This series includes photographic prints and negatives of the Purepecha (Tarasco) community in Michoacán State and Guererro Nahua community in Guerrero State that Cordry shot during a field collection trip in Mexico for the Museum of the American Indian in 1935-1936. The negatives in Michoacán depict views of various Purepecha dances in Cherán and Lago de Pátzcuaro (Lake Pátzcuaro) with many images of dancers in masks. The prints in Michoacán are mostly portraits of Purepecha (Tarasco) women and men in Cherán, Patamban, paracho and Charapan. Some of the women are weaving and spinning, other images show pottery and a kiln. The prints from Guerrero were shot in various Guerrero Nahua villages depict views of daily life such as making adobe bricks, cutting vines and fishing.
There is one negative in this series from 1933 of a mask maker in Tixtla, Guerrero State, Mexico. It is possible that it is misdated and is also from 1936.
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Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive 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.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Donald B. Cordry photographs from Mexico, Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
