258 Negatives (photographic) (black & white, 8 x 10.5 cm.)
308 Lantern slides (black & white, 8.5 x 10 cm.)
1,446 Photographic prints ((contact prints) (5 vols.), black & white, 6 x 13 cm. or smaller )
46 Photographic prints (black & white, 48 x 58 cm. or smaller.)
556 Negatives (photographic) (glass plate stereographic negatives , black & white, 6 x 13 cm.)
Container:
Item 1
Disk 1
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Negatives (photographic)
Lantern slides
Photographic prints
Stereographs
Glass negatives
Place:
Africa
Brazzaville (Congo)
Matadi (Congo)
Tanganyika, Lake
Kalemie (Congo)
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Lusambo (Congo)
Kinshasa (Congo)
Date:
1909-1958
bulk 1909-1928
Summary:
Photographs taken by Judge Emile E.O. Gorlia during five journeys through the Belgian Congo and two vacation leaves, one in Belgium and one in the Canaries Islands, 1909-1928 and at the World Exposition in Brussels (1958). The collection dates from 1909-1958.
His first mission was from January 1910 to January 1912; the second, from February 1915 to March 1917; the third, from December 1917 to April 1920; the fourth, from November 1920 to February 1923 and, the fifth, from March 1926 to December 1928. For his first four missions at Lusambo in the Kasai province, district of Sankuru, Emile Gorlia was acting as an alternate to the public officer at one of the seven tribunals of first instance. During his fifth and final mission, he was promoted as president of the Court at Albertville in the ditrict of Katanga.
Judge E.O. Gorlia was a keen amateur photographer with the advantage of not only traveling extensively around the state but also with the privilege of being able to afford the time and money to produce a prolific number of images. His images illustrate with great detail the full experience of a government official in mission in the Belgian Congo, starting in Antwerp at the pier of this Belgian harbor and taking up his duties at Lusambo, an administrative town in the hearth of th Belgian congo. The majority of images are of the following Belgian Congo districts, Lower Congo, Kassai, Sankuru, and Katanga. They include the cities of Banana, Boma, Matadi, Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), Lusambo, Luebo, Dilolo, Albertville (now Kalemie) in the Belgian Congo, Brazzaville in the French Equatorial africa, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Tabora and Kigoma in tanganyika, Dakar in Senegal, Conakry in Guinea, Freetown in Sierra Leone, Port Said in Egypt and finally Casablanca in Morocco. There are also images of villages scenes and portraits of the Tetela, Songye, Luba, Kanioka, Lunda, Chokwe, Pende, Bangala and Kuba.
Also included are images of the natural environment as the Congo river, the Kasai and Sankuru rivers, the banks of Lake Tanganyika and the savanna-woodland of the western part of the Katanga district as well as as the south part of the Sankuru region.
Arrangement note:
Arranged chronologically by trip.
Restrictions:
Collection digitized and available online. Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Topic:
Congo -- Description and Travel -- 1881-1950 Search this
This collection is composed of fifty-one (51) drawings by Herbert Ward, made when he was a member of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. Most of the drawings depict men and women of the upper Congo River, but several others depict tools and implements.
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.
Historical Note:
The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition (1886-1889) was a British expedition through the interior of Africa led by Henry Morton Stanley. The professed goal of the expedition was to provide aid to Emin Pasha, the governor of Equatoria, which was threatened by Mahdist forces of Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah.
Biographical Note:
Herbert Ward (1863-1919) moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then called Zaire) in 1884. He joined the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition (1886-1889) as an aide to Stanley. After the expedition, Ward returned to Europe, where he lectured and wrote about his experiences in the Congo. In 1893, he began formal art training, including the study of sculpture, and became a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. He spent most of his later life crafting bronzes of Africans and African life; his sculptures and his collection of African artifacts were exhibited by the United States National Museum in 1922.
Conservation Note:
The drawings were arranged in 6 montages by the Ward/Barclay family. The drawings were removed from their original mats and placed in individual conservation mats. Photographs of the drawings in the original mats are available.
Related Materials:
Ward's collection of bronzes and artifacts held in the Department of Anthropology collections in accession 067312.
The National Anthropological Archives holds the Harry C. Ellis photographs of Herbert Ward's studio in Paris (Photo Lot 75-52). Additional Ellis photographs of Ward's studio can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 4 (under H.C. Ellis).
A pamphlet on the Herbert Ward African Collection can be found in the National Anthropological Archives reference files.
The Royal Geographical Society holds papers relating to Herbert Ward.
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
Citation:
MS 1999-23 Herbert Ward drawings from the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, purchased through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative
