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Catalog Data

Collection Creator:
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation  Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Biographical / Historical:
William (nee Willem) Wildschut (1883-1955) was born and educated in Holland. He emigrated to Canada in 1910 and after living in Montreal for a short while moved, with his wife Ellen, to Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1916, Wildschut began working for the Dutch Hypoteek Bank in Spokane, Washington and in 1918 the bank transferred Wildschut to its office in Billings, Montana—not far from the Crow reservation. Wildschut started collecting Crow Indian objects and, somehow, George G. Heye learnt of his collecting activities and hired him to work as a field collector for the Museum of the American Indian—Heye Foundation. Wildschut worked for the museum until 1929, when Heye was no longer able to afford to keep him on staff. Wildschut was not only a field collector but a self-trained ethnographer. Throughout the 1920s Wildschut maintained detailed artifact lists, almost always identifying the name of the person from whom he purchased objects and including extended descriptions of the objects he purchased. He also maintained expense accounts. But most importantly, Wildschut interviewed Crow elders, most notably Two Leggings, with whom he had clearly developed a close rapport. Wildschut's field notes and manuscripts have resulted in three books that were edited and published after his death; Crow Indian Beadwork: A Descriptive and Historical Study, Crow Indian Medicine Bundles edited by John Ewers and Two Leggings: The Making of a Crow Warrior, edited by Peter Nabokov. In 1929, the Wildschuts moved to San Diego, California, then to Seattle, Washington, Los Angeles, California and, finally, in 1936, they settled in Oakland, California. Wildschut died in Oakland at the age of 71.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
See more items in:
Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation records
Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation records / Series 6: Collectors
Archival Repository:
National Museum of the American Indian
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv41c1d8b16-0cfd-4f94-b451-e046cc6062d7
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmai-ac-001-ref15781