These images depict the indigenous people of Peru, Bolivia, Suriname and Chile; the largest percentage of the images are of Panama and Guyana (British Guiana).
Scope and Contents:
The Verrill collection consists primarily of photographic materials made by Verrill in Guyana and Panama. Dating from 1917 and 1925, the Guyana photographs depict mostly Carib and Patamona but also Warao, Arecuna, Akawaio (Acawai), Akurio (Acuria), Arawak, Macushi (Macusi), Waiwai, and Taruma men and women. These are mostly informal portraits, but the photographs also document dwellings and various activities, such as weaving, spinning, fishing, and canoeing. Included in the Guyana materials are also nineteenth-century (ca. 1880?) albumen prints of portraits of Wapichana (Wapishana), Waiwai, Atorai, and Taruma men and women; Verrill most likely did not make these photographs. The Panama materials date from 1924 and 1925 and are primarily portraits of Teribe (Terraba), Ngäbe (Boorabi), Coclé Guaymi (Cocle), Guaymi, Kuna (Cuna), Emberá (Choikoi), and Sabanero men and women, but the photographs also depict dwellings, ceremonials, and canoes. Among the Panama materials are photographs depicting antiquities from Penonomé. The collection also consists of 1924 photographs of the indigenous peoples of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile and 1925 photographs of the indigenous peoples of Suriname and Peru.
Arrangement note:
Negatives Arranged by negative number (N10017-N10307, N10804-N10966, N11229-N11257, N29558, N34270, N34288-N34289, N34294, N34930-N34932, N36040-N36041, N36044, N41525)
Prints Arranged by print number (P00243-P00271, P00289-P00341, P00289-P00341, P02207-P02215, P06385-P06401, P06654-P06682, P06654-P06682, P06695-P06700, P06703, P07307, P07310-P07315, P07317, P07384-P07394, P09137-P09141, P18855)
Lantern slide Arranged by lantern slide number (L00076)
Biographical/Historical note:
Born in 1871 in New Haven, Connecticut, A. Hyatt Verrill was an illustrator, naturalist, explorer, and author of more than 105 books. From 1889 to 1928, he either explored, made ethnological expeditions to, or excavated in Bermuda, the West Indies, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Surinam.
Restrictions:
Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.
A. Hyatt Verrill negatives, photographs and other materials, 1917-1926, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Biographical / Historical:
Born in Buffalo, New York, but raised on Staten Island, Alanson Buck Skinner (1886-1925) became interested in Indians during his boyhood. While still in high school, Skinner found his way to the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, and became known to F. W. Putnam and George H. Pepper. Skinner assisted in two Museum-sponsored collecting expeditions before he even graduated from high school: a 1902 excavation of a shell heap on Long Island sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and led by Arthur C. Parker; and a 1904 ethnological expedition to Cattaraugus, in western New York, led by Mark R. Harrington for the Peabody Museum. In 1907, shortly after graduating from high school, Skinner became an assistant in the anthropology department in the American Museum of Natural History. In 1908 the American Museum of Natural History sent Skinner to James Bay, located between northern Ontario and Quebec, Canada, to conduct ethnographic field research and collect among the eastern Cree. In 1909 he was sent back to James Bay (returning via Wisconsin) to work among the Saulteaux. While still at the American Museum of Natural History, Skinner was enrolled at Columbia University. He studied under Franz Boas, Marshall Saville and Adolf Bandolier. He also studied anthropology at Harvard University on a fellowship for one year, from 1911-1912.
Skinner resigned his position at the American Museum of Natural History to join the staff of the Museum of the American Indian--Heye Foundation in 1916. While at the Museum of the American Indian--Heye Foundation, Skinner worked among the Menomini, Ojibwa, Oneida, Winnebago, Eastern Dakota, Bungi, Plains Cree, and Seminole. In 1920, Skinner took a position as assistant curator in anthropology at the Milwaukee Public Museum. He was promoted to curator in 1922 and succeeded Samuel A. Barrett as department head. (Barrett was made director of the museum.) In June of 1924, Skinner returned to the Museum of the American Indian--Heye Foundation and worked there until his death in August 1925. Skinner died in an automobile accident in North Dakota. He was on a field collecting expedition with his long time friend, Amos One Road. He was 38 years old
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 4
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1927 - 1930
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 6
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1935 - 1937
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 7
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1938 - 1941
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 405, Folder 2
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1946 - 1950
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Institution. Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum Search this
Extent:
0.5 cu. ft. (1 document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1858-1869 and undated
Descriptive Entry:
These records consist of correspondence written to Smithsonian Institution Assistant Secretary Spencer Fullerton Baird by officers of the HBC documenting their collecting
activities on behalf of the Institution. Principal correspondents include George Barnston, Laurence Clarke, Jr., Charles P. Gaudet, Donald Gunn, William L. Hardisty, Strachan
Jones, James Lockhart, Roderick Ross MacFarlane, W. Mactavish, and Bernard Rogan Ross. Also included is correspondence from Elliott Coues to Baird concerning an expedition
to Labrador, 1860; and miscellaneous notes and lists concerning natural history specimens.
This correspondence was apparently pulled from Baird's official files. Researchers interested in the HBC should also consult Record Units 26, 33, 52, 53, 305, 7002, 7215,
and 7221.
Historical Note:
In the late 1850s, the Smithsonian Institution began receiving large collections of ethnographic and natural history material from arctic America, gathered by officers
of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). The Smithsonian's relationship with HBC was primarily a result of Robert Kennicott's explorations on behalf of the Institution during the
1850s.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 561, Smithsonian Institution, Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum, Correspondence and Memoranda
