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Catalog Data

Photographer:
Silleck, Herbert Underhill  Search this
Extent:
260 Photographs
Culture:
Diné (Navajo)  Search this
Taos Pueblo  Search this
Isleta Pueblo  Search this
Hopi Pueblo  Search this
Pikuni (Piegan) [Blackfeet Nation, Browning, Montana]  Search this
Lacandon Maya  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
circa 1924-1944
Summary:
This collection contains 260 photographs depicting many American Indian communities including Diné (Navajo); Hopi; Isleta Pueblo; Pikuni (Piegan) [Blackfeet Nation, Browning, Montana]; Taos Pueblo; and Lacandon Maya, as well as others. Photographs were shot by amateur photographer Herbert Underhill Silleck circa 1924-1944 during his travels with his wife Agnes Smartt Silleck.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains 260 photographs (196 film negatives and 64 photos in an album) shot by amateur photographer Herbert Underhill Silleck during his travels with his wife Agnes Smartt Silleck circa 1924-1944. The photographs depict many American Indian communities in western United States including Diné (Navajo), Hopi, Isleta Pueblo, Pikuni (Piegan) [Blackfeet Nation, Browning, Montana], Taos Pueblo, and Lacandon Maya. The images include scenes of candid portraits; powwows in Flagstaff, Arizona and Montana; Pueblos; tourist goods for sale; Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico, among other scenes.
Arrangement:
The photographs are intellectually arranged by subject matter and physically arranged in boxes by image #.
Biographical / Historical:
Relatively little is known about Herbert Underhill Silleck. He was born in New York in April 24, 1881 and worked for the Brooklyn Trust Company for about 47 years. He married Agnes Smartt on June 1, 1905 and they had one daughter Doris G. Silbeck (born 1918). He died in New York on March 14, 1961. Based on Herbert's photographic record, it appears that he was an amateur photographer who traveled throughout the western United States.
Separated Materials:
Agnes Smartt Silleck also donated a sash, hair tie, and a painting to the museum, which can now be found under object numbers 23/2012 - 23/2014.
Provenance:
Gift of Agnes Smartt Silleck, 1962.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Topic:
Powwows  Search this
Photographs  Search this
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Herbert U. Silleck photographs, image #, NMAI.AC.223; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NMAI.AC.223
See more items in:
Herbert U. Silleck photographs
Archival Repository:
National Museum of the American Indian
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv42a4255df-8763-44c5-9585-1caa2738e7cd
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmai-ac-223