Collections & Research Staff
Trudy Nicks
Senior Curator, Ethnohistory
Dr. Trudy Nicks is Senior Curator in the World Cultures Department at the Royal Ontario Museum. She is the coordinating curator and curatorial contact for the Ainu, Philippines, Taiwan sections of the Shreyas and Mina Ajmera Gallery of Africa, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. She is also the curator responsible for the Evelyn Johnston Collection and contemporary First Peoples art in the Gallery of Canada: First Peoples.
Her areas of research include museum anthropology, the history of First Peoples in popular performances in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the development of First Peoples art and craft industries in the 20th century, and contemporary Canadian First Peoples art.
Dr. Nicks' exhibition projects include the ROM/Woodland Cultural Centre collaboration, Mohawk Ideals, Victorian Values: Oronhyatekha, MD (2002), Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life (2002), Things that Fly, as part of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority’s Exhibition Program (2004), and consulting curator for Iroquois Beadwork - 'o'h ya'h ohdiwenda goh' - Through the Voices of Beads, as part of the ROM's Community Travelling Exhibition Program (2005).
Dr. Nicks worked extensively on the opening of the Shreyas and Mina Ajmera Gallery of Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. Highlighting the artistic and cultural traditions of indigenous peoples from Africa, the American continents and the Asia-Pacific region, including Oceania. This is the first permanent home for these collections in over 30 years, with many of the 1,400 artifacts on display for the first time. The artifacts reveal aspects of spiritual and everyday life, clothing, commerce, sacred and secular ritual, and art of indigenous cultures. Rich with symbols of heritage and identity that continue to have meaning today, this gallery presents objects ranging from large and dramatic ceremonial masks and colourful robes to archaeological objects such as ceramics and basketry.
Recent Publications
| In press | "From Wigwam to White Lights": Popular Culture, Politics, and the Performance of Native American Identity in the Era of Assimilationism." (With Ruth B. Phillips). Art and Reenactment. Paul Pickering and Iain McCalman, editors. Palgrave Press, Macmillan Publishers Australia Pty Ltd. |
| In press | "Evelyn Johnson and the Chiefswood Collection: Objects and Encounters" E. Pauline Johnson: "Faithfully Yours Thomas V. Hill, editor. Brantford: Woodland Cultural Centre and Chiefswood National Historic Site. |
| 2007 | "From Wigwam to White Lights: Princess White Deer's Indian Acts" (with Ruth B. Phillips) Three Centuries of Woodlands Indian Art. J.C.H. King and Christian F. Feest, editors. European Review of Native American Studies Monograph 3. Altenstadt: ZKF Publishers (144-160) |
| 2003 | "Museums and contact work: Introduction" Museums and Source Communities. Laura Peers and Alison K. Brown, editors. Routledge. 19-27 |
| 2003 | "Dr. Oronhyatekha's History Lessons: Reading Museum Collections as Texts," Reading Beyond Words. Contexts for Native History. Jennifer S.H. Brown and Elizabeth Vibert, editors. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press. Second edition (459-489). |
| 2002 | "Expanded Visions: Collaborative Approaches to Exhibiting First Nations Histories and Artistic Traditions", On Aboriginal Representation in the Gallery. Lynda Jessup with Shannon Bagg, editors. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization. (Mercury Series no. 135) 149-162. |
| 2001 | Trudy Nicks and Kenneth Morgan "Grande Cache: the Historic Development of an Indigenous Alberta Metis Population," The New Peoples: Being and Becoming Metis in North America. Jacqueline Peterson and Jennifer S.H. Brown, editors. St Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. (163-181) First published in 1985 by University of Manitoba Press. |
| 1999 | "Indian Villages and Entertainments: Setting the Stage for Tourist Souvenir Sales," Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Post-Colonial Worlds. Ruth B. Phillips and Christopher Steiner, editors. Berkeley: University of California Press. (301-315) |
| 1995 | "The Task Force on Museums and First Peoples," Material Culture in Flux: Law and Policy of Repatriation of Cultural Property. University of British Columbia Law Review Special Issue. (143-147) |
| 1994 | Contemporary sculpture acquired for ethnology collection. Rotunda, Magazine of the Royal Ontario Museum 27(1): 9-10. |
Galleries
Shreyas and Mina Ajmera Gallery of Africa, the Americas and Asia-Pacific
Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples
ROM Images
Canadian First Peoples
Other Links
New Stories - Africa, Americas & Asia-Pacific
ROM Friends of the Canadian Collections(FCC)
Contact Information
Department of World Cultures
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON
M5S 2C6
Fax: 416.586.5877
E-mail: World Cultures
Trudy Nicks
This small 'creature' from the Philippines collection is one of Trudy Nicks' favourite objects in the gallery. It is exquisitely woven from buri palm. It required special conservation work to restore its original shape, which turned out to be a bird-like figure, but with four legs. Perhaps it represents a mythical creature, or it may have been made to demonstrate the great skill of the weaver. ROM accession number 910.54.495.
