James Pepper Henry

James Pepper Henry is a Native American museum director and vice-chairman of the Kaw Nation.[1] He is the executive director of the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2021.

James Pepper Henry
Born	Portland, Oregon
Nationality	Kaw Nation, American
Occupation	museum director

On April 17, 2017, the Tulsa World reported that Henry had resigned his position as executive director of Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum, effective April 14, 2017. Five days later, The Oklahoman, the Oklahoma City newspaper, revealed on April 22, 2017, that AICCM had hired the former Gilcrease executive director as, "... director of the Indian Cultural Center (ICC) and chief executive officer of its foundation", starting June 19.

Tulsa University announced that it had hired Henry as the executive director of Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, effective March 1, 2015. Henry had previously been director and CEO of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, since 2013. Before going to the Heard, he had served for six years at the Anchorage Museum and ten years as associate director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). He was the founding director of the Kanza Museum in Kaw City, Oklahoma.

He was the first enrolled Native American to head the Heard Museum and is the first Native American, other than Thomas Gilcrease (Muscogee Creek) himself, to head the Gilcrease Museum.[2]

Early life

Henry's mother has Kaw and Muscogee Creek ancestry. He is an enrolled member of the Kaw Nation.

James Pepper Henry wrote about his lifelong connection with Oklahoma, Tulsa and even Thomas Gilcrease himself. His maternal grandfather, Gilbert Pepper, a member of the Kaw tribe, had met his grandmother, Floy Childers, a Muscogee Creek, while both were attending Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kansas.[lower-alpha 1] Gilbert was from Washunga, Oklahoma and Floy was from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.[4] Gilbert Pepper had attended Chilocco Indian Agricultural School and had come to Lawrence, where he also worked as a baker. Floy was working as a home economics teacher. The couple married in Lawrence, then transferred to Chemawa Indian Boarding School in Salem, Oregon. When World War II began, Gilbert was recruited to work as a welder in a shipyard in Portland, Oregon, where their daughter was born.[3]

James Pepper Henry says nothing about his father,[lower-alpha 2] but says only that he spent much of his youth with his grandparents. He wrote that every summer the family went back to Oklahoma to stay with relatives in North Tulsa. His great-grandfather and Thomas Gilcrease were acquainted because both were members of the Muscogee Creek Nation. James had an early introduction to Gilcrease's art collection. The experience inspired him to study art and art history in college.[3]

Education

James Pepper Henry enrolled in the University of Oregon, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, where he studied fine arts and art history, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988. He planned to become a sculptor.[6]

Museum career

Henry was reunited with the Gilcrease collection when his friend and former Smithsonian colleague Duane King was hired as the executive director of the Helmerich Center for American Research at Gilcrease Museum, a new facility built by The University of Tulsa. King contacted Henry and told him that the Gilcrease was conducting a search for a new director.[3]

Rasmussen Center Museum, Anchorage

The extensively remodeled Anchorage Museum opened under Henry's direction in 2010. It was a project that took over ten years and $110 million to complete. According to Henry, the new planetarium included, "one of the only two aurora borealis simulators in the world, in a science exhibit."[7] The museum is Alaska-centered, with static exhibits and artifacts interspersed among dynamic, interactive displays designed, for example, to show the impacts of earthquakes and tsunamis. The revamp was also intended to display more of the museum's permanent holdings than it could formerly show at any one time. Director Henry told an interviewer that museum visitors were likely to spend twice as much time ( 4 hours) per visit as before (2 hours per visit).[7]

Heard Museum, Phoenix

Henry's most memorable achievement during his two-year tenure at the Heard Museum in Phoenix was the exhibit "BUILD! Toy Brick Art at the Heard." An article in Arts Journal blog described it as demonstrating "...how 'American Indian and non-American Indian LEGO brick artists' made many 'creative and surprising forms' from the toy. The journal added that,..."it was "the most successful summer exhibit in the [Heard] museum's history, increasing museum attendance by 58 percent and memberships by 150 percent."[8]

Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa

Henry shared goals he had for the Gilcrease a 2015 interview:

"My number one goal is to elevate the profile of the museum and work on the relevancy of the museum in Tulsa and Oklahoma," he continues. "And then my second goal is to work on its relevancy with the rest of the world."[4]

He also identified that the biggest challenge he foresaw as:

"It's relevancy with the newer generations, the XYZ people, ...there's so much competition for their attention, and museums have to revitalize themselves to stay relevant."[4]

It could be argued that Henry's biggest accomplishment to date was the passage of the Vision 2025, Tulsa sales tax increase in April 2016. This commits the city to provide $65 million toward a major expansion and improvement program at the Gilcrease Museum. Henry was a vigorous campaigner for passage of the plan, and outlined the following specific items that he wanted to include:

• Adding two new galleries - one containing 8,000 square feet (740 m²) to show more of the existing collection, the other containing 12,000 square feet (1,100 m²) to exhibit traveling collections;[lower-alpha 3]
• Adding a new grand entry and great hall to accommodate large groups of visitors and to transform the appearance of the museum entrance;
• Adding underground parking space;
• Building an elevated restaurant;[9]

First Americans Museum, Oklahoma City

On April 17, 2017, the Tulsa World reported that Henry had resigned his position at Gilcrease Museum, effective April 14, 2017. The article revealed no explanation for his seemingly abrupt departure, just 25 months after joining the Gilcrease, although it identified some of Henry's achievements at the Tulsa museum. It did say that Chief Operating Officer Susan Neal would take over day-to-day operations until a new executive director was hired.[10]

The Oklahoma City newspaper The Oklahoman revealed on April 22, 2017, that the American Indian Cultural Center & Museum in Oklahoma City had hired the former Gilcrease Executive Director as, "... director of the Indian Cultural Center (ICC) and chief executive officer of its foundation," starting June 19. The ICC has been a work in progress for the last 22 years. The "ground blessing" ceremony was held in 2005, and physical construction began in 2006. A visitor center was completed in 2008. According to the Oklahoman, the exterior was partially complete when the Native American Cultural & Educational Authority (NACEA), the state authority overseeing the center, stopped construction for four years because there was inadequate funding to complete the project. Recent agreements between the state government, the government of Oklahoma City and the Chickasaw Nation that will resolve the funding issue are said to be finalized soon.[lower-alpha 4] Once the agreements are final, completion of the ICC is expected to take three more years.[11]

Notes

1. Both were natives of Oklahoma.[3]
2. One source claimed that his father was of European descent.[5]
3. Museum officials say that the present space is sufficient only to display about five percent of the museum's collection to visitors at any one time.[9]
4. Bill Anoatubby, Chief of the Choctaw Nation, is also the chairman of NACEA.[11]

References

1. "About James Pepper Henry" (PDF). Kaw Nation. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
2. "The University of Tulsa announces new Executive Director of Gilcrease Museum." artdaily.org. Accessed November 16, 2016.
3. Henry, James Pepper. "James Pepper Henry: A cultural renaissance is happening in Tulsa." Tulsa World. February 28, 2016. Accessed November 16, 2016.
4. Perkins, Shaun. "Okie at Heart." Oklahoma Magazine. April 24, 2015. Accessed November 16, 2016.
5. "Jim Pepper Henry takes position as Chief Executive Officer for the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center". Kanza Newsletter. April 2008. Accessed November 16, 2008.
6. Wagner, Lili. "CEO of Heard Museum shares his experience in museum curation, administration." University of Oregon, School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Accessed November 16, 2016.
7. Hopkins, Kyle. "Anchorage Museum opens revamped Imaginarium, Arctic studies centers. Anchorage News. Updated September 29, 2016. Accessed January 5, 2017.
8. Dobrynski, Judith H. "The Heard Museum Loses Its Director To… " Arts Journal blogs.com January 15, 2015. Accessed January 5, 2017.
9. Wade, Jarrel. "Gilcrease Museum has big plans for Vision funds". Tulsa World. April 11, 2016. Accessed November 13, 2016.
10. Watts, James David. "ARTS: Gilcrease Executive Director James Pepper Henry resigns." Tulsa World. April 17, 2017. Accessed October 16, 2017.
11. Crum, William. "Director chosen for American Indian Cultural Center and Museum." The Oklahoman April 22, 2017. Accessed October 17, 2017.