Photographs made in Patagonia by John Bell Hatcher during his expeditions to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. They document Tehuelche and Yahgan peoples, dwellings, and the natural environment.
Biographical/Historical note:
John Bell Hatcher (1861-1904) was a paleontologist known for his work at Yale and Princeton Universities and the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Hatcher was born in Cooperstown, Illinois, but shortly thereafter his family permanently settled in Iowa. After studying for a few months at Grinnell College, Iowa, he transferred to Yale University, where he met paleontologist Othniel Marsh. Following Hatcher's graduation in 1884, he worked as Marsh's assistant, and in 1893 left Yale to became curator of vertebrate paleontology at Princeton University. During his time with Princeton, Hatcher made three expeditions to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (1896-1899) under the university's sponsorship. During these expedtitions, he also worked under commission by the Bureau of American Ethnology to collect material culture and make photographs of the Tehuelche and Yahgan communities, most of which were then purchased by the National Museum. Hatcher was appointed curator of peolontology and osteology at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh in 1900, though his narrative of the Patagonia expeditions was published by Princeton in 1903.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 124
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Hatcher photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 14, Photo Lot 24 and Photo Lot 97
Correspondence to and from Hatcher is held in National Anthropological Archives MS 4029 and the records of the Bureau of American Ethnology and in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in SIA RU000248.
Artifacts collected by Hatcher are held in the Department of Anthropology collections in accessions 035249 and 035895.
See others in:
John Bell Hatcher photographs relating to Patagonia, circa 1896-1899
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
