Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Extracts from various published sources concerning the use of poisoned weapons among the American Indians. The first 6 pages include information on the Dakota from non-published sources. Other tribes mentioned in the MS. are the Mandan, Chippewa, Shoshoni, Paiutes, Pitt River Indians, Oregon and Alaska tribes, Apache and other (unnamed) Southwestern groups, California tribes, Pima, Central American tribes, Mosquito Indians, Aztecs, Utes, and Caribs.
Biographical / Historical:
Author identified from the Dorsey-Hewitt catalog. Bureau of American Ethnology number 1524.
Contents: Words and lists of days, months and years and other time divisions, approximately 100 pages. (includes Maya, Aztec, etc.) Color adjectives, 8 pages. Totemic clans of all tribes, 37 pages. Personal names (Chiefs, etc.), 25 pages. (Personal names of "Knisteneaux or Crees, Shawnee, Crow, Dakota, Arikaras, Cheyennes, Blackfeet, Piegan, Menomoni, Peoria, Otawa, Sauk").
The collection consists of 18 drawings and 2 photostats. The drawings are copies of fragments of Aztec manuscripts collected by Alexander von Humboldt and donated to the Royal Library of Berlin (now the Berlin State Library or Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) in 1806. The drawings were made by Wilhem von den Steinen from the originals in the Royal Library. They were commissioned by Eduard Seler and the Bureau of American Ethnology to illustrate Seler's article "Mexican Picture Writings of Alexander von Humboldt" in the Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin, 28, (1904).
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 As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today.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:
Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian naturalist and geographer who traveled extensively in Central and South America. The records and studies he made during his travels helped establish physical geography and geophysics as disciplines. His writings such as Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland and Kosmos also contributed to make him one of the foremost scholars of the 19th century.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2205
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds material related to the publication of these materials in BAE Bulletin 28 in MS 3251 Miscellaneous material used in Bulletin 28, Mexican and Central American Antiquities, Calendar Systems and History.
The British Museum holds copies of the Humboldt collection drawn by Agostino Aglio for Lord Kingsborough in MS 8882.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Drawings
facsimiles (reproductions)
Citation:
MS 2205 Copies of Alexander von Humboldt collection of Mexican pictographic manuscripts, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
A collection of ethnographic and linguistic notes from diverse sources, aiming at an understanding of problems of reading Mayan hieroglyphic characters. Most of the notes cover Mayan vocabulary and glyphs, but Gatschet ranges almost at random over other data, ethnographic and linguistic, that may have caught his interest. He touches on the Maya calendar, day names, Landa's alphabet, Maya-Spanish vocabulary from the Motul dictionary at Providence, similar vocabulary from Brasseur, etc., some Narraganset-English vocabulary (page 57 only) from Williams, notes on day signs from Rosny, etc., cultural objects compared with glyphic designs, Brasseur's synonymy of glyph characters, lists of Southeast tribes from a French source, Otomi vocabulary notes especially on the numerals (see pages 84-85), notes on Cariban and Arawakan, etymologies of Mayan words (pages 110, 111), notes from Brinton's Maya Chronicles, notes on Codices Mendoza, Troano, Tellerano-Remensis, notes from Penafiel, Pinart, etc., names of Aztec and Mayan gods, etc. No problems are settled, nor is any problem carefully attended: the notes are all preliminary. H. Landar 7 July, 1969.
Photographs made and collected by Harris M. McLaughlin during his travels in the American southwest and other parts of North and South America, as well as Asia and Europe. Photographs made in Texas include images of the 1928 American Legion National Convention, the dirigible "Los Angeles" floating over San Antonio, the first train in Rio Grande City, cowboys and ranchers, missions, and city and scenic views. McLaughlin also took photographs at the Grand Canyon, Canyon del Muerto, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park, and collected Frashers Foto postcards with photographs of Apache and Navajo people, a Papago dwelling, a Pueblo potterymaker, and a Hopi Snake Dance. Photographs from Guatemala include images of villages and cities (including Antigua and Zacapa), as well as a harvest ceremony in Chichicastenango. McLaughlin also took photographs during a trip to Monterey, Mexico, which include images of towns and scenic views. Additional photographs depict flood damage in Aurora, Indiana; city views and scenery of Merida, Mexico; Chichen Itza; a banana plantation in Honduras; and wartime China and Europe.
Photographs of Cuba in 1898, probably not made by McLaughlin, include images of the USS Maine wreck, and funeral services for the sailors of the ship and residents of Havana. The collection also contains photographs of trees and a dwelling in Honduras made by H. E. Chapman in 1933, photographs of people and scenery in Sumatra made by J. H. Zimmermann, and commercial photographs of archeological collections at the Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Historia y Etnografia in Mexico. There are also images of scenery and architecture in Japan, Panama and the Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Belgium, England, and other places in Europe. Depicted individuals include Charles A. Lindbergh, as well as McLaughlin and his family.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 2000-04
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Frashers photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 59.
Restrictions:
Nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require advanced notice for viewing.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo Lot 2000-04, Harris M. McLaughlin photographs of the Americas and Asia, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
