Collections

The American ethnology collection dominates the anthropology collections with about 21,000 objects from nearly every corner of the Americas representing hundreds of cultural groups. Objects range from those made last year to the 1700s, from unidentified to maker-identified, and from hobbyist creations to artistic masterpieces. The region in and around Colorado is prime, representing 65% of the collection, and the majority of the objects are from Native American tribes in North America. Strengths also include Hispanic crafts, Mexican Indian arts, Guatemalan and Andean textiles and utilitarian objects, and a variety of Amazonian objects. Several small documented holdings derive from travelers and government or business missions.

This collection represents the crafts, arts, traditions, beliefs, and practices of living cultures around the world.  The world ethnology collection of approximately 5,000 objects derives from cultures outside the Americas. Objects in the world ethnology collection come from every corner of the earth, although three subcollections represent the most significant holdings.

African Collection

The 1,500 African objects center on Central and Southern Africa with special attention to cultures from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Botswana.  Figures, carvings, raffia cloth and masks are highlighted from the Bakuba, Baluba, Songye and Ndegese of the DROC.  Clothing, tools and weapons from the San, Tswana, Herero, Hambukushu, Bayei and Basubiya are the focus of a significant number of objects from Botswana.  Other highlights include a collection of carved bronze figures from Liberia, Yoruba masks and statues from Nigeria, weaponry of East Africa, and beadwork from the Zulu and Southern Ndebele in South Africa.

Asian Collection

The Southeast Asian collection of more than 1,000 objects is the Museum’s most significant world ethnographic holding, outside of the Native American collections. Collected during the last 40 years, it represents a systematic, documented holding from the Hmong, Mien, Akha, Lahu, Lisu, and Karen hill tribes of the northern margins of Thailand, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, and southwestern China. Small groups of Asian objects illustrate scattered peoples and traits of Han (China), aboriginal Taiwanese, Japanese, South Asian (India, Bangladesh), Indonesian, and Philippine Indigenous cultures.

Oceanic and Australian Collections

About 700 objects make up this smallest and perhaps most diverse Denver Museum of Nature & Science ethnology holding. It illustrates the main materials, technologies, forms, and designs used during the early to mid-20th century by the peoples of Pacific Ocean islands from Hawaii to Papua New Guinea and the continent of Australia.

The Archives preserves the Museum’s history through a trove of documents dating to the institution’s pre-history.  With over 2000 linear feet of records, we preserve the stories behind how museum staff conducted research, designed exhibits, pursued initiatives, and developed programs.

Our records tie back to the earliest days of the museum, starting with the original specimen slips for the collection that inspired the creation of the museum – the taxidermy collection of Edwin Carter. Carter’s field notes are modest scraps of paper with dates and measurements of each specimen collected, and are the first catalog of the Museum’s first collection.

We also have correspondence surrounding the discovery and excavation of the Dent Site in the 1930s, field notes from decades of international expeditions to acquire specimens for dioramas and research, and records for recent and long-gone exhibitions. We also keeps objects from the Museum’s past that help tell the story of the institution, its work, and the people that made it happen; such as equipment used to make dioramas, and tools used in field collecting.

We serve Museum staff looking for information on historic events, details on specimens in the collection, or any number of other questions about the Museum’s past. We also host outside researchers who might need supplemental information about specimens like meteorites or insects managed by our colleagues, or might simply want to examine our papers for examples of how museum work has changed over time.

The image archives collection, established in 1977, is the official central repository of the Museum’s owned photography and moving images, and a large sculpture collection. These materials support internal staff, scholars, and commercial enterprises. More than 20,000 images from these collections are digitized and give insight into early exhibit making, school programs, taxidermy work, and the now famous 1927 Folsom point discovery in Dent, Colorado, to name a few. And least we forget, the largest excavation in Museum history, the Snowmastodon Project. See our digital collections online on Luna.

These collections provide insight into a world in transition. Highlights include historic images of the museum from the very beginning, both in the field and in the collections. There are over 4,400 titles in the moving image collection covering international expeditions throughout the 20th century as well as rare subjects like the now extinct Dusky Seaside sparrow and interviews with World War II Navajo code talkers.

We also house a significant Film Archive with collections of fieldwork and natural history films created by staff and Director Alfred M. Bailey. The Bailey films were internationally renowned in the 1950’s and ‘60s and still delight audiences today.