Stewart Culin Collection

The Culin Archival Collection documents the life and work of ethnologist and museum curator Stewart Culin; his role in developing the collections of the Department of Ethnology at the Brooklyn Museum (now the Brooklyn Museum of Art); his efforts to present the collections to the public through exhibitions, installations, and public program; and his research on Native American, Asian, and Eastern European cultures. The materials found here are a composite of both personal papers and institutional records, since Culin's scholarly research frequently overlapped with his curatorial duties at the Brooklyn Museum. The collection primarily covers Culin's Brooklyn Museum tenure (1903-1928), but also includes records related to his research in Philadelphia as a young man and to his work at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. In addition, some Brooklyn Museum records predate or postdate Culin's years at the Museum, reflecting this collection's role as a segment of the Records of the Department of the Arts of Africa, the Pacific, and the Americas.

The collection is comprised of a wide variety of materials, including: correspondence; expedition records, including field diaries, reports, and acquisition and expense records; exhibition and installation records; object records, including inventories, acquisition records, and research files; writings, both published and unpublished; research materials, including photographs, clippings, documentary art work, and publications; records of a personal nature, such as scrapbooks and family correspondence; financial records; and a variety of ephemera.

Culin's voluminous correspondence and his expedition reports form the heart and bulk of this collection, as they are the most complete and clear in their representation of Culin's work. The expedition reports are more than a dry recitation of items collected, from whom and where they were obtained; Culin's reports are filled with personal observations and reflections that bring the collecting process alive. The correspondence is revelatory in its abundance and diversity, documenting Culin's professional work as well as his private interests. Correspondence with his peers at the Museum, fellow ethnologists, collectors, and dealers are intermixed with personal letters to family and friends. In many cases, a personal bond is developed from a professional relationship, as seen in the letters to ethnologist Frank Hamilton Cushing (Bureau of American Ethnology), artist Thomas Eakins, and fashion expert M. D. C. Crawford (editor, Women's Wear, Fairchild Publications).

Institutional records documenting the work of the Brooklyn Museum's Department of Ethnology are represented not only in a self-contained series, but also appear in other series throughout the collection. Culin's most important projects are often documented in several series, including general correspondence, exhibitions, and writings files in addition to the Department of Ethnology files. Many records document the systematic aspects of Culin's curatorial work, among them chapbooks, catalogue cards, ledgers, financial records, and exhibition labels. The 22,000 catalogue cards alone comprise fully one half of the shelf space of this collection.

The writings found here reveal much about Culin's scholarly activities and interests. Research notes, manuscripts and typescripts, articles, and lectures are found throughout the collection. The range of his work stretches from brief pieces on ethnological topics and short stories drawn from his own experiences to lengthy typescripts for two unpublished books.

Other important elements include the Cushing collection, which contains material that grew out of a collaborative effort between Culin and Frank Hamilton Cushing to document games of the world. Cushing's correspondence and the accompanying collection of sketches and photographs provide valuable documentation of his research methods. Special projects and organizations with which Culin was involved, such as expositions, professional groups, and the Brinton memorial, are also documented.

Culin's abilities as an inveterate collector went beyond his work for the Museum collections; the results are evident in the many interesting and important collections of ephemeral and printed material that exist throughout this collection. There is a large collection of didactic and illustrative material, as well as scrapbooks documenting his interest in the Chinese-American community, World War I international politics, and his own professional and personal life.

Additional records from Culin's tenure, particularly those relating to art objects in the collection, are still to be found in the Registrar's Office and some curatorial departments.