Joshua Salyers

Native American Festivals and museums have long been of immense interest to me. Living in Tennessee, I often attended indigenous festivals in Cherokee, North Carolina. On one particular trip, I took in every Cherokee museum I could find. There are several museums in and around the city and of course I stopped by The Museum of the Cherokee Indian, which is touted as “a model for museums” on its website. The differences between representations in the different museums struck me. The Museum of the Cherokee Indian had organized their exhibits temporally, emphasizing the role of the Cherokee in the area over time. This museum furthermore focused on the material culture of the Cherokee, displaying indigenous artifacts everywhere you could see. Yet, another smaller museum (the name escapes me at the moment) offered little in the way of material artifacts but presented Cherokee history through photographs, information panels, and film. This museum Presented Cherokee culture by focusing on the transmission of legends and customs far more than material culture and temporal continuity. These noticeable differences illustrate the issues of museums and representation of folk life that Cantwell discussed.