By Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh, PhD and Jude Southward
“To wear Maya traje is to say to ourselves and to others: I am Maya, we are Maya, we continue and will continue being Maya.” — Cholb’äl Samaj, 1991
In her celebrated 1995 book, Weaving Identities: Construction of Dress and Self in a Highland Guatemalan Town, anthropologist Carol Hendrickson explores the world of traje, or traditional Maya clothing. By looking at the intricate huipil (blouse) and the simple faja (belt), Hendrickson traces how Mayans express their deep historical roots, emphasize Maya culture as a living tradition, and articulate a strong pan-Maya political community. Hendrickson investigates how the very threads of Maya clothing are woven together to express the heart of Maya identities.
Maya traje is but one chapter in the epic story of Latin American costumes and clothing. Scores of cultures throughout Central and South America have their own unique way of dressing. The meanings and values cultures ascribe to clothing is a unique way of understanding different peoples, histories, and worldviews.
The Museum is the steward of more than 700 pieces of clothing and costumes from throughout Latin America. They include ethnographic material showing local styles from various Maya groups representing at least 30 villages from Guatemala and Mexico, along with Cuna material from Panama, Aymara material from Bolivia, and Quechua material from Peru. The costumes include a valuable group of Guatemalan huipiles, which researchers can use to understand cultural identity. This not only demonstrates the unique decorative styles that were being used in a particular village, but also political, economic, and social change and continuity. The Rocky Mountain region’s reemerging Latin American community is a vital audience for the Museum, and the costumes enrich the context of the Museum’s larger Latin American Ethnographic Collection, providing exciting educational and research opportunities.
In the fall of 2008, the Museum’s Conservation Department and Department of Anthropology received an Institute for Museum and Library Services Conservation Project Support grant of $150,000 for a 24-month project to provide environmental improvements for the collection. Currently, most costumes are stored in polyethylene bags that have been layered in cardboard boxes. These boxes are stored on open metal storage units that have wood shelves. Other costumes are out in the open on the same storage units. Costumes are overcrowded and tightly packed resulting in folds, creases, and abrasions. While the shelves and main storage area are monitored as part of the Museum’s Integrated Pest Management program, costumes stored in boxes and on crowded shelves are not easily monitored and inspected for pests or for their overall condition. This potentially exposes them to physical, chemical, and biological deterioration. The primary goal of the grant project is to store the costumes in closed cabinets using conservation-approved methods and materials, which will preserve the objects for many years to come.
Hendrickson’s Maya interviewee, Cholb’äl Samaj, once said to her, “To wear traje is to say we are Maya.” This eloquent statement expresses how clothing is more than a means to protect ourselves from the elements – clothing is a window into the souls of world cultures. Physically preserving the Museum’s Latin American costume collections will enable future generations to discover and celebrate these rare cultural treasures for themselves.
