Southwest Museum of the American Indian

Biography / Administrative History

Materials for this collection were acquired by Southwest Museum and Library staff or through various Library donations. The donations include some of the Library's earliest donors, such as Charles Fletcher Lummis, Joseph Amasa Munk, and George Wharton James. This is an open collection and new materials added are predominately in the English language. When deemed appropriate, individual items from this collection have been or will be moved to another manuscript collection or cataloged individually and added to the monograph collection.

Biography / Administrative History

In 1977, the Southwest Museum Library became known as the Braun Research Library to signify the new library building and its donor, C. Allan Braun. The library supports the activities of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, Autry National Center and contains important collections of rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and sound recordings acquired by the museum since its founding in 1907. The Braun also houses the manuscript collections of Charles Fletcher Lummis, founder of the Southwest Museum. In 2003, the merger of the Braun Research Library, Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of the American West (then known as the Museum of Western Heritage) and the Autry Library created the Autry National Center.

Biography / Administrative History

Robert S. Curry volunteered for the Southwest Museum's Anthropological Department for 15 years. He worked with Dr. Kathleen Whitaker, former SWM curator, on her publication Southwest Textiles: Weavings of the Navajo and Pueblo. His personal research interests included ledger art and winter counts.