objects. There were also black and white slides of these photos in the collection records

in the Registrar's department. About half of the objects are on exhibit at FLMNH, in

Powell Hall. These objects had been documented in slide form for condition reports in

2001, and the slides were stored with the exhibits department at the exhibits building. I

am providing this information on the variety of locations for FEC information in detail,

because it highlights the difficulty a Native American or non-Native researcher might

face in trying to gather all the information on Seminole/Miccosukee objects at the

Florida Museum.

       To organize the information, I created an Excel document to combine the various

facets of information a researcher may be interested in.2 The first step in gathering and

digitizing the FEC information was to scan 279 index catalog cards. The catalog cards

have the greatest amount of information on each object including descriptions,

materials, maker, donor, dimensions, place and date collected, history of provenance,

and some Native consultation comments. Next, I examined the accession files, entering

information on object collection and donor history to the Excel document. Then I verified

the objects that were out on loan, by referring to loan documents and physically

confirming their location in storage, so that the onsite objects could be identified and

professionally photographed. I examined the objects onsite for descriptions and

measurements, and arranged for the museum photographer to photograph the objects

in a high-resolution digital format, resulting in 169 new group and single-object photos.

Next, I scanned 170 slides to obtain digital images of the Seminole/ Miccosukee objects


2 The categories of information included in the Excel Spreadsheet: Catalog Number, Listed Provenience, Typology,
Basic Description, Full Description, Condition, Measurements, Materials, Date Made, Loan Status, Storage
Location, Donor, Additional Notes, Publications, Photography Sources.