Tuesday, June 18, 2013

An Introduction to the Native American Artifact Collection of the Hunterdon County Historical Society

The Hunterdon County Historical Society has an extensive collection of Native American artifacts collected by Hiram Edmund Deats (1870-1973).  Deats, the son of a wealthy industrialist, was a true 19th-century antiquarian.  He collected stamps, books, and artifacts. His collection of Native American artifacts contains a large amount of material from New Jersey as well as artifacts from other states, including Ohio, Florida, and Tennessee.  There are also artifacts from Denmark and France as well as ethnographic pieces from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The collection is important not just for what it reveals about New Jersey prehistory but for the insights it can provide into the activities of collectors and amateur scientists during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

This blog shares the results of research by Monmouth University students enrolled in a course titled New Jersey Prehistory (AN/HS 398/598).  Students enrolled in the course worked on cataloging the collection and analyzed select groups of artifacts.  The project began the spring of 2013 under the direction of Professor Richard Veit.  It is is an ongoing project and will be updated as more artifacts are analyzed.  Feel free to contact Richard Veit, rveit@monmouth.edu for more information.  For information about the Hunterdon County Historical Society use this link Hunterdon County Historical Society.

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