The Helga Teiwes photograph collection contains over 7,000 negatives, slides and prints made by Teiwes between 1965 and 2002. For over thirty years Teiwes worked as a staff photographer for the Arizona State Museum, photographing and documenting Native American communities across the American Southwest. During this time, Teiwes also privately took photographs and built personal relationships among members of the Akimel O'odham, Tohono O'odham, Apache, Diné (Navajo) and Hopi tribes. These photographs include portraits of artists at work, families in their homes, daily life on the reservation, special events and landscape photography. Additionally, the Teiwes collection includes photographs from a 1975 trip to Peru and photographs of the Tarahumara (Rarámuri) community in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Scope and Contents:
The Helga Teiwes photograph collection contains over 7,000 negatives, slides and prints made by Teiwes between 1965 and 2002 across the American Southwest, Mexico and Peru. The majority of the photographs document daily life and activities, artists at work, and special events among members of the Akimel O'odham, Tohono O'odham, Apache, Diné (Navajo) and Hopi tribes in Arizona and New Mexico. A smaller amount of photographs documents trips Teiwes made to Mexico to photograph the Tarahumara (Rarámuri) community in Chihuahua and a 1975 summer trip to Peru. The collection is arranged into seven series with additional subseries.
Series 1, Akimel O'odham (Pima), 1965-1993, 2001, contains photographs mostly taken among the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. These include intimate portraits, landscape views and views of farming and agriculture. Of particular note are photographs of Patricia "Pat" Stone and her family and basket weaver Julia Francisco. The majority of the photographs in Series 2, Apache, 1973-1994, are from two San Carlos Apache coming of age ceremonies, or "Changing Woman" ceremonies, from 1992 and 1994. The 1992 ceremony for Leia Tenille Johnson was held in Whiteriver, Arizona and the 1994 ceremony for Vanessa Jordan of Bylas, Arizona. A selection of 50 photographic prints from these ceremonies were later exhibited in "Western Apache Sunrise Ceremony" at the University of Kansas Museum of Anthropology. The largest series, Series 3, Diné (Navajo), 1969-2002, is divided into seven subseries by topics. This includes artists and artisans, families and individuals across the Navajo Nation, industry and agriculture, trading posts and markets, places, schools, and other topics. Of particular note are the photographs of the Greyeyes family from Tsegi Canyon, Arizona. In addition to photographing matriarch Bessie Salt Greyeyes at home with family, weaving, cooking, shopping around town and herding sheep and goats, Teiwes accompanied Pete Greyeyes to work at the Peabody Coal Mining Company. Other places and events of note include photographs of Monument Valley, Window Rock, seat of the Navajo Nation, the Hubbell and Shonto trading posts and the 1990 graduation from Navajo Community College (Now Diné College).
Series 4, Hopi, 1968-2002, highlights the work and artistry of Hopi basket weavers. Many of the photographs in this series were included in Teiwes's 1996 book Hopi Basket Weaving: Artistry in Natural Fibers. Coiled basket weavers from the Second Mesa include Madeline Lamson, Joyce Ann Saufkie, Evelyn Selestewa and Bertha Wadsworth, among others. Wicker basket weavers from the Third Mesa include Eva Hoyungowa, Abigail Kaursgowva, Vera Pooyouma and Vernita Silas, among others. Teiwes also photographed additional artists and events on the Hopi reservation including Maechel Saufkie's 1995 wedding. Series 5, Peru, 1975 includes photographs from Teiwes's 1975 summer trip to Peru. Teiwes visited and photographed several pre-Colombian archaeological sites including Sacsahuaman and Machu Piccu in addition to photographing in larger cities such as Cuzco, Lima and Quito (Ecuador). A large number of photographs in this series are from the Inti Raymi parade and festival held in Cuzco during their winter solstice. Series 6, Tarahumara (Rarámuri), 1971, 1977-1979 contains photographs from three trips to Chihuahua, Mexico to photograph the Tarahumara (Rarámuri) people for an Arizona State Museum exhibition held in 1979. Also included are photographs from the exhibition opening in Arizona. Series 7, Tohono O'odham, 1969-1995, 2002 contains photographs of the saguaro cactus harvest in addition to other special events among the Tohono O'odham people. Teiwes documented Juanita Ahill, and later her niece Stella Tucker, throughout the process of harvesting and processing the saguaro cactus plant to make jam and ceremonial wine. Additional events photographed in this series include the San Xavier Elders parade and Tumacacori festival.
The photographs in this collection range all media types: 6x6cm color/black and white negatives; 35mm color/black and white negatives; 35mm and 6x6cm color slides; 6x6cm transparencies; contact sheets; and 3x5, 4x6, 8x10 and larger color/black and white photographic prints, some matted for sale or exhibition purposes. Teiwes did include handwritten notations on the backs of some photographs and slide mounts. There is also a small amount of paper documentation.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into seven series by culture group or location. Series 1: Akimel O'odham (Pima), Series 2: Apache, Series 3: Diné (Navajo), Series 4: Hopi, Series 5: Peru, Series 6: Tarahumara (Rarámuri), Series 7: Tohono O'odham.
Biographical / Historical:
Helga Kulbe Teiwes was born in Büderich, near Düsseldorf, in Germany in 1930. In 1950 Teiwes began a trade apprenticeship in photography under Master photographer Erna Hehmke-Winterer, a specialist in black and white portraiture, architectural and industrial photography. In 1957 Teiwes earned her master's degree in photography and worked as an industrial photographer in Düsseldorf until she emigrated to New York in 1960. During her four years in New York City, Teiwes worked as a darkroom worker, an assistant photographer for Cartier Jewelers and as a transparency retoucher. She also continued to build her portfolio through free-lance work. In 1964, a trip to Mesa Verde inspired Teiwes to seek work in the Southwest. The same year she was hired by Dr. Emil Haury of the University of Arizona to photograph his excavation of Snaketown on the Gila River Indian Reservation. Following Snaketown, Teiwes was hired as a museum photographer for the Arizona State Museum (ASM) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She was also sought after for other archaeological projects during the 1960s and 1970s to take publication and studio shots. During this time, Teiwes developed a deep interest in the people and cultures of the Southwest and spent a significant amount of time on reservations building personal relationships among the Hopi, Apache, Tohono O'dham and Diné (Navajo) among others. Teiwes took a particular interest in documenting Native artists and the work they produced, including basket weavers, potters, jewelers and carvers. Teiwes also worked to capture everyday life among the Native people of the Southwest in addition to documenting special events like the Apache coming of age ceremony and the Tohono O'odham Saguaro Cactus harvest. Teiwes retired from the Arizona State Museum in 1993 but continued to work as a freelance photographer and writer in Tuscon.
Throughout her career Teiwes's photographs and essays were published nationally and internationally. Her photographic study Navajo was published by the Swiss publisher U. Bar Varlag in 1991 and published in English in 1993. Her books Kachina Dolls: The Art of the Hopi Carvers and Hopi Basket Weaving: Artistry in Natural Fibers were published by the University of Arizona Press in 1991 and 1996. From October 2003 to June 2004, the Arizona State Museum held an exhibition titled "With an Eye on Culture: The Photography of Helga Teiwes" highlighting the broad scope of her career.
In 2013, Teiwes donated her collection of personal photographs, not taken for the Arizona State Museum, to the National Museum of the American Indian, Archive Center. Teiwes's photographs taken for the Arizona State Museum are housed in the ASM's photographic archives.
Related Materials:
There is a large collection of photographs at the Arizona State Museum where Teiwes worked from 1964-1993. These photographs include harvesting of mesquite, cholla, and saguaro; traditional farming of corn at Hopi and of tepary beans among the Tohono O'odham; and craftspeople and their art in basketry, katsina carving, pottery, and weaving.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Helga Teiwes in 2013.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Please contact the NMAI Archive Center (NMAIArchives@si.edu) regarding the use of this collection, donor restrictions apply.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Helga Teiwes Photograph Collection, Box and Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
34 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 6x6cm)
6 Photographic prints
Container:
Box 12, Sheet 66-68
Box 20, Folder 32
Type:
Archival materials
Prints
Negatives (photographic)
Photographic prints
Date:
undated
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Please contact the NMAI Archive Center (NMAIArchives@si.edu) regarding the use of this collection, donor restrictions apply.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Helga Teiwes Photograph Collection, Box and Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
University of Arizona. Department of Anthropology Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Reports
Photographs
Place:
Arizona -- Archeology
Date:
November 15, 1938-April 15, 1939
Scope and Contents:
Includes: (a)-A preliminary report covering archaeological investigations on the Papago Indian Reservation, Arizona. Text, 10 pages; 10 photographs 3-1/4 x 4 in. - 1938-1939 (Guano Cave and Jackrabbit Ruin) (b)- A Preliminary Report covering period from February 3 to May 29, 1941. 10 pages 28 centimeters. (c)- A Report on excavations at Arizona P:16-2 and 16:20 Pueblo and Pit House villages- June 15 to August 10, 1941 5 pages 28 centimeters
(d) - A Preliminary Report on the Bluff Site (Arizona P:16:20), An Early Pithouse Village in the Forestdale Valley, East-Central Arizona, June 31 - July 12, 1944. 6 pages 28 centimeters. 8-1/2 x 11", and 6 photographs. April 4, 1946 - Preliminary Report on the Archeological Reconnaissance in the San Carlos Indian Reservation, June 19, to July 30, 1945, 6 pages 28 centimeters. Emil J. Maury, Director. 5 photographs, 16 centimeters.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3972-a-b-c-d-e
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Series 6: Tarahumara (Rarámuri) contains photographs from 1971, 1977-1978 in Chihuahua, Mexico and 1979 in Arizona at the Arizona State Museum. The Rarámuri, or Tarahumara, are Native people from the Northwest region of Mexico. Located in the state of Chihuahua, in a portion of the Sierra Madres known as the Sierra Tarahumara, the Tarahumara people as of 2016 number between 50,000 and 70,000 many who still practice traditional lifestyles. Helga Teiwes took three trips to Mexico to visit the Tarahumara taking the bulk of photographs in this series on her first trip in 1971. Unlike the majority of Teiwes's photographs from other communities, many of her Tarahumara subjects are unnamed perhaps due to the language barrier, and are marked simply as "Tarahumara Woman" or "Tarahumara Man." Teiwes photographed women weaving, women cooking meals in their cave dwellings, men working the fields, as well as many landscape views between Creel and Los Mochis. In 1977 Teiwes returned to Panalachic, Mexico to photograph Tarahumara dancers. In 1978 Teiwes photographed the Tarahumara group, which included a violin maker and dancers, that came to Arizona in 1979 for the Arizona State Museum exhibit featuring Tarauhmara material culture. The majority of the photographs in this series are 6x6cm black and white negatives and 35mm color slides.
Arrangement:
Arranged chronologically.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Please contact the NMAI Archive Center (NMAIArchives@si.edu) regarding the use of this collection, donor restrictions apply.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Helga Teiwes Photograph Collection, Box and Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
174 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 6x6cm)
16 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 35mm)
26 Negatives (photographic) (color, 35mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Transparencies
Photographic prints
Slides (photographs)
Negatives (photographic)
Date:
1980-1982
1992-1997
2002
1968-1969
1973
Scope and Contents:
This subseries (Subseries 4.4) includes photographs of other Hopi artists, events and miscellaneous topics. There are a small amount of photographs of Kastina doll makers since Teiwes spent a significant amount of time working with Hopi katsina doll makers for her book Kachina Dolls: The Art of Hopi Carvers. The majority of these photographs are located at the Arizona State Museum and not a part of this collection. Other artists in this series include Charles Loloma and potters Karen Abeita, Karen Charley and Rosetta Huma. Of particular note are the photographs from Maechel Saufkie's wedding in July, 1995. There are also landscape photographs from the First, Second and Antelope Mesas. The photographs range all types including black and white and color negatives as well as slides and transparencies.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Please contact the NMAI Archive Center (NMAIArchives@si.edu) regarding the use of this collection, donor restrictions apply.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Helga Teiwes Photograph Collection, Box and Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Please contact the NMAI Archive Center (NMAIArchives@si.edu) regarding the use of this collection, donor restrictions apply.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Helga Teiwes Photograph Collection, Box and Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
11 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 6x6cm)
Container:
Box 12, Sheet 50
Type:
Archival materials
Negatives (photographic)
Date:
Nov 1993
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Please contact the NMAI Archive Center (NMAIArchives@si.edu) regarding the use of this collection, donor restrictions apply.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Helga Teiwes Photograph Collection, Box and Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
14 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 6x6cm)
42 Slides (photographs)
Container:
Box 11, Sheet 34-38
Type:
Archival materials
Negatives (photographic)
Slides (photographs)
Date:
1979
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Please contact the NMAI Archive Center (NMAIArchives@si.edu) regarding the use of this collection, donor restrictions apply.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Helga Teiwes Photograph Collection, Box and Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Business Ventures. Product Development and Licensing Search this
Container:
Box 4 of 42
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Rights:
Restricted for 15 years. Any requests to access these records during the restriction period, including requests from the staff of Smithsonian Business Ventures, must first receive permission, in writing, from the Director of Product Development and Licensing, until Jan-01-2021; Transferring office; 08/16/1994 memorandum, Johnstone to Watson; Contact reference staff for details.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 07-001, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Business Ventures, Product Development and Licensing, Product and Contract Records
