Recovering Relationships: Reading Lenape Wampum Belts in American Museums

​Indigenous Native American wampum belts-composed of whelk and quahog shell beads, plant fibers, and leather strands-were created to encode tribal relations and diplomatic understandings. Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac shares insights from her material analyses and photographic studies of these belts, highlighting significant weaving details and symbols. Learn about several wampum belts attributed to 17th century encounters among the Lenape/Delaware people and William Penn.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac, in her multi-modal career as an ethnographer, historian, museum consultant, and performer, has long been committed to restorative interpretations of Indigenous history and material culture. At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Bruchac is an Associate Professor of Anthropology, Associate Faculty in the Penn Cultural Heritage Center, and Coordinator of Native American and Indigenous Studies. Her 2018 book, "Savage Kin: Indigenous Informants and American Anthropologists" (University of Arizona Press), received the inaugural Council for Museum Anthropology Book Award. She directs a restorative research project - "The Wampum Trail" - that focuses on the history, meaning, materiality, curation, and repatriation of historical wampum objects in museums.
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