Tattooed Librarians & Archivists

Hi there,

I am a high school librarian and library department chair at a college prep K-12 school in southern California.  I have recently begun getting tattooed now that I’m in my mid-40s!  I have three so far, on my upper arms - a hamsa, a hoopoe bird with my Hebrew name Tzipora (bird) and my latest piece, pictured below.  I asked my artist to create a superhero librarian and gave him a few references, including the cover of “This Book is Overdue” and a picture of 1940s comic book hero Mary Marvel.  This is the result.  I’m happy with her and can’t wait to get more…

Michelle

Position Title: A Newly Minted Master of Library Science with a concentration in Archives Management looking for jobs and working in tech support in the meantime.

Type of Repository: While I’m currently not working in the field, I have experience in Academic and Public Libraries and well as interning in several Archival repositories.

Location: Boston, MA

My Tattoo:

But then there was a star danced, and under that was I born.

-Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, scene i, lines 140-1.

I got this at the Boston Tattoo Convention summer of 2010 by Moose Tattoos and Piercings.

I wrote my undergraduate thesis on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. I’d loved the play before and was completed obsessed with it after. Beatrice is my favorite character, filling each scene with life, spunk, and humor like no other character I have ever read. This line embodies her spirit best, I feel - laughing in the face of adversity and pain. I wanted to keep a piece of the play with me, to grow as I grow.

I also feel this line pretty much sums up my personality in one sentence.

Please note that this blog will only continue to grow with your submissions - I only have so much ink of my own to share! Looking forward to seeing new pieces.

Since we haven’t had any librarian or archivist tattoo submissions in a while I figured I’d fill the gap with some literary tattoo sites (break out those cameras!). Happy viewing!

Contrariwise: Literary Tattoos

www.contrariwise.org

The Word Made Flesh

tattoolit.com

Bookworms With Ink

literarytattoos.livejournal.com

Remember to send in your photos!

Ethnographic work that describes how Maori patterns represent several social markers (family line, tribal affiliation, spiritual beliefs). This is a great resource for those interested in traditional Maori tattoo design.

As a researcher in the late 19th-early 20th century, Robley’s methods would today be considered illegal - it was his common practice to collect dried tattooed heads (mokomokai). Robley eventually tried to sell his study collection back to the government of New Zealand and was rightfully refused; the collection was instead purchased by the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

In the last 20 years there has been a movement towards the repatriation of human remains to the governing bodies of indigenous peoples from the museums that formerly collected them.

In 1990 the US passed the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) which required federal agencies and institutions that received federal funding to return specific classes of items (including remains) to the Native American groups that had rightful claims to them. In some cases where indigenous groups lack proper facilities to preserve their cultural property their representatives have partnered with the host museum to store their items; human remains are generally reburied. In institutions where materials are kept on behalf of indigenous groups said groups have access to their cultural property and can stipulate who can or cannot work with their items if any taboos prohibit contact. It should be noted that this act only has influence over US institutions regarding items belonging to people of indigenous cultures found within the United States; to date there is no international law mandating repatriation of human remains and other culturally-significant items to native soil.

Despite the fact that no international law requires that museums repatriate contested materials, many are doing just that to right what is seen by many as historical wrongs. In the early days of archaeology and anthropology artifacts and specimens were often gathered under murky or sometimes blatantly unethical circumstances. As these fields developed so did professional standards for field work, however the early years left museums with many collections of foggy provenance.

Cheers for The Field Museum in Chicago being progressive on the matter of international repatriation of human remains and items of cultural patrimony. I remember when the Maori visited the museum to help facilitate the process of repatriating items and remains that belonged to a specific group - it was an extremely powerful event for all who were fortunate enough to witness and take part in it. While some mokomokai have been repatriated internationally, I could not find any conclusive information on whether or not the Robley collection ever made it back home.

In 2007 the New York Times wrote a very interesting piece about the debate here:

French Debate: Is Maori Head Body Part or Art?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/world/europe/26france.html

France approved the repatriation in question last year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/may/04/maori-heads-france-new-zealand