Half a Heifer at the Haffenreffer Museum Collections Research Center

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Lukas Rieppel, assistant professor of history and director of the Science, Technology and Society program at Brown University, drove the CAIRNS director to the Haffenreffer Museum Collections Research Center in Bristol, Rhode Island. They enjoyed a tour of the collections led by Robert Preucel, director, and Jen Wicoff, collections manager/registrar. A surprising item in the collections was a 1995 collage painting by Arthur Amiotte. The artwork incorporates written text, and one page includes a humorous play on the name of the person who the Museum is named after, Rudolf Haffenreffer Jr. Haffenreffer was an avid collector of American Indain archaeological and ethnographic works who made his fortune through breweries. The writing is: “They said there was a man in the east who wanted to buy our old clothes. They said he is to buy lots of Indians old clothes. They said he must be part Indian cause his name is Half a Heifer. Maybe he will pay us in cows.” Robert and Jen showing Arthur’s artwork, photo by Lukas Rieppel.

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