Dr Leonhard Adam and his ethnographic collection at the University of Melbourne : volume one

Sloggett, Robyn.

Dr Leonhard Adam and his ethnographic collection at the University of Melbourne : volume one

Authors

Sloggett, Robyn.

Date

2009

Publisher

University of Melbourne

Affiliation

Arts Collected Works

Full item page

Document Type

PhD thesis

Access Status

Only available to University of Melbourne staff and students, login required

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11343/343764

Description

Typescript

Thesis (PhD) -- University of Melbourne, Faculty of Arts, 2010

Includes bibliographical references.

Abstract

This thesis argues for the importance of certain forms of knowledge transmission that, while effective and persuasive in dialogues about identity and survival, are not included in the accepted canonical discussions regarding the development of knowledge about Indigenous communities in the twentieth century. Using the Leonhard Adam Collection of International Indigenous Culture at the University of Melbourne as both a focus and a point of departure, this study examines how the collection and trade in ethnographic objects supported the development of programs, theories and systems that explored concepts of cultural destruction, survival and rejuvenation. In Australia, such discussions were keenly pursued outside, or tangentially to, those official custodians of such knowledge, the institutions of the university and the museum, and involved three groups: Germans with Jewish heritage, Australian women and Aboriginal Australians. Leonhard Adam (1891-1960) lived during the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century. Using his experiences and work in developing an ethnographic collection at the University, this study shows how the collection and celebration of Australian ethnographic material was part of social comment that influenced social policy, and contributed to the development of Australian visual culture. While Adam�s European sensibilities and expectations were sometimes at odds with those with whom he worked, his academic and social networks enabled him to interact with a broad range of individuals who were interested in Aboriginal art, culture and social issues. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s Adam sought to propel this local experience into the international arena. He introduced Aboriginal art into ethnographic collections and ethnographic and art historical discourse across the globe. This thesis assesses the contribution made by Leonhard Adam, and the collection he built at the University of Melbourne, to the development of intellectual, political and social spaces where Aboriginal art could be described, traded and celebrated. The study confirms that the trade in Indigenous cultural material in the middle of the twentieth century helped to conceptualise and support models of Indigenous economic empowerment and cultural sustainability that are operating today.

Keywords

Adam, Leonhard, 1891-1960 -- Ethnological collections, University of Melbourne -- Ethnological collections.

Collections

Arts Collected Works - Theses