Museums with Ethnology and Archaeology Collections from the Pacific Northwest:
Royal BC
Museum in Victoria BC has a multistep search tool, but with a little
patience, you can view photographs of their extensive ethnology and archaeology
collections.
Burke Museum Ethnology
Collection in Seattle WA has a nice historical image archive and ethnology
collection that you can browse or search. The Archaeology Collection isn’t
very accessible from the internet, but includes collections from the Pacific
Northwest.
UBC Museumof Anthropology in Vancouver BC has an easily searchable collection with
high quality images of most items.
Manitoba Museum in
Winnipeg MB has both ethnology and archaeology collections. I find the search tools cumbersome, but when
I get results, they have nice pictures.
The Harvard Peabody Museum in Boston MA has a large online collection. It is searchable by several variables
including keyword, location, cultural group, and more. If all else fails, browse through alphabetical
listings of possible search strings until you find something pertinent, or
search “northwest coast” in the “who” category (and you will get close to 2500
items).
The
Field Museum in Chicago IL has a library and large number of collections
related to ethnography and archaeology, but it is not accessible online. Franz Boas worked here in the early 1890s, shortly
after it opened. Maybe they will get with the program in the coming years.
The Glenbo Museum in Calbary AB has
a library and ethnology collection with materials from the Pacific
Northwest. Some of the material is
digital, but the search functions are difficult to use.
Digital Books, Articles, and Archives:
Society of Ethnobiology
has three publications. The “Journal of
Ethnobiology” is the flagship journal
of the society with 28 years of publication history. Members get online
access. “Contributions in Ethnobiology”
is a digital monograph series for book length research, and “Ethnobiology
Letters” is an open-access fully online journal for shorter publications. All Society of Ethnobiology publications are
peer reviewed.
The New York Botanical Garden publishes the “Journal of Economic Botany”
for the Society
of Economic Botany. This is a peer
reviewed journal that comes out quarterly.
Society membership or membership to Springer is needed to access the
articles.
Society of Ethnobiology
has three publications. The “Journal of
Ethnobiology” is the flagship journal
of the society with 28 years of publication history. Members get online
access. “Contributions in Ethnobiology”
is a digital monograph series for book length research, and “Ethnobiology
Letters” is an open-access fully online journal for shorter publications. All Society of Ethnobiology publications are
peer reviewed.The New York Botanical Garden publishes the “Journal of Economic Botany”
for the Society
of Economic Botany. This is a peer
reviewed journal that comes out quarterly.
Society membership or membership to Springer is needed to access the
articles.
American Museum of Natural
History Research Library has a collection of anthropological papers that
you can search and download for free.
Internet Archive is a great place
to search for scans of out of print books and articles that are in the public
domain. No subscription is required and
you can often select from a variety of download formats.
Google Books is free, easily
searchable, and very fast. Only books
that in the public domain (old) can be downloaded but some new books have
extensive previews or sell e-book versions.
Google Scholar is a free easy way to
start searching for articles. Newer
articles often require payment to view unless you can get access from an
institution that already has a memebership (all major universities). Older articles often have pdf downloads.
Northwest Coast Archaeology is UVic professor
Dr. Quentin Mackie’s Blog. He hosts
theses (some of them hard to find elsewhere) that are related to archaeology, anthropology,
First Nation studies, and History. His
blog is a great place to stay up to date on archaeology news and events.
Edward Curtis’s,
The North American Indian is a massive 20 volume collection of ethnographic
books about Native Americans that was compiled between 1907 and 1930. Curtis devotes particular attention to the
Pacific Northwest. Accounts are filled
with spectacular photographs and often very detailed information on the food
systems of each Nation he visited. The
entire collection of texts and ancillary photographs is hosted by Northwestern
University and is freely searchable.
McKenna-McBride
Royal Commission collection is a body of carefully transcribed testimonies
from First Peoples in the Province of British Columbia to the Royal Commission
of Indian Affairs. The Commission lasted
from 1913 until 1916 and records the words of First Nation leaders struggling with
early colonial policies some of which severely restricted ancestral food
systems. Searchable by keyword, region,
subject, band, and more. Hosted by the
Union of BC Indian Chiefs.
Sacred Texts Archive
has a collection of texts dating from the 1890s to 1930s related to the
mythology of several Native American groups in the Pacific Northwest.
ACLS Humanities E-Book is a
collection of over 3 thousand books related to the humanities. A subscription is
required for full access, but you can view search results (Title and Table of
Contents) for free. Many universities
have institutional subscriptions.
Questia.com is the worlds largest
online collection of books.
