Ethnographic Archive and Interactive Database

Scholars agree that the rich Huichol cultural legacy safeguards timeless knowledge that may hold significance for people far beyond the deep precipitous canyons of the Huichol homeland.

The threat of cultural extinction that looms over the Huichol people is of the greatest concern to the Huichol Center, which is why the Huichol Ethnographic Archive was initiated over 25 years ago.

The archive now consists of thousands of examples of museum quality artwork (embroidery, weavings, beadwork, yarn paintings, drawings, and much more), rare photographs, recordings, taped interviews with elders and shamans, replicas of important artifacts, extensive descriptions of medicinal and useful plants, and a large array of other culturally significant objects.

Currently, one third of the archive has been digitally recorded, and our priority for the next two years will be to complete the digitalization process.

The Huichol Center has also created a "living archive", where well-versed individuals in the culture, such as elders, shamans, and Huichols educated in the arts and traditions, constantly contribute new information and artifacts.

The Huichol people benefit from the interactive archive through the recognition they receive from outside investigators and scholars, who bring this knowledge to light in publications, and inspire the outside world to value their culture.

While this interactive archive is helping to culturally re-assimilate a "lost generation" before it is completely gone, it is also an expansive encyclopedic database that may be held in trust for future generations of Huichols wishing to validate and reclaim their cultural identity.

The bottom line: While this living archive truly inspires both the Huichols and the rest of the world to value their magnificent cultural tradition, it also generates public awareness of the value of this World Heritage/Patrimony and substantially increases the odds for much needed resources to be channeled from the outside world into their ailing communities.