Our Team | Tuma Angwu Owya

Wesleyan Library Statement of Support

The Wesleyan University Library is honored to participate in the Tuma Angwu Owya project, a creative effort to connect the Hopi community with cultural heritage objects collected by the Melville family during the 1920s and donated to Wesleyan in 1976. Through Patty Talahongva’s curatorial vision, this project reimagines the typical museum “collections visit” by bringing the repository to the community. By centering contemporary Hopi families and Hopi lands in the request for collections access, Talahongva’s project lays the groundwork for more inclusive, responsive, and culturally informed models of stewardship and collections care and we are proud to partner with her.

Hopitutuqaiki is honored to be a part of Tuma Angwu Owya, a historic event for Hopi people. Hopi artists, potters, collectors and the general public are expected to see the unique cultural treasures that are a big part of Hopi history.

Learn more: https://hopitutuqaiki.com/

As the Maxwell Museum’s Curator of Ethnology, I specialize exploring the heritage value of legacy museum collections for Indigenous communities through community-informed research. With funding from the Henry Luce Foundation and the University of New Mexico, I’m currently mounting a major exhibition of the Maxwell’s permanent collection of Pueblo pottery. At the outset of my career, I was invited to join with other recent Wesleyan graduates to interpret the newly donated Melville Collection in an exhibit and catalog. My contribution focused on the Melville family, their 1927 excursion to the Hopi mesas, and Maud Melville’s collecting interests. Now having worked with Hopi potters for over thirty years, many of my initial contacts were made through following up on potters mentioned in Maud Melville’s correspondence. Legacy museum collections are highly valued among contemporary potters and community members. Face-to-face encounters with their cultural heritage regenerates memories that resonate throughout the community, building new knowledge for the future. That is the beauty of these projects.