The Collection

Starting with Adolph Meinecke's contributions at the turn of the century and ending most recently with Dr. Nancy Oestreich Lurie's additions in the 1980s and several additions in the 1990s, MPM's Sami collection represents a large span in the fascinating history of Sami culture.

Numbering just about one hundred pieces, MPM's is the only sizeable collection in North America at this time, and perhaps the only large Sami collection outside of Europe at all. MPM's holdings are comprised of mostly utilitarian items such as personal adornment and household goods, though several pieces, including figures, candelabras and a flag, are decorative. The preponderance of utilitarian items speaks to the pragmatic lifestyles of traditional Sami and their continued connection to the land and to their roots. Because MPM has only added a handful of items since the 1980s, the holdings do not yet represent a comprehensive reflection of the rebirth of Sami culture since the 1970s. Interesting additions to the collection would therefore include examples of Sami two-dimensional art, as well as other items that reflect contemporary Sami lifestyles and connections to mainstream European culture. The collection does include a Sami flag, a decorative candelabra, two children's dolls in Sami clothing, and a bead necklace.

379 Fur-lined leather pouch and needle case	380 Heddle and loom	382 Cradle
383 Woman's wool and felt hat	426 Hay strings	2242 Freight sleigh, Norway
2242a Wool belt from summer suit, Norway	2242b Wool pants, Norway	2242c Man's wool and felt hat, Norway
2242d Leather summer boots, Norway	2242e-g Leather pouch for pipe, Norway	2242j-k Knife with sheath, Norway
2243c Fur mittens, Norway	2243d Norwegian style wool and felt hat, Karasjok	2243g Leather and wool boot bands, Norway
2243h Knife with sheath, Norway	2243i-j Leather straps, Norway	11888 Ivory on leather threading, Norway
11893 Knife with sheath, Norway	29728 Bone spoon	33065 Bone spoon, Norway
33066 Bone spoon, Norway	35168 Knife with sheath	35169 Bone implement
55809a-b Cotton handkerchief, Sweden	55810a-c Leather belt with two knives, Sweden	55811 Man's wool and felt tunic, Sweden
55815 Norwegian style wool and felt hat, Kautokeino	55816 Leather backpack for carrying food and personal items, Sweden	55817 Leather coffee sack, Sweden
55818 Wooden bowl, Sweden	55819 Leather summer boots, Sweden	55822 Knife with sheath
55823 Swedish-style wool and felt hat	55824 Wooden bowl, Sweden	55825 Wooden bowl, Finland
55826 Bone spoon, Sweden	55827 Fur-lined leather match pouch (tourist item)	55828 Wooden bowl. Sweden
55829a-b Knife with sheath, Sweden	55830a-b Woman's wool boot bands, Sweden	55831 Wooden bowl, Sweden
55832 Cow horn salt horn, Sweden	55833 Wooden reindeer yoke, Sweden	55834 Swedish-style modern boy's wool and felt cap
56502a-b Wooden figures of Sami and reindeer, Sweden	55808 Rope	55814 Leather, fur and wool winter pants, Sweden
58429a-b Fur boots	59265 Cradle, Norway	60362 Bone spoon with etching
60797 Leather belt	60878 Leather purse	60881 Wool and felt tunic
60896 Bone implement	60979a-b Leather belt and fur pouch	60880 Norwegian style wool and felt hat from Kautokeino
61593 Reindeer harness, wood yoke, wool and leather bridle, Norway	61645a-b Woman's wool and felt tunic, Sweden	61846a-c Woman's wool and felt tunic, hat and belt. Sweden
61847a-b Man's wool and felt tunic, Sweden	61848 Boy's wool and felt hat, Sweden	61849 Woman's wool and felt hat with broach, Sweden
62779 Bone reindeer lasso slide. Finnmark, Norway	63089 Antler candelabra, Finland	63090 Bone spoon, Finland (tourist item)
63091a-b Knife with sheath, Finland	63092 Wool blanket, Finland	63093 Necklace of bone and leather, Finland
63094 Metal woman's ring, Finland	63569 Leather lasso, Finland	63570 Leather lasso, Finland
63571 Letter opener	63922 Knife with sheath, Karasjok, Norway	65440 Shuttle
66742 Chalice-shaped basketry bowl, Finland	66743 Leather cell phone holder, Finland	66744 Senna grass braid, stuffed into boots as "socks", Finland
66745 Sami flag, Finland	67079 Antler candelabra, Finland	67080 Norwegian male Sami doll
67081 Norwegian female Sami doll	67082 Wool and felt hat	67083a-b Fur-lined children's boots
67084 Wool and felt pouch	67085 Beaded necklace	67086 Wool and felt boot bands

Major Donors

Though MPM's Sami collection includes items from over ten sources, the three major donors include Adolph Meinecke, Robert Pehrson, and Nancy Lurie.

Adolph Meinecke provided MPM's earliest acquisitions of Sami material in the early 1900s. Born in Germany, Meinecke immigrated to Milwaukee in 1855 as a wealthy toy manufacturer and importer. He opened the Meinecke Toy Company at 125 E. Wells Street. Meinecke traveled frequently and, upon becoming a board trustee for the Milwaukee Public Museum in 1885, he was authorized to bring back particular objects from Norway (A Special Style 1983: 16). The Sami items Meinecke provided include a large wooden freight sled, a collection of reindeer skins, antlers and several costume pieces.

Robert Pehrson graduated from the University of Chicago in 1955 with a dissertation entitled "Bilateral Network of Social Relations in Konkawa Lapp District." He continued fieldwork among the Sami in Norway and developed a prolific publishing record. He collected for MPM through the 1950s, acquiring a large collection of Sami utilitarian and decorative items including several ski poles (not pictured) and ornate tunics.

Nancy Oestreich Lurie was a social anthropologist and Curator Emerita at MPM. She served as President of the American Anthropological Association (1983-85) and as the head of the MPM Anthropology Department from 1972-1992. She developed an interest in subarctic cultures early, but the majority of her career focused on the Ho-Chunk/Winnebago in Wisconsin and Nebraska (Wisconsin Archaeology 74(1-4) 1993: 3-9). In a six-week break during her 1965-66 Fulbright-Hays lectureship at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, Lurie visited Sami communities in Norway on a travel grant. She had been interested in Sami culture for a while and, had the Second World War not restricted international fieldwork, she might have started her professional anthropological career there. Following her year in Denmark and upon assuming her curatorship at MPM, Lurie acquired several pieces for the Sami collection in a later trip in the 1980s, most notably a traditional cradle.