Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company Search this
Photographer:
Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935 Search this
Extent:
45 Prints (silver gelatin and photostat)
3 sketches on graph paper
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Prints
Photographs
Maps
Drawings
Place:
Mesa Verde National Park (Colo.)
Colorado -- Antiquities
Date:
circa 1919-1921
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs, drawings, and maps relating to Jesse Walter Fewkes' excavations in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Photographs depict the ruins and paths through the park before and after excavation and repair. There are also original photographs by George L. Beam made for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Some of the drawings are original illustrations for Fewkes' publications.
Biographical/Historical note:
Jesse Walter Fewkes (1850‐1930) was a naturalist, anthropologist, and archeologist who served as chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1918 to 1928. Fewkes received a Ph.D. in marine zoology from Harvard in 1877, and was curator of lower invertebrates at the Museum of Comparative Zoology until 1887. Some of his research focuses on the culture and history of the Pueblo Indians, an interest he developed while on a collecting trip in the western United States. In 1891, Fewkes became director of the Hemenway Southwestern Archeological Expedition and editor of the Journal of American Archeology and Ethnology. Embarking on various archeological explorations for the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1895, he conducted excavations in the Southwest, the West Indies, and Florida. During the summers of 1908‐1909, 1915‐1916, and 1918-1922, Fewkes worked almost exclusively on excavations and repairs of ruins in Mesa Verde National Park.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 30
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Fewkes photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4321, Photo Lot 1, and Photo Lot 86 (negatives).
The National Anthropological Archives also holds Fewkesʹs field notes and papers (MS 4408).
Correspondence from Fewkes held in the National Anthropological Archives in the George L. Beam papers (MS 4517), the Henry Bascom Collins, Jr. papers, the Anthropological Society of Washington records (MS 4821), the Herbert William Krieger papers, the J.C. Pilling papers, the Walter Hough Papers (in the records of the Department of Anthropology), and the records of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
See others in:
Jesse Walter Fewkes photographs of excavations in Mesa Verde National Park, circa 1919-1921
Photographs and drawings mostly relating to archeological subjects, collected and arranged by Jesse Walter Fewkes for his reference. Subjects include burial mounds, excavations, drawn maps, as well as urns, implements, idols, pottery, and other artifacts found in excavations, and Hopi, Zuni, and Piegan ceremonies and dances. Many of the photographs and drawings were probably made by Fewkes. Publication information is noted on some. The collection also includes newspaper clippings and correspondence.
Photographs were taken in Alabama, Arizona (including Casa Grande, Elden Pueblo, Navajo National Monument, and Wupatki National Monument), Colorado (including Mesa Verde and Montezuma Valley), Florida (including Weeden Island), Illinois (Cahokia Mound), Louisiana, Maryland, Mexico (including La Huasteca Region), Mississippi Valley, New Mexico (including Chaco Canyon, Hawikuh, and Mimbres Valley), South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah (including Hill Canyon, McElmo Canyon, and McLean Basin Ruins), Hovenweep National Monument, the West Indies (including Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, and Cuba), and West Virginia.
Biographical/Historical note:
Jesse Walter Fewkes (1850-1930) was a naturalist, anthropologist, and archeologist, and chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1918 to his death in 1928. Fewkes received a Ph.D. in marine zoology from Harvard in 1877, and acted as curator of lower invertebrates at the Museum of Comparative Zoology until 1887. While on a collecting trip in the western United States, he developed an interest in the culture and history of the Pueblo Indians. In 1891, Fewkes became director of the Hemenway Southwestern Archeological Expedition and editor of the Journal of American Archeology and Ethnology, studying and recording Hopi ceremonials. In 1895, he embarked on various archeological explorations for the Bureau of American Ethnology, excavating ruins in the Southwest, the West Indies, and Florida. He was appointed chief of the Bureau in 1918, and played an important role in the creation of Hovenweep National Monument in Colorado and Wupatki National Monument in Arizona.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 4321
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives also holds the Jesse Walter Fewkes Papers (MS 4408), his photographs of excavations in Mesa Verde (Photo Lot 30), his negatives (Photo Lot 86), and other manuscript collections by and related to Fewkes' ethnological research and archeology and his work with the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Correspondence from Fewkes held in the National Anthropological Archives in the George L. Beam papers (MS 4517), the Henry Bascom Collins, Jr. papers, the Anthropological Society of Washington records (MS 4821), the Herbert William Krieger papers, the J.C. Pilling papers, the Walter Hough Papers (in the records of the Department of Anthropology), and the records of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
The anthropology collections of the National Museum of Natural History hold artifacts collected by Fewkes, including USNM ACC 048761 (relating to Casa Grande excavations) and USNM ACC 050765 (relating to Mesa Verde excavations).
Restrictions:
Original nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require advanced notice for viewing.
Photo Lot 4321, Jesse Walter Fewkes photograph collection relating to archaeological subjects, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand), 1870-1952 Search this
Names:
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company Search this
Extent:
1 Portfolio
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Portfolios
Letters
Clippings
Date:
Ca. 1917-1927
Scope and Contents:
Letters received, 1917-1927. Correspondents: Chapman, Arthur; Fewkes, J. Walter; Hough, Emerson; Jackson, William H.; Sabin. Anonymous, "Mesa Verde National Park and Around the Circle." 6 pages, typed. Journal of a trip on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, by officials of the company, and J. Walter Fewkes. Reprints and clippings, including the following: Beam, George L. (Publisher). The Prehistoric Cliff Dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Denver; no date,12 pages, illustrated. Fewkes, J. Walter, Miscellaneous Published papers. Hough, Emerson, Newsclippings concerning; (filed with Hough correspondence above.) Watson, Elmo Scott; "Kit Carson Speaks for Himself." Newclipping, illustrated, no date.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4517
Genre/Form:
Letters
Clippings
Citation:
Manuscript 4517, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The collection consists of two photographs, one depicting Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde and the other depicting a man standing by a Pueblo building.
Biographical/Historical note:
George L. Beam (1868-1935) was company photographer for the Denver & Rio Grande railroad. In this capacity, he documented the railroad and scenery of the western United States.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 87-2A
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional photographs by Beam can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24 and Photo Lot 30.
The National Anthropological Archives holds the George L. Beam Papers, circa 1917-1927 (MS 4517).
Photographs by Beam can be found at the Denver Public Library in the James L Ozment Collection.
Contained in:
Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology photograph collections, undated
