These records document the governance and programmatic activities of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (MAI) from its inception in 1904 until its sublimation by the Smithsonian Institution in 1990. The types of materials present in this collection include personal and institutional correspondence, individual subject files, minutes and annual reports, financial ledgers, legal records, expedition field notes, research notes, catalog and object lists, publications, clippings, flyers, maps, photographs, negatives and audio-visual materials. These materials span a varied range of subjects relating to the activities of the museum which are more fully described on the series level.
Scope and Contents:
These records document the governance and programmatic activities of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (MAI) from its inception in 1904 until its sublimation by the Smithsonian Institution in 1990. The types of materials present in this collection include personal and institutional correspondence, individual subject files, minutes and annual reports, financial ledgers, legal records, expedition field notes, research notes, catalog and object lists, publications, clippings, flyers, maps, photographs, negatives and audio-visual materials. These materials span a varied range of subjects relating to the activities of the museum which are more fully described on the series level.
Arrangement:
The MAI, Heye Foundation records have been arranged into 21 series and 50 subseries:
Series 1: Directors, 1908-1990 (1.1: George Gustav Heye, 1863-1962, 1.2: Edwin K. Burnett, 1943-1960, 1.3: Frederick Dockstader, 1950-1976, 1.4: Alexander F. Draper, 1972-1977, 1.5:Roland W. Force, 1963-1990, 1.6: George Eager, Assistant Director, 1977-1990)
Series 2: Board of Trustees, 1916-1990 (2.1: Board of Trustee Minutes, 1916-1990, 2.2: Individual Board Correspondence, 1943-1990, 2.3: Subject Files, 1917-1990)
Series 3: Administrative, 1916-1989 (3.1: Subject Files, 1904-1991, 3.2: Personnel, 1956-1991, 3.3: Legal, 1900-1989, 3.4: Task Force, 1976-1986, 3.5: George Abrams, 1980-1991)
Series 4: Financial, 1916-1990 (4.1: Ledgers, 1900-1962, 4.2: Correspondence, 1905-1985, 4.3: Subject Files, 1916-1990)
Series 5: Expeditions, 1896-1973Series 6: Collectors, 1872-1981Series 7: Registration, 1856-1993Series 8: Collections Management, 1937-1988Series 9: Curatorial, 1963-1990 (9.1: Curatorial Council, 1973-1990, 9.2: Gary Galante, 1979-1991, 9.3: Mary Jane Lenz, 1974-1994, 9.4: James G. E. Smith, 1963-1990, 9.5: U. Vincent Wilcox, 1968-1984, 9.6: Anna C. Roosevelt, 1973-1988)
Series 10: Exhibits, 1923-1991 (10.1: MAI Exhibits, 1923-1990, 10.2: Non-MAI Exhibits, 1937-1991)
Series 11: Public Programs, 1935-1990Series 12: Publications, 1904-1994 (12.1: Annual Reports, 1917-1989, 12.2: Publications by MAI, 1904-1990, 12.3: Publications by Other Sources, 1881-1990, 12.4: Administration, 1920-1988, 12.5: Archival Set of Official Publications, 1907-1976)
Series 13: Public Affairs, 1938-1991Series 14: Development, 1927-1991 (14.1: Administration, 1979-1990, 14.2: Donors, 1978-1990, 14.3: Fundraising, 1973-1990, 14.4: Grants, 1970-1990, 14.5: Subject Files, 1976-1990)
Series 15: Other Departments, 1914-1990 (15.1: Archives, 1914-1990, 15.2: Conservation, 1972-1989, 15.3: Education, 1921-1990, 15.4: Indian Information Center, 1977-1989, 15.5: Museum Shop, 1947-1989, 15.6: Photography, 1918-1990, 15.7: Physical Anthropology, 1919-1956)
Series 16: Huntington Free Library, 1926-1991Series 17: Museum Relocation, 1969-1992 (17.1: Subject Files, 1979-1990, 17.2: American Museum of Natural History, 1980-1987, 17.3: Dallas, Texas, 1984-1987, 17.4: Smithsonian Institution, 1979-1990, 17.5: U.S. Custom House, 1977-1990, 17.6: Other Locations, 1974-1987)
Series 18: MediaSeries 19: PhotographsSeries 20: Miscellaneous, 1837-1990Series 21: Oversize, 1873-1972 (21.1: Maps, 1873-1975, 21.2: Miscellaneous, 1884-1982)
History of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation:
The Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation was established by wealthy collector George Gustav Heye in 1908. Heye began collecting American Indian artifacts as early as 1897 and his collection rapidly increased over the next several years. Based in New York, Heye bought collections and documentary photographs, sponsored expeditions, and traveled and collected items himself. In addition, once MAI was established he sponsored numerous expeditions across the Western Hemisphere, including North American, Canada, South America and Central America.
From 1908 to 1917 Heye housed his artifacts on temporary loan at the University of Pennsylvania's University Museum, Pennsylvania, in lofts on East 33rd Street in New York City, and at other depositories. In 1917, the collections moved from his apartment to their permanent museum location at Audubon Terrace, at 155th Street and Broadway in New York City. The museum, containing ethnographic and archaeological collections from North, Central and South America, opened to the public in 1922. Less than ten years later, Heye completed a storage facility in the Pelham Bay area of the Bronx, known as the Research Branch. Heye served as Chairman of the Board and Museum Director until his death in 1957. After growing concern about the financial and other management of the collections came to a head, the museum became part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1989 and in 1994 opened exhibit space in the U.S. Customs House at Bowling Green near New York City's Battery Park. The Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland later opened in 1999 and the main Washington, DC museum opened in 2004.
Please visit the following links for more information about the history of the museum; History of the Collection, Collections Overview, and Significance of the Collection. Moreover, for information about how the museum currently cares for and exhibits the collection, please see the Conservation department and recent entries regarding Exhibitions and Conservation on the NMAI Blog. In addition, see portions of the NMAI Archive Center's collections highlighted in the SIRIS Blog.
Related Materials:
In 2004, the Huntington Fee Library, once part of the MAI/Heye Foundation, was transferred to the Cornell University Library Rare Book and Manuscript Collection. While this collection mainly contained books, it also contained a significant amount of archival materials. The Huntington Free Library's Native American Collection contains outstanding materials documenting the history, culture, languages, and arts of the native tribes of both North and South America, as well as contemporary politics and human rights issues are also important components of the collection. Further information about the collection and links to finding aids can be found here: rmc.library.cornell.edu/collections/HFL_old.html.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Field photography from the 1923 Louis C. G. Clarke Kechipauan Expedition at the Kechipauan ruins on the A:shiwi (Zuni) Reservation in New Mexico.
Scope and Contents:
The photographs in this collection include field photography from the Louis C. G. Clarke Kechipauan Expedition shot by Edwin C. Coffin and Samuel K. Lothrop in 1923. This includes images of rooms, trenches, kivas in addition to general views of the site. There are several photographs which include images of burial and human remains which are restricted due to cultural sensitivity. The majority of the photographs are photographic prints, which later had copy negatives made during a large photograph conservation project in the 1960s. There were 30 negatives that arrived with the prints in 1923 but it appears the majority of these were destroyed in 1959, possibly because they were nitrate. Some, but not all of these negatives, had copy prints made before they were destroyed.
The Louis C. G. Clarke Kechipauan Expedition happened concurrently with the Hendricks-Hodge Hawikku (Hawikuh) archaeological expedition on the A:shiwi (Zuni) Reservation in New Mexico. Though there had been some preliminary archaeological work conducted by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (MAI) in 1919, in 1923 a more substantial joint expedition was conducted by the MAI and Louis C. G. Clarke, director of the Cambridge University Museum in England. The expedition was under the direct supervision of Samuel K. Lothrop. Kechipauan (Kechipawan) was a neighboring A:shiwi (Zuni) Pueblo to Hawikku in the Ojo Caliente Valley. For more information about the history of Kechipauan see "The Age of the Zuni Pueblo of Kechipauan" by Frederick Webb Hodge in Indian Notes, Volume III, No. 2.
Related Materials:
The archaeological materials for this collection are in the NMAI archaeology collection with catalog numbers 12/3829 – 12/3911; 12/4834.
Provenance:
Field photographs came to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation along with the collections in 1923.
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). Photographs with burials, human remains or any other cultural sensitivity are restricted.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited users to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changed, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian.
Topic:
Excavations (Archaeology) -- New Mexico Search this
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Louis C. G. Clarke Kechipauan Expedition photograph collection. Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection includes negatives and prints created between 1917 and 1923 during the Hendricks-Hodge Hawikku (Hawikuh) archaeological expedition on the A:shiwi (Zuni) Reservation in New Mexico. The expedition which was sponsored by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, was one of the most extensive archaeological projects conducted at the time. Photographs in this collection were shot by Alanson B. Skinner, Frederick Webb Hodge, Edwin Francis Coffin, George Hubbard Pepper, Jesse L. Nusbaum, Donald Cadzow, and Victor Schindler. Many of the photographs in this collection have been restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Scope and Contents:
The photographs in this collection were shot between 1917 and 1923 by various archaeologists and ethnographers involved in the Hawikku excavations. This includes Alanson B. Skinner, Frederick Webb Hodge, Edwin Francis Coffin, George Hubbard Pepper, Jesse L. Nusbaum, Donald Cadzow, and Victor Schindler. Many of the photographs in this collection have been restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Photographs from 1917 were shot by Alanson B. Skinner and Frederick Webb Hodge and include images with Zuni workmen as well as many images of burials (restricted). Photographs from 1918 were shot Edwin Francis Coffin and George Hubbard Pepper. Pepper's photographs include images of Kyusita (Cayusetsa) a Zuni potter, at work. Photographs from 1919 were shot by Jesse Nusbaum and Frederick Webb Hodge and include images of room sites, burials (restricted) and Camp Harmon. There are also images of George and Thea Heye, Harmon Hendricks and Joseph Keppler at the site.
Photographs from 1921 and 1923 were shot by Edwin Coffin and include Portraits of A:shiwi (Zuni) community members, kiva sites and room sites. There are also photographs from Donald Cadzow from 1923. Cadzow was assigned to accompany and assist Owen Cattell during the 1923 filming of events and ceremonies at Zuni (see NMAI. AC.001.001, Museum of the American Indian Ethnographic Film Collection). These include images of pottery making, skin dressing, as well as ceremonial photographs (restricted). Victor Schindler also shot images of the Rain Dance and of Owen Cattell filming at this time.
In addition to on site photographs, there are also object images included in this collection. There are also a small amount of photographs from Kechipauan that are included in this collection, separate from the Louis C.G. Clarke Kechipauan Expedition photographs (NMAI.AC.001.044).
Many of the negatives are glass plate, though the majority were also copied onto acetate "safety film" in the 1960's during a photo conservation project. Any original nitrate negatives were destroyed by the museum.
Arrangement:
Arranged by catalog number.
Biographical / Historical:
The Hendricks-Hodge Hawikku (Hawkuh) Expedition was one of the most extensive archaeological projects ever conducted in the Southwest. With major funding from Harmon W. Hendricks, Frederick Webb Hodge began the field work in 1917 while still with the Bureau of American Ethnology. The first season was jointly sponsored by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (MAI) and the Smithsonian Institution. Hodge joined the staff of the MAI in 1918 and subsequent fieldwork during the summers of 1918-1921 was sponsored by this institution. The last field season, during the summer of 1923, was jointly sponsored by the Museum of the American Indian and Louis C.G. Clarke, then director of the University Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, Cambridge University. Major excavations were carried out at two sites of early historic villages near the modern Pueblo of Zuni, New Mexico: Hawikku (also Hawikuh) and Kechiba:wa (also Kechipawan, Kechipaun, or Kechipauan).
During the work at Hawikku, Hodge supervised a staff which included Jesse L. Nusbaum, Edwin F. Coffin, Samuel K. Lothrop, George Hubbard Pepper, Alanson Buck Skinner, Donald A. Cadzow, and Louis C. G. Clarke. In addition, at least 39 A:shiwi (Zuni) men participated in this excavation of their ancestral villages. Hodge's archaeological techniques encompassed stratigraphic excavation; the systematic recording of rooms, features, artifacts in field notebooks; in situ photographs; and ethnographic analogy. These techniques resulted in the recovery and documentation of thousands of artifacts of diverse types including ceramics, wood, bone, textiles, shell, lithics, and architectural elements from about 370 rooms, 1000 burials, and the large mission church and its associated friary. Hodge published several articles and one book related to the site on specialized topics such as bonework, turquoise, and the history of Hawikku. The only descriptive publication of the excavations, The Excavation of Hawikuh by Frederick Webb Hodge, Report of the Hendricks-hodge Expedition, 19
Related Materials:
See associated materials in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation records (NMAI.AC.001).
See: Hendricks-Hodge Archaeological Expedition papers. #9170. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
See: "The Excavation of Hawikuh by Frederick Webb Hodge: Report of the Hendricks-Hodge Expedition, 1917-1923," by Watson Smith, Richard Woodbury and Nathatlie Woodbury. Contributions from the Museum of the American Indian Heye Foundation, Volume XX, 1966
Provenance:
The photographs in this collection were sent back to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation by the various photographers over the course of the field work, 1917-1923.
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). Photographs with burials, human remains or any other cultural sensitivity are restricted.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited users to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changed, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian.
Topic:
Excavations (Archaeology) -- New Mexico -- Photographs Search this
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Hendricks-Hodge Hawikku Expedition photograph collection (NMAI.AC.001.042), Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection of films produced and acquired by the Museum of the American Indian (MAI) contains materials created by and for the MAI as ethnographic studies and as documentation of its own activities (including archaeological expeditions and cultural exchanges) between 1917 and 1938. Tribes represented include: Arikara, Crow, Navajo, Pilaga, Pueblo, Shoshone, and Zuni. Also included is footage of Hidatsa representatives and Zuni translators in Washington, D.C. and at the MAI; footage of MAI founder and director George Gustav Heye; and footage of the Hawikku (Hawikuh) and Kechipauan archaeological sites, Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. The collection consists mainly of successive 16mm and 35mm negative film duplicates and prints of now-destroyed original 35mm nitrate negatives. Series 4 gathers paper records directly pertaining to the collection. Preservation copies of the films exist on 35mm polyester film and Digital Betacam video tape. Access copies are available on DVDs.
The first series in this collection includes film, video, and DVD duplicates of ethnographic films funded, overseen, and filmed by agents of the MAI throughout the Western and Southwestern United States. The second series includes ethnographic films acquired rather than produced by the MAI of the Navajo and Pilaga. The third series consists of film produced by the MAI documenting its own activities, including an excavation at Hawikuh and Kechipauan, New Mexico; footage of MAI founder and director George Gustav Heye; and footage of Native visitors to the MAI and to Washington, D.C.
Arrangement note:
This collection is arranged into four series and chronologically within each series. Included are Series 1: Films Produced by the Museum of the American Indian, 1923-1927; Series 2: Films Acquired by the Museum of the American Indian, 1923-1924; Series 3: Documentation of Museum of the American Indian Activities, 1917-1938; and Series 4: Paper Records of the Ethnographic Film Collection. Titles within subseries are generally arranged alphabetically, with unrestricted titles listed before those restricted due to culturally sensitive content.
Within the collection, each unit of motion picture film (reel, videotape, or DVD) is assigned an identifying number. In this system, the final four appended numbers correspond to a title and a format. The full identifying number will appear as such: NMAI.AC.001.001.XX.YY, where XX corresponds to a numbered title and YY indicates the format of the print, as follows:
01: 35mm print (1917–1938, circa the original film dates)
02: 16mm dupe neg (made circa 1961 from XX.01 35mm)
03: 16mm print (from XX.02 for release, circa 1961)
04: 16mm print (from XX.02 for file/work or research, circa 1961)
05: 35mm dupe neg (preservation copy, made 2012–2014 from XX.01 and XX.02)
06: 35mm answer print (made 2012-2014 from XX.05)
07: Digital Betacam (preservation copy, made 2012-2014 from XX.06)
08, 09, 10 (if applicable): DVD (access copy, made 2012-2014 from XX.06)
11 and up: other copies and prints (see title-level notes for explanations)
Thus, for instance, the item with the number NMAI.AC.001.001.02.03 is the 16mm release print copy of the title "Deerskin Tanning and Wrapping the Leggings."
The content of each print or negative corresponding to the same title (XX) may be identical or similar. The content of the 1917-1938-era 35mm prints and the 1960s-era 16mm films differ. As the 35mm prints had deteriorated, damaged footage was removed prior to producing the 16mm negatives. After the 16mm negatives were produced, nitrate intertitles and additional damaged footage were also removed from the 35mm prints. The 2012-2014-era 35mm films were made by combining the existing 35mm prints with footage from the 16mm negatives in order to restore the most complete existing content to its highest possible quality. The Digital Betacam and DVD copies reproduce this restored footage.
This preservation and restoration effort was made possible by funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation, Save America's Treasures, and the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, as well as support from the National Museum of the American Indian.
Historical Note:
The Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation was founded by George Gustav Heye in 1908 as a repository for his extensive collection of American Indian artifacts. Through the MAI, Heye funded extensive archaeological and anthropological fieldwork throughout the Americas. This collection represents a series of ethnographic films made in the course of MAI expeditions throughout the Western and Southwestern United States, as well as similar films purchased by the museum. The films record a variety of American Indian traditions, including crafts, foodways, games, and ceremonies, and were spurred by the era's perception of Native communities as "fast-disappearing" and vulnerable to dramatic change. The activities recorded range from quotidian to highly culturally sensitive, as followed Heye's all-encompassing collecting strategy.
The MAI's motion picture expeditions took place between 1923 and 1927 and were carried out by a number of agents of the museum, usually in the course of gathering artifacts. Many of these agents were anthropologists accompanied by professional photographers, but other footage is amateur. The MAI treated the series in full as technical educational material, noting in their 1962 motion picture film catalog that "they are not suitable for general entertainment."
The moving image collection of the MAI included these self-produced films as well as similar films purchased by the museum and film shot in the course of the museum's activities, including documentation of archaeological digs, staff, and Native visitors. In 1961-1962, recognizing the educational potential of its collection, the MAI received a grant from the National Science Foundation to transfer the original deteriorating nitrate prints to safety film, discarding film and editing prints in the process. In 2012-2014, the National Museum of the American Indian completed a transfer of the titles to Digital Betacam and DVD formats, combining footage from both original and 1961-1962-era prints to salvage as much content as possible. This work was completed with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation, Save America's Treasures, and the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
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).
Ceremonial images are restricted due to cultural sensitivity. Consult the archivist for further information.
Rights:
Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian Ethnographic Film Collection, Call Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Smith, C. Earle (Claude Earle), 1922-1987 Search this
Extent:
83 Copy prints
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Copy prints
Photographs
Place:
New Mexico -- Antiquities
Bat Cave (N.M.)
Date:
1948-1950
Scope and Contents note:
Copies of photographs probably made or collected by Herbert W. Dick for his 1965 book, Bat Cave. Included are images of excavations and sediment, field camp and crew, a nearby quarry site, a building in Horse Springs, and projectile points and baskets found at Bat Cave in New Mexico. Depicted individuals include Jeffery V. Morris, Hugo G. Rodeck, Ernst Antevs, Roberta Smith, Martha Dick, C. Earle Smith, Jr., Eloise Richards, Charles McGimsey, Herbert W. Dick, Hugo C. Cotter, and Robert P. Goethals.
Biographical/Historical note:
Bat Cave is an archeological site in New Mexico that consists of rock shelters dating to about 10,000 years ago and contains evidence of early maize agriculture. Excavations were conducted at the site in 1948 by the Harvard Peabody Museum, in 1950 by Harvard and the University of Colorado Museum, and in 1981-1983 by the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot R86-67
Reproduction Note:
Copy prints made by Smithsonian Institution.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Libraries and Smithsonian Institution Libraries hold Dick's book, Bat Cave, and Wirt Wills's report on the 1981 University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology Research at Bat Cave.
Records and correspondence by Dick can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in River Basin Surveys Records, Donald Jayne Lehmer Papers, and Waldo Rudolph Wedel and Mildred Mott Wedel Papers.
Correspondence from Hugo Rodeck can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the Donald Jayne Lehmer Papers.
Correspondence from Ernst Antevs can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the Frank Harold Hanna Roberts, Jr., papers and photographs.
Writings by Charles McGimsey can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the General Accounting Office Working Papers Concerning Review of Federal Agencies and Implementation of Archeological Salvage Laws, River Basin Surveys Records, and MS 7222.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
This copy collection has been obtained for reference purposes only. Contact the repository for terms of use and access.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
North Dakota -- Archeology
South Dakota -- Archeology
Great Plains
Honduras -- Archeology
Labrador (N.L.)
Nebraska -- Archeology
Columbia River Valley
Date:
1902-1965
bulk 1927-1955
Summary:
William Duncan Strong's early interest was in zoology, but, while an undergraduate at the University of California, he was brought into anthropology under the influence of Alfred Louis Kroeber. He conducted archaeological and ethnological field research in several areas of the New World and was the first professionally trained archaeologist to focus on the Great Plains, where he applied the so-called direct historical method, working from known history in interpreting archaeological sites. Strong's papers include correspondence, field notes, diaries, newspaper clippings, teaching notes and student papers, manuscripts of his writings, writings by other authors, papers from the various organizations in which he served, maps, and a considerable number of photographs from his field work. The materials date from 1902 to 1965, with most of the materials being from 1927 to 1955.
Scope and Contents:
Strong's papers include correspondence, field notes, diaries, newspaper clippings, teaching notes and student papers, manuscripts of his writings, writings by other authors, papers from the various organizations in which he served, maps, and a considerable number of photographs from his field work. The materials date from 1902 to 1965, with most of the materials being from 1927 to 1955.
Strong's papers reflect his professional life, but there is little personal material. Except for the Rawson-MacMillan Labrador Expedition, there is little information from Strong's years at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Other than information on field work expenses, there is little light shed on Strong's personal financial situation. There is no personal correspondence with either of his wives and little correspondence with family members, except for his brother, Ronald. Some correspondence from the late 1930s to the early 1940s is not present and its whereabouts is not known. Of special interest is a collection of drawings by Naskapi Indian children collected while Strong was on the Labrador expedition in 1928. Strong collected obituaries, vitae, news articles, and writings on and by other anthropologists. He was an inveterate doodler, and his fascinating creations appear throughout the papers.
Strong also collected materials from other researchers, including Loren Eiseley's 1931 field notes from the Morrill Expedition, Maurice Kirby's 1932 notes on the Signal Butte excavations, notes and drawings from the 1936 Honduras expedition by Alfred V. Kidder II, and the field notebooks kept by Clifford Evans for the 1946 Virú Valley expedition in Peru. Contributed photographs from field expeditions are from A.T. Hill, Waldo Wedel, and John Champe.
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.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in 12 series: (1) Miscellaneous personal papers, 1914-1963; (2) Correspondence, 1922-1965; (3) Materials relating to field work, 1921-1963; (4) Miscellaneous research notes, 1917-1960, most undated; (5) Maps and charts, 1902-1949; (6) Drawings by Naskapi Indians and Eskimos, 1910, 1928; (7) Manuscripts of writings, 1922-1962, undated; (8) Writings by other authors, 1902-1961; (9) Papers relating to organizations, 1926-1961; (10) Teaching materials and course work, 1909, 1928-1961; (11) Miscellany, 1902-1961, most undated; (12) Photographs, 1913-1950.
Biographical Note:
William Duncan Strong (1899-1962) was a major figure in American anthropology. His accomplishments were as a field worker in archaeology and ethnology, archaeological theorist, writer, and teacher. He was, furthermore, a leader in anthropological organizations. In 1954, his position in the field was recognized by the award of the Viking Fund Medal for his contributions to archaeology.
William Duncan Strong's early interest was in zoology, but, while an undergraduate at the University of California, he was brought into anthropology under the influence of Alfred Louis Kroeber. He conducted archaeological and ethnological field research in several areas of the New World, including Labrador, southern California, Honduras, and Peru. Strong was the first professionally trained archaeologist to focus on the Great Plains, and it was there that he applied the so-called direct historical method, working from known history in interpreting archaeological sites. His work in all these areas are represented by notebooks, diaries, specimen catalogues, maps, and photographs.
Strong spent the majority of his professional life affiliated with various universities and taught many anthropologists who became influential in their own right. His students included Loren Eiseley, Waldo R. Wedel, Joseph Jablow, Oscar Lewis, John Landgraf, Dorothy Keur, David Stout, Charles Wagley, Eleanor Leacock, John Champe, Albert C. Spaulding, Victor Barnouw, John M. Corbett, Walter Fairservis, and Richard B. Woodbury. Strong preserved the student papers by some of these anthropologists as well as their correspondence with him.
Strong influenced American anthropology by his service in professional societies. He served as president of the American Ethnological Society, the Institute of Andean Research, and the Society for American Archaeology. He was the director of the Ethnogeographic Board (his journal from his tenure as director is in the papers) and chairman of the Committee on Basic Needs of American Archaeology. In this latter capacity, Strong was involved in establishing a program to salvage archaeological sites before they were destroyed by public works. Strong served as the anthropological consultant to the Bureau of Indian Affairs during Franklin Roosevelt's administration and advised on new directions to be taken in Indian Service policy.
Strong died suddenly on January 29, 1962.
Chronology
1899 -- Born January 30 in Portland, Oregon
1917 April-1919 January -- In the United States Navy aboard the U.S.S. South Dakota on convoy duty in the Atlantic Ocean
1922 -- Collected faunal specimens in the Canadian Rockies, Skeena River district, for the University of California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
1923 -- A.B., University of California Studied Max Uhle's Peruvian archaeological collection Collected faunal specimens, Columbia River, Washington
Winter, 1923-1924 -- Archaeological investigations in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California under the direction of Edwin Winslow Gifford
1924-1925 -- Expedition to study Shoshonean tribes (the Serrano, Cahuilla, Cupeño, and Luiseño) of Southern California (Riverside and San Diego counties) under Alfred Louis Kroeber Archaeological surveys and excavations of three months each in the middle Columbia River Valley in Oregon and Washington
1925 -- Archaeological expedition and collection of faunal specimens in the San Pedro Martir Mountains, Baja California under W. Egbert Schenk
1925-1926 -- Research Assistant, Department of Anthropology, University of California
1926 -- PhD, Anthropology, University of California
1926 July-1929 August -- Assistant Curator of North American Ethnology and Archaeology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago
1927 -- An Analysis of Southwestern Society (doctoral dissertation)
1927 June-1928 September -- Anthropologist on the Rawson-MacMillan September, 1928 Subarctic Expedition of the Field Museum Studied Naskapi and Eskimos in Labrador and on Baffin Island
1929 -- Married Jean Stevens
1929 August-1931 July -- Professor of Anthropology, University of Nebraska
1929 -- Published The Aboriginal Society of Southern California
1929-1931 -- Director, Archaeological Survey of Nebraska, University of Nebraska
1930 June 11-September 6 -- Excavated at Rock Bluff cemetery site
1931 -- Helped organize the First Plains Conference (held August 31-September 2)
1931-1932 -- Morrill Expedition, central and western Nebraska and North and South Dakota: ethnological investigations of Arikaras at Nishu, North Dakota; excavation at Signal Butte, Nebraska; and excavation at Leavenworth and Rygh village sites in South Dakota
1931 July-1937 August -- Senior Anthropologist, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution
1932 -- Archaeological survey of northeastern Honduras along the Mosquito Coast and the Patuca River, archaeological work on the Bay Islands, and ethnological investigation of Sumu Indians
1933-1934 -- Two Civilian Works Administration archaeological expeditions (five months each) in California in southern San Joaquin Valley, Kern County, at Tulamniu (a Yokuts village) and eastern Chumash area
1934-1937 -- Trustee, Laboratory of Anthropology, Sante Fe
1935 -- Anthropological consultant to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Assistant editor, American Antiquity Published Archeological Investigations in the Bay islands, Spanish Honduras and An Introduction to Nebraska Archeology
1935-1937 -- Member, Committee on State Archeological Surveys, National Research Council
1936 -- Smithsonian Institution-Harvard expedition to northwestern Honduras to the valleys of the Chamelecon and the Ulua Rivers, Naco and other sites
1937-1962 -- Professor, later Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
1937-1938 -- Vice-President, American Anthropological Association
1938 -- Fort Abraham Lincoln (Slant Mandan village) site and Sheyenne-Cheyenne village site excavations in North Dakota
1939 -- Chairman, National Research Council's Committee on Basic Needs in American Archaeology Excavated at Arzberger site in South Dakota and the area between the Chamberlain and Cheyenne Rivers
1940 -- Member, National Research Council's Committee on War Services of Anthropology Expeditions to western Florida and southwestern United States, especially New Mexico Peruvian archaeological survey
1941 -- Chairman, Section H, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1941-1942 -- President, American Ethnological Society Peruvian excavations at Pachacamac in the Chancay Valley and the Ancon-Supe excavations
1942? -- Peruvian excavations in the Naxca and Ica Valleys
1942-1944 -- Director, Ethnogeographic Board
1943 -- Published Cross Sections of New World Prehistory Appointed to Loubat Professorship at Columbia University
1945 -- Married Helen Richardson
1946 -- Peruvian excavations, Virú Valley Project National Research Council liaison member of the Committee for the Recovery of Archaeological Remains President, Institute of Andean Research
1948-1949 -- Chairman, Anthropology Section of New York Academy of Sciences
1949 July-August -- Peru-Mexico trip
1950 -- Talking Crow site expedition Excavated at Signal Butte
1952-1953 -- Peruvian expeditions, Nazca and Ica Valleys
1954 -- Awarded the Viking Fund Medal Trip to western United States
1955-1956 -- President, Society for American Archaeology
1962 -- Died January 29
Selected Bibliography
1929 -- Strong, William Duncan. Aboriginal Society of Southern California. Vol. 26, University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1929.
1935 -- Strong, William Duncan. Archeological Investigations in the Bay islands, Spanish Honduras. Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1935. Strong, William Duncan. An Introduction to Nebraska Archeology. Vol. 93, no. 10, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1935.
1938 -- Strong, William Duncan, Alfred Kidder, II, and A.J. Drexel Pail, Jr. Preliminary Report on the Smithsonian Institution-Harvard University Archeological Expedition to Northwestern Honduras, 1936. Vol. 97, no. 1, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1938.
1943 -- Strong, William Duncan. Cross Sections of New World Prehistory: a Brief Report on the Work of the Institute of Andean Research, 1941-1942. Vol. 104, no. 2, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1943. Strong, William Duncan. Archeological Studies in Peru, 1941-1942. New York: Columbia University Press, 1943.
1948 -- "The Archeology of Honduras." In The Circum-Caribbean Tribes Vol. 4, Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Julian H. Steward, 71-120. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 143. Washington: U.S. Government Print Office, 1948.
1952 -- Strong, William Duncan, and Clifford Evans. Cultural Stratigraphy in the Virú Valley, Northern Peru. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.
For a complete bibliography of Strong's works, see Solecki, Ralph, and Charles Wagley. "William Duncan Strong, 1899-1962," American Anthropologist 65, no. 5 (October 1963): 1102-1111. https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/aa.1963.65.5.02a00080
Related Materials:
Additional materials in the National Anthropological Archives relating to William Duncan Strong can be found in the records of the American Anthropological Association, Bureau of American Ethnology, Handbook of South American Indians, Institute of Social Anthropology, River Basin Surveys, the Society for American Archaeology, and Tulamniu Project (1933-1934); the papers of Ralph Leon Beals, John Peabody Harrington, Frederick Johnson, Frank Maryl Setzler, Ruth Schlossberg Landes, Albert Clanton Spaulding (including information on the Arzberger site), and Waldo Rudolph and Mildred Mott Wedel; Photographic Lot 14, Bureau of American Ethnology Subject and Geographic File; Photographic Lot 24, Bureau of American Ethnology-United States National Museum Photographs of American Indians; Photographic Lot 77-80, Portraits of Smithsonian Anthropologists; Photographic Lot 92-35, Ralph S. Solecki Photographs of Anthropologists; Numbered Collections, MS 4821 (records of the Anthropological Society of Washington), MS 4261 (photographs made on a site survey in the Santa Barbara Mountains, California, 1934), MS 4302 (journal covering the 1936 expedition to Honduras), MS 4846 (correspondence between BAE authors and the BAE editor's office), and MS 7200 (original field catalog of Honduran artifacts, 1936); and in the non-archival reference file. There are also materials in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in record units 87 (Ethnogeographic Board), 9528 (Henry Bascom Collins interviews), and 1050102 (papers of T. Wayland Vaughan). In the Human Studies Film Archives there is material on Strong in the video dialogues of Charles Wagley, 1983.
Provenance:
The Strong papers were donated to the archives by Strong's widow, Mrs. Helen Richardson Strong. Most of the arrangements were handled by Ralph S. Solecki, then of Columbia University. He sent the papers to the archives between 1974 and 1979, and there have been small accretions since that time. These accretions came through Richard G. Forbis, Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary; Mildred Mott Wedel and Waldo R. Wedel, Department of Anthropology; and Nan A. Rothschild, Department of Anthropology, Barnard College. Mrs. Strong donated the rights in the unpublished material in the collection to the Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions:
The William Duncan Strong papers are open for research.
Access to the William Duncan Strong papers requires and appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Excavations (Archaeology) -- California Search this
Samuel Kirkland Lothrop was an archaeologist and photographer who extensively traveled and worked throughout Central America and South America. George Gustav Heye originally hired Lothrop to research native Guatemalan and El Salvadoran textiles and pottery. He subsequently excavated on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian in such places as the Tierra del Fuego. Here he photographed indigenous communities who would not survive the twentieth century as a distinct culture group. In 1923, he also photographed the activities of the Hendricks-Hodge Hawikku Expedition excavations. In addition to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, the Peabody Museum and the Carnegie Institute sponsored his research and archaeological work.
Provenance:
Historically, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation managed all photographic and related manuscript collections separately. This collection description represents current management practices of organizing and contextualizing related archival materials.
Restrictions:
Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.
Rights:
Copyright: National Museum of the American Indian
Topic:
Indians of Central America -- Guatemala -- Photographs Search this
Indians of Central America -- El Salvador -- Photographs Search this
Fuegians -- Social life and customs -- Photographs Search this
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Argentina -- Photographs Search this
Genre/Form:
Lantern slides
Photographs
Negatives
Photographic prints
Citation:
S. K. Lothrop collection of negatives, photographs and lantern slides, 1915-1928, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Indians of North America -- Southern States Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Copy prints
Prints
Photographs
Place:
New Mexico -- Antiquities
Alaska
Mississippi
Pueblo Bonito Site (N.M.)
Date:
circa 1920-1936
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs depicting crews, camps, artifacts, and excavated areas from various archeological digs and anthropological expeditions. These include Neil Merton Judd's archeological excavations at Pueblo Bonito, Collins and Hermes Knoblock measuring Choctaw people in Mississippi, James Alfred Ford and Paul Silook at Miyowagh on St. Lawrence Island, and Ford at Cape Prince of Wales.
Biographical/Historical note:
Henry B. Collins (1899-1987) began his career in anthropology as an assistant on Neil M. Judd's 1922-1924 expeditions to Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico. In 1924, he became an aid in the United States National Museum Division of Ethnology and shortly afterwards was promoted to assistant curator. He received a Masters in Anthropology from the George Washington University in 1925 and was appointed associate curator in 1938. In 1939, Collins took a position as senior ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology and became acting director in 1963. When the BAE and the Department of Anthropology were merged in 1965, Collins became a senior scientist in the new Smithsonian Office of Anthropology. He was appointed archeologist emeritus in 1967.
Collins' independent field work during the early part of his career focused on the American South, in which he conducted investigations relating to the Choctaw and to areas whose cultural history was little known. Collins is most recognized, however, for his efforts in Arctic archeology. Between 1927 and 1936, he and colleagues, including James A. Ford and T. Dale Stewart, focused on the Bering Sea area and the Arctic coasts of Alaska, including St. Lawrence Island, Nunivak Island, the Diomedes, Punuk Island, Bristol Bay, Norton Sound, Point Hope, Cape Prince of Wales, the Aleutians, and the interior of the Seward Peninsula.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 82-23
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds Henry Bascom Collins's papers, as well as those of James Alfred Ford.
Additional photographs by Collins can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 28, Photo Lot 86-42, Photo Lot 86-43, and Photo Lot 86-59.
Additional papers by Collins can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4908, MS 4976, and MS 4977.
Additional photographs of Pueblo Bonito by O. C. Havens can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo lot 83-16.
Photo Lot 82-23, Henry Bascom Collins photograph collection relating to Pueblo Bonito, Mississippi Choctaws, and Alaska, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
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
