Visit Difficult Objects by Isabel Cordova ’19

About This Project

DID YOU KNOW THERE WAS A ZOOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL MUSEUM AT SMITH COLLEGE?

I hadn’t until I began my investigation into the collecting histories at Smith College Museum of Art. Initially interested in continuing my research on the underdeveloped object files Native American pieces in SCMA’s collection, I encountered even larger acts of erasure in Smith’s institutional memory. Museums have a responsibility to be transparent and accountable to their visitors, and this project explores one way SCMA can confront difficult collection histories. By investigating two objects in SCMA’s Native American category, I invite you to contend with moments of institutional racism, repatriation, and other characteristics that might label them as “Difficult Objects.”