The collection consists of a letter dated March 24, 1896 from Grove Karl Gilbert to John Wesley Powell. The letter transmits archeological specimens (now held in the Department of Anthropology object collections) together with sketches of petroglyphs collected during work for the United States Geological Survey in the Arkansas River Valley from Colorado to Kansas. Included are sketches of petroglyphs and notes on specimens.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Biographical Note:
Grove Karl Gilbert (1843–1918) was an American geologist. He joined the Powell Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region in 1874, becoming Powell's primary assistant, and stayed with the survey until 1879. After the creation of the United States Geological Survey in 1879, he was appointed to the position of Senior Geologist and worked for the USGS until his death.
John Wesley Powell (1835-1902) was the first Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology (1879-1902) and the second Director of the USGS (1881–1894).
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 7030
Variant Title:
Letter to John Wesley Powell
Separated Materials:
The artifacts described in the letter are held by the Department of Anthropology object collections in Accession 31683.
MS 7030 Letter to John Wesley Powell transmitting archaeological specimens and sketches of petroglyphs, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The material consists mostly of photographic prints. A few negatives, photomechanical prints, tintypes, drawings, newspaper clippings, notes, and letters are also included. Much of the material is annotated. In part, the file was assembled for or relates to many accessions and cataloging units of the division.
The material was received from professionals and amateurs, mostly working in North America. The images are of artifactual and skeletal specimens, fradulent specimens, collections of specimens, sites, excavations, site features, ruins, petroglyphs, and field parties. A few are reproductions of maps and portraits of native people. Some of the specimens are in the Smithsonianʹs collections, but many are not.
Included among the many subjects are photographs of Dighton Rock in Massachusetts; many ruins of the 1931 Moundville, Alabama, excavation; Tlingit burial boxes; excavations, specimens, and Aleut portraits taken by Waldemar I. Jochelsonʹs Ethnological Section of the Riaboushinsky Expedition, 1909-1912; Richard Wetherillʹs party in Mancos Canyon, Colorado, and F. S. Hempsteadʹs Archaeological and Topographic Map of Portsmouth," [Ohio].
Some of the material relates to the work of Charles L. Bernheimer in Utah, Burnham S. Colburn in Georgia and North Carolina, Thomas Featherstonehaugh in Florida, Otto William Geist in Alaska, A. T. Hill in Nebraska, Walter Hough in Arizona (for the Gates-United States National Museum Expedition, 1901), George Langford in Illinois, Henry Montgomery in North Dakota, Clarence B. Moore in Florida, Henri F. Pittier in Costa Rica, and F. B. Stebbins in Tennessee. Collections are those of Charles Artes (filed Indiana), Thomas Beckwith (filed Missouri), C. W. Branch (filed West Indies), Burham S. Colburn Cherokee relics (filed North Carolina), James Pillars (filed Ohio), Governor Price (frauds from New Mexico), Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis (filed Ohio).
The material is from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas Utah, Virginia, Washington, Costa Rica, British Columbia, Canada, New Zealand, Nova Scotia, South Pacific, and West Indies.
The works of many photographers are included. Among them are John K. Hillers, William Henry Jackson, Sumner W. Matteson, Edgar A. Mearns, Victor Mindeleff, and Timothy H. OʹSullivan.
Nine rock art sites in the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, southeastern Colorado / by Lawrence L. Loendorf ; with contributions by Jeffrey R. Hanson ... [et al.] ; prepared for National Park Service, Rocky Mountain Regional Office ; prepared by Department of Anthropology, University of North Dakota
Visions from canyon walls : petroglyphs and pictographs from the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site / by Lawerence L. Loendorf ; edited by Nancy Debevoise ; illustration by Hannah Hinchman and Linda Olson
Title:
Petroglyphs and pictographs from the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site