North America Collections

Blackfoot beadwork from the Plains. Obsidian blades from the Hopewell site. Transformation masks from the Northwest coast. Archaeological textiles from the Southwest. The Field Museum serves as a steward for hundreds of thousands of objects from throughout North America.

The Museum's collections from the Arctic and Subarctic evidence the many-faceted adaptations of human societies to stark, changing environments.

Another strength of the Museum's North American collections is the material culture of groups in the Plains and Montane regions. They reflect the long history of migration and diversification of Native people across the heartland of America.

In the Museum's collections from the southwestern United States, prehistoric specimens have played a role in understanding the origins of agriculture in the region.

The Museum holds a large collection of material from the Hopewell Culture of Ohio dating back more than 2,000 years. It is one manifestation of the far-flung Hopewell network that extended over much of the eastern United States and included trade in copper, obsidian, pearls, exotic flints, mica, and quartz.

Image above: Haida house model, which was originally displayed in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Catalog Number 21.17990. © The Field Museum, A114410_02d, Photographer John Weinstein.

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