Provenance—from the French word provenir, meaning “to come from”—refers to the history of ownership of a particular item. An item’s provenance is its life story: who made it, where it was made, and the hands through which it has passed. Provenance records can include sales documentation, deeds of gifts, and even photographs of items in specific environments.
The provenance or life stories of art, artifacts, and items are not always comfortable narratives. Items have been stolen or looted; they may have been bought or sold by unscrupulous dealers and collectors. For these reasons, proving and publishing an item’s provenance is a critical act of transparency for today’s art, history, and anthropology museums.
Pomona College received most of the artifacts in their collection at the turn of the 20th century from a small group of collectors. This was an era in which increased interest in Native American cultures was propelling archaeological and anthropological research as well as substantial acquisitions of artifacts by museums and private collectors. The central figure in Pomona’s collection was Robert J. Bernard, who graduated from Pomona College in 1917 and became its executive secretary in 1922. Working with then-President James Blaisdell, Bernard was actively involved in the creation of Claremont College (now called Claremont Graduate University) and eventually went on to become president of Claremont College. In 1925, he urged the creation of a teaching museum for the colleges and in 1929 persuaded Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Tibbet to donate their collection of Native American art and early Californiana to Claremont College.
The Tibbets’ donation became the foundational gift for Pomona College’s collection of Native American artifacts, and it was followed by significant gifts from several other collectors. Emil P. Steffa was one of collectors; a Pomona College student from 1895 to 1899, Steffa had worked closely with Dr. David Burrows, a specialist in the ethnohistory of the Cahuilla people of inland California. Steffa brought a rigorous scientific approach to his large collection of Cahuilla baskets, documenting each piece, endeavoring to record the name of its creator, and working closely with the artists and artisans of the area to understand their materials and processes.
The other donors who contributed to Pomona College’s collection are, in alphabetical order: Martin and Phoebe Abernethy; Mrs. Edward H. Angle of Pasadena; Mrs. M. F. Bailey; Emeline H. Burns; Levi Chubbuck of Glendale, who was a Friend of Pomona College; Dr. E. H. Parker of Phoenix; Dr. George S. Sumner, a faculty member and controller of Pomona College and Claremont College who was also the mayor of Claremont; and Woodbridge Williams, a student at Claremont College.
The Benton Museum of Art conducts ongoing research into the lives and collecting practices of these individuals. Several of the donors to Pomona College engaged in what would now be considered unethical and illegal practices, including removing objects from tribal lands and acquiring objects at the expense of Indigenous peoples. The museum, which will be publishing its research on this site as it is completed, welcomes any information about these collectors and encourages those with recollections or materials related to them to contact the Benton at benton@pomona.edu.