tour 1 of 10
Native North America: The Stonyhurst Collection
Native North America: The Stonyhurst Collection
Stonyhurst College is a Jesuit school in
Lancashire. With a medieval library and a collection of religious
relics, the College museum also acquired artefacts from across the
world between 1820 and 1910 for educational purposes. Sixty Native
North American objects, which had been on loan since 1977, were
transferred permanently to the British Museum in
2003.
The Stonyhurst
collection came from several sources. Bryan Mullanphy, a schoolboy
educated at the college between 1821 and 1827, brought a collection
of Plains Indian costume and weapons from his home in St. Louis.
His father, John Mullanphy, had left Ireland for America in the
1790s. He became a successful trader and then landowner, investing
much of his wealth in what had previously been Native lands. Both
father and son were great philanthropists, giving generously to
educational charities in
Missouri.
During the
nineteenth century the museum at Stonyhurst College continued to
grow, particularly due to donations from missionaries in North
America. Native North Americans were mostly confined to reserves
and reservations by 1871. Souvenir arts, developing traditional
techniques, began to provide a significant new source of income.
People such as the Revd Edward Purbrick, S.J., in Ontario, made
collections to donate to the
College.
This tour
introduces Native North American art and culture and features some
of the highlights of the Stonyhurst collection. Part of it is on
display in the British Museum's North American Gallery
(Room 26), while the highlights are touring Ulster in
2004-5.
Illustration:
The leader of the Hidatsa tribe, called Two Ravens, wearing the
regalia of the Dog Society, 1834. After Karl
Bodmer.