Aldona Jonaitis

Aldona Jonaitis
Blonde white woman in a sunny room, standing by stairs, holding a microphone and wearing a blue sheer scarf
Born (1948-11-27) November 27, 1948
Flushing, Queens, New York, USA
EducationStony Brook University (Bachelor's) Columbia University (MA, PhD)

Aldona Jonaitis (born 1948) is an American art historian,[1] author, and director emerita of the University of Alaska Museum of the North. She has written several books focussing on Indigenous Northwest Coast art.

A professor at Stony Brook University in the 1970s and 1980s, she was hired to work as the vice president for public programs at the American Museum of Natural History in 1989. While there, she produced the 1991 exhibition Chiefly Feasts, a display on potlaches as they have been celebrated by the Kwakwakaʼwakw people. She moved to Alaska in 1993 after being hired by the University of Alaska Museum of the North to work as their director and the associated University of Alaska, Fairbanks, to teach anthropology classes. Upon her initial retirement from the museum in 2009, the university made her a director emerita. She came back in 2012 to work as interim director, before retiring again in 2015. Jonaitis has received an Governor's Awards for the Humanities in 2015 for her work in Alaska, and a Curators Committee Award for Excellence by the American Alliance of Museums for her work curating Chiefly Feasts.

As an author, her books include Art of the Northern Tlingit (1986), From the Land of the Totem Poles (1988), The Yuquot Whalers' Shrine (1999), The Totem Pole: An Intercultural History.(2010, with Aaron Glass) and Discovering Totem Poles (2012). She has also edited several books, including Chiefly Feasts (1991), Looking North (1998), and Unsettling Native Art Histories on the Northwest Coast (2020).

Early life and education

Aldona Claire Jonaitis[2] was born on November 27, 1948,[3] in Flushing, Queens, to parents Thomas and Demie (née Genaitis) Jonaitis, both teachers.[3][4] Growing up in New York City,[5][4] Jonaitis became interested in Northwest Coast art as a child, after visiting museums such as the American Museum of Natural History with her parents.[4][6]

At the age of sixteen, Jonaitis enrolled in Stony Brook University,[4] where she studied art history.[7] She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1969,[3] then moved to Columbia University to continue her studies. She graduated with a master's in art history and archaeology[7][4] in 1973.[3] With a dissertation on art in the homes of Tlingit shamans and Tlingit royalty (The relationships between the social and shamanic art of the Tlingit Indians of Alaska),[8] she graduated from Columbia with her PhD in 1977.[4][3] That dissertation later became the foundation for her book Art of the Northern Tlingit.[4]

Career

Stony Brook University and Art of the Northern Tlingit

After graduating, Jonaitis was hired by Stony Brook University (SBU) to teach art history.[4] She worked at the university from 1973 to 1989 as a lecturer to professor of arts[2] and, later, as chair of their art department.[6][4] She also worked in administration at SBU; from 1984 to 1986, she was an associate provost, and, from 1986 to 1989, she worked as a vice provost for undergraduate studies.[2] During this time, she was also a founding member of the Native American Art Studies Association, becoming a member of its board in 1985,[3] and, in 1986, published Art of the Northern Tlingit with the University of Washington Press.[4] Based on her thesis, Jonaitis later criticized the book as she felt it "represents the old paradigm of art scholarship which is white people coming in and interpreting the art of Native people."[4] Building on the work of anthropologists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss and Victor Turner,[9][10] Art of the Northern Tlingit is about the study of Tlingit art, beginning in the 1800s;[11] in it, Jonaitis analyzes symbolism argues that Tlingit artwork is reflective of social and religious hierarchies.[12] The first part of the book contained photographs of artefacts, while the second part contained nine chapters on the culture and art history of the Tlingit people, especially those in Klukwan, Alaska.[13][10] The book was based on theoretical study rather than fieldwork;[14] in a review for American Indian Quarterly, Wallace M. Olson was critical of what he perceived to be Jonaitis's reliance on sources and observers who were no fluent in the Tlingit language. He noted that the bibliography revealed only one Tlingit name; all others were non-Tlingit.[10] Though disagreeing with come of her conclusions,[13] Olson praised Jonaitis's use of photographs[10] while a review in Art Documentation described the images as "few in number and of varying quality".[11] Anthropologist Marjorie Halpin described the book as "almost a parody of the art-historical method", describing the divisions Jonaititis drew between religious and secular art in Northern Tlingit culture as "outmoded and, I think, incorrect".[15] Art historian Victoria Wyatt was critical of how she said Jonaitis had "based her primary ethnographic information heavily on the limited extant sources";[12] Anthropologist and linguist Wayne Suttles disagreed with her conclusions, but said it was a "fine book that seems sure to become a classic on Northwest Coast art".[14] Art historian Janet Catherine Berlo praised the book and Jonaitis's writing, though felt she could have been more opinionated with it came to commentating on the views of other scholars.[9]

American Museum of Natural History

In 1988, the same year she was working as a research assistant at the department of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH),[16] Jonaitis's eight-chapter[12] book From the Land of Totem Poles was published by the AMNH and the University of Washington Press.[17] A follow up to Objects of Bright Pride by Allen Wardwell,[18] From the Land of Totem Poles was first book about only the museum's Northwest Coast collection.[4][19] It contained a history of the AMNH itself, an illustrated catalogue of the museum's collection,[17] and, perhaps more so,[20] a history of the collection's acquisition during the latter half of the 1800s and the early 1900s.[18] The volume also contained substantial material on the career of anthropologist Franz Boas[20][21] and nearly 100 color photographs of objects in the museum's collection,[12][22] some of which had never been published before.[18] Accompanying them were around 90 historical photographs, including of the objects themselves, from the period they had been collected in.[12][17][22] Many of these archival photographs had been taken by Edward Dossetter, while the modern images were taken by Stephen Myers.[19]

The illustrations used in the book were praised by several reviewers.[22][19][23] The prose, interspersed with historical anecdotes, was described by Victoria Wyatt in African Arts as being in a "romantic" style which "reflects nineteenth century sensibilities" and "from the perspective of the institution [the AMNH]". She also criticized what she felt to be misleading statements or inaccuracies, given portions of Jonaitis's history on Alaskan governance and a claim that Alexander Andreyevich Baranov had paid a ransom to Tlingit people for Russian captives, when he had actually paid that ransom to an English captain, as examples. Wyatt also stated that she believed the book did not provide enough concrete dates of events for the reader to properly understand them.[12] An Ethnohistory reviewer described it as a "lovely and disturbing volume", feeling that Jonaitis had sidestepped discussing the removal of the artefacts from the cultures and people responsible for their creation.[21] A Publishers Weekly review criticized the book for having only "a few brief, scattered references to totem poles", an example of how the reviewer felt the book did not give enough context on the artefacts.[23][24] In a review published in the Telegraph-Journal, George Stanley described From the Land of Totem Poles as "interesting" and "beautiful", but said he ended up "wondering if the author really grasped the cultural significance and the inherent sadness of, say, a mortuary pole uprooted from its original site and re-erected within the alien walls of a museum".[16]

Jonaitis left SBU in 1989 to become the vice-president for public programs at the AMNH.[4][2] While in this role, she curated the travelling exhibition Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch, sponsored by the museum and containing their collection of Northwest Coast Art.[25][26] The exhibition itself, was about the celebration of potlatches by the Kwakwakaʼwakw.[4][26] Jonaitis had visited her first potlatch in 1989 after a conversation with Gloria Cranmer Webster about a potential exhibition on the subject, with artefacts collected by Webster's great-grandfather, George Hunt. Webster responded by saying "I don't see how in this day and age the museums still want to put together exhibits about potlatches with curators who have never been to a potlatch".[4] Jonaitis invited Webster to work as a guest curator on the exhibit, where she created a segment on modern potlatches.[26] The exhibition premiered in 1991, accompanied by an book of the same name, and was met with praise[4] and Jonaitis was awarded the Curators Committee Award for Excellence by the American Alliance of Museums for her work on it.[3]

In 1990, she became the adjunct professor in art history and archeology at Columbia University.[2]

Move to Alaska

After working on Chiefly Feasts, Jonaitis found herself "tired" of living in New York, and unable to work with Native American people as much as she would like.[4] In 1993, Jonaitis was hired as the director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North (UAMN),[5] taking, according to her, a pay cut.[4] She left her jobs at the AMNH and Columbia[2] moved to Alaska in July of that year, and also began working as a professor of anthropology at the associated University of Alaska, Fairbanks.[4][2] She was tasked with expanding the museum, a process that could be completed in 2007.[5] She would also work with the Smithsonian Historical Institute.[6]

In 1993, Jonaitis was elected president Native American Art Studies Association.[4] In 1995, the University of Washington Press released a collection of Franz Boas's writings, edited by Jonaitis and with two articles written by her.[27][26] Marjorie Halpin described the book as "quite thorough", but noted that she omitted to mention Jeanne Cannizzo's 1983 article on the contributions of George Hunt when she claimed that Hunt's "brilliance has never been adequately acknowledged".[27] Jonaitis continued to work at the UAMN and, in 1998, the museum published Looking North: Art from the University of Alaska Museum, an anthology of essays on the museum's collection edited by Jonaitis.[28][29] The next year, University of Washington Press released The Yuquot Whalers' Shrine, a book the Yuquot Whalers' Shrine, its acquisition by Boas and Hunt, the purchase by the AMNH, and the controversies over that acquisition and the question of reparation.[30]

In 2002, she was a Stanford University distinguished professor of American art history.[2]

Jonaitis retired from the museum in 2009;[2] in May, UAF made her a director emerita.[31][2] She was replaced by Carol Diebel.[32] The next year, Dover Books re-issued an edition of Franz Boas's Primitive Art; Jonaitis wrote the introduction.[2] That same year, Jonaitis's book The Totem Pole: An Intercultural History was released; written with Aaron Glass, it contained a series of essays written by Northwest Coast art experts[33] and was shortlisted for the 2011 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize.[34]

In 2012,[6] Jonaitis returned to work as interim director after Diebel accepted a job in Hawai‘i.[32][35] Jonaitis's book Discovering Totem Poles, was published the same year; it contained a guide to totem poles located between Seattle and Juneau, including the Wellbriety pole in Sitka, carved by Wayne Price and the Wooshkeetaan Kootéeyaa.[36]

In 2015, Jonaitis received a Governor's Awards for the Humanities.[6] That same year,[35] she retired from the museum again. Her successor was paleontologist Patrick S. Druckenmiller, appointed in 2018.[37]

Unsettling Native Art Histories, an art history book on the Northwest Coast art edited by Jonaitis and Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, was released in 2020.[38][39]

Personal life

Jonaitis married Herman Lebovics in July, 1986.[3] After moving to Alaska, she married Ken Severin.[35]

Jonaitis learned to ride horses when she was eight;[35] when moving to Alaska, in addition to checking whether or not she could get access to the New York Times Sunday edition, she also checked if horses could survive the climate.[4] After retiring from the Museum of the North, Jonaitis purchased a horse and land with her husband, Severin, outside of Fairbanks and built a farm.[35] She also took up painting with pastels and began submitting her work to Alaskan galleries. In 2023, she was selected as an alternate in a show and offered the chance to display her work that summer.[35]

Jonaitis had an elder sister who died in 2007.[5]

Bibliography

Jonaitis writes about the history of Northwest Coast art,[26] described in 1993 by the Anchorage Daily News as "nationally known scholar" of the subject.[4] She has written several books on the history of Native American art.[35]

  • Tlingit Halibut Hooks: An Analysis of the Visual Symbols of a Rite of Passage, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 15, American Museum of Natural History, April 10, 1981
  • Art of the Northern Tlingit. University of Washington Press. 1986. OCLC 12108177.
  • From the Land of the Totem Poles: The Northwest Coast Indian Art Collection at the American Museum of Natural History. American Museum of Natural History and the University of Washington Press. 1988. ISBN 978-0-295-96572-7.
  • Robert Davidson:Eagle of the Dawn. 1993. With Robert Davidson and Marianne Jones
  • The Yuquot Whalers' Shrine. University of Washington Press. 1999. ISBN 1-55054-728-3.[40]
  • Art of the Northwest Coast. University of Washington Press and Douglas & McIntyre. 2006. ISBN 978-0-295-98636-4.
  • The Totem Pole: An Intercultural History. University of Washington Press and Douglas & McIntyre. 2010. ISBN 978-0-295-98962-4. With Aaron Glass.
  • Discovering Totem Poles: A Traveler's Guide. University of Washington Press. 2012. ISBN 978-0-295-80688-4. OCLC 949884963.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.[41]

As editor

References

  1. ↑ "Tlingit art returns home". The Daily Herald. October 17, 1994. p. 11. Retrieved April 16, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Aldona Jonaitis", The Writers Directory, Gale, 2018, ISBN 978-1-55862-398-9 Gale K1649565593
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Aldona Jonaitis", Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, Gale, September 23, 2002 Gale H1000111867
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Enge, Marilee (November 7, 1993). "Immersed in Indian Art". Anchorage Daily News. pp. C1, C2, C6. Retrieved April 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "UA Museum director plans to retire (AP)". Anchorage Daily News. March 23, 2008. p. 5. Retrieved April 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Fletcher, Amy (January 28, 2015). "A Big Night In The Arts". Capital City Weekly. pp. 5, 8. Retrieved April 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 Fisher, Kerynn (March 21, 2008). "Longtime museum director to retire in November". UAF. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  8. ↑ Jonaitis, Aldona Claire (1977). The relationships between the social and shamanic art of the Tlingit Indians of Alaska (PhD thesis). Columbia University.
  9. 1 2 Berlo, Janet Catherine (1987). "Review of Art of the Northern Tlingit". African Arts. 20 (2): 75–76. doi:10.2307/3336613. ISSN 0001-9933. JSTOR 3336613.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Olson, Wallace M. (1988). "Review of Art of the Northern Tlingit". American Indian Quarterly. 12 (1): 86–88. doi:10.2307/1183806. ISSN 0095-182X. JSTOR 1183806. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  11. 1 2 Burt, Eugene C. (December 1986). "ART OF THE NORTHERN TLINGIT . Aldona Jonaitis". Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America. 5 (4): 185–186. doi:10.1086/adx.5.4.27947690. ISSN 0730-7187. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wyatt, Victoria (1989). "Review of From the Land of the Totem Poles: The Northwest Coast Indian Art Collection at the American Museum of Natural History". African Arts. 22 (3): 86–87. doi:10.2307/3336791. ISSN 0001-9933. JSTOR 3336791.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  13. 1 2 Olson, Wallace M. (September 19, 1986). "Tlingit art, culture examined". Juneau Empire. p. 26. Retrieved April 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. 1 2 Suttles, Wayne (1987). "Review of Art of the Northern Tlingit". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 78 (1/2): 63. ISSN 0030-8803. JSTOR 40490280.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  15. ↑ Halpin, Marjorie M. (1988). "Review of Art of the Northern Tlingit". The Art Bulletin. 70 (3): 534–535. doi:10.2307/3051186. ISSN 0004-3079. JSTOR 3051186.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  16. 1 2 Stanley, George F. G. (June 25, 1988). "Indian spirits, deities, still have power to move". Telegraph-Journal. p. 46. Retrieved April 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 3 Bryant, David (July 1, 1988). "From the Land of the Totem Poles (Book)". Library Journal. 113 (12): 73. ISSN 0363-0277. EBSCOhost 6551233
  18. 1 2 3 Milburn, Maureen E. (1993). "Review of From the Land of the Totem Poles: The Northwest Indian Art Collection at the American Museum of Natural History". American Indian Quarterly. 17 (1): 126–127. doi:10.2307/1184795. ISSN 0095-182X. JSTOR 1184795.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  19. 1 2 3 Ridley, Jo Ann (July 1, 1988). "Totems, masks, and a carved bird that soars. Northwest Indian heritage". The Christian Science Monitor. ProQuest 1034699023.
  20. 1 2 Prescott, Margaret (1989). "Review of SPIRIT AND ANCESTOR: A CENTURY OF NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN ART AT THE BURKE MUSEUM; FROM THE LAND OF THE TOTEM POLES: THE NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN ART COLLECTION AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY". Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America. 8 (1): 33–34. doi:10.1086/adx.8.1.27948015. ISSN 0730-7187. JSTOR 27948015.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  21. 1 2 Hinsley, Curtis M. (1990). "Review of From the Land of the Totem Poles: The Northwest Coast Indian Art Collection at the American Museum of Natural History". Ethnohistory. 37 (2): 201–203. doi:10.2307/482547. ISSN 0014-1801. JSTOR 482547.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  22. 1 2 3 Corey, Peter L. (1990). "From the Land of the Totem Poles: The Northwest Coast Indian Art Collection of the American Museum of Natural History". Alaska History. 5 (1): 57. ISSN 0890-6149. EBSCOhost 45886449
  23. 1 2 "From the Land of the Totem Poles: The Northwest Coast Indian Art Collection at the American Museum of Natural History". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on April 15, 2026.
  24. ↑ "From the Land of the Totem Poles by Aldona Jonaitis". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  25. ↑ Baele, Nancy (December 6, 1994). "Chiefly Feasts: Pieces Exude a Grandeur of Spirit". The Ottawa Citizen. p. 47. Retrieved April 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 Masco, Joseph (1996). "Competitive Displays: Negotiating Genealogical Rights to the Potlatch at the American Museum of Natural History". American Anthropologist. 98 (4): 837–852. doi:10.1525/aa.1996.98.4.02a00130. ISSN 0002-7294. JSTOR 681890. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  27. 1 2 Halpin, Marjorie M. (1997). "Review of A Wealth of Thought: Franz Boas on Native American Art". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 3 (1): 168–169. doi:10.2307/3034381. ISSN 1359-0987. JSTOR 3034381.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  28. ↑ "Looking North: Art from the University of Alaska Museum". American Craft. Vol. 58, no. 5. October–November 1998. p. 34.ProQuest 216145205
  29. ↑ Day, J.A. (December 1998). "Looking north: Art from the University of Alaska Museum". Choice. 36 (4). ISSN 0009-4978. ProQuest 225918890
    Hulan, Renee (2000). "[Looking north: art from the University of Alaska Museum]". Canadian Literature (167): 112–114. ISSN 0008-4360.ProQuest 218805498
    Ryan, Allan J. (1999). "[Looking north: art from the University of Alaska Museum]". The Canadian Journal of Native Studies. 19 (1): 203–205.ProQuest 218112677
  30. ↑ Carroll, James T. (2000). "Review of The Yuquot Whalers' Shrine". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 91 (4): 212–213. ISSN 0030-8803. JSTOR 40492599.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
  31. ↑ "Dr. Aldona Jonaitis: Director, Emerita" (PDF). University of Alaska, Fairbanks. May 10, 2009.
  32. 1 2 Dunham, Mike (April 7, 2013). "New dance works debut next weekend; party to remember actor". Anchorage Daily News. pp. E1, E2. Retrieved April 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ↑ Graburn, Nelson (2012). "Review of The Totem Pole: An Intercultural History". Pacific Historical Review. 81 (1): 100–101. doi:10.1525/phr.2012.81.1.100. ISSN 0030-8684. JSTOR 10.1525/phr.2012.81.1.100.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
    Harkin, Michael (2011). "Review of The Totem Pole: An Intercultural History". American Anthropologist. 113 (4): 680–681. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01387_16.x. ISSN 0002-7294. JSTOR 41407546.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
    Goicovich, Francis (2011). "Review of The Totem Pole. An Intercultural History". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 102 (4): 198–199. ISSN 0030-8803. JSTOR 24624637.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
    Upchurch, Michael (May 29, 2010). "Book review: History of totem pole is a story of near-death and rebirth of an art form". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  34. ↑ "Finalists announced for B.C. Book Prizes". CBC News. March 10, 2011.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 James, David (April 30, 2023). "Capturing sentience in scintillating colors". Fairbanks Daily News Miner.
  36. ↑ Hoover, Alan (Winter 2013–2014). "Discovering Totem Poles: A Traveller's Guide". BC Studies (180): 170–171. ProQuest 1509404950
  37. ↑ James, David (July 12, 2020). "Pat Druckenmiller is growing education, and a museum, during a pandemic". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Retrieved April 6, 2026. In 2018, when longtime museum director Aldona Jonaitis fully retired, Druckenmiller was awarded the position.
  38. ↑ Castle, Brandon (March 2023). "Unsettling Native Art Histories on the Northwest Coast ed. by Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse and Aldona Jonaitis". Native American and Indigenous Studies. 10 (1): 123–124. doi:10.1353/nai.2023.0024. ISSN 2332-127X.
  39. ↑ Carnes, Jeremy (2022). "Self-Determination, Categorization, and the Unsettling of Indigenous Visual Studies". American Studies. 61 (2): 25–37. ISSN 0026-3079. JSTOR 48775939.
  40. ↑ Hume, Stephen (September 9, 2001). "Whale song". The Ottawa Citizen. pp. C11, C12. Retrieved April 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ↑ James, David (November 18, 2012). "The totem pole as art: How they came to be". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Archived from the original on October 10, 2025. Retrieved April 16, 2026.

Further reading

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.