Thai-Lao Ethnographic Collection
In 1981, Joyce White, who had been conducting field research in Thailand for 18 months in the village of Ban Chiang, received a telegram from the Penn Museum requesting that she make a collection of everyday items illustrative of traditional village life. Ban Chiang was the location for excavations by Penn Museum and the Thai Fine Arts Department in 1974 and 1975. White’s ethnobotanical research was part of the Penn Museum Ban Chiang Archaeological Project, and that work had prepared her well for the task.
Joyce had been working with a local farmer, Li Hirionatha, to collect and document traditional knowledge of plants in the region. Over the course of the final two months of that research, Joyce and Li meticulously put together a collection of representative objects of the area noting the name and function of each piece, as well as where it was purchased and when, and other data. The collection consists of examples of everything from ox carts and fishing traps to looms and ceramics.
In the summer of 2024, Thai-Isaan Material Culture Specialist, Nichanan Klangwichi, spent three months at the Penn Museum updating and expanding the cataloging of the collection. Object names and villages are now in both English and Thai. The description includes fuller cultural context and plant names for materials, as well as bibliographic references for further study.
Below you can explore the collection with various filters such as on material and function. To see, for example, all the objects used for fishing, click on the “Subject” filter on the lower left, then select “Fishing Equipment”.
- Object[109]
- no[109]
- asian[109]
- basket[2]
- beam[13]
- bobbin basket[1]
- cocoon tray[5]
- cocoon unraveller[3]
- cocoon unraveller fork[1]
- cotton bow[1]
- cotton fluffer[1]
- cotton roller[1]
- cotton rolls[1]
- dye material[2]
- dye pot[1]
- loom[3]
- loom part[45]
- loom rod[2]
- peg[10]
- post[8]
- rice steaming pot[1]
- seat[1]
- shuttle[4]
- sieve pot[1]
- silk cocoons[1]
- silk processing pot[1]
- silk spool[1]
- silk threading stick[1]
- silk unraveller[2]
- silk unravelling stick[1]
- silk worm basket[2]
- silk worm stand[1]
- silk worm stand base[4]
- silk worm tray[5]
- skein winder[5]
- skein winder base[2]
- skirt hem[1]
- spindle[2]
- spinning wheel[2]
- spool[5]
- spools[1]
- thread[1]
- thread frame[1]
- thread sorter[4]
- thread winder[2]
- tie dye frame[1]
- weaver's sword[3]
- weaving roller[1]
- wood sample[2]
- ban bun mi[15]
- ban chiang[7]
- ban dong yen[3]
- ban na di[1]
- ban nong lat[12]
- ban om kaeo[32]
- ban pu lu[13]
- ban pueai[7]
- ban tong[1]
- ban yang ngam[1]
- chaiyaphum[1]
- east of ban khon sawan[5]
- sakon nakhon[8]
- thailand[109]
- udon thani[101]
- ban bun mi[15]
- ban chiang[7]
- ban dong yen[3]
- ban khon sawan[5]
- ban na di[1]
- ban nong lat[12]
- ban om kaeo[32]
- ban pu lu[13]
- ban tong[1]
- ban yang ngam[1]
1 - 30 of 109 Records
