“List of works. List of objects from the collection of Dr Miltoh Arno Leof donated to the exhibition Precolumbian Sculpture from Guerrero. 1964”.
Signature: Fondo Histórico Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte (MUCA)-UNAM. Section: Exhibitions. Box 8. Series: Guerrero Pre-Columbian Sculpture Exhibition. In the process of being catalogued and organised
“List of works. List of objects from Dr Miltoh Arno Leof’s collection donated to the Guerrero Pre-Columbian Sculpture exhibition. 1964”.
1960s practices in museums for making lists of objects on loan for exhibitions
This list of works or list of objects from Dr Miltoh Arno Leof’s collection on loan for the exhibition Precolumbian Sculpture from Guerrero. 1964, is a representative document of the priority line of action to which this project has been assigned: Promoting the multicultural perspective, in the form of exhibitions dedicated to manifestations of traditional cultures from different regions of the world.
This document refers to operational mechanisms in the organisation of an exhibition of sculpture from the pre-Hispanic period in the state of Guerrero in Mexico and describes the procedures for moving the work in the 1960s at the University Museum of Science and Art (MUCA) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
In these practices at the time, analogue photography was irreplaceable for the tasks of recording the works that were part of the exhibitions. This explains why this document contains, as identifying tools for each piece alongside its card, small gelatin-plate prints, generated from the contact sheets, preserving the original size of the photograms from the 35 mm rolls used to make the photographic prints.
Precolumbian Sculpture from Guerrero was an important exhibition to address the diffusion of archaeological remains from this state in Mexico, taking into account the dispersion of the finds in its territory, their diversity and how the features of the differentiated environments in this geographical area affect these productions and their multiple functions: votive objects, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic representations, utilitarian objects, among others. The exhibition was organised in 1964 by Daniel F. Rubín de la Borbolla, who was director of the Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte (University Museum of Science and Art), among other of his work and contributions to Mexican cultural life. He was also specialised in anthropological studies of the local material culture of various peoples, which is why he strengthened the acquisition and exhibition of national and international folk art while directing this institution. Daniel F. Rubín de la Borbolla also promoted the professionalisation of anthropology as an academic discipline in Mexico.
AUTHOR OF THE TEXT
Eugenia Macías Guzmán (project coordinator). September 2022
NAME OF IBERARCHIVES PROJECT:
Bibliography:
Henaro, Sol, Eugenia Macías (2020), Informe final técnico. Project 2018/069 Iberarchivos. Primera etapa de catalogación, estabilización y digitalización parcial específica de secciones documental histórica, fotográfica, hemerográfica, de catálogos y carteles del Fondo Histórico MUCA del Centro de Documentación Arkheia del MUAC-UNAM, México. Mexico City: MUAC-UNAM.
Rubín de la Borbolla, Daniel, F. (1964). Pre-Columbian sculpture from Guerrero. Exhibition catalogue. Ciudad de México: Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte/Dirección General de Difusión Cultural/UNAM.
