Occidental to Partner with Autry National Center

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Author: PJ Maresca

Occidental may partner with the Autry National Center’s Southwest Museum of the American Indian (SMAI), located on Mount Washington, according to Director of Communications Jim Tranquada. The purpose of this partnership would be to enhance the study of the Southwest at Occidental.

The museum closed its doors in 2009 due to financial issues. The Autry Center is currently searching for partners to help in reopening the museum.

“The Autry is one of a series of cultural institutions Occidental is talking to in order to explore the possibilities of institutional partnerships from which Oxy students could benefit,” Tranquada said. “The kinds of programs under discussion include internships and docent opportunities for students, student and faculty access to museum archives for research purposes, sharing the costs associated with bringing in distinguished scholars who would be available to students and sharing visiting faculty.”

Occidental used to have a thriving Southwestern studies program, and this partnership with the Autry National Center is a step toward renewing that program.

“It was a widespread area of study taught by professors who had received degrees and were specialists in Southwest Culture,” College Archivist Jean Paule said.

The Southwestern studies program at Occidental was known nationwide. The Rockefeller Foundation funded an annual Southwestern Conference at the College for about five or six years during the late ’40s and early ’50s in order to celebrate Occidental’s academic work on the American Southwest. In this time, the college first formed a relationship with the SMAI.

“There is no doubt that students and well-known professors in the field had close relations to the museum,” Paule said.

The SMAI, founded in 1907, is the oldest museum in Los Angeles. The Museum owns 250,000 American and Native American artifacts recovered from locations throughout the Western United States.

Since the museum was built, it has suffered from extensive natural damage as well as human neglect. The 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged the Caracol Tower, a section of the museum used for storing artifacts. In the winter of 2004-2005, the museum was flooded, destroying sections housing dioramas of Native American life.

In 2003, the Autry National Center, which owns The Museum of the American West in Griffith Park, merged with the museum in hopes of restoring it. However, in 2009, the Southwestern Museum of the American Indian closed its doors.

This time period also brought the degradation of the Southwestern studies program here at Occidental. In the 1940s, there were many classes in the Anthropology and History departments focused on learning about the culture of the American Southwest, such as “Aboriginal Cultures of Native America,” “California and the West” and “History of the American Southwest.” However, in ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, these courses slowly disappeared. Currently, there are very few courses offered at the college on the American Southwest.

Originally promising to make reopening the museum an immediate goal, the Autry National Center has instead pursued the expansion of its Griffith Park location. However, the city council denied this request and asked for the Autry National Center to honor its promise. The city council is now helping the center to pursue partnerships that will help raise funds for the reopening of the museum.

“The College has no plans to donate money to the museum,” Tranquada said.

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