Approaches to the Conservation of Two American Indian Warbonnet Headdresses in the USA and Italy

ABSTRACT

The authors describe a comparison of the approaches taken to the conservation of two American Indian eagle feather warbonnet headdresses, one in the USA and the other in Italy. We begin with a brief exploration of the status and history of this headdress form, and go on to outline some of the differences in the standing of this Indigenous heritage in American versus Italian institutions, and how those may impact their conservation priorities. No effort is made to be comprehensive about reported conservation approaches to eagle feathers or warbonnets. Instead, the authors illustrate the influence of context, that is geography, culture, language, legal frameworks, and education, on what is considered most important in the conservation study and treatment of materially related items in two different countries. The authors conclude by reflecting upon an earlier need for consultation with Indigenous communities to establish conservation priorities.

KEYWORDS:

• American Indian
• eagle feathers
• consultation
• NAGPRA
• conservation education

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge supportive life partners, and gracious museum colleagues at both the Valene Smith Museum and the Museo delle Civiltà. We acknowledge the many generous colleagues who shared their thoughts and ideas about these warbonnets. We extend thanks to unidentified peer reviewers who assisted in strengthening this paper. We in particular wish to acknowledge Giacomo Perna. Giacomo, Grazie per aver condiviso il tuo lavoro con noi.

Availability of data and materials

N/A.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

Principles of informed consent were followed with all consulted parties. Conservation treatments were conducted according to the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers and the American Institute for Conservation Codes of Ethics, respectively.

Notes

1 Pope Francis during his July 2022 visit to Canada to issue apologies for the actions of the Catholic church with regard to boarding schools was gifted a warbonnet by tribal representatives, an act that was contested.

2 The National Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum was founded in 1875 by Luigi Pigorini (1842–1925) as the first national museum after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Since 2016 it is part of the Museo delle Civiltà (Museum of Civilizations), together with other former national archaeological and ethnographic collections.

3 The Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology (merged into the Museum of Natural History) was established in Florence in 1869 by Paolo Mantegazza (1831–1910). The oldest North American objects were collected

during James Cook’s third voyage (1776–1780). Another old collection is that of the priest Giuseppe Bigeschi, the objects he collected in North America appear in the 1828 appendix of the ‘Catalogue of Tools of Barbaric Nations’, a sort of inventorial overview of the ethnographic objects possessed by the museum.

4 Founded in 1918, the museum had as first Director the priest Enrico Caffi (1866–1950) and includes the Giacomo Costantino Beltrami (1779–1855) collection of objects donated to him by the Native Americans known during the trip to the region of the upper course of the Mississippi River in the first half of the nineteenth century.

5 In the Introductory Report prepared by Narduolo, Manzi, Rampi, and Malisani, about Provisions Concerning the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Presented on 12 May 2017 and published in Cultural Heritage Scenarios 2015–2017, edited by Simona Pinton and Lauso Zagato, Venezia, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari – Digital Publishing 2017, p. 846, http://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni/libri/978-88-6969-225-3/, they state:

‘Unfortunately, unlike tangible cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage in Italy is still in need of a unified approach, capable of providing reliable criteria for identifying its assets and for indicating timescales and means by which they should be safeguarded. In the continued absence of up-to-date, ad hoc state legislation (since the content of those laws which do implement international Conventions is too generic in nature to be sufficiently effective), the Regions have proceeded to act in a somewhat scattered manner, giving rise to an extremely fragmented and very disorderly regulatory framework.’

6 Central Institute for Intangible Heritage (Istituto Centrale per il Patrimonio Immateriale) is the name acquired by the previous Central Institute for Demoethnoanthropology since the end of 2019. The works on the guidelines are still in progress.

7 It was established by a ministerial decree dated 18 October 2021, and was integrated with another decree dated 20 April 2022 with the addition of Andrea Viliani, Director of Museo delle Civiltà, to the working group.

8 These are compensation feathers. It is possible that their aging is accelerated, and perhaps they may alter in shape with changes in environmental conditions. Any compensation material poses this risk therefore the attachment method was designed for reversibility.

9 Lascaux® 360 HV was discontinued in 2012. Lascaux® 303 HV is manufactured as a replacement.

Additional information

Funding

Ellen Pearlstein conducted part of this research while a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome, supported by a Suzanne Deal Booth Fellowship.