Daniel C. Swan
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Daniel C. Swan is an American cultural anthropologist and museum curator whose work has focused on documenting and interpreting the cultural history of the Americas. He has specialized particularly on the histories, social organizations, and cultures of Native North American peoples in
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, USA. His research on the history, significance, and artistic forms of the
Native American Church The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. The re ...
has led to research and exhibition collaborations with artists and elders in a diversity of American Indian communities, both in Oklahoma and elsewhere in the Western United States. In addition to his work on American Indian topics, he has organized exhibitions and museum catalogs about cultural diversity in the American West and in the Western Hemisphere more broadly.


Career

Swan is Curator ''emeritus'' of Ethnology at the
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictio ...
(Norman, Oklahoma) where he also served Interim Director for several years prior to retirement. Concurrently, he is a Professor of Anthropology ''emeritus'' in the Department of Anthropology at the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
. Before returning to the University of Oklahoma in 2007, Swan had served as the Director of the Chucalissa Museum and as an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the
University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...
, as the Senior Curator at the Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa, Oklahoma), and as Curator of Ethnology at the Science Museum of Minnesota (Minneapolis). He completed his doctorate in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma in 1990 with a dissertation that documented the history of the Native American Church among the
Osage The Osage Nation, a Native American tribe in the United States, is the source of most other terms containing the word "osage". Osage can also refer to: * Osage language, a Dhaegin language traditionally spoken by the Osage Nation * Osage (Unicode b ...
people. He has collaborated with the Osage since the early 1980s. Before relocating to Oklahoma for graduate school he earned a B.A. in anthropology from the State University of New York Binghamton (
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...
).


Exhibitions

His 1999 exhibition "Symbols of Faith and Belief: The Art of the Native American Church" explored the arts associated with the rituals and beliefs of the
Native American Church The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. The re ...
, a formally organized religion found in a large number of Native American communities in the United States and Canada. The religion is associated with the sacramental use of the
peyote The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. ''Peyote'' is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar cocoon", from a root , "to gl ...
cactus (''Lophophora williamsii''). The exhibition was organized by the Gilcrease Museum and traveled to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Navajo Nation Museum, and the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. A companion book-''Peyote Religious Art: Symbols of Faith and Belief''- was published by the University Press of Mississippi. In addition to numerous museum exhibitions that he has curated at the institutions with which he has been affiliated, Swan was a core contributor to "The Art of the Osage," a major 2004 exhibition of the Saint Louis Art Museum. The exhibition was the first to focus specifically on the rich and complex artistic and cultural traditions of the Osage people. The University of Washington Press published the companion book, for which Swan with the co-author with
Garrick Bailey Garrick may refer to: * Garrick (name), for the name's origin and people with either the surname or given name, the most famous being: ** David Garrick (1717–1779), English actor * Garrick Club, a London gentlemen's club named in honour of David ...
. In 2009 he completed work on a major project to conserve, interpret, and exhibit a unique pictorial record of Kiowa history compiled by the artist-historian Silver Horn. The exhibition, K-12 teacher's materials, and scholarly book all shared the title ''One Hundred Summers: A Kiowa Calendar Record''. Swan is a member of the Executive Board of the
Council for Museum Anthropology The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, ...
. He serves on the editorial board for the journal ''
Museum Anthropology Review ''Museum Anthropology Review'' is a peer-reviewed gold open access academic journal focusing on research in material culture studies, museum-based scholarship, and the study of museums in society. In addition to anthropology, it covers the fields o ...
''.


Collaborators

Swan's scholarly collaborators include the late
Preston Morrell Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement ** County Bor ...
(Osage), the late
Harding Big Bow Harding may refer to: People *Harding (surname) *Maureen Harding Clark (born 1946), Irish jurist Places Australia * Harding River Iran * Harding, Iran, a village in South Khorasan Province South Africa * Harding, KwaZulu-Natal United St ...
(Kiowa), and
Jason Baird Jackson Jason Baird Jackson, Ph.D. (born 1969) is Professor of Folklore and Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. He is "an advocate of open access issues and works for scholarly communications and scholarly publishing projects." At IUB, he has s ...
. He also has collaborated with
Mongrain Lookout The Osage script is a new script promulgated in 2006 and revised 2012–2014 for the Osage language. Because Latin orthographies were subject to interference from English conventions among Osage students who were more familiar with English than ...
(Osage).


Major awards (selected)

Swan's 2019 book (with Jim Cooley) ''Wedding Clothes and the Osage Community: A Giving Heritage'' (Bloomington: Indiana University Press) was honored with the 2020 Council for Museum Anthropology Book Prize. The book was also recognized as the honorable mention for the Wayland D. Hand Prize awarded by the Folklore and History Section of the American Folklore Society.


Representative works

*Daniel C. Swan (1998) “Early Osage Peyotism.” ''Plains Anthropologist''. 43(163): 51–71. *Daniel C. Swan (1999) “Peyote Arts at Gilcrease Museum: A Systematic Collection.” ''American Indian Art Magazine''. 24(2): 36–45. *Daniel C. Swan (1999) ''Peyote Religious Arts: Symbols of Faith and Belief''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. *Daniel C. Swan (2003) "Beading Lakota Style." ''Gilcrease Journal''. 11(2):32-46. *Garrick Bailey and Daniel C. Swan (2005) ''Art of the Osage''. Seattle: University of Washington Press. *Sarah Erwin, Anne Morand, Kevin Smith, and Daniel C. Swan (2005) ''Treasures of Gilcrease: Selections from the Permanent Collection''. Tulsa, OK: Gilcrease Museum. *Daniel C. Swan (2008) "Peyotism and the Native American Church." In ''Indians in Contemporary Society''. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 2 Garrick Bailey, ed., pp. 317–326. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution. *Daniel C. Swan (2008) "Contemporary Navajo Peyote Arts." ''American Indian Art Magazine''. 34(1):45-55, 94. *Daniel C. Swan, eds. (2018) ''Fluent Generations: The Art of Anita, Tom, and Yatika Fields''. Norman: Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. *Daniel C. Swan, D. and Jim Cooley. (2019) ''Wedding Clothes and the Osage Community: A Giving Heritage''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.


References


External links

*
Ethnology Program at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Silver Horn Calendar Record Teacher's Site

ethnology@snomnh Collections Objects Weblog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swan, Daniel C. Living people American anthropologists American non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)