New and Recent Exhibits
"Native Peoples of Illinois: There's No Place Like Home"
Visitors to the Schingoethe Center often ask, "who lived right here" before European contact? The Center's award-winning display, "Native Peoples of Illinois" provides detailed historical information on the early inhabitants of Illinois. Now, this exhibit has been expanded to include displays devoted to understanding of the "lifeways" of the Woodland tribes in Illinois. A full-scale wigwam and campsite help bring alive daily life in earlier times. Try your hand at assembling the frame and covering of a wigwam--you'll gain a new appreciation for the skill and foresight of native peoples. Open from September 16, 2004. |
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"South of the Border: A Shared Heritage"
The area that is now Mexico was home to some of the largest and most complex pre-Columbian native cultures, including the Maya and the Aztecs. Yet many today do not think of this heritage as "Native American," nor see its connection to the native peoples of the area that is now the United States. This exhibit provides a dazzling insight into the rich native cultures that span the U.S.-Mexico border and helps explain many of the common cultural threads between these cultures, and in contemporary Mexican and U.S. society. "South of the Border" is a joint research and construction project involving students and faculty of both Aurora University and East Aurora High School, working with the staff of the Schingoethe Center. Open from February 2004. |
"Children in Native America"
How did they grow up? How did they learn? What did they wear? What did they do, and what did they play with? Artifacts and photographs tell the story, from prehistoric to modern times. Includes material on the Native American Boarding Schools, toys, clothing, historic photographs, and other artifacts. Open from September 23, 2003. |
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"Skystone and Silver-- Jewelry of the Southwest"
Selections from the Center's extensive collection of Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo jewelry, together with the history of jewelry in the cultures of the Southwest tribes. Southwest jewelry has ancient roots, leading to an explosion of creative activity in the mid-nineteenth century that resulted in jewelry of breath-taking beauty and power. This exhibit is located directly outside the Nizhoni Gallery and further showcases the Schingoethe collection of art and artifacts from the Southwest culture area. Open from September 23, 2003. |
| The Nizhoni ("beauty" in Navajo) Southwest Gallery, located in the corner of the Main Gallery, offers an enchanting glimpse into the Native American Southwest. Timbered and plastered in a design reminiscent of the pueblo architecture of the Southwest, this new gallery showcases the Schingoethe's extensive collection of materials from the Southwest culture area. The current exhibit in the Nizhoni Gallery features a large selection of Kachina dolls, both contemporary and historic, along with displays telling the history of Kachina dolls, explaining the Hopi ceremonial cycle, and showing how we know the appearance of the many Kachinas in the Hopi tradition. Take a closer look at some of the dolls on display, and see how these Kachinas were represented by Hopi artists over a century ago. For classroom use or further study an Exhibit Companion is available for purchase at the Museum Store. |
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And see our other exhibits now on display:
- "The Tarahumara of Copper Canyon"--Artifacts from a unique community in an isolated area of Northern Mexico.
- Plains Indian Life--including lifeways that revolved around the buffalo and the horse.
- "It was only a New World to Columbus": Stone Tools and the timeline of human history in the Americas.
- Navajo Weaving Traditions
- Southwest Pottery
- Traditions of Basketry
- "The Plains Warrior: Courage and Wisdom"
- "In Citizens Garb"
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For more information about the Museum and its displays and programs,
call 630-844-5402 or contact Executive Director Meg Bero, mbero@aurora.edu. Click here for exhibit hours.
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