Heye Foundation Drum

The drum was collected by Donald Cadzow for the MAI-Heye Foundation in 1926 during fieldwork to Canada. The original catalog card reads, “ 14/9378, Tim-tom with red painted decoration, Piegan, Piegan Reservation, Southern Alberta Canada, Collected by D.Cadzow, Exchange with Kansas City Art Museum 12/14/31”. It was then sold out of the collection in 1931 to the Kansas City Art Museum (now The Nelson-Atkins Museum). It was deaccessioned from their collection at least by 1986.

Donald Cadzows Bio

Donald Cadzow (1894-1960) was born and raised in the small town of Auburn, in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State, but in 1912, when he was just 17 years old, he journeyed 80 miles north of the Arctic Circle to live with his Uncle Dan. Cadzow's uncle operated Rampart House, a Hudson Bay Company trading post. Cadzow joined the staff of the Museum of the American Indian—Heye Foundation late in 1916. The following year, George G. Heye sent Cadzow back to the Canadian Arctic and Alaska to collect for the museum. Upon returning from the arctic, Cadzow joined the Navy. He served as a navigation officer and received an Ensign's commission just before the close of the war in 1918. After the war, Cadzow rejoined the staff of the Museum of the American Indian--eye Foundation. During his 12-year tenure at the museum, Cadzow participated in several archaeological and ethnological collecting expeditions. He made 4 field trips north and collected over 2,000 objects from northern Athapaskan and Plains peoples. His most publicized fieldtrip was made in 1927, when he was a member of the Putnam Baffin Island Expedition, led by George Palmer Putnam. Cadzow made ethnographic collections from southwest Baffin Island. The expedition crew, which sailed aboard Captain Robert Bartlett's schooner, the Morrissey, kept in contact "with civilization" through radio and wireless dispatches which were published in the New York Times. Cadzow resigned from the Museum of the American Indian—Heye Foundation on May 1st, 1928. In 1929 he became the State Archaeologist of Pennsylvania, holding that position until he retired in 1956. Cadzow was a founding member of the Eastern States Archaeological Federation. From 1945 until 1956, Cadzow served as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Cadzow died outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, shortly before his 65th birthday. -Collections Info, Smithsonian

$4,200