Images of William Henry Holmes and others, probably archeologists, at the paleoindian Piney Branch Quarry site in Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC.
Biographical/Historical note:
William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) was an artist, geologist, and archeologist who spent most of his career with the United States Geological Survey of the Territories, United States Geological Survey, Bureau of American Ethnology, and Department of Anthropology of the Smithsonian. From 1894-1897, he was the head of anthropology at the Field Columbian Museum (Field Museum of Natural History) and on the staff of the University of Chicago. Holmes later served as head curator for the US National Museum Department of Anthropology from 1897-1902 and head of the BAE from 1902-1909.
From 1889 to 1894, shortly after his appointment to the Bureau of American Ethnology, William Henry Holmes conducted excavations of the quartzite and steatite quarries in the Rock Creek Valley. Based on these investigations, Holmes found a series of rejected blade forms, proving that they represented early stages of a manufacturing process and not an earlier native presence in North America.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 86-12
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Reports and photographs relating to the Piney Branch Quarry site can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4695 and Photo Lot 4.
Correspondence by Holmes can be found throughout the National Anthropological Archives in MS 7206, the records of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and the records of the Department of Anthropology.
Manuscripts and notes by Holmes can be found throughout the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4698, MS 2125, MS 7112, and MS 7570.
The William Henry Holmes Papers, 1870-1931 (SIA RU007084), are held by the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
