly
Abstract: Four newsletters written for a general audience and self-published.
Year: 2012

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