Vanished Worlds, Enduring People
In June of 2004, Cornell University acquired the Native American Collection from the Huntington Free Library. To browse this amazing online exhibition, click the Exhibition link on the menu just below the logo banner.
Exhibition – This section is the heart of the site. This is where you will be able to browse the exhibition and read all the information provided with it. The menu is found on the left side for this section and the content will be found on the right side. The collection studies the native tribes of the Americas. This exhibition features the best of the manuscripts, illustrations, artwork and even photographs, spanning across at least four centuries of work.
The sections are Introduction, Maya Ruins, Illustrated Works, A Transatlantic World, Continuing Encounters, European Encroachment-Native Resistance, Language and Education, The Written Word, Anthropologists & Native Americans, Northeast and Sideshow to Powwow.
When you click into these sections, sometimes the menu’s tree will expand, so make sure you don’t miss any of the extra categories that may come up. The Illustrated Works section is a great example of this. When you click that link, you’ll notice that beneath it, four more sections appear as subcategories.
I learned a lot by browsing through these sections. Native American history has always been something I’ve studied thanks to my dad, who is fascinated by it. I was surprised to find new information and things that I didn’t know about. For instance, the Prince Maximilian of Wied and his Swiss artist Karl Bodmer, who traveled up the Missouri River to study the Plains Indian tribes. The artwork that he produced is really amazing and done beautifully.
But, that’s just one of the gems of this site, so take your time and browse through all of the content. I spent an hour here and made it all the way through everything. I’m glad I had the time to look so deeply into the exhibition and I hope you do too!
http://nac.library.cornell.edu/
~ Amanda