The Wheelwright Museum’s collection holding number around 11,000 items including jewelry, metalwork, carving, basketry, folk art, and textiles of the Navajo, Rio Grande Pueblo, and other Native peoples of New Mexico.
The Wheelwright Museum archival holding number is around 510 feet, including the papers of scholars and artists, including John Adair, Kate Peck Kent, Laura Adams Armer, Caroline B. Olin, Byron Harvey, Washington Mathews, Mary Cabot Wheelwright, Frances Newcomb, and many others.
Access to collections and archives is by appointment only. Requests should be sent 4 weeks in advance. For Collections based inquiries contact our Collections Department at collections@wheelwright.org or 505-982-4636 ext. 113. For archives based inquiries contact our Archivist at nbyers@wheelwright.org.
IMLS and Mellon Foundations Grant Update
The Wheelwright Museum is pleased to report that we have successfully completed 2 of 3 grant-funded projects to improve the public accessibility of museum collections and archives. In 2020, a generous $50,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) allowed us to hire student intern Nataani Hanley Moraga, purchase new compactor storage, move the museum archives, create a new workstation for an archivist and researchers, update our computer database, and enhance our social media posts.
We also received a significant $36,636 grant from IMLS in 2021. This ambitious project allowed the museum to migrate its aging database from Filemaker Pro to Rediscovery’s Proficio collections management system, so that our collections can be researched from a link on the museum’s web site (called Proficio on the Web). This grant also brought in student interns Danielle Hena, Charles John, and Nataani Hanley Moraga to assist with the project, and funded needed equipment and supplies including a freezer for pest prevention, insect traps, UV-filtering window film, laptops for collections management, collections photography equipment, and data loggers to monitor temperature and humidity in museum spaces. Funds from IMLS also allowed us to begin adding the archives to the new Proficio database.
Our current grant is funded at $500,000 through the generosity of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This project supports staff capacity and allows us to continue the process of making our collections available on the Web by providing additional computer hardware, improving the Museum’s web site and preparing it for the on-line module, moving the museum’s archival records to a new location, photography and cataloging of the collection, digitizing materials from the John Adair Archives by volunteer Steve Harvath, posting finding aids to the new web site, and launching Proficio on the Web in early 2024.
We are grateful to IMLS and the Mellon Foundation for their support of these important projects, which not only bring visibility and accessibility to the Wheelwright Museum and its collections and exhibitions, but also help facilitate the career paths of Native American students wishing to join the museum profession.
Archival Finding Aids
Our Archive contains numerous collections pertaining to the running and history of the Museum and scholars in the fields of Native American Arts and Culture. In order to improve access for researchers and scholars we have created DACS compliant finding aids for many of our collections. This is an ongoing project and the finding aids listed below are not the extent of our archival holdings. The links below will download the listed finding aid.
Administrative Records
- AR001 Articles of Incorporation and Founding Documents
- AR002 Accreditation
- AR003 Board of Trsutees
- AR004 Wheelwright Museum Foundation
- AR005 Financial
- AR006 Director’s Correspondence
- AR007 Weavings, Sandpaintings, and Chants
- AR008 Lawsuits and Legal Matters
- AR009 Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Arts General Files
- AR010 Assistant Director
- AR011 Assistant to Director
- AR012 Publications
- AR013 Exhibits
- AR014 Buildings and Grounds
- AR015 Conservation
- AR016 Curatorial
- AR017 Grants
- AR018 NAGPRA
- AR019 Events
- AR020 Education
- AR021 Friends of the Wheelwright
- AR022 Case Trading Post
- AR024 Photographs
- AR025 Mary Cabot Wheelwright Research
- AR026 Development
- AR028 Operations
Audio Visual Collections
Manuscript Collections
- MS001 Mary Cabot Wheelwright Papers
- MS002 Father Berard Haile Chant Collection
- MS003 Dr. Harry Hoijer Collection
- MS004 Leland C. Wyman Manuscript Collection
- MS005 Washington Matthews Papers
- MS006 Byron Harvey III Collection
- MS007 John Frederick Huckel Collection
- MS009 Kate Peck Kent Papers
- MS011 A.H. Whiteford Papers
Admission: $10.00
Free for Museum Members, Native Americans, children under 12, students with a valid ID, veterans and active military.
Phone
(505) 982-4636
|
(800) 607-4636
Hours
Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00am - 5:00pm
Closed Mondays & Sundays, (check our schedule for Free First Sunday open dates) July 4, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day
