Museum
Central America and Native America
Central America
The Central American holdings, primarily from the Kuna culture located on the San Blas islands off the coast of Panama, range in date from the late nineteenth to the mid twentieth century. The main objects are textiles, wood figural sculptures, baskets, jewelry, ceramics, household and ceremonial items, ritual spears and arrows, manuscripts, and musical instruments. The ritual objects include bone carvings, stone figures and animal carvings, string weavings, soul boats, headdresses, ritual ceramic objects, and spirit guides of the dead. Household items consist of stools, pestles, water jugs, fans, rattles, machetes, and axes. Most important is the collection of Mola textiles, which date from the early to mid twentieth century. Denison is one of four institutions in the United States that have a significant collection of these items. The Kuna wood sculptures are also important, and Denison is particularly fortunate to have an unique carving of General MacArthur, made by the Kuna, which stands over six feet high.
Native American cultures
The Native American holdings are the smallest portion of the collection comprising only about one hundred and fifty objects. Groups whose cultures are represented in the collection include Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, Cherokee, Ogibwa, Delaware, Cheyenne, and Haida. Objects include jewelry, baskets, ceramics, clothing, musical instruments, and sculptures. The paintings and prints of some individual artists are represented, particularly those of Woody Crumbo, Jessie Nofsinger, Harrison Begay, Stephen Mopope, Cecil Murdock, Tsa Toke, and Montoya Johnson.