80,000 Photographic prints (b&w, 25 x 20 cm. or smaller.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Negatives (photographic)
Slides (photographs)
Photographic prints
Negatives
Color slides
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Place:
Africa
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Mali
Ghana
Côte d'Ivoire
Benin
Burkina Faso
Egypt
Kenya
Liberia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
Senegal
South Africa
Sudan
Tanzania
Togo
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Central African Republic
Date:
circa 1935-1978
Summary:
This collection is comprised of photographic and manuscript materials, primarily created by Eliot Elisofon to document his travels and work. The images portray many aspects of African life and culture including agriculture, wildlife, archaeology, architecture, art and artisans, children, cityscapes and landscapes, leaders, markets, medicine, recreation, ritual and celebration, and transportation. The manuscript materials include correspondence, essays, clippings, puobligations, notes, research, and itineraries.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is comprised of circa 14,000 negatives, 30, 0000 slides, 8,000 photographic prints, and 14 boxes of manuscript materials that date from circa 1945-1978.
The photographs document Eliot Elisofon's travels and work in Africa. The images portray many aspects of African life and culture including agriculture, wildlife, archaeology, architecture, art and artisans, children, cityscapes and landscapes, leaders, markets, medicine, recreation, ritual and celebration, and transportation. Artisans shown include an Asante weaver making kente cloth in Ghana; a Dogon carver in Mali making a kanaga mask; an Ebrie goldsmith in Cote d'Ivoire; Hausa dyers in Kano, Nigeria; and Nupe beadmakers in Nigeria; as well as artists at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Kinshasa, Congo. Portraits of leaders include the Asante court at Kumase in Ghana; Ebrie chiefs and notables in Cote d'Ivoire; the timi (king) of Ede, a Yourba town, Nigeria; the emir of Katsina, Nigeria; and the Kuba king and his court in the Congo. There are informal portraits showing children of the Kuba royal court dancing, Fulbe women with gold earrings in Mali, Mangbetu women in the Congo, and Maasai elders in Kenya. Masked dances documented include a Dogon dama festival celebration in Mali, an Igbo festival in Nigeria, and Kuba and Pende masked dancers in the Congo. There are also images of Yoruba gelede (men's association) masks in Nigeria. Non-masked dancers shown include Dan professional acrobatic dancers in Cote d'Ivoire, Irigwe dancers in Nigeria, Mangbetu dancers in the Congo, Mbuti dancers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Wodaabe men dancing in Nigeria. Events shown include Hausa riders in chain mail during the Independence Day celebration in Katsina, Nigeria. Images of art in situ include ancestral altars in the King of Benin's palace in Nigeria; Dogon rock paintings in Mali; and Yoruba Shango shrine sculptures in the palace courtyard of timi (king) of Ede in Nigeria. Landscapes include views of mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Animals shown include birds, buffalos, elephants and giraffes. Traditional architecture shown includes Asante shrine houses with raised wall decorations in Ghana, Dogon villages in Mali and mosques in Mopti.
The manuscript materials include correspondence, essays, clippings, puobligations, notes, research, and itineraries.
Biographical/Historical note:
A photographer best known for his work in Life magazine. Elisofon worked as a free-lance magazine photographer from 1933 to 1937, as a staff photographer for Life from 1933 to 1937 and on photographic assignments for various magazines, including the Smithsonian magazine, from 1942 to 1945. Elisofon traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America documenting the peoples of these lands as well as their arts and environments. A founding member and curatorial associate of the private Museum of African Art, which in 1981 became the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA), Elisofon bequeathed his collection of African photographs to the museum when he died in 1973. To honor Elisofon's contribution to the understanding of African art and culture, NMAfA named its archives after him.
Restrictions:
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.
Collection dates from 1966 to 1976 and includes 1,817 black and white negatives, 1,519 35mm color slides, several hundred prints, and manuscript materials. Locations include Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Israel, Mali, and Niger and depict agriculture, architecture, especially mosques, landscapes, marketplaces, masquerade and musical performances, sculptures, and textiles. Peoples depicted include the Bambara, Bella, Bozo, Dogon, Fulani, Gao, Mandingo, San, Songhai, and Tuarag peoples.
Scope and Contents:
This collection dates from 1966 to 1976 and includes 1,817 black and white negatives, 1,519 35mm color slides, several hundred prints, and manuscript materials. Images were taken in Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Israel, Mali, and Niger and depict agriculture, architecture, especially mosques, landscapes, marketplaces, masquerade and musical performances, sculptures, textiles. Peoples depicted include the Bambara, Bella, Bozo, Dogon, Fulani, Gao, Mandingo, San, Songhai, and Tuarag peoples.
Arrangement:
Arranged in four series, according to format.
Series 1: Negatives
Series 2: Slides
Series 3: Photographic Prints
Series 4: Manuscript Materials
Biographical / Historical:
Marli Shamir (1919-2016) was an Israeli photographer known for her extensive work in Mali, the Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso from 1966-1973. Born and raised in Berlin, Shamir started studying photography during her teenage years and took photography classes at the Contempora Lehrateliers für neue Werkkunst (1934-1937).
In 1938, she was forced to immigrate to Israel where she initially lived in a kibbutz.
From 1941-1943, she worked at the mineralogy department of the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, and then opened her own studio in Jerusalem in 1945. In 1953, she married Meir Shamir, a former Israeli Diplomat-Ambassador, and from 1966-1973 she lived successively in Mali, Gabon and Cote d'Ivoire. She held a particular fascination with architecture, monuments, mosques, arts and habitants.
During her stay in Mali, she met Pascal James Imperato with whom she wrote the article "Bokolanfini Mud Cloth of the Bamana of Mali" (African Arts, 1970). In 1976, she produced the exhibition Sahel at the Israeli museum in Jerusalem, which focused on the rural and urban architecture and people of the Sahel. The exhibition toured in Europe later that year. From 1977-1981, she lived in Strasbourg, where she focused on documenting the new style of architecture in Mali. Her work on this project is stored at the Center of Documentation in Strasbourg.
In 2005, a book devoted to her photographs from Mali was published by the Grandvaux French Edition House. The National Poet of Mali, Albakaye Ousmane Kounta, collaborated with Shamir on a book of poetry, Djenney-Ferey –La terre habitee (published by Grandaux, 2007), which is illustrated with Shamir's photographs. Shamir passed away in 2016 at the age of 93.
Related Materials:
The Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives also holds another collection of Shamir's photographs, EEPA 1995-025.
Provenance:
Purchased, 2013
Restrictions:
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.
This collection documents the Asante, Baka, Baule, Berber, Dogomba, Dogon, Fulani, Gurunsi, Gonja, Hausa, Lobi, Mamprusi, Mossi, Senufo, Serer, Tsonga, Tuareg, Wolof, and Yoruba peoples; architecture, animals, artwork, celebrations, ceremonies, landscapes, masquerades, markets, mosques, portraits, shrines, and street scenes in Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Morocco, Republic of Benin, Central African Republic, Namibia, and Senegal.
Scope and Contents:
This collection was created during field work by Enid Schildkrout and John A. Van Couvering in several countries, including Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Morocco, Republic of Benin, Central African Republic, Namibia, and Senegal. Peoples depicted include the Asante, Baka, Baule, Berber, Dogomba, Dogon, Fulani, Gurunsi, Gonja, Hausa, Lobi, Mamprusi, Mossi, Senufo, Serer, Tsonga, Tuareg, Wolof, and Yoruba peoples. Many of the images depict architecture, animals, artwork, celebrations, ceremonies, landscapes, masquerades, markets, mosques, portraits, shrines, and street scenes.
Biographical / Historical:
Enid Schildkrout is an American anthropologist, professor, and Curator Emerita of African Ethnology, Division of Anthropology, at the American Museum of Natural History. She earned her BA from Sarah Lawrence College (1963), and a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from Cambridge University (1965, 1967, 1970). Schildkrout performed field research in numerous countries including Ghana and Burkina Faso (1960s); Kano, Nigeria (late 1970s and early 1980s); and in Mali, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Namibia. She has worked extensively with museum collections and conducted an in-depth study of the history of the art of the Mangbetu people (Democratic Republic of Congo). Among the exhibitions that Schildkrout has curated are: African Reflections: Art from Northeastern Zaire; Body Art: Marks of Identity; Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria; and Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art. She has lectured and taught classes at Columbia University, Yale University, McGill University, and the University of Illinois, among others. She has published articles in African Arts and authored numerous books.
John A. Van Couvering is a professor, editor and geologist. He earned his Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Cambridge (1973) and specializes in the principles and practices in stratigraphic geology; age and environments of Cenozoic mammal faunas of Africa and southern Eurasia; and the Neogene time scale and chronostratigraphic boundaries.
He spent five years doing fieldwork with Louis Leakey in East Africa and served as Micropaleontology Press's editor-in-chief from 1978 to its dissolution in 2004.
He currently serves on international and national working groups concerned with the stratigraphic code, and participates in regional studies of such problems as the Messinian desiccation event and the beginning of the Pleistocene. He has published in the Journal of Human Evolution and the Journal of Geological Society and co-authored and edited numerous books.
Provenance:
Donated by Enid Schildkrout and John A. Van Couvering, 2018.
Restrictions:
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.
Enid Schildkrout and John A. Van Couvering Collection, EEPA 2018-005, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
EEPA.2018-005
Archival Repository:
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
These original (64) magnetic audio tapes and reels were created for the Black African Heritage television series, produced by Eliot Elisofon and Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting Company) in 1972. These correspond with the film outtakes and original work prints held in the EEPA 1973-001 Collection.
Biographical / Historical:
These materials were produced by Eliot Elisofon and Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting Company) in 1972, for a four-hour television series called Black African Heritage. The episodes, in order of broadcast date:
1. The Congo, narrated by Julian Bond, focuses on the "heartland of Africa" the equatorial area which encompasses rainforests, grassy plains, volcanoes, the great Congo River, lakes, and the snow-covered Ruwenzori, called the Mountains of the Moon. This episode encounters groups such as the Watusi, Bambenga, the Wagenia, the Bakuba, and the Bapende—and traces African art and history back 1,500 years.
2. The Bend in the Niger, narrated by Ossie Davis, follows one of the continent's great rivers as it flows northward in West Africa from the home of the Bambara group, known for their music, dancing, and sculpture, to Timbuktu, where it turns eastward to the Atlantic Ocean through the home of the Dogon groups, famous for sculpture. Other groups met along the way are the Borora, the horseman of Muslim Hausa, the nomadic Tuaregs, and the Bozo and Dendi people of the Niger River.
3. The Slave Coast, narrated by Maya Angelou, focused on the tradition, cultures, beauty, and history of the people of the rainforest and the coast of West Africa. Watch dancers of Nigeria, examine sculptures made 2000 years ago, listen to the talking drums of Yoruba, see bronze portraits, visit the women warriors once known as Amazon, see golden treasures of Ashanti in Ghana, and marvel at the acrobatic dancers of the Ivory Coast.
4. Africa's Gift, narrated by Gordon Parks, focuses primarily on the Senufo people of the Ivory Coast, their music, and their art. Mongo Santamaria, leading exponent of Afro-Cuban music plays the "Afro-blues." Lionel Hampton and his group play "Glad Hamp," to show the relationship of the vibraphone and the balaphone of the Senufo. Modern jazz star Randy Weston and a trio play a number rooted in the Ashanti music in Ghana.
Related Materials:
Related materials include the Eliot Elisofon Papers and Photography Collection (PH-00066) at the Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, the Time/Life Photographs Archives, and Broadcast programs collection (ACMA.09-037) at the Anacostia Community Museum Archives
Restrictions:
Materials have not yet been digitized and processed for public access.
Photographs taken by Marli Shamir in Mali, in 1971. The majority of the images show architecture in Djenne, Mali. Other images depict architecture of the Dogon in Timbuktu, Gao and San.
Photographs from this collection were featured by Labelle Prussin's thesis entitled, "The Architecture of Djenne; African Synthesis and Transformation," (Yale University, 1974) and in her book entitled, "Hatumere: Islamic Design in West Africa," (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986). The images have also been displayed in an exhibition entitled, "Marli Shamir Photographs from the Sahel," held in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, in 1976.
Arrangement note:
Images indexed by negative number.
Biographical / Historical:
Marli Shamir (1919-2016) was an Israeli photographer known for her extensive work in Mali, the Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso from 1966-1973. Born and raised in Berlin, Shamir started studying photography during her teenage years and took photography classes at the Contempora Lehrateliers für neue Werkkunst (1934-1937). In 1938, she was forced to immigrate to Israel where she initially lived in a kibbutz. From 1941-1943, she worked at the mineralogy department of the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, and then opened her own studio in Jerusalem in 1945. In 1953, she married Meir Shamir, a former Israeli Diplomat-Ambassador, and from 1966-1973 she lived successively in Mali, Gabon and Cote d'Ivoire. She held a particular fascination with architecture, monuments, mosques, arts and habitants. During her stay in Mali, she met Pascal James Imperato with whom she wrote the article Bokolanfini Mud Cloth of the Bamana of Mali, (African Arts, 1970). In 1976, she produced the exhibition Sahel at the Israeli museum in Jerusalem, which focused on the rural and urban architecture and people of the Sahel. The exhibition toured in Europe later that year. From 1977-1981, she lived in Strasbourg, where she focused on documenting the new style of architecture in Mali. Her work on this project is stored at the Center of Documentation in Strasbourg. In 2005, a book devoted to her photographs from Mali was published by the Grandvaux French Edition House. The National Poet of Mali, Albakaye Ousmane Kounta, collaborated with Shamir on the book of poetry Djenney-Ferey –La terre habitee (published by Grandaux, 2007), which is illustrated with Shamir's photographs. Shamir passed away in 2016 at the age of 93.
Restrictions:
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.
A Dogon village near Songa; a storage hut. Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-1
T 2 MAL 34.1 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
A good picture of a Dogon village on the cliffs; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-2
T 2 MAL 34.2 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Dogon village on the cliffs; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-3
T 2 MAL 34.3 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
A waterfall cascading off the cliffs near the village; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-4
T 2 MAL 34.4 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
A waterfall cascading off the cliffs near the village; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-5
T 2 MAL 34.5 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Vegetation on the above cliffs [Dogon village]; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-6
W 2 MAL 34.6 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Crops near Songa; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-7
M 2 MAL 34.7 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Crops growing [near Songa]; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-8
M 2 MAL 34.8 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
A Dogon village inbetween Songa and Bandiagara; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-8[a]
T 2 MAL 34.8A CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
A Dogon village inbetween Songa and Bandiagara; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-9
T 2 MAL 34.9 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
A Dogon village inbetween Songa and Bandiagara; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-9[a]
T 2 MAL 34.9A CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
A Dogon village inbetween Songa and Bandiagara; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-10
T 2 MAL 34.10 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
The Grand Mosque in Bamako; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-11
S 2 MAL 34.11 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
A deer at the Bamako zoo; Taken during August 1980 on my trip with Dale Williams. The date on the slide is AUG 80.
Local Numbers:
MA-34-12
V 1 MAL 34.12 CDC 80
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
