[Aztlan] March 14 2009 Pre-Columbian Society at Penn Museum Meeting

[Lynnmatlakinik at aol.com]

MARCH  2009 Pre-Colombian Society of the  University of Pennsylvania Museum 
Meeting: 
Saturday, March 14,  2009 , 1:30 PM,  Room  345 
University of Pennsylvania Museum 
3260 South  Street 
Philadelphia,  PA  19104 
Abigail Seldin,  University of  Pennsylvania, Anthropology  Department 
Graduate Student,  
Co- Curator of  Fulfilling a Prophecy: The Past and  Present of the Lenape in 
Pennsylvania: 
Flying with the Fourth Crow: A  Reflection on Curating Fulfilling a Prophecy 
Once the undisputed lords of southeastern Pennsylvania, the Lenape  disappear 
from the state's history after their forcible removal westward in  the 1700s. 
Although the academic community has maintained that no Lenape  remained in 
Pennsylvania at the close of the  18th century, this position is belied by the 
recent emergence of  the direct descendants of Lenape women who intermarried 
with  German settlers. These Lenape-Germans have kept their ancestry a  
well-guarded secret, fearing the persecutions suffered by their  contemporaries in the 
American Indian community. Yet, for more than two hundred  years, the members 
of this lineage have faithfully upheld their Native  traditions. The 
extraordinary stories of these women and their families are  being shared for the 
first time in the exhibition Fulfilling a Prophecy: The Past and  Present of the 
Lenape in Pennsylvania,  on display at Penn  Museum through October  2010.  A 
collaboration between Penn  graduate student Abigail Seldin, Chief Robert Red 
Hawk Ruth and Tribal Secretary  Shelley DePaul of the Lenape Nation of 
Pennsylvania, Fulfilling a Prophecy is one of  first exhibits to be co-curated by an 
anthropologist together with Native  American representatives in the United 
States. The talk Ms. Seldin  will present addresses the history of the secret 
Lenape of Pennsylvania, and her  experiences working with the Lenape over the 
past three years.   
Abigail Seldin will graduate in May from the University of Pennsylvania with 
a bachelor’s degree and  a master’s degree in anthropology. Recently awarded 
a Rhodes Scholarship, she  will begin her studies at the Oxford University 
Institute of Social and Cultural  Anthropology in the fall. While at the 
University of Pennsylvania, Seldin  co-curated the exhibit Fulfilling a  Prophecy: The 
Past and Present of the Lenape in Pennsylvania, with  Chief Robert Red Hawk 
Ruth and Tribal Secretary Shelley DePaul of the Lenape  Nation of Pennsylvania. 
The exhibit received significant local and national  media attention, 
including major stories in The Philadelphia Inquirer,  Indian Country Today, 
syndicated articles by Reuters and the Associated  Press, and segments on Philadelphia’
s ABC affiliate, WRTI-FM Radio, as  well as various other TV and radio 
stations. Seldin has had extensive prior  curatorial experience, having served as a 
Student Co-Curator of  University of Pennsylvania Museum: 120 Years Old in 
2007,  and Trouble in Paradise: The Art of  Polynesian Warfare, in 2006 at the 
Penn Museum, as well as Curator of Pecos Pueblo: Crossroads of  Culture, a 
permanent  exhibition at the Peabody Museum of  Archaeology. Andover,  MA. Ms. 
Seldin has participated in  archaeological field projects in France, Egypt and the 
United  States, and has published articles in Cultural Survival Quarterly, 
Expedition Magazine, and The Concord Review.   

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