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Grand Teton National Park refurbishes David T. Vernon Indian Arts Collection
Visitors examine hundreds of artifacts in the Colter Bay Indian Arts Museum in Grand Teton National Park.
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In mid-March, weeks before the Colter Bay Visitor Center opens to the public, the David T. Vernon Indian Arts Museum comes to life as a park ranger flips on light switches in an unseen back room. The eyes of American Indians stare out from walls, their images exposed on wood panels spread with photographic emulsion decades ago. A movie projector throws silent black-and-white images of Indian life on two of three screens—a bulb must be out—on a wall above the museum’s main floor.
Glass display cases illuminate to reveal the museum pieces within: there’s an Osage necklace made of grizzly claws that dates from the 1800s, and a small bow a Crow made from the horns of a bighorn sheep. Various blanket strips adorned with brilliantly colored trade beads or dyed porcupine quills lay beside pipes that have been dismantled to pay respect to the American Indian ancestors who made them.
Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott leads a tour, and the museum staff points out their favorite pieces and some of the more unique items. “This necklace over here is made from the legs of a tortoise,” says museum curator Alice Hart, pointing to one of the display cases. “I wonder if there is another one of these anywhere. Some of these pieces are the very finest of their kind.”
For all time and effort that the museum staff has put into caring for the collection, the artifacts are suffering. The building and many of its display cases date from 1972, before most of the modern standards for protecting museum pieces were developed.
One display case is too close to the window, allowing light to take its toll on 150-year-old fabric. Insects and rodents have damaged arrows and blanket strips. Years ago, now-park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs was working as an interpretive ranger in the museum when she noticed some beads were misplaced. “I started thinking the spirits were playing with us,” Skaggs says. “We put out a live trap and caught a busy-tailed woodrat.”
The display cases lack the proper humidity controls, and some artifacts have been left in the same position for dozens of years. Once, an American Indian woman told Skaggs that some of the artifacts were fine, “and some of them were angry.”
The museum itself has $2.8 million in deferred maintenance, including a failing roof and deck. Steep stairs make it difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to access exhibits and the guest artist workspace on the lower level.
