ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and CREDITS:
This collection is a gift to The William Benton Museum of Art by Theodor Hans in the memory of his wife Elisabeth Hans.
The web presentation of this collection is made possible with a “Museums for the Millennium” grant, a Connecticut League of History Organizations initiative funded by SBC/SNET.
We would like to thank the following people for their assistance with this project and the initial exhibition: Professor Paul Goodwin who wrote the historic information; Ann Parker and Avon Neal who provided expert information and intrepation of the Benton Museum’s molas and Anna Hoover who volunteered her time for the legwork on this web project, and Karen Sommer who obtained the grant and coordinated the creation of this site.
Reference: Ann Parker & Avon Neal, Molas, Folk Art of the Cuna Indians, (New York, 1977)
The images are for educational purposes only and represent a sample of the collection. For permission to publish, please contact carla.galfano@uconn.edu (860-486-1717), The William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs.
FURTHER READING ON THE KUNA AND MOLAS:
James Howe, The Kuna Gathering: Contemporary Village Politics in Panama (Austin; 1986)
Clyde E. Keeler, Cuna Indian Art: The Culture and Craft of Panama’s San Blas Islanders (New York: 1969)
Joanne M. Kelly, Cuna (New York: 1996)
Karin E. Tice, Kuna Crafts, Gender, and the Global Economy (Austin; 1995)
Jorge Ventocilla, et al., Plants and Animals in the Life of the Kuna (Austin: 1995)