The Muscarelle Museum of Art is proud to announce that the exhibition catalogue for Building the Brafferton: The Founding, Funding and Legacy of America’s Indian School is available for purchase here at the Museum now as well as the Williamsburg Barnes & Noble!
Building the Brafferton was the first exhibition to examine the history of the Indian School within the wider networks of trade, politics of church and state, and Great Britain’s colonial enterprise in North America. Objects and documents from William & Mary’s collections as well as major loans from the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, Colonial Williamsburg, and Gilcrease Museum, among others, reconstructed the history of the Brafferton and its alumni. To honor the legacy of the Brafferton and its students, the Museum commissioned several contemporary Native American artworks from members of descendant tribes.
The Muscarelle also sponsored special programming related to the exhibition, including a scholarly lecture series, student research symposium, and the student event, the Brafferton Stomp Dance. All of these greatly enhanced the topic. In the exhibition and catalogue, the curators Danielle Moretti-Langholtz and Buck Woodard seek to reconnect William & Mary, which founded and funded the Brafferton Indian School, to Native communities and the Indian students. By highlighting the life histories of select Brafferton students, we hope that the Brafferton Indian School is seen as a living legacy for both indigenous people and the university.
The illustrated catalogue features new original research from Danielle Moretti-Langholtz, Buck Woodard, Ashley Atkins Spivey, Edward Chappell, Audrey Horning, Susan Kern, Mark Kostro, Alexandra Martin, Stephanie Pratt, Dylan Ruediger, Sydney Stewart, and Michaela Wright as well as a Foreword from former Director of the Muscarelle Aaron H. De Groft and a Preface by former William & Mary President W. Taylor Reveley.
