This subseries of the Mexico/Central America/South America series consists of highly miscellaneous, unsorted notes which were found scattered throughout Harrington's papers. Most of the material deals with Mexico and Central America, although there are data relating to South America and possibly to his study of placenames and province names. The notes were recorded during various periods of time as evidenced by the different types of paper used; most are undated. There are references to Aztec, Tarahumara, Tarascan, Cochimi, Cora, Chontal, and Tojulabal. Castulo Ucan, an informant with whom Harrington worked in New York, is mentioned. Perhaps of greatest interest is a four-page list of Zapotec words, consisting of numbers and miscellaneous vocabulary, which was elicited from a Mr. Harvey in February 1923.
Local Numbers:
Accession #1976-95
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The preferred citation for the Harrington Papers will reference the actual location within the collection, i.e. Box 172, Alaska/Northwest Coast, Papers of John Peabody Harrington, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
However, as the NAA understands the need to cite phrases or vocabulary on specific pages, a citation referencing the microfilmed papers is acceptable. Please note that the page numbering of the PDF version of the Harrington microfilm does not directly correlate to the analog microfilm frame numbers. If it is necessary to cite the microfilmed papers, please refer to the specific page number of the PDF version, as in: Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Microfilm: MF 7, R34 page 42.
George Hubbard Pepper specialized in the study of cultures of the American Southwest and Ecuador. Tribes which he studied are Acoma, Aztec, Blackfeet, Cochiti, Hopi, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Navajo, Picuris, Pojuaque, Puye, San Carlos Apache, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Sandia, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Taos, Tarascan, Tesuque, Ute, Zia, and Zuni. Photographs in the collection are of an excavation in Tottenville, New York, 1895; Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Cañon, New Mexico: Hyde Expedition, 1896-1900; and expeditions to the occupied Pueblos of the Southwest, 1904; Mexico, 1904, 1906; Guatemala; and Ecuador, 1907. There are also photos which complement a study Pepper did of the technique of Navajo weaving, and miscellaneous scenic and personal photos.
Arrangement note:
Collection arranged by item number.
Biographical/Historical note:
George Hubbard Pepper was born on February 2, 1873 in Tottenville, Staten Island, New York. As a young boy he exhibited a strong interest in archaeology and after his graduating from high school followed encouragement from Prof. Fredric W. Putnam to study at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, where Pepper stayed from 1895-96. In 1896 he was appointed assistant curator of the Department of the Southwest in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. From 1896 to 1900, Pepper was a member of the Hyde Exploring Expedition, which conducted excavations at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. In 1904, he conducted an ethnological survey of the occupied pueblos of the Southwest and at the same time continued his study of the weaving techniques of the Navajo. Pepper also participated in excavations in the yacatas of the Tierra Caliente of Michoacan in Mexico sponsored by George Gustav Heye, and in 1907 he went with Marshall Saville on an expedition to the Province of Manabi in Ecuador, also for Heye. In 1909 Pepper was appointed assistant curator in the Department of American Archaeology at the University Museum of Philadelphia, but after only a year there he joined the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in New York City, where he stayed until his death. In 1914 he excavated a Munsee cemetery of the historic period near Montague, New Jersey and in the following year he went on the exploration of the Nacoochee mound in the old Cherokee region in Georgia. In 1918 he joined the Hawikku explorations of the Hendricks-Hodge Expedition in New Mexico. Pepper died on May 13, 1924, in New York City. George H. Pepper was a co-founder of the American Anthropological Association, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Ethnological Society of New York, a member of the American Folklore Society, and a corresponding member of the Academia Nacional de Historia of Ecuador. A complete bibliography of his works can be found in Indian Notes, v. 1, no. 3, July 1924, pp. 108-110. The George Hubbard Pepper Papers are in the Latin American Library, Tulane University Library, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Provenance:
According to Frederick Dockstader, director of MAI from 1960 to 1975, in a letter dated March 26, 1968, the collection was given to MAI by Pepper. However, the 1965 Annual Report (p. 26) states that the Photographic Department acquired through the donation of Mrs. Jeannette Cameron approximately 500 new negatives pertaining to field work done by her father from 1900-1910; and the 1966 Annual Report (p. 9) states that many papers of Dr. George H. Pepper were acquired through the courtesy of his daughter, Mrs. Jeanette Cameron.
Restrictions:
Access restricted. Researchers should contact the staff of the NMAI Archives for an appointment to access the collection.
Front and profile studio portraits of Indigenous peoples of Mexico, representing Aztec, Chinantec, Chocho, Chol, Chontal, Cuicatec, Huastec, Huave, Maya, Mazatec, Mixe, Mixtec, Otomi, Tarascan, Tepehua, Tlaxcalan, Totonac, Trique, Tzental, Tzotzil, Zapotec, Zapotec Tehuartepec, and Zoque tribes. The photographs were made by William L. Koehne of Chicago for publication in Frederick Starr's book, Physical Characters of Indians of Southern Mexico.
Biographical/Historical note:
Frederick Starr (1858-1933) was an anthropologist and academic who worked as curator at the American Museum of Natural History and professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago. During his professiorship, Starr hired professional photographer and studio owner William L. Koehne to make the studio portraits for his 1902 book, Physical Characters of Indians of Southern Mexico. Additionally, Starr made several field studies in Mexico and commissioned field photographs and plaster busts.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 123
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photographs collected by Cyrus Thomas, Robert T. Hill, Edward W. Nelson, and Edgar L. Hewitt have been relocated to Photo Lot 169, Photo Lot 170, Photo Lot 171, and Photo Lot 172, respectively.
The Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian Archives holds the Frederick Starr negatives and lanterns slides, 1894-1910.
Correspondence from Starr held in the National Anthropological Archives is in MS 4558, MS 4821, and the Bureau of American Ethnology records.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot 123, Frederick Starr collection of William L. Koehne photographs of Indigenous peoples of Mexico, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Enlargements of photographs made by Donald Bush Cordry during his time in Mexico. These were mounted for a 1970s Bellas Artes-sponsored traveling exhibit based on Cordry's collection of Mexican Indian costumes. Included are images of Indigenous peoples of Mexico, fiestas and dances, pottery, boats, weaving, spinning, masks, vendors and markets, churches, and shrines. Depicted groups include the Huichol, Mestizo, Tarascan, Seri, Mayo, Tepehua, Totonac, Nahua, Mazatec, Cuicatec, Chinantec, Zapotec, Mixe, Amusgo, Huave, Mixtec, Chapanec, Zoque, Tzotzil, and Maya. Additionally, there are some self portraits of Donald Cordry and his wife Dorothy.
Biographical/Historical note:
Donald Bush Cordry (1907-1978) was an artist and photographer who studied the art of Indigenous peoples of Mexico. In 1931, Cordry made his first trip to Guerrero, Mexico, where he became interested in contemporary mask making. In 1934, Cordry moved to New York to work as a marionette designer for puppeteer Tony Sarg. While there, he contacted George G. Heye to learn more about Indigenous Mexican art. This led to a series of collecting expeditions from 1935 to 1938, during which Cordry collected Mexican masks and other artifacts for the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 87-38, USNM ACC 361232
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional photographs made by Cordry can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 82-14.
Donald Cordry and his wife, Dorothy Mann Cordry, also donated clothing and musical instruments from Mexico to the Department of Anthropology in accessions 361232 and 355866.
The National Museum of the American Indian Archives holds the Donald Bush Cordry collection of photographs and negatives, 1933-1940, as well as artifacts collected by Cordry.
Photographs of the Donald Cordry Mexican mask exhibit can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 80-3.
The Donald Cordry Mexican mask collection can be found in the Department of Anthropology in accession 355867.
The collection includes materials from cultures in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, and Guiana: Acoma Pueblo, Apache, Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Caddo, Cahuilla, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chibcha, Chinantec, Chippewa (Ojibwa), Choco, Chol, Chontal, Cochiti Pueblo, Crow, Cuicatec, Eskimo, Flathead, Haida, Hopi, Huastec, Huave, Iowa, Iroquois, Isleta, Karaja, Kwakiutl, Laguna Pueblo, Macusi, Mandan, Maya, Mazahua, Mazatec, Mehinaku, Menomini, Mixe, Mixtec, Navajo, Nez Perce, Osage, Otomi, Ottawa, Pawnee, Pima, Ponca, Potawatomi, Salish, San Blas, San Felipe Pueblo, Sauk & Fox, Shuar, Sioux, Taos Pueblo, Tarasco, Teotihuacan, Tepehua, Tlaxcala, Tlingit, Tonkawa, Totonac, Triqui, Tzental, Tzotzil, Ute, Wampanoag, Zapotec, Zoque, Zuni.
Arrangement note:
Collection arranged by item number.
Biographical/Historical note:
Frederick Starr was born in Auburn, New York, on September 2, 1858. He received a Ph.D. in biology in 1884 at Coe College, where he was later appointed professor of biology. Starr did postgraduate work in anthropology at Yale. In 1889 he was appointed head of Ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History, and in 1892 he was chosen by William Harper to organize the Anthropology Department at the new University of Chicago. Starr remained at the University until his retirement in 1923. Besides his field studies with various Indian tribes in the United States, Starr traveled to Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Guiana, Japan, the Philippines, and Africa. He died in Tokyo, Japan, on August 14, 1933. Starr was the author of several books and scholarly articles.
General note:
Starr hired professional photographers Charles B. Lang and Louis Grabic to accompany him on his field trips. One lantern slide of Moses Ladd (Menomini) was taken by William H. Jackson.
Provenance:
Dr. Frederick Starr, Purchased, circa 1929
Restrictions:
Access restricted. Researchers should contact the staff of the NMAI Archives for an appointment to access the collection.
This collection contains photographic prints and copy negatives taken by Ales Hrdlicka in Arizona and Mexico between 1898 and 1902. The majority of the photographs were donated by George Pepper to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in 1923. Native communities that Hrdlicka photographed during his research include--Purepecha (Tarasco), Yoeme (Yaqui), Hualapai (Walapai), Havasupai (Coconino), Piipaash (Maricopa), Mojave (Mahave), Tohono O'odham (Papapgo), Quechan (Yuma/Cuchan), Tepecano, Akimel O'odham (Pima), Opata, Cora, Seri, Wixarika (Huichol), Nahua, Otomi and Yoreme (Mayo). Ales Hrdlicka (1869-1943) was born in the Czech Republic moved to the United States in 1881. Hrdlicka became known as the "Father" of Physical Anthropology and worked at the U.S. National Museum (now the National Museum of Natural History).
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains photographic prints taken by Ales Hrdlicka in Arizona and Mexico between 1898 and 1902. It is likely that many of the photographs were taken in 1902 as a part of the Hyde exploring expeditions on behalf of the American Museum of Natural History. Some of these photographs were taken by Carl Lumholtz and not Hrdlicka. Native communities that Hrdlicka photographed during his research include--Purepecha (Tarasco), Yoeme (Yaqui), Hualapai (Walapai), Havasupai (Coconino), Piipaash (Maricopa), Mojave (Mahave), Tohono O'odham (Papapgo), Quechan (Yuma/Cuchan), Tepecano, Akimel O'odham (Pima), Opata, Cora, Seri, Wixarika (Huichol), Nahua, Otomi, and Yoreme (Mayo). Locations photographed in Mexico include--Michoacán, Sonora, Mesa del Encanto and the Ruins of Totoate in Jalisco, Ruins of La Quamada and Ruins of Teul in Zacatecas, Nayarit State, and the central altiplano. Locations photographed in Arizona include--Casa Grande in Pinal County, Fort Yuma Reservation, Supai in Coconino County and the Mission San Xavier del Bac.
The photographs include a large amount of posed portraits of men and women, none of them identified in our collection. Hrdlicka often posed his subjects both facing forward and in profile so that he could better examine their physical attributes.There are some group portraits as well as scenic shots of houses, churches and village views. Hrdlicka also photographed archaeological ruins inlcuding Casa Grande, Mesa del Encanto, Totoate, La Quamada and Teul.
The copy negatives that were made from the prints in the late 1960s by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
Arrangement:
The majority of the photographs have been left in the order that they were originally cataloged. Photographs from the various tribal communities in Arizona and Mexico are in Series 1-16, each community with its own series. The final series, Series 17, contains photographs from various archaeological ruins in Arizona and Mexico.
Biographical / Historical:
Ales Hrdlicka (1869-1943) was born in Bohemia in and came to America when he was thirteen. As a young man, he was trained in medicine at New York's Eclectic Medical College and the New York Homeopathic Medical College, receiving degrees from each. His first professional work was as a private practitioner, but he gave that up in 1894 when he joined the staff of the New York State Hospital for the Insane at Middletown. There, in addition to other duties, he began studies of the physical characteristics of inmates. In 1896, in preparation for a research appointment with the Department of Anthropology in the Pathological Institute of the New York State hospitals, Hrdlicka went to Paris and studied with Leon Manouvrier. After his return to America, he worked for a short period with the Pathological Institute and came into contact with G.S. Huntington, of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Hrdlicka arranged and studied Huntington's large collection of skeletal material, thus gaining knowledge of a well-documented collection representing largely normal persons of European ancestry. He furthermore came to the attention of Frederic Ward Putnam, of the American Museum of Natural History, who arranged for his first anthropological field studies.
Hrdlicka became a member of the Hyde Expeditions to the American Southwest and northern Mexico. In 1898, he traveled to Mexico with Carl Lumholtz to study the Tarahumaras, Huichols, and neighboring tribes. In subsequent years, he returned to Mexico and the Southwest alone and studied physical characteristics and medical conditions of several American Indian tribes. Following this experience and examinations of the Trenton and Lansing skeletal material for Putnam, Hrdlicka was appointed head of the newly formed Division of Physical Anthropology in the United States National Museum in 1903.
In 1905, Hrdlicka returned to the Southwest for studies of Pima and Apache children and, in the following year, traveled to Florida to examine allegedly ancient remains of man. In 1908, he worked among a number of Native American tribes, including the Menominee, Oglala Dakota, Quinailt, Hupa, and Mohave, in a study of tuberculosis among them. In 1909, he traveled to Egypt with an expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in order to study living Egyptians and to examine remains of Egypt's past population. The following year took him to Argentina, Peru, and Mexico. In the first of these, he again examined allegedly ancient remains of man. In Peru, he made a large collection of skeletal material near Trujillo, at Pachamac, and in the Chicama Valley.
Between 1912-1914, Hrdlicka undertook a physical anthropological exhibit for the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego and, for this, traveled to eastern Siberia, Mongolia, Peru, and Florida. He also examined fossil remains of man in Europe and directed field work of other anthropologists in South and East Africa, St. Lawrence Island in Alaska, the Philippines, eastern Siberia, and the Ukraine. In 1915, for the Department of Justice, he assessed the racial makeup of Chippewas on the Leech Lake and White Earth reservations in Minnesota and also studied Dakota Indians. In 1917, his field work was directed toward white American families with longtime residence in the United States. In 1918, he carried out a survey of ancient sites in eastern Florida for the Bureau of American Ethnology. In 1920, he traveled to Hawaii, Japan, Korea, and Manchuria in connection with an appointment to lecture at the Peking Union Medical College. As director of the American School for Prehistoric Studies in France, he again studied fossil remains of man in Europe in 1922 and 1923. In 1925, he carried out work in India, Ceylon, Java, Australia, South Africa, and Europe. In 1927, he was again in Europe to deliver the Huxley Memorial Lecture before the Royal Anthropological Society in Great Britain. Between 1929 and 1938, he traveled frequently to Alaska to carry on an anthropological survey. In 1939, he traveled to Russia and Siberia.
Beginning with much of the skeletal collection of the Army Medical Museum, which had been transferred to the Smithsonian in 1898 before he was appointed there, Hrdlicka amassed a bone collection that included, among many other specimens, the Huntington collection, casts of fossil remains of man, and a large and diverse North American collection. He also gathered a large collection of human brains. Over three hundred publications resulted from his study of this material, his field work, and his study of specimens in other museums. In addition, he was involved in many other activities. For United States government agencies, he provided services ranging from examinations of human remains for law enforcement officials to providing information and opinions concerning national origins and traits that were needed to interpret laws and form foreign policy. During World War II, he also advised government officials on policies to be pursued with certain national groups following the war.
In 1918, Hrdlicka founded the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and remained its editor until 1942. In 1928, he was the major force behind the organization of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and served as its president in 1928-1932. He was also president of the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1907, the American Anthroplogical Association in 1925-1927, and the Washington Academy of Sciences in 1928-1929. He was chairman of Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1918 and secretary of the Committee on Anthropology of the National Research Council in 1917. In addition, Hrdlicka was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Sciences. He represented the Smithsonian at several international gatherings of scholars, including meetings of the International Congress of Americanists.
Biographical note courtesy of the National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of Natural History. See Ales Hrdlicka Papers. Edited by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Related Materials:
The majority of Ales Hrdlicka's papers and photographs are located at the National Athropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. In addition to the Ales Hrdlicka Papers ca. 1887-1943 additional Hrdlicka photographs can be found in photographic lots 8, Division of Physical Anthropology collection; 9, photographs of Indians for the Panama-California Exposition, San Diego; 24, Bureau of American Ethnology, United States National Museum photographs of American Indians; 70, Department of Anthropology portrait file; 78, miscellaneous negatives; 97, Division of Ethnology collection (―USNM‖ Collection); 73-26B, Aleš Hrdlička photographs; 73-26G, miscellany; 77-48, group portraits of International Congress; 79-38, Division of World Archeology collection; 83-41, Division of Physical Anthropology collection of photographs of human bones; and 92-46, anthropology lantern slides.
Provenance:
Although it is unclear when George Pepper received the photographs from Ales Hrdlicka, Pepper donated the majority of the collection of photographs to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (MAI) in 1923. The rest of the photographs were cataloged by the MAI some time in the 1920s but the provenance history is unknown.
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).
There are several restricted photographs in Series 2: Yoeme (Yaqui). This have been restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
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.
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Aleš Hrdlička photographs from Mexico and Arizona, Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This series includes 19 photographic prints taken in the Purepecha (Tarasca) community around Tarécuato in the Michoacán State, Mexico. Hrdlicka visited the Purepecha (Tarasca) in 1902 as part of the Hyde Exploring Expedition, funded by the American Museum of Natural History. The Purepechans, also known as the Tarascans, are a group of indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of the Mexican state of Michoacán, principally in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro. The majority of the photographs are full length frontal and profile portraits taken of men and women standing outdoors on the patio at the house of one of the Tarécuato village officials and in front of a building along a cobblestone street. There are a couple of images of houses and bull carts in town. There is one photograph of a seated group of boys.
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).
There are several restricted photographs in Series 2: Yoeme (Yaqui). This have been restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
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); Aleš Hrdlička photographs from Mexico and Arizona, Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Images consist mostly of portraits of the indigenous people in the Mexican states of Michoacán, Guerrero, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz. The collection primarily contains images of Wikarika (Huichol) people, but includes images of the Purepecha (Tarasco), Guerrero Nahua, Chinantec [Chinantla], Zoque, Otomí (Otomi), Tzotzil Maya, Yoreme (Mayo) and Zapotec peoples.
Scope and Contents:
The Donald Bush Cordry collection primarily contains photographic prints and negatives made by Cordry while he collected objects from 1935 to 1938 on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. Photographic materials from his private 1933 trip to Guerreo and a few taken around 1940 are also housed in the collection. The photographs depict the native peoples of the Mexican states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, and Veracruz and represent people preparing food, making masks, pottery and textiles, and dressing for and participating in ceremonies. In addition there are village scenes and informal portraits of individuals. Series 1: Michoacán and Guererro States, includes images shot within the Purepecha (Tarasco) and Guererro Nahua communities between 1935 and 1936. (Negatives: N21118-N21126; Prints: P11986- P12008; Copy Negatives: N36725-N36731) Series 2: Nayarit and Sinaloa States, is the largest series and includes images shot in various Wixarika (Huichol) villages in 1937 and depicts many ceremonial functions. (Prints: P12659-P12672, P12880-P12887, P13273-P13275, P13386-P13414; Copy Negatives: N36855-N36863, N41431-N41432) Series 3: Oaxaca, Chiapas, Sonora and Mexico States, includes images from various culture groups from around 1940. These include Chinantec [Chinantla], Zoque, Otomí (Otomi), Tzotzil Maya, Yoreme (Mayo) and Zapotec. (Prints: P15052-P15053, P15202-P15203, P15347-P15348, P16553-P16562; Copy Negatives: N37306-N37307, N37335-N37336, N37506-N37507)
The photographic prints are all silver gelatin (DOP) and are a range of sizes. The majority of the negatives are copy negatives made by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation during a photo conservation project in the 1960s.
Arrangement note:
Arranged into three series by date and geographical location. Series 1: Michoacán and Guererro States: Purepecha (Tarasco), Guererro Nahua, 1933, 1935-1936; Series 2: Nayarit and Sinaloa States: Wixarika (Huichol), 1937; Series 3: Oaxaca, Chiapas, Sonora States: Various communities, circa 1940. Within each series the prints and negatives are physically arranged by catalog number.
Biographical/Historical note:
Starting in high school, Donald Bush Cordry was deeply committed to theatrical set design and puppetry and while attending the Minneapolis Institute of Art began to carve his own wooden marionettes and hand puppets. In 1931, Cordry made his first trip to Mexico (Guerrero) and become fascinated by contemporary Mexican Indian art, especially mask making. In 1934, Cordry moved to New York to work as a marionette designer for puppeteer Tony Sarg and soon contacted George G. Heye to learn more about Mexican Indian art. From 1935 to 1938, Cordry collected Mexican masks and other art forms on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. On his first 1935 collecting trip for Heye, Cordry traveled throughout the states of Michoacán and Guerrero and collected carved and painted dance masks.
In 1936, Cordry married fellow artist Dorothy Mann. Shortly after their wedding, the newlyweds traveled by horseback for six months through Nayarit, Jalisco, and southern Sonora and extensively collected among and photographed the Huichol, Cora and Mayo Indians. The couple moved to Mexico in 1938, first settling in Oaxaca; in the mid-1940s, no longer working for Heye, they relocated to Mexico City. There Cordry established his own design business and produced decorative Mexican folk art-style crafts. His business was highly successful and his work was featured in House and Garden magazine. The couple moved to Cuernavaca, where in 1953 Cordry suffered a stroke and was forced to close his workshop. His stroke also put an end to his traveling and collecting activities. Deeply interested in the history and traditions of Mexican Indians, Cordry assembled an extensive reading library of pre- and post-conquest Mexico materials and together with his wife published "Costumes and Textiles of the Aztec Indians of the Cuetzalan Region, Puebla, Mexico" (1940); "The Costumes and Weaving of the Zoque Indians of Chiapas, Mexico" (1941); and, most importantly, "Mexican Indian Costumes" (1968). Cordry's monumental "Mexican Masks" (1980) was published shortly after his death. Cordry died in Cuernavaca, Mexico, at the age of 71.
Related Materials:
There are around 900 ethnographic items collected by Donald Cordry in Mexico in the National Museum of American Indian's ethnology collections. For more information about these materials contact NMAI Collections.
The National Anthropological Archives (National Museum of Natural History) holds several collections of Donald B. Cordry photographs. See: NAA Photo Lot 87-38, NAA Photo Lot 82-14, and NAA Photo Lot 80-3. The Donald Cordry Mexican mask collection at Natural History can be found in the Department of Anthropology in accession 355867.
Provenance:
The majority of the Donald Cordry photographs came to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation along with field collections in 1936 and 1938. There were additional donations of photographs made by Cordry in 1937, 1940, 1941 and 1943.
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); Donald B. Cordry photographs from Mexico, Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
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:
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.
View of the Purepecha (Tarasco) "Danza de los Negritos" in Cherán, Michoacán State, Mexico.
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:
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.
View of dancers at the Purepecha (Tarasco) "Danza de los Negritos" in Cherán, Michoacán State, Mexico.
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:
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.
View of the Purepecha (Tarasco) "Danza de los Negritos" in Cherán, Michoacán State, Mexico.
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:
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.
View of the Purepecha (Tarasco) "Danza de los Negritos" in Cherán, Michoacán State, Mexico.
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:
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.
Group portrait of Purepecha (Tarasco) musicians for a Pastorela dance in Cherán, Michoacán State, Mexico. They hold tubas, trombones, clarinets, cymbols and other instruments.
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:
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.
View of Purepecha (Tarasco) masked dancers for a Pastorela dance in Cherán, Michoacán State, Mexico.
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:
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.
View of Purepecha (Tarasco) children dressed to represent angels for a Pastorela dance in Cherán, Michoacán State, Mexico.
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:
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.
