The Hampton Archive Project
The Collection
The Hampton Archive is comprised of artifacts and documentation collected by Dr. O. W. Hampton in the Highlands of Papua over an 18-year period (1982-1999). There are approximately 1000 artifacts from daily and ritual lives, which include many stone tools, accessories, and very rare textile materials such as spider-web cloths and looped fiber bags. In addition, there are more than 20,000 color slides, 200 sounds recordings on cassette tape made in the field, and meticulous research notes. The Tracing Patterns Foundation is committed to preserving this important collection for future generations. We will conserve the artifacts, scan and digitize the information, and make them available free to the public.
The Work
This is a multi-year project. At this point, we have documented and preserved the Hampton Archive. This involved photographing, cataloguing, and re-housing the artifacts with its associated photographs and notes. We have also carried out some research in collaboration with other scholars. The next step is to produce a catalogue of the collection and find a permanent home of the collection. In January 2023, we have formed a partnership with Museum Loka Budaya and the Universitas Cendrawasih in Jayapura to bring back this collection to the university museum in Papua, Indonesia.
