This month, I interview Chip Colwell. We talk about his wide-ranging work as an anthropologist, museologist, and a public-facing scholar. We talk about why it is so important and beneficial for public historians and scholars to reach out to their respective public, and then about his work at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. There, he formed relationships with indigenous communities, directed the museum’s operations concerning repatriation and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, his work on the Museum’s Native Science Initiative, and his ongoing work as Editor in Chief of the global public humanities project, SAPIENS.
Dr. Chip Colwell is the editor-in-chief of Sapiens.org, an online magazine about anthropological thinking and discoveries. From 2007-2020, he was the Senior Curator of Anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. He has published 12 books including Objects of Survivance: A Material History of American Indian Education (University Press of Colorado) and Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America’s Culture (University of Chicago Press). His work has been highlighted in such venues as the New York Times, The Guardian, Salon, and Slate.
The ITPS Podcast is hosted by Dr. John C. Winters. John is the ITPS Research Associate in New York History and Assistant Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi. As a public historian, John has nearly ten years of experience in historic homes and public history institutions. You can find him at @wintersjohnc and at his webpage, johncwinters.com