The Life and Writings of Julio C. Tello: America's First Indigenous Archaeologist

5. The Museum of Peruvian Anthropology

the museum of peruvian anthropology || 103 The Museum of Peruvian Anthropology An Account of His Rise to Prominence in Peruvian Archaeology john v. murra chapter five Aims and Objectives This ceremony is of great significance in our national life. A scientific institution is being hereby inaugurated for the purpose of conserving the relics of the antiquity of Peru, of studying and using them as they should be used in public education to strengthen national awareness, maintaining alive in the present generation the feeling of ethnic dignity based on the idea of great works accomplished in the past, in order to intensify our faith and confidence in the even greater works which we are bound to carry out in the future. The Museum as Custodian of the Historical Relics of the Nation This museum is created with the objective of preserving the products of man’s manifold activities in Peru, those which illustrate his biological history as well as that of his arts, industries, practices, customs, and all the historical evidence which allows us to know about his civilization , investigate his origins, and trace his ethnic relationships. An effort will be made to exhibit properly classified objects extracted from the great archive of the pre-Columbian cemeteries, replicas of monuments , reconstructions of principal cities, temples, obelisks, statues, and reliefs which still remain within Peruvian territory. Furthermore, the museum will try to serve as a center of information 103 104 || selected writings for everything related to the study of our aboriginal race. It will compile the works of writers and analysts who were concerned about the Indians as a result of the Conquest, the works of modern investigators who study our past, and, finally, it will preserve the traditions, myths, and narratives of non-Christian ceremonies and all that inheritance of ideas and precepts which still control the physical, intellectual, and emotional life of our people. For the first time, a scientific institution has been created in Peru designated for the study of the civilization of our forebears, to satisfy not only a national but a universal need. The study of ancient Peru is not only of interest to Peruvians whose obligation it is to know the history of their own country, but to all those who believe that history is an active force, which not only illuminates the future but which inexorably marks the destiny of humanity. It is for this reason that the most cultured nations on the globe avidly hoard our archaeological relics in their museums, and those who dedicate themselves to indigenous history bitterly censure our indifference and carelessness in the conservation and study of the antiquities of Peru. In 1885, Tschudi wrote: It could perhaps be supposed that in Lima, the capital of Peru, at a distance of just a few miles from one of the most important necropolises of the country, some of the antiquities would have been kept. But that did not happen, since the National Museum has always been the poorest museum in the capital, so that many of the private collections of Europe possess an isolated number of Peruvian antiquities which are immensely superior to any which were ever possible to assemble in the public collections of Lima. The public collections of Lima have several times been the object of plunder and theft; recently, they were roundly sacked by the conquering Chileans. In this case, the ruling circles were also to blame for their indolence and ignorance, especially the governments which incurred in irreparable negligence, committing a true crime against their own country. Nevertheless, right now much good could be done with a noble government and a Ministry of Education which in their enlightenment would bring together the love for science with that for their own country. And, in 1915, Uhle, at the Second Panamerican Scientific Congress , expressed himself with these moving sentences, which should be meditated upon by every Peruvian: the museum of peruvian anthropology || 105 The American states are young in the most diverse spheres of life; they have not yet awakened to the realization of their duty. They dissipate the strength of their youth without thinking of the needs they will have in the time of their maturity. Now history seems of little importance to them. They enjoy life as though the time never had to come in which they will need the strength taken from the teachings of the past in order to keep themselves upright. Nevertheless...