Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology

329 Pages·2021·17.346 MB·English

by  Samuel J. Redman

PROPHETS AND GHOSTS

PROPHETS GHOSTS
and
the story of salvage anthropology
SAMUEL J. REDMAN
Harvard University Press
CAMBRIDGE, MAS SA CHU SETTS & LONDON, ENGLAND 2021
Copyright © 2021 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
First printing
Cover design: Tim Jones
Cover photograph: Headdress formerly owned by Chief Rain in the Face (Iromagaja /
Ito-na-gaju / Ite-Mahazhu / I-Te-Amaghazhu / Exa-ma-gozua), Hunkpapa Lakota
(Sioux), c. 1835-1905. Sold by him to painter De Cost Smith in 1884 or 1885 and
bequeathed to the former Museum of the American Indian, New York, now in the
collection of the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.
9780674269996 (EPUB)
9780674270015 (PDF)
Publication of this book has been supported through the generous provisions
of the Maurice and Lula Bradley Smith Memorial Fund
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Redman, Samuel J., author.
Title: Prophets and ghosts : the story of salvage anthropology / Samuel J. Redman.
Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : Harvard University Press, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2021014654 | ISBN 9780674979574 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Indians of North Amer i ca— Antiquities— Collection and
preservation— History. | Cultural property— Protection— United States— History. |
Anthropological museums and collections— United States— History. | Racism
in anthropology— United States— History. | Cultural property— Repatriation—
United States— History. | United States— Antiquities— Collection and
preservation— History.
Classification: LCC E77.9 .R43 2021 | DDC 970.01— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2021014654
In memory of my father, Jim Redman

CONTENTS
Prologue 1
1 The Birth of Salvage Anthropology in the Nineteenth Century 9
2 Building a Cultural Salvage Movement in the United States 45
3 The Federal Government and Salvage Anthropology 80
4 Salvaging Society through Art and Image 121
5 Cultural Salvage in California 155
6 Salvage Anthropology in the Modern World 194
Epilogue 232
Notes 243
Acknowl edgments 303
Index 307

PROPHETS AND GHOSTS