Collectors and collections
This section looks at each Amazon collector in turn and summarises their collection.
Where RAMM also has other material from the same collector, this is mentioned. The
section begins by investigating the two largest collections, those of Peek and
Carvalho. It then turns to summarising the information we have about other collectors,
in alphabetical order.
Under each collection, the cultural groups represented are introduced. Most of the
biographical information comes from RAMM's archives. Cambridge University
libraries and the Internet were also searched for references to each collector.
Other UK museums with Amazonian collections were contacted, to find out whether
material relating to the same collections exists elsewhere. However, due to the large
number of collectors involved, it has not been possible to undertake further archival
research at this stage. The areas in which this might prove most fruitful have been
highlighted.
Sir Cuthbert Edgar Peek
Sir Cuthbert Edgar Peek, Bart. (M.A., F.S.A., F.W.R.) was a hereditary peer and
member of the Society of Antiquaries. His Amazonian collection is the largest at
RAMM and consists of 146 objects, of which 132 are arrows, 12 are bows and two
are catalogued as 'water tubes' but are probably ceremonial trumpets. No items in the
Peek collection have geographical or cultural provenances other than 'South America'
or 'Amazon', apart from one bow from Guyana and one 'water tube' from Brazil.
Further detailed research is being undertaken by arrows specialist Deon Whittaker,
which could potentially reveal cultural groups or at least regional origins.
A note in RAMM's ethnography archives indicates that the Amazon material arrived
as part of accession number 1900.11.1-159, a 'collection of weapons and implements
from S. America, Africa, South Seas, etc.'. This material entered the museum in 1900,
a year before C.E. Peek's death in 1901. Including arrows from various parts of the
world, RAMM's Peek collections as a whole contain 552 accessions, spanning the
museum's art, antiquities and natural history departments.
RAMM has no information about how the objects were collected - Peek family
members might have obtained them on their travels, from friends or through auction
houses. C.E. Peek seems to have had broad interests rather than being an Amazon or
South American specialist. Despite the prominence of arrows in his collection, there is
no published information to back up this interest.
His only known published work is on Babylonian archaeology (1889). The Dictionary
of National Biography for 1911 informs us that he 'made extensive travels in Australia
and New Zealand, bringing back with him many curious objects to add to his father's
collection at Rousdon near Lyme Regis'. No mention is made of him traveling in
South America. We do not know whether he put together the collection of arrows
himself or inherited it from a previous generation.
There are several lines of enquiry meriting further research in relation to the Peek
collection. C.E. Peek came from a very wealthy family. RAMM's ethnography
archive contains a web page printed out in March 2003, which informs us that C.E.
Peek's grandfather, William Edgar Peek from Carlisle, made a fortune as London
draper Swan & Edgar
One of William Edgar's sons was Sir Henry William Peek, C.E. Peek's father. H.W.
Peek was born in 1825 and died at Rousdon in 1889. C.E. Peek, his only child, was
born in January 1855 and died in July 1901. C.E. Peek's son and heir, Sir Wilfred
Peek (1884-1927), was followed by Sir Francis Henry Grenville Peek, born at
Rousdon in 1915. The possibility remains that Peek family members alive today
would know more about the collection. RAMM's natural history archives contain a
list of further references to the Peek family.
A note in RAMM's archive contains undated information from Kelly's Directory of
Devon about the Peek family residence at Rousdon, near Lyme Regis. We are
informed that 'a noble apartment in the mansion is fitted up as a museum, and
contains a collection of curiosities from almost all parts of the world'. Another note
informs us that 'the house included a large apartment utilized as a museum and a wellequipped observatory. It also housed Peek's collection of British birds which was
arranged in a series of large wall-cases around the corridors' and that there was 'an
elaborate catalogue of specimens...'.
This catalogue seems to have related to the mounted birds only, rather than the
collections as a whole. RAMM's natural history archives contain a list of bird mounts
donated by C.E. Peek's son Wilfred between 1907 and 1913, as well as a catalogue
with sketches of case-layouts for 'a collection of British birds at Rousdon, 1888'.
Unfortunately we do not have such detailed information relating to the ethnography
collections.
The East Devon District Council's website presents future plans for the former Peek
family estate
http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/index/council_services/planning/local_plan/local_plan_
spg/planning-rousdon-estate-planning-and-design-brief.htm
We can see from the following description that the museum was just one of the many
facilities on the family estate established by C.E. Peek's father:
'In 1870 Sir Henry Peek MP for Wimbledon, who had been engaged in the tea trade
since the end of the 18th Century, purchased the village of Rousdon...He then
commissioned Ernest George to design a Mansion and other buildings...the house had
to be self sufficient with laundry, coach houses, harness rooms, wine cellars, bowling
alley, rifle range, china stores, bake houses, larders, museum, observatory, walled
garden, tennis courts, farm buildings and numerous cottages to house the Estate
population, which at the end of the 19th Century extended to about 600'.
A photograph of Rousdon House in 1900 can be seen at
http://www.francisfrith.com/search/englanddevon/rousdon/photos/rousdon_46050.ht
m
the website of photographic publishers Francis Frith. The site also includes memories
of local people at
http://www.francisfrith.com/search/england/devon/rousdon/memories/).
These include recollections of a Lady Peek, estate cottages, and Allhallows School,
which later took over the house and museum, 'with its galleries of stuffed animals and
birds'. Again, there are no references the ethnographic collections.
Lyme Regis memories on a former page of frithphotos.com states that:
The Peek mansion at Rousdon was built by spice importer Sir Henry William Peek in
1877... A museum was established here by Sir Henry's successor, the second baronet
Sir Cuthbert Edgar Peek, principally for meteorological information and
memorabilia. He traveled to Australia to measure and monitor an eclipse...In 1937,
All Hallows School moved from Honiton to Rousdon House, which remained in
educational use until 1997.
The origins of the museum at Rousdon, then, remain confused. While the first of these
two paragraphs indicates that C.E. Peek's father established the museum, the second
suggests that it was instigated by C.E. Peek himself. Clearly further research is
required, with the use of primary sources and perhaps oral history with family
members and people who worked on the state or attended the school.
The bird collections appear to have remained at Rousdon House after it became a
school in 1938. RAMM's natural history archive contains a conservation list of 'Bird
Collections - Allhallow's School Rousdon'. Prior to this, Allhallows school was
housed in the oldest building in Honiton, which is now Honiton Museum - its website
tells us that 'from the 16th century the building was used by Allhallows School until
1938 when the school moved to Rousdon'
The curator at Honiton has no further information about the museum at Rousdon, but
suggests that RAMM contacts the Allhallows school's alumni association.
The Rousdon observatory mentioned above was famous, mentioned in the Royal
Astronomical Society proceedings (1901, 1903), and its telescope is of interest to
astronomers today. Johnson (2007) informs us that:
The primary telescope...at the Rousdon Observatory (established by Sir Cuthbert
Peek in 1884) was acquired by the Science Museum in 2001...After the telescope had
been shipped to Australia to observe the 1882 transit of Venus, Peek employed Grover
to make observations at Rousdon Hall, Devon, until Grover's death in 1916. It was
then donated by the Peek family to the University of Durham in the 1920s before it
returned to Rousdon Hall in the 60s.
Negotiations for the Science Museum to acquire the telescope began when Allhallows
school closed at Rousdon in the 1990s. The Science Museum Library also acquired
Sir C.E. Peek's meteorological papers, 'mainly astronomical and meteorological
observations at Rousdon Observatory 1886-1900' (MS 2020)
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/accessions/2001/01returns/01ac69.htm
These could be worth checking for references to the museum.
The Devon Record Office also contains Peek papers among its 1995 accessions
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/accessions/1995/95returns/95ac27.htm
These consist of a Peek family 'photograph album c.1901-1909, loose photographs
and cards c1897-1910 (D 1405 add 2)', 'diaries and letters of the Rev Edward Peek
and Cuthbert Peek 1866-1883 (D 1405 add 3)' and 'diaries 1851 1858; perpetual diary
of Hannah Ness, late 19th cent; diary of part of CE Peeks tour of New Zealand and
Australia 1883; commonplace book of Margaret Edgar 1840; Peek family
correspondence and papers 1832-1893 photographs, Rousdon School, late 19th cent
(D 1405 add 4)'. These would be worth investigating for references to, or even
photographs of, the Rousdon museum and Peek collections.
The Devon Record Office website at
http://www.devon.gov.uk/record_office.htm
also includes useful information on further resources for family history research.
The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford also holds material from the Peek collection,
though none of this is Amazonian and only one item comes from South America.
Further information about this material is provided in the 'Other Museum Collections'
section of this report.
The PRM's paper archives and photographic collections contain no material directly
referring to Peek, but Peek artefacts appear to have arrived at the PRM through a
variety of different routes and via different secondary sources. It would be worth
researching each of these names in turn to find out whether further light can be shed
on the origins of the Peek collection.
Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology also has eight
items from the Peek collection, but these are Pacific and African rather than are
Amazonian. They were obtained via curator LGC Clarke and Major General S.C.
Peek, but have no further documentation. It would be worth checking the museum's
annual reports for clues about their arrival at the museum.
The presence of Peek material in Oxford and Cambridge suggests the possibility of
further objects from the Peek collection existing in other collections, but catalogued
under different source names. Detailed research would be required to investigate this
possibility. It seems unlikely that further specific information will be discovered about
the Amazon objects, but the Peek collection at Rousdon provides a fascinating case
study of a private Victorian museum.
Figure 1: Bow and arrows from the Peek collection
Monica Lima de Carvalho
Monica Lima de Carvalho is a Brazilian conservator of objects, who worked for
RAMM museum as part of her contribution to the Into the Amazon exhibition
between 2000 and 2005. Items to illustrate the use of organic materials by Amazonian
peoples in the tropical rainforest were collected by her in Brazil.
Most of her collection originates from Brazil,
with four Guyanese pieces and one
unprovenanced. Lima de Carvalho's collection
of 66 objects, accessioned between 2001-2005,
is RAMM's second largest and Amazonian
collection and the most varied.
It is highly significant in national terms
because few other museums have recent
Amazonian field collections - notably the
Horniman Museum and the Cambridge
University Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology. Lima de Carvalho's collection
consists largely of containers, including
baskets, and personal adornments, such as
combs and necklaces.
Figure 2: Monica Lima de Carvalho.
Its main strength lies in its
juxtaposition of raw plant
material samples with artefacts
made from those materials. The
objects in the collection were
made to be sold in a
contemporary commercial
context. The weakness of the
collection lies in the absence of
detailed documentation, due to
the timescale for which Lima de
Carvalho was employed.
Figure 3: Kuikuru comb (609/2005/4).
As the material is contemporary, the potential exists for further accurate information
about the artefacts to be gathered and stored for future use. Good public access has
already been provided to the collection.
Many of the objects were displayed in the 2005 exhibition at RAMM, 'Into the
Amazon: materials and manufacture in the Amazon Basin', which examined historical
and contemporary materials and manufacture.
Figure 4: Into the light display, RAMM.
The project page explains that:
'This exhibition came about as a result of the internship at this museum of conservator
Monica Lima de Carvalho from the University Museum of Anthropology in Gioânia,
Goias, Brazil. In 2000, Monica worked with our conservation department for 6
months.
Monica has worked with members of the Kuikúru people from Xingu National Park,
documenting their harvesting and use of buriti palm leaf. In 2000, Monica collected
examples of primary materials such as cotton and palm fibre, seeds and dried fruits.
She donated these samples to Exeter Museum, as well as objects made by the Txicoa,
Kalapalo and Karajá people from the Xingu National Park region and Tocantins.
Monica also added to our knowledge of the museum's historical collections from the
Amazon Basin.
During the summer of 2003, Monica worked with the Karajá people in Xingu. This
gave her the opportunity to collect additional material and record the artists/makers
on video.
Figure 5: Some of the people living in the National Park.
Lima de Carvalho's article (2005) is a comparative and contrastive analysis of
construction methods and the technology of Kuikúru and Karajà ethnographic
artifacts is presented. gives an informative background to the Xingu National Park
and its history. RAMM's collection also contains a basket from Guyana, accessioned
in 2005 and with the source given 'commercial outlet for FUNAI', which is probably
part of the same collection. FUNAI, the Fundação Nacional Do Índio, is the Brazilian
governmental agency for protecting and preserving indigenous Indian cultures.
FUNAI's involvement with indigenous peoples is controversial - their conflicts with
the Kayapó people were recently discussed in Anthropology Today (Turner & FajansTurner 2006: 3-10).
However, FUNAI stores facilitate the sale of handmade Indian artifacts, and
information about the FUNAI store at Manaus can be found on the Smithsonian
Institution's website. The site is linked to the web-essay 'Kayapó Indian Headdresses:
How a photographic assignment served as the catalyst in the Smithsonian's acquisition
of a collection of beautiful Brazilian Indian feather headdresses.
This is very relevant to RAMM's collection, which also contains feather artefacts
from the FUNAI store. The cultural group for most items in de Carvalho's collection
originates is noted. For the artefacts purchased new from craft outlets, the name of the
cultural group is written on the commercial label. Just a third of the Amazon items in
RAMM's collections have a known cultural group provenance, just over half of which
are Lima de Carvalho's.
Many groups have just one or two examples in the collection (Kalapalo, Kamayura,
Kayabi, Kayapó, Marubo, Mehinaku, Tikuna, Txicao, Wapalay, Xavante,
Yanomami), while a few have more examples (Karajà 24, Kuikúru 7, Wai Wai 6,
Waimiri 4, Waura 4). They are discussed below, in alphabetical order.
Cultural groups represented in Lima de Carvalho's collection
Kalapalo
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains two Kalapalo items, an armband and a
necklace. The Kalapalo are a member of the Carib/Karib linguistic family of the
Upper Xingu region of central Brazil. Basso's 'A Musical View of the Universe' is a
classic ethnography of the Kalapalo. She focuses on their stories and oral histories,
especially symbolic story elements, including items of material culture. They fish,
hunt and farm, clearing the forest to grow crops of cassava and maize.
Figure 6: Kalapalo arm ornament (4/2001/15).
Kamayura
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains one Kamayura (Kamaiurá, Camaiurá,
Kamayirá) hammock. The Kamayura are a Tupí-Guaraní sub-group living in the
Xingu National Park in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil. General introductions to the
group informs us that 'in the upper Xinguan system of specialized trades...The
Kamayura still consider themselves excellent specialists' in making hammocks and
nets, among other items, to exchange with neighbouring groups.
Karajà
The twenty-three Karajà (Iny) items in de Carvalho's collection come from the
Araguaia, Aruana, Goias, Brazil. The collection focuses on plant material and the
objects into which it is made - it includes seven samples of plant material, two
examples of cordage, seven toys made from leaves, a bag, a belt, a hat and four
baskets.
The Indian Cultures website gives a good general introduction to the group,
explaining that there is 'a high degree of mobility among the Karajà, one of whose
cultural traits is exploration of the food resources along the Araguaia river' and that
'Karajà material culture includes house building techniques, cotton weaving, feather
decorations, and artefacts made from straw, wood, minerals, shell, gourds, tree bark
and pottery. Baskets are made by both men and women...Ceramic art is exclusive to
the women'.
Figure 7: Kajara necklace (4/2001/16).
Kayabi
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains one Kayabi (Caiabi) necklace. The Kayabi
belong to the Tupi (Tupi-Guarani, Kayabi-Arawete) language family and live in the
Xingu River region, Mato Grosso and Pará state, Brazil.
Kayapó
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains one Kayapó (Xikrin, Txhukahamai,
Mebêngokrê, Caiapó, Kaiapo) basket. RAMM also holds one Kayapó spear from
Maxwell-Hyslop.Kayapo is a Macro-Ge language, and the group inhabit the Xingu
Park, Mato Grosso, southern Pará.
Historically, Salomon & Schwartz (1999
vol.2: 431) note that these 'inhabitants of
the largely unknown southern tributaries of
the Amazon, posed consistent military
challenges to...Brazilian encroachments'
leading up to 1900. Turner & FajansTurner (2006) demonstrate that struggles
between the Kayapó and the Brazilian state
continue today.
The photographs in this article demonstrate
the use of traditional material culture in the
context of ritual war dances performed as
part of contemporary political proceedings.
Oliveira & Hamu (1997) examine
contemporary Kayapó use of resources,
focusing on material culture, while
Verswijver (1992) is a study of Kayapó
feather ornaments and body art. The
Kayapó are one of the indigenous peoples
most studied by Amazonian ethnology.
A detailed introduction of the group is
reflected in the number of web pages
Figure 8: Kuikuro shell necklace (4/2001/13).
devoted to them, the most useful of which
are listed on the following pages 1, 2 and 3
These are good, brief introductions and are also summaries including maps. highlights
contemporary problems.
Kuikuru
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains seven Kuikuru (Kuikuro) items of personal
adornment - three combs, two ear-ornaments, an armband and a necklace, all from the
Xingu National Park culture area, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Few references to this group
have been found.
Marubo
Lima de Carvalho's collection
contains one Marubo bag. The
Marubo are a Pano language
group who live in Javari river
basin, Brazil. They were
devastated by the early
twentieth century rubber-trade,
but are a surviving people.
Mehinako
Lima de Carvalho's collection
contains one Mahinako
(Mehinaku) basketry sieve. The
Mehinako are part of the
Aruak/Arawak language family
and live in the Xingú National
Park, Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Figure 9: Marubo hunting bag (4/2001/17).
Very few websites discuss
Mehinako material culture, but
Amazonian basketry in general
is discussed in 'the collecting
context' section of this report.
Ikpeng
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains two Ikpeng (Txicao, Tchicao, Ikpeng, Chicao,
Tonore, Tunuli, Txikân) woven cloth straps. The Ikpeng are a member of the
Carib/Karib linguistic
family and live in the
Xingu National Park,
Mato Grosso, northern
Brazil.
They are agriculturalists
growing maize, manioc,
cotton, urucu fibre, and
gourds, as well as
gathering, hunting and
fishing.
The first contact between
the Ikpeng and the Villas
Boas brothers occurred in
1965.
Figure 10: Txicao baby carrying strap (4/2001/5).
Wai Wai
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains six Wai Wai (Waiwai, Wai-wai) objects, four
from Guyana (a basket, comb, headdress and necklace) and two from Brazil (basketry
sieves).The Wai Wai live in the north central area of the Brazilian Amazon, close to
the border of Venezuela, and also in the south of Guyana near the headwaters of the
Essequibo River. They belong to the Carib language group.
An illustrated Pitt Rivers Museum fact sheet on South American Headdresses
includes information on the Wai Wai
Another website gives a brief introduction to the group and provides links to further
useful sites.
Yde's 1965 catalogue gives detailed ethnographic background on the cultural context,
manufacture and use of Wai Wai material culture. An account of a museum
expedition to Guyana, it is highly illustrated with drawings and photographs of
artefacts, their manufacture and use, including vegetable materials, costume, body
decorations and basketry, as well as many artefact types found in other areas of
RAMM's Amazonian collections.
Fock provides a useful analysis of Wai Wai life, illustrated with photographs. Guppy
(1958) is a classic ethnographic travelogue about the Wai Wai, by an American
botanist whose collections are now held at the Horniman Museum in London.
Ornaments and baskets are depicted and discussed, Guppy explaining that the abstract
patterns on Wai Wai baskets can represent beetles, jaguars lizards, and rivers (ibid.:
276-277).
A recent exhibition at the Horniman Museum (Amazon to Caribbean, 2006) examined
Wai Wai material culture in detail and displayed some of Guppy's collections. The
exhibition website is here and a review of the exhibition can be found here. The
Horniman's website is very informative and includes well oven a hundred
photographs of a wide range of Wai Wai artefacts, with captions.
Waimiri
Lima de Carvalho's
collection contains one
Waimiri rattle and three
Waimiri-Atroari items - two
baskets and a fire-fan.
Figure 11: A Waimiri rattle (105/2003/16).
Wapalay
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains one Wapalay basket. No references to this
group have been found other than the entry for this item on RAMM's WCO website.
Waura
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains three Waura baskets and a basketry sieve.
A website called Indian Cultures website gives a good general introduction to the
group and discusses basketry, saying that
the Waura possess three main types of basket: mayapalu, mayaku and tirumakana.
The first, with an open weave and without designs, is used to transport cargo and
briefly store manioc; the latter two, with a closed weave, display a dazzling variety of
graphic designs. All baskets are made exclusively by men. Their uses basically follow
the principles of the sexual division of labor: the woven fishing basket is for male use
while the domestic basket is for female use. The large-scale mayaku...have a higher
symbolic value than the smaller baskets, which are usually made by young
apprentices and more recently have been made to supply the ‘tourist art' market.
Xavánte
Lima de Carvalho's collection contains one Xavánte (Shavante, Chavante, A'uwe,
Akwe, Awen, Akwen) basket. The Xavánte are a Gê language group of the eastern
Mato Grosso, Brazil. Historically, Salomon & Schwartz note that the Xavánte were
'inhabitants of the largely
unknown southern
tributaries of the Amazon'
and 'posed consistent
military challenges to
further Brazilian
encroachments' (1999
vol.2:431) in the late
eighteenth century. This
opposition continued and by
the 1980s they were at the
forefront of indigenous
groups leading their own
struggle against the
Brazilian state (ibid.:891).
Figure 12: A Xavante basket (105/2003/15).
Yanomami
Lima de Carvalho's
collection contains one
Yanomami (Yanomamo,
Yekuana, Ye'kuana,
Ye'cuana) basket. The
Yanomami have been
extensively studied by
anthropologists.
Chagnon (1968) is a
classic ethnography,
though it deals mainly
with the sphere of conflict
and warfare so has little
relevance to basketry.
Figure 13: Kuikuro basketwork turtle made of palm fibres
(105/2003/13).
One website (Answers.com) tells us that the Yanomami
"live in the remote forest of the Orinoco River basin in southern Venezuela and the
northern reaches of the Amazon River basin in Brazil. They are hunters and gatherers
who also grow crops in gardens by practicing shifting cultivation. Their reputation as
a fierce people perpetually at war has been challenged since the late 20th century.
Because their survival was threatened by incursions of Brazilian miners, in 1991 the
Brazilian government set aside an area of 36,000 sq mi (93,000 sq km) as a
homeland."
Salomon & Schwartz argue that the Yanomami
...of the Venezuelan Amazon are examples of such groups currently
accorded...ethnographic status as "pristine" or "uncontacted" until the advent of recent
ethnographic study
(1999 vol.1: 895) but that all groups, however remote, have been influenced by
colonial states. The Yanomami's recent history has one been of continued struggle
with commercial development interests. Hanbury-Tenison is an illustrated coffeetable book about the group. Photographs include baskets in context (1982:47, 56-57,
68-69, 71, 153, 158).
In the Yanomami case, baskets and cotton goods are made by women, though in other
areas of the Amazon they are made by men (ibid.:46). A comprehensive introduction
to the Yanomami and another by the Minnesota State University Museum provides a
shorter introduction and further web-links.
Indian Cultures website states that the burden baskets are woven by the women. On
the burden basket a strap is attached that fits around the forehead while the basket
rests on the back like a backpack. The baskets are used for everything from carrying
fish to firewood. Yanomami shotos are flat baskets or trays, usually used in the
shabano or hut to store things as well as for serving trays. They are stored by hanging
from the shabano poles. Yanomami baskets are colored a reddish color from crushed
onoto seeds and usually are decorated with traditional designs and symbols in black.
The black is usually masticated charcoal.
Other collectors
Bird, Mrs. Robert
RAMM's collection contains one Amazonian necklace from Mrs. Bird, accessioned
before 1885. It is therefore probably part of the museum's founding collection from
the Devon & Exeter Institution, of which Mrs. Bird or a male relative may have been
a member.
Figure 14: Amazonian necklace (E1027).
Birchall, Ivan
From Birchall, RAMM's collection contains one Achuar ceremonial tabard from
Ecuador, acquired in the 1960s but accessioned in 2006. The Achuar are a Shuar subgroup. For further information about the Shuar, see the entry for Ellis Taylor in this
document.
Achuar
Barkcloth tabards like the one below (accession number 133/2006) are depicted on a
number of museum and commercial art websites.
Barkcloth is often used for full ritual costumes in Amazonia, and some groups have
wooden masks similar in shape and decoration to this tabard. In the Shuar tradition,
birds are used whole as trophies, in contrast to other areas of the Amazon where they
are dismembered and their parts used decoratively (Stephen Hugh-Jones, personal
communication, April 2007).
Braun depicts a similar object, captioned 'a Jivaro [Shuar] painted barkcloth tunic
with a pectoral and a back ornament made of a toucan head, wings and pelt'. She
notes that
the polychrome designs on this spectacular garment are rich in hallucinogenic
imagery. The addition of a whole bird head and pelt asserts men's identification with
birds, whose feathers also serve as danglers from the tunic's fringe. The Jivaro often
use whole bird pelts in their artifacts, either stuffed as danglers or splayed as
pectorals, and their favourite source of feathers is the toucan
(1995: 40-41).
Figure 15: Initiation apron, shuar kuit, made of barkcloth, feathers and Job tear beads (133/2006).
Although smaller and less striking, the RAMM example bears many similarities to
this tabard. It is made from barkcloth with more subdued 'hallucinogenic' patterns,
and is bordered with the same type of seed beads. It is decorated with a whole splayed
bird pelt with no head, or possibly parts of more than one pelt combined to give the
same impression.
A former page on U-web gave a brief introduction of the Achuar, saying that they
are a tribe Indians living in the Southeast of Ecuador who belong to the Jivaroan
Language Family. The Achuar language is similar to that of the Shuar who are also
from within the same language family and border the Achuar to the north and west.
Where as the Shuar live closer to colonized areas and more in the upper Amazon, the
Achuar tend to live more removed from colonization, and more in the lower Amazon.
As a result of this demography the Achuar have been less susceptible to outside
influences and have experienced less cultural transition, thereby retaining more of
what we might consider a "traditional" lifestyle.
http://www.achuarperu.org/en/index.htm
claims to be 'the website of the Achuar people' and covers many areas including
history, culture and customs, contemporary news and problems.
http://www.nativeplanet.org/indigenous/ethnicdiversity/latinamerica/peru/indigenous_
data_peru_achual.shtml
gives a brief introduction to the group and provides further web links, while
http://www.ladatco.com/rfd-kpwahr.htm
gives a more romantic view for tourists whilst
http://www.peruecologico.com.pe/etnias_achual.htm
provides an introduction in Spanish.
Chapman, Mrs. Eileen
From Chapman, RAMM's collection contains nine Shipibo-Conibo pots from Peru,
accessioned in 2003.
Figure 16: Shipibo-Conibo ceramic vessel, masato chomo, used to ferment a ceremonial
beverage (103/2003/1).
Shipibo-Conibo
The Shipibo and Conibo (Konibo, Coniba) are Panoan sub-groups who live in the
Ucayali River area, which connects Cuzco to the Brazilian Amazon. They gather, fish,
hunt and farm. A map in McEwan shows that the Shipibo-Conibo inhabit a region of
the southwest Amazon where 'manifestations of the Amazonian Polychrome' tradition
are found (2001:20-21).
Archaeologically, McEwan describes how 'a creative explosion of different ceramic
styles occurred about two thousand years ago' in the middle and lower Amazon
(ibid.:16) and 'around 1045-1000BP a different, more complex set of vessel forms
with excised and white/red painted decoration' appeared. The famous Shipibo/Conibo
pottery with its linear designs is a contemporary part of this tradition. However,
although pottery remains archaeologically, it is just a small part of the ShipiboConibo aesthetic tradition.
Roe's book (c.1982), a classic work on Amazon cosmology, discusses ShipiboConibo pottery designs. The broader context and meaning of these patterns is
discussed by Gebhart (1982), later Gebhart-Sayer (1985). In the past every surface,
from houses and textiles to the human body, were covered with the same designs.
The patterns are part of shamanic healing rituals, and shamans receive the designs
from the spirit world in non-material form. Although the designs are given physical
existence by women, their deeper significance was understood only by male shamans.
Although many objects are still patterned today, the deeper meanings are no longer
known.
Shipibo-Conibo ceramics and textiles, with their striking geometric designs, are
popular with art dealers and collectors, so feature prominently on the Internet.
Such websites sell their materials but is not illustrated, saying that 'the Shipibo and
Yine are the only two of twelve indigenous groups in Eastern Peru that still practice
the traditional craft of painting on fabric with vegetable dyes.
Their art-form is well known for its distinctive use of broad and thin angular
geometric designs. For the Shipibo, these designs describe the lives of their families
and communities in the forest. For the Yine, these designs describe the animal life of
the jungle that surrounds them'.
For example,
http://www.adifferentapproach.com/pots/shipibo_main.shtml
sells modern Shipibo pottery, informing us that this is mainly made by women and
that 'the vases are all hand-built, sun-dried and decorated with natural earth pigments',
that the patterns are 'inspired by the river ways on which they live, the constellations,
the skin of a snake and most of all by images that come to them in visions', and that
'once decorated, these pieces are low-fired in open fires and then finished with a
vegetable-based compound used to waterproof and produce a shine'.
Devon & Exeter Institution
Many of the early collectors of Amazon material were local gentry who belonged to
the Devon & Exeter Institution. The core of the Museum's early ethnographic
collections was formed by the Devon and Exeter Institution, a local philosophical and
literary society, which still functions today.
It is tempting to hope that further relevant archival material may be found in the
Institution's archives, but sadly the documentation preserved by the Institution is very
slight. Most of the collection seems to have been assembled between 1813 and 1834.
The entire ethnographic holdings of the Institution were transferred to Queen Street
upon the foundation of this museum after 1868.
East India Museum
RAMM's Amazonian collections include a Brazilian basket and a Guyanese fire-fan
said to be from the East India Museum. No other references to this institution have yet
been found, except for one non-Amazonian object from this source at the Cambridge
University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Ellis Taylor, Mr. G.
RAMM's collection contains one item from Ellis Taylor, a Shuar shrunken head (or
tsantsa) from Ecuador, accessioned in 1919.
Tsantsas have always been popular with travelers and are found in many early
museum collections. The classic ethnographic travelogue about the Shuar (then
known by the derogatory term 'Jivaro') is Up de Graff's 'Head Hunters of the
Amazon'. His graphic description of the hunting and shrinking of heads is often
quoted (1923: 258-267).
The heads are those of enemies taken during warfare, which are then shrunken by
filling them with hot sand, and used as trophies. For a short, reliable introduction to
tsantsas with suggestions for further reading, see Peers (2003) leaflet for the Pitt
Rivers Museum. The ethics of keeping and discussing tsantsas in museums is
currently a subject of debate.
The Riverside Metropolitan Museum, California also provides an accessible but
informative website. Fake 'shrunken heads' are still being produced as popular tourist
items - see, for example, the commercial website
http://www.salangome.com/shrunken_head.asp
which claims that 'our most popular and exotic product is the "tsantsa" or human
shrunken head, made in Ecuador by indigenous artisans, crafted from animal skin
using traditional methods, and comparing in quality the original tsantsa shrunken
heads of the Jivaro tribes'.
Shuar
The Shuar (Shuara) inhabit the northwest Amazon region. Formerly called Jivaro,
Xivaro, Jibaro and Chiwaro, which are derogatory terms meaning 'savage'.
The Shuar farm, fish and hunt. Wikipedia informs us that 'the people who speak the
Shuar language live in tropical rainforest between the upper mountains of the Andes,
and the tropical rainforests and savannas of the Amazonian lowlands, in Ecuador and
Peru'. The Shuar people are a popular subject for study. The following are sites of
varying quality which give brief general introductions to the Shuar:
http://ecuador.nativeweb.org/shuar/
http://www.head-hunter.com
http://www.saraguro.org/shuar.htm
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9043671/Jivaro
http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/J%EDvaro
There are fewer websites about Shuar arts and crafts in general.
Goss, Revered William
RAMM has fourteen Amazon objects from Goss in its collections, accessioned before
1885, comprising fourteen weapons from Venezuela - arrows, bows and a club - ten
of which are noted as Arawak. Goss' is one of the larger groups of Amazonian
weapons in RAMM's collections. For further information about Amazon weapons, see
'the Collecting Context' section of this report.
Arawak
Wikipedia informs us that 'the term Arawak (from aru, the Lokono word for cassava
flour), was used to designate the Amerindians encountered by the Spanish in the
Caribbean...together with related groups (including the Lokono) which lived along the
eastern coast of South America as far south as what is now Brazil.
Numerous websites give basic introductions to the Arawak (Lokono, Maipuran), a
Carib people from the northeast coast of South America, including the following: the
website of the Minnesota State University, Mankano,
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01680c.htm
http://www.kwabs.com/tainos_caribs.html#redirect
http://www.answers.com/topic/arawak
Grant, William Charles
The only Amazon item at RAMM from Grant is a war club
from Guyana, accessioned before 1885. It is not clear how
Grant obtained this object, but it could have been collected in
the field by his son. There are 1180 objects from the Grant
family on RAMM's catalogue database, mostly natural history,
with some antiquities and numismatics. 76 ethnographic
objects were bequeathed to the museum after Grant's death in
1877. A short biography in RAMM's natural history archives
informs us that W.C. Grant built and lived in Hillersdon House,
near Collumpton.
His son, William John Alexander Grant (J.A. Grant) (18501935) was a well-known eccentric who 'became well known as
an explorer, and [spent] sixty years...traveling all over the
world'. He also donated natural history and ethnography
collections to RAMM. As a boy he received 'an injury to his
left eye, when a schoolboy friend accidentally hit him with a
dart from a blowpipe', and the last great trip of his life was up
the Amazon River.
A 1988 letter in the ethnography archive, from curator John
Allan to someone called Bray, notes that 'W.C. Grant also gave
Eskimo material from Franklin's voyages to Canada'. The
archive includes a photocopy from Pugsley (1984:41), who
quotes an obituary of W.C. Grant in the 8th May 1877 Tiverton
Gazette, which says that he took an active part in the parish and
restoration of the church, was chairman of Conservative
Committee and a supporter of schools.
Figure 17: Arawak war
club, macana (E1102).
Grant-Sturgis, Sir Mark
RAMM's collection contains on unprovenanced Amazonian club from Sir Mark
Beresford Russell Grant-Sturgis KCB (1884-1949), accessioned in 1935. The
catalogue database includes a total of 18 objects from Sir and Lady Grant-Sturgis,
mostly fine art with some ethnography. RAMM's archives contain a brief biography
of Sir Grant-Sturgis, informing us that he lived at Hillersdon House near Collumpton,
also the home of W.C. and J.A. Grant.
One might therefore assume that he was related to them, however we also learn that
he was the son of Julian Sturgis and took the name Grant by deed poll in 1935. Sir
Grant-Sturgis had a high-flying civil service career (see the Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography online and the Peerage.com. He is probably the same Mark
Sturgis whose diaries about political life in Ireland have been published (Hopkinson
1999), but this gives us no clues about how he obtained a club from Guyana. Perhaps
he inherited it from the Grant family, or with Hillersdon House (see above).
Holland, Henry H.P.
RAMM's collections contain six objects from Holland, accessioned before 1885. They
are all from Guyana - a quiver and darts, gourd bowl strainer, and a Machouchi
blowpipe. There are no other items from HHP Holland in RAMM's collections.
Macushi
The Macushi (Machouchi, Macuxi, Pemon, Macusi) are Carib/Karibe group living in
the Roraima State, Guyana. RAMM's collections contain three Macushi items - two
headdresses from Whitlock and a blowpipe from Holland.
Hussey, Mr. Thomas Jnr.
From Hussey, RAMM's collections contain a bow and a dart from Guyana,
accessioned before 1885. There are also a small number of items in the art and natural
history departments. Previous biographical research undertaken at RAMM indicates
that Hussey was born in Cotleigh, Devon and lived in Alphington. His four children
were born in Exminster. Hussey & Sons were auctioneers and land, estate and
insurance agents based at 14 Queen Street, Exeter.
Figure 18: Two fishing spears Guyana (?E1025 and ?).
James Veitch & Sons
RAMM's database lists 201 accessions from members of the Veitch family, 22 of
which are ethnography, including five from the Amazon region. Most of the Veitch
collections are in the fine and decorative art departments, with some natural history.
The majority arrived at the museum in 1880, others in 1903-1910. The source name
given for the Amazon items is James Veitch & Sons, and they comprise a Cariso
quiver and darts from Bolivia, an apron from Venezuela, and an unprovenanced
arrow, bag and bow.
'Veitch & Sons, the Exeter firm of nurserymen, was established in 1832. Between
1840 and 1880, plant collectors were sent to many parts of the world; South America,
South-east Asia, India, Japan, China, the Pacific Islands and Africa. They brought
back or sent back artefacts in amongst the carefully packed plant specimens. The
company built up a collection which it displayed to the public when it moved to Kings
Road, Chelsea in 1853. After 1880 some of the objects were returned to Exeter to be
given to the Museum'.
Figure 19: Hunting bag matiri, Brazil and Peru (E1021).
Beer and Jones (undated) also give short biographies of Veitch family members.
Heriz-Smith (1992) discusses the Veitch family's place in garden history. The Veitch
family published a number of horticultural books, the most famous of which is 'A
Manual of Orchidaceous Plants...' (1887-94). In 2004, RAMM held an exhibition
called 'A Passion for Plants: Global Gardeners: Veitch & Sons of Exeter and Chelsea'.
A brochure which accompanied the exhibition introduces 'benefactor to the museum
Sir Harry J Veitch 1840-1924...of the famous horticultural firm of Veitch & Sons,
founded in Devon in the late C18th' and informs us that 'during the course of his
career, Sir Harry and his wife amassed a substantial art collection...On his death in
1924 he bequeathed his entire collection of fine and decorative arts to the Museum'
(2004: 12-13).
A leaflet entitled 'House of Veitch', stored with RAMM's ethnography archives, has
no publication details. It includes a House of Veitch family tree and history of the
Veitchian Nurseries as well as a 'List of Messrs. Veitch's Travellers and the Countries
They Visited', which demonstrates that between 1840 and 1897, nine travellers for the
firm visited South America, so might have been the collectors of RAMM's Amazon
artefacts.
Jones, Winslow
RAMM's collections contain five Amazonian objects from Jones of Heavitree, Devon,
all of which are arrows from Guyana. The RAMM database as a whole has 922
records for Winslow Jones - these are mostly antiquities, with some numismatics and
natural history. Most of these were donated in 1874 and included they 98
ethnographic artefacts.
Notes in RAMM's archives inform us that Winslow Jones (c.1815-1895) was the son
of Pitman Jones of Exeter. He was an attorney for Messr. Carew & Jones, solicitors,
and active in local learned societies. He supported the establishment of RAMM, as a
donor and as honorary secretary to the first Museum Committee.
He does not appear to have been an Amazon specialist and his only scholarly
publication appears to have been a lecture about Syrian antiquities which he delivered
in to the Exeter Literary Society in 1870. A catalogue also exists of an 1879 auction
of Jones' property. This is worth further investigation as it could throw further light on
his life and collections.
Maxwell-Hyslop, Joanna
Maxwell-Hyslop's collection at RAMM consists of a Guajajara gourd and a Kaiapo
spear, both from Brazil, as well as one item in the natural history department. As these
objects were given by a living collector, it would be worth contacting her for further
information about her background and how the objects were collected.
Guajajara
The Guajajara (Tenetahara, Guazazzara, Tenetehar, Tupi, Tenetehára) are a TupiGuarani subgroup living in the Maranhao area of Brazil. Salomon and Schwartz (1999
vol. 1: 575) inform us that they are 'horticulturalists who practiced slash-and-burn
techniques to cultivate maize, manioc, tobacco, and cotton.
They also practiced hunting
and gathering, and in some
cases they took advantage of
river resources. They formed
villages with large communal
houses. They made
hammocks, and they
navigated along rivers in
canoes made of tree trunks.
Their weapons were the mace
Figure 20: Decorated gourd, Brazil (81/2001/2).
and bow and arrow. Ceramic urns were also very common'.
A comprehensive introduction to their history, culture and contemporary situation is
given at , which explains that 'the Guajajara gave up the major part of their material
culture, [but are] still producing some basketry and hammocks for domestic use and
commercialisation.
With incentives from FUNAI since the 1970s, the Guajajara returned to produce
feather work, adornments, weapons and basketry by remembering older patterns and
designs and by imitating models of other indigenous peoples, finally creating a new
style of their own, which nowadays can easily be identified'. Maxwell-Hyslop's gourd
is probably a product of this craft revival.
O'Donoghue, Charles
From O'Donoghue, RAMM has five ethnographic items, accessioned between 1885
and 1920. These include a basketry fire-fan, two bowls and two spoons made from
calabashes, all from Guyana.
A biographical note in RAMM's archives tells us that O'Donoghue was born in Exeter
around 1853, and was married with six children. He 'ran a small business making
umbrellas and parasols, also repairing china and glass, and re-springing carving forks.
He lived above his shop in Martin's Street. In 1879 he gave a small collection of
miscellaneous items to Exeter Museum, including [natural history] as well as
ethnological material'.
Porter, Mrs. Henry
RAMM has just one object from Mrs.
Porter - a club from Guyana,
accessioned between 1885 and 1920.
No further information about Mrs.
Porter has been found. RAMM's
archives contain biographical notes
about William Ninnis Porter, but no
clues as to whether Mrs. Porter is
connected either with him or with
R.W. Porter.
Porter, R.W.
RAMM has just one object from R.W.
Porter - an axe-head from Guyana,
accessioned before 1885. This
probably means that Porter was a member of the Devon & Exeter institution, but no
further information about has yet been found.
There are nine accessions from an R.
Porter on RAMM's database but it is
not clear whether this is the same
person. RAMM's archives contain biographical notes about William Ninnis Porter,
but it is not clear whether R.W. Porter is connected either with him or with Mrs.
Porter.
Figure 21: War club, macana, from Guyana (E1023).
Radford, Courtney Arthur Raleigh
There are six Amazon items from C.A.R. Radford (OBE, FBA) known as Raleigh
Radford, in RAMM's collections. These were accessioned in 1953 and all are
Brazilian - a cloth belt, a feather headdress and four bird-skins. RAMM's catalogue
database includes over 200 accessions from Radford, in the antiquities, natural history
and ethnography departments.
Raleigh Radford was a well-known curator of antiquities at RAMM, and published
extensively on archaeological subjects. He was a major Arthurian scholar and his
more famous excavation sites include Tintagel and Whitby Abbey. His lengthy
archaeological bibliography need not be repeated in this report.
Figure 22: Two of four bird skins (red breasted toucan), Yanomami, Brazil (18/1953/3a-d).
A Times newspaper obituary for Radford, dated 12th May 2002, is stored in RAMM's
ethnography archives. He was born in 1900 and died aged 98. He came from a family
with antiquarian interests and had a private income. The obituary notes that he was
'one of the most noted archaeologists of the century' and that 'it is as a Devon
gentleman that he would wish to be remembered'. His illustrious career took him far
afield but provides no clues as to why he might have owned Amazonian material.
After serving in the Second World War he 'involved himself in research, excavations
and public service' for the rest of his life. He was Director of the British School in
Rome and excavated from the 1930s-60s.
Ridgeon, C.
The only object from Ridgeon in RAMM's collections is a Maroon carved gourd bowl
from Surinam, accessioned in 1975.
Maroon
Price & Price (1980) give an authoritative overview of Maroon history, material
culture and aesthetics. A full range of artefacts is illustrated, including an engraved
gourd bowl very like RAMM's (ibid.:36-37,149). A whole chapter is devoted to
carved calabashes (ibid:150-165). The Horniman Museum's brochure explains that
'enslaved Africans who escaped from colonial slave masters in Dutch Guiana, present
day Surinam, went to live in the rain forests with the Amerindian people. They
combined African and local design to make [artefacts] that drew on both traditions'
(c.2006: 13).
Africans were used as sugar-plantation slaves but relationships between the Maroons
and indigenous Amazonians were not always smooth. Salomon & Schwartz report
that from the beginning of the colonial era, 'Blacks and mulattos served as auxiliaries
of conquest and domination', while 'Indians were often employed as slave hunters'
(1999 vol.2:467). They argue that 'Indian-black cooperation was the nightmare of
colonial governments, and they took extreme measures to forestall it' (ibid.:468).
Sainthill, R.
The only item from Sainthill in RAMM's collections is an awl of human bone from
Peru. As this arrived at the museum before 1885, Sainthill was probably a member of
the Devon & Exeter Institution.
Salmon, W.C.
A collection of ten beaded Arawak aprons from Guyana, accessioned in 1960, are the
only items from Salmon in RAMM's
collection. The RAMM collection has two
groups of Arawak material - ten Arawak
weapons from Venezuela, donated by Goss,
and ten Arawak beaded aprons from
Guyana, donated by Salmon. For further
information about the Arawak people, see
the section on Goss in this document.
Arawak beaded aprons are popular items in
museum collections and the art market.
Yde informs us that 'the bead apron...is as
indispensable a garment [to women] as is
the [loin cloth] to men. Made from
imported glass beads, the bead apron has a
very wide distribution over the northern
parts of the Tropical Lowlands of South
America.
It has predecessors far back in time when
polished seeds were used before glass
beads were introduced' (1965: 199). Yde
goes on to discuss Wai Wai bead aprons in
detail and depict their manufacture on a
frame made from a curved stick (ibid: 199Figure 23: Arawak beaded aprons, queyu.
(55/1960/8 and 55/1960/10)
204). Similar aprons, worn by a different
group, are depicted in Braun (1995:40)
both a glass bead and an older seed version.
In the former, the glass beads are 'of Czech or Italian manufacture' and the designs are
said to be based on basketry, the women having 'applied the rectilinear patterns on
their men's twill-weave baskets to their aprons'. Carmicheal (1985: 28) depicts two
bead aprons with 'monkey' and 'snake' designs as well as one being woven by a girl.
The Horniman Museum's brochure (c.2006:16-17) also has photographs of and
information about aprons, noting that 'children's aprons were much smaller and less
decorative than the women's'. It therefore seems likely that the small aprons in
RAMM's collection were made and worn by young girls. Guppy, in his classic
travelogue on the Wai Wai, also mentions women's bead aprons (19), while his
photographs include women wearing them while dancing (1958:19, 243).
Searle, F.F.
28 objects from the Amazon, accessioned before 1885, are the only objects from
Searle in RAMM's collections. Most of those which are provenanced come from Peru
- a Cocamas comb and two necklaces, a Yine necklace and two bracelets, and a
Shipibo/Conibo bow, cloth, headdress and textile.
His collection also includes a quiver from Guyana. A further 17 objects are
unprovenanced but include headdresses and a variety of weapons. The
Shipibo/Conibo are discussed in the section on Chapman in this document.
Cocamas
The (Kocamas, Cocamilla) people are a Tupi-Guarani sub-group who live in the
Amazon regions of Peru and Colombia. Wikipedia gives further information (in
Spanish) at . The Earthfoot ecotourism website contains some historical information
and at informs us that Cocamas 'society is based mostly on fishing, including
commercial fishing. They also sell rice, manioc and bananas, as well as high-quality
timber from their forests' .
Yine
The Yine (Piro) are an Arawakan sub-group who live on upper Ucayali River in
Brazil and Peru, including the Manu National Park. They are nomads who gather, fish
and hunt. discusses the Manu biosphere reserve.
Steven's Auction
The seven Amazon items from Steven's Auction include four Peruvian arrows, two
spears and a bow, accessioned in 1938. There are 281 accessions from Steven's
Auction at RAMM, most of which are in the natural history department, with some in
ethnography.
Further information about Stevens' Auction Rooms can be found at , which boasts that
'the Stevens family deserves recognition for keeping the auction method of marketing
alive for over 175 years. They introduced many new commodities to the auction
block.
Figure 24: Amazonian arrow (acc. no. undetermined).
Their history is rich in the preservation, study and sale of natural history.' From 1820
they also became a major specialist in ethnographic items, with thousands of sales of
this material. Other major ethnography museums, such as the Cambridge University
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford,
also have material from this source.
Teschemaker, J.
Teschemaker's collection of 52 objects from Guyana was accessioned before 1885, as
part of the museum's founding collection from the Devon & Exeter Institution. This
suggests that he was a member of the local intelligentsia. His collection includes 34
arrows and three bows, two quivers, a blowpipe, a harpoon and a dart; six containers
including bags, a pot and a gourd blowpipe; and a hammock. After Peek's, this is
RAMM's second largest collection of Amazon arrows, again unprovenanced - one
arrow is said to be 'Karabasi', but no such cultural group has yet been identified.
Tombs, William
From Tombs, RAMM has a bow and two arrows from Guyana, accessioned in 1885
as part of the museum's founding collection from the Devon and Exeter Institution.
RAMM's catalogue database includes seven accessions from Tombs in the
ethnography and natural history collections, but a biographical note in RAMM's
natural history archive suggests that there were more - over fifty cases of mounted
British birds and mammals arrived at the museum between 1965 and 1874, but most
were accessioned under the same number (E 967).
The note informs us that Tombs was an Exeter banker who 'contributed notes on the
birds of the neighbourhood of Exeter to the 'Naturalist' from 1851-1855'. He was an
'early supporter of the Exeter Museum project, and a member of the first Committee
of the Exeter Albert Memorial Museum'. He was born in Born in Worcestershire circa
1802, lived Bridgewater then Exeter, and had a wife and three children.
Treffry, R.J.
The Treffry collection from South America consists of 32 Colombian archaeological
objects rather than Amazon ethnography, so has not been included in the catalogue
section of this report. The collection includes a vessel from the Quimbaya (Kimbaya)
culture of Colombia (AD 300-1550). Quimbaya figureines are popular on the art
market - .
Turrall, Mrs Helen
Turrall's collection consists of eight arrows from Brazil, accessioned in 1993 together
with one object in RAMM's natural history collections.
Waterfield, Richard
A hammock and three manioc strainers from Waterfield were accessioned in 1945.
All four are miniatures. The Waterfield collection at RAMM contains 126 accessions,
mostly ethnography, natural history and antiquities. The reason for him having
Amazon material remains unclear.
The MOLLI website at includes ten Asian objects from Waterfield and states that 'the
Museum received a collection of nearly one hundred items from "R. Waterfield, Esq"
in 1945. Apart from the fact that he lived in Teignmouth, no further information on
this person was recorded at the time. The bulk of the items in the gift were collected
in Burma and China, but objects from North and South America, East Africa and
Polynesia were also included'.
A biographical note in RAMM's archives tells us that Richard Waterfield was bon in
1875 and died in 1959. He lived at various times in Teignmouth and Bridford. He
attended Winchester School and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered the Indian Civil
Service in 1897 and retired in 1924 as Deputy Auditor General of the United
Provinces.
He joined the Devonshire Association in 1926 and became its Honorary Secretary in
1928-36, Honorary Editor in 1938-1956 and President in 1946. He 'published many
articles on botany, local folk-lore and local history in Transactions of the Devonshire
Association', where an obituary to him was published in 1960. The Devonshire
Association was part of the former Devon & Exeter Institution.
RAMM's ethnography archives contain 1972 correspondence between a T. Waterfield
of Hampshire and Susan Pearce, then curator of antiquities. One letter (archive no.
697) discusses
a long bow that came from your Museum. My local libraries have not been very
helpful for the bow seems to be made of mahogany, it is roughly finished and the
remains of a flax cord are on one end...Early in 1945 the family "museum" was being
broken up and I was given a Burmese Warriors helmet, made from rushes but he
wanted the bow, which had been given to the museum, so swopped it!
This extract explains why the material came to the museum at that date - this was the
year when Richard Waterfield moved from Exeter to Teignmouth. The object
described sounds rather like an Amazonian bow, so it would be interesting to contact
the family and try to trace it.
Whitlock, H.C.
Whitlock's Amazonian collection consists of two Machouchi (Macuxi, Macusi)
headdresses from Guyana, accessioned before 1885. The Machouchi are a
Karibe/Carib sub-group. RAMM has 17 objects from Whitlock, mostly natural
history. Whitlock merits further research. He receives an intriguing mention on 'The
Internet Sacred Text Archive' at , which discusses 'cult objects' of the Guianan
Indians.
It says that 'in the Catalogue of Contributions transmitted from British Guiana to the
London International Exhibition of 1862 there is a record (p. 52) of "Figures of Clay,
made by an Indian of the Caribisi tribe and representing human beings and an
armadillo. From Massaruni River. Contributed by H. C. Whitlock and Geo. Dennis.
These are the only specimens of Indian plastic art ever seen by the Contributors"'.
This reference would be worth pursuing.
Woods, Ronald McAlpine
The RAMM Amazonian collection contains one unprovenanced club from Woods,
accessioned in 1949. It is just one of 124 accessions from Woods, many of which are
in the ethnography and antiquities departments. Notes in RAMM's archives explain
that he and his wife Gertrude lived in Beer, Devon, from 1919-1940, when they
moved to Miami, U.S.A.
They were keen archaeologists and members of Devon Archaeological Exploration
Society, running excavations and publishing articles in its journal .In 1938 Ronald
was elected Vice-President, joining his wife who had been elected some years
previously, and he held this post until 1947.
Their collections include Devon archaeology but also material from the great
civilizations of the world, which was probably bought on the antiquities market. How
they obtained the ethnographic material is not known.
Woodspring Museum
6 Amazonian artefacts from Guyana were transferred from Woodspring Museum in
Weston-super-Mare in 1993 - two pots, two bowls, a gourd container and a necklace.
Two of the unidentified pots in (136/1993/8-9) are very similar to Wai Wai vessels
illustrated in the Horniman Museum's brochure (c.2006: 14-15).
Figure 25: Bowl from Guyana (136/1996/9).
A further seven accessions from Colombia are probably Andean archaeology rather
than Amazonian ethnography, and were transferred in 1974. These include pottery
sherds, rubbing-stones, a vessel and 'stone spinning wheel'. RAMM's collections as a
whole contain 536 accessions from the Woodspring Museum, most of which are
ethnography from various parts of the world.
Unknown
RAMM's Amazonian collections contain 18 further objects with no recorded source.
These were re-accessioned between 1997 and 2004. They include six arrows, five
bags, a blowpipe, a curare dish, a feather, four gourds and a skein of wool. Some of
the textile items may be pre-Columbian or Andean rather than Amazonian.
Figure 26: Shipibo-Conibo ornamaent, akitiai, Peru (103/2003/8).