Indigenous America Collection

The Indigenous America collection at Glencairn Museum houses almost 1,400 (primarily small) objects crafted by Indigenous peoples in North America, along with a few from South America and Mesoamerica. The majority of this collection came to Glencairn in the early 1980s from the former museum of the Academy of the New Church. The Academy Museum formed its Indigenous collection primarily in the 1920s and 1930s. 

In 2021, Glencairn Museum received a gift of 52 katsina dolls from Barbara Beyer Rice and Etienne Juarez Phipps. They were created by contemporary Hopi artists between 1993 and 2006. In Hopi belief, the katsinam (plural of katsina) are spirit beings who serve as messengers and mediators between the human and spirit worlds. Since the Hopi rely on dry farming to grow their crops, they perform special katsina dances to bring rain. During the dances, Hopi men wear ceremonial masks and attire in order to embody specific katsina spirits. The dolls are handed out to Hopi children to help them become familiar with the various katsinam. 

In 2023, with the support of donors, the Museum commissioned Hopi artist Gerry Quotskuyva, a member of the Bear Strap Clan from the Second Mesa village of Shungopavi, to create two katsina dolls. These dolls represent Shalak Mana and her brother, Shalak Taka, who bring rain clouds to linger over Hopi villages. 

Glencairn Museum complies with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and is listed in the Federal Register. NAGPRA outlines the process by which federally recognized Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations can seek the legal return of human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and items of cultural patrimony. At Glencairn, the process has included sharing a summary of the Native American objects in the Museum’s collection with 78 tribal organizations. (There are no human remains in the collection.)