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.
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
United States of America -- Tennessee -- Maury County -- Columbia
Date:
1987
General:
Facing down at excavated conservatory from second story east window of main house.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
This collection consists of photographic views made by William Stiles in New York, Rhode Island, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Newfoundland and Quebec, among the Attikamekw (Tete De Boule Cree), Eastern Band of Cherokee, Innu, Miccosukee Seminole (Mikasuki), Mohawk [Kahnawake (Caughnawaga)], Mushuaunnuat (Barren Ground Naskapi) [Utshimassit (Davis Inlet)], Narragansett, Niantic, Onondaga, Seminole, and Seneca communities. These were made while Stiles was a staff member of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation from 1938-1974.
Scope and Contents:
The Stiles collection consists of photographs and films made by William Stiles on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation from 1938 to 1974. More than half of these document the life of Innu peoples of Quebec, Canada, in the years 1952, 1958, 1959, and 1964. They depict Innu men, women, and children, and food preparation, dwellings, fishing, canoes, settlements, the preparation of animal skins, and ceremonials. Stiles photographed among the Seminole and Miccosukee peoples of Florida in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1966, and 1974. He also variously photographed the Narragansett and Niantic peoples of Rhode Island, the Onondaga on the Onondaga Reservation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina, the Seneca of New York, the Attikamekw (Tete De Boule Cree) and the Mohawk of Quebec, and the Mushuaunnuat of Labrador. He also photographed various archaeological sites in New York State, Mississippi, and South Carolina. There are also two 8mm film reels titled "Nascapi Indians at Davis Inlet, Labrador, New Foundland" that were made in the summer of 1965.
This collection has been intelectually arranged into four series and subseries geographically and then chronologically within each subseries.
Series 1: Expedtions in New York, 1938-1973; Series 2: Expeditions in Canada, 1940-1965; Series 3: Expeditions in the Southeastern, United States, 1939-1974; Series 4: Nebraska, Rhode Island and Other Locations, 1939-1942, undated.
Physically arranged by negative "N", print "P" or slide "S" number.
Biographical/Historical note:
Before joining the staff of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in May 1938, William F. Stiles was George G. Heye's personal driver. An employee of the Museum for almost forty years, Stiles retired in March 1978 as the Curator of Collections. Although Stiles published very little, he was an active field collector and participated in numerous archaeological expeditions. As is evident from his photographs of the Innu and Seminole peoples, he often visited individual communities more than once and over the course of several years.
Stiles Expeditions for the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation
1938 Summer -- Cayuga County Expedition.
1939 October -- Expedition to Pennsylvania and New York.
1939 November – 1940 January -- F. K. Seward and William F. Stiles Florida Expedition.
1941 -- Trip to North Carolina and Florida.
1942 -- Trip to Putnam County, New York.
1946 -- Expedition to Mississippi.
1952 June -- Expedition to Québec, Canada.
1953 June-July -- Expedition to Québec, Canada.
1957 July -- Expedition along St. Lawrence River, Canada.
1959 August -- Expedition to Québec, Canada.
1960-1967 -- William F. Stiles Southeast Expedition. Stiles began expeditions to the Southeastern U.S. in Spring and Fall of 1960. He returned to the Southeast each Oct - Nov. through 1966 conducting investigations and excavations in South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and North Carolina and Florida returning to some sites multiple times.
1961-1965 -- William F. Stiles Savannah Farms Expedition. Preliminary investigation began in Nov 1961 and work continued each year during the fall until 1965.
1964 May-June -- Expedition to Québec, Canada.
1965 June-July -- Stanley R. Grant Naskapi Expedition to Davis Inlet, Labrador, Canada.
1966 June-July -- Expedition to Labrador, Newfoundland, and Québec, Canada
1972 October -- Expedition to Seneca Reservations, New York.
1972 October-December -- Expedition to Tennessee.
1973 April -- Expedition to Seneca Reservations, New York.
1974 November -- Expedition to the Southeast: North Carolina and Florida.
Separated Materials:
Correspondence and field notes from William Stiles can be found in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation records in Box 200.13, Box 201.7, Box 274.3-275.9, Box 305.1-305.2, Box 307.21, Box 312.11-312.17.
Restrictions:
Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Mississippi Search this
Indians of North America -- New York (State) Search this
Indians of North America -- Rhode Island Search this
Excavations (Archaeology) -- New York (State) Search this
Excavations (Archaeology) -- South Carolina Search this
Genre/Form:
Negatives
Photographic prints
Color slides
Photographs
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); William F. Stiles collection of photographs and films, NMAI.AC.001.014, item #; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Upland archeology in the East : symposium number six, February 25 to February 27, 1994, at James Madison University, organized by Michael B. Barber, Clarence R. Geier, E. Bruce Barfield, Sr., and C. Clifford Boyd / edited by Eugene B. Barfield and Michael B. Barber ; compiled by Michael B. Barber, Eugene B. Barfield, Harry A. Jaegar, and Wm. Jack Hranicky
Author:
Upland Archeology in the East Symposium (6th : 1994 : James Madison University) Search this
Archaeological investigations at the Harrison Branch and Bat Creek sites in the Tellico Reservoir / by Gerald F. Schroedl with the assistance of Judy Clifford, John Dempster, Howard Earnest, and George Fielder
Upland archeology in the East : symposium number one, February 27 to March 1, 1981 / organized by Clarence R. Geier, Michael B. Barber, and George A. Tolley
Author:
Upland Archeology in the East Symposium (1st : 1981 : James Madison University) Search this
William S. Webb photographs of excavations in Norris basin
Creator:
Webb, William S. (William Snyder), 1882-1964 Search this
Extent:
6 Prints (silver gelatin)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Prints
Photographs
Place:
Tennessee -- Antiquities
Date:
1934
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs depicting temple and mound excavations in Norris basin, Tennessee.
Biographical/Historical note:
William S. Webb (1882-1964) was Head of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology as well as the Department of Physics at the University of Kentucky. During the 1930s he coordinated archeological excavations in Tennessee, northern Alabama, and western Kentucky for the Tennessee Valley Authority. He documented these excavations in BAE Bulletins 118, 122, and 129.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 73-17
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Correspondence from Webb can be found in other collections within the National Anthropological Archives, including the records of the Bureau of Ethnology, the records of the River Basin Surveys, and collections of personal papers.
The National Anthropological Archives holds MS 3435-d, James Bennet Griffin and William Webb's manuscript on Tennessee Valley Archeology.
Additional photographs relating to Webb's archaeological work may be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24.
