The Frank Gouldsmith Speck photograph collection includes portraits of individuals and families, as well as scenic shots and landscape views made between 1909 and 1937. Speck was an anthropologist and ethnographer, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and worked on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation collecting ethnographic materials across the Eastern United States and Canada. His collection of photographs includes materials from native communities ranging from Newfoundland to Ontario in Canada and from Maine to South Carolina in the United States.
Scope and Contents:
The Frank Gouldsmith Speck photograph collection includes negatives and a small amount of prints made by Speck throughout the course of his career as an anthropologist and ethnographer. The majority of the photographs in this collection were made while Speck conducted field trips on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation between 1924 and 1932, though there are photographs from before and after this time. This collection has been arranged into Series by geographical location and then into subseries by culture group or community. Series 1: Newfoundland and Labrador: Innu, Mushuaunnuat, 1916-1935; Series 2: Quebec: Innu, Mistassini Cree, Lorette Huron, Wawenock, Mohawk, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, 1910-1937; Series 3: New Brunswick and Nova Scotia: Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, 1909-1917; Series 4: Ontario: Six Nations/Grand River (Naticoke, Mohawk, Cayuga, Mahican, Tutelo), Oneida Nation, 1914-1937; Series 5: Maine and New Hampshire: Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, 1910-1924; Series 6: Massachussets and Rhode Island: Wampanoag, Nauset, 1914-1931; Series 7: Connecticut: Mohegan, Niantic, Schaghticoke, Pequot, 1912-1931; Series 8: Delaware: Nanticoke and Rappahanock, 1911-1925; Series 9: Virginia and Maryland: Rappahanock, Chickahominy, Pamunkey, Mattaponi, Nansemond, Potomac, Accomac, Powhatan, 1915-1924; Series 10: North Carolina and South Carolina: Catawba, Eastern Band of Cherokee, 1915-1930.
Many of Frank Speck's photographs are individual and family portraits of community members, many identified, posed outdoors in front of homes and community buildings. There are also landscape views as well as photographs taken during community events. There are a small amount of photographs that have now been restricted due to cultural sensitivity though for the most part Speck did not photograph culturally sensitive activities.
Arrangement:
The collection is intellectually arranged in 10 Series by geographic region and within each series by culture group. The negatives are physically arranged by catalog number.
Biographical / Historical:
Frank Gouldsmith Speck was born on November 8, 1881 in Brooklyn, New York. He studied under the prominent linguist John Dyneley Prince and anthropologist Franz Boas at Columbia University, receiving his BA in 1904 and MA in 1905. He received his Ph.D. in 1908 from the University of Pennsylvania. His doctoral dissertation on the ethnography of the Yuchi became a basis for an article which later appeared in the Handbook of American Indians. That same year Speck became an assistant in the University of Pennsylvania Museum and an instructor in anthropology at the University. He was made assistant professor in 1911, and professor and chairperson of the department in 1925, a position which he held until his death in 1950. Speck was the founder of the Philadelphia Anthropological Society, and was vice-president of the American Anthropological Association from 1945-46. Speck's research concentration was on the Algonkian speaking peoples. Speck studied every aspect of a culture: language, ethnobiology, technology, decorative art, myths, religion, ceremonialism, social organization, and music. Collecting material culture was also an integral part of Speck's fieldwork. His collections can be found in museums around the world, one of which is the National Museum of the American Indian. He is the author of numerous books and articles. Frank G. Speck died February 6, 1950. (A. Irving Hallowell, American Anthropologist, Vol. 53, No. 1, 1951)
Related Materials:
The Frank G. Speck Papers can be found at the American Philosophical Society (Mss.Ms.Coll.126) along with additional photographic materials by Speck.
Frank Speck published extensively in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation publications; "Indian Notes" and "Indian Notes and Monographs." These publications are avialable through the Smithsonian Institution Libraries or online on the Internet Archive.
Separated Materials:
A small amount of notes from Speck's field work can be found in the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation records (NMAI.AC.001) in Box 273, Folder 18 through Box 274 Folder 2.
Close to 4000 ethnographic and archeological items were collected by Speck for the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (MAI) and are now in the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) collection. For more information about these objects contact the NMAI Collections Department.
Provenance:
The majority of the negatives were gifted to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (MAI) by Frank Speck in 1927. The group of Nanticoke photographs were purchased by the MAI in 1915 and smaller amounts of photographs were gifted and purchased by the MAI between 1923 and 1942.
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).
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.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Frank Speck photograph collection, Photo Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
These papers consist of research materials collected and used by Professor Carol Herselle Krinsky for her book Contemporary Native American Architecture: Cultural Regeneration and Creativity.
Scope and Contents:
These papers consist of research materials collected and used by Professor Carol Herselle Krinsky for her book Contemporary Native American Architecture: Cultural Regeneration and Creativity. This book discusses the connection between trends in modern architecture and native culture, as well as how culture has been revived through architecture, and how existing structures are altered to better reflect the native culture they serve. These materials include correspondence, newspaper clippings, interview transcripts, and photographs. News clippings in this collection include articles in German.
Arrangement:
The Carol H. Krinsky Papers are divided into two main series based on the original order established by Dr. Krinsky.
Series 1, Tribes (1964-2004) [Boxes 1-4]
Series 2, Subject Files (1967-2004)
[Boxes 5-7]
Biographical / Historical:
Carol Herselle Krinsky is a professor of Fine Arts at New York University. She received a BA from Smith College in 1957, a M.A. from the NYU Institute of Fine Arts in 1960, and a PhD from NYU in 1965. Professor Krinsky has received many honors and awards throughout her career including the Miess Publication Award from the College Art Association (1985), the National Jewish Book Award (1986), a Merit of Distinction from the International Center for Holocaust Studies (1987), a Golden Dozen Teaching Award from NYU (1990) and; the Brunner Research Award from the New York City Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. She has also been named a Senior Fulbright Scholar.
Previous publications have included Synagogues of Europe, Rockefeller Center, and Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Dr. Carol Herselle Krinsky on March 3, 2004.
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).
Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the NMAI Archivist. The Archives has no information on the status of literary rights for the work of others found in these papers; researchers are responsible for determining any question of copyright.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Carol H. Krinsky Papers, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
30 Acetate negatives (black and white, 5 x 7 inches.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Acetate negatives
Black-and-white negatives
Place:
Westfield (Mass.)
Massachusetts -- Antiquities
Vergennes (Vt.)
Charlemont (Mass.)
Date:
1942-1946
Summary:
This collection contains 30 black-and-white acetate negatives dating from 1942-1946. Taken by archaeologist Edward Brooks, the majority of the images portray the Guida Farm Site excavation in Westfield, Massachusetts, along with related archaeological objects. The remaining images are from Charlemont, Massachusetts and Vergennes, Vermont.
Arrangement note:
Organized in individual sleeves; arranged by image number.
Biographical/Historical note:
Edward Brooks was the principal archaeologist for the work performed at the Guida Farm Site in Westfield, Massachusetts, from 1942-1946. For several seasons he was the director of the first officially-sponsored dig by the Massachusetts Archaeological Society on Nantucket Island. Brooks was also associated with the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation and performed research work for the Vermont Historical Society.
Restrictions:
Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.
Rights:
Some images are restricted due to copyright. Please contact the archivist for further information.
Topic:
Indians of North America -- Massachusetts Search this
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Massachusetts Search this
Genre/Form:
Black-and-white negatives
Citation:
Edward Brooks negatives, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).
