The collection consists of photographs collected by the Albertype Company for their postcards and viewbooks, including portraits, scenery, camps, Native Americans schools, and some paintings and composites for postcard printing. Additional subjects include rock drawings in Maine; a statue in Kansas City, Missouri; Standing Rock Monument in North Dakota; people in Atlin, British Columbia; Carib rock drawings in the Virgin Islands; and totem poles in Vancouver.
Included are works of Charles Milton Bell, E. A. Benson, C. R. Bourne, H. E. Brown, William Bull, H. H. Clarke, George B. Cornish, Frank Bennett Fiske, H. Lee Flood, N. W. Halsey, Fred Harvey, H. R. Hazeltine, Kiser Photograph Company, W. H. Martin, C. W. Mathers, Frank Matsura, W. H. Matthewson, Charles E. Morris, Ernest Moses, J. S. Myers, M. OʹConnor, G. W. Parsons, Roland W. Reed, C. B. Robinson , J. E. Stimson, W. M. Stoltz, and H. H. Watkins. Clarke and Fiske, however, are the only photographers with more than a few images.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Albertype Company, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, published viewbooks and postcards for national distribution. Founded by Adolph and Herman Witteman, the company began publishing souvenier photographic albums as early as 1867. The Wittemans established Witteman Brothers in 1885, and then the Albertype Company in 1890. From 1890 to 1950, the firm published collotypes made from the photographs of its agents (including Adolph Witteman), other companies, and independent photographers. The firm was purchased in 1952 by Art Vue Post Card Company.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 25
Reproduction Note:
Modern copy negatives and prints made by Smithsonian Institution, circa 1972.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The Library of Congress, Wisconsin Historical Society, and Historical Society of Pennsylvania also hold original Albertype Company prints and negatives.
Albertype Company views are also held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 88-37, Photo Lot 92-37, and Photo Lot 92-3.
Restrictions:
Original nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require advanced notice for viewing. Modern copy prints and copy negatives for nearly all images are available.
Front and profile images of Apache, Kiowa, Omaha, Osage, Teton, and Yankton people made for Ales Hrdlicka's use in preparing busts and physical anthropological exhibits for the Panama-California Exposition in 1915. Accompanying the photographs are notes produced under the supervision of Lucile Eleanor St. Hoyme; these include the tribe, age, sex, name(s), photographer, and number of corresponding bust. Photographers represented in the collection are Frank Micka, a sculptor hired by the exposition to make busts, as well as photographers Frank Bennett Fiske, De Lancey W. Gill, and others.
Biographical/Historical note:
Ales Hrdlicka (1869-1943) was born in Czechoslovakia and came to the United States at the age of thirteen. Originally trained in medicine, he developed an interest in physical anthropology while working with the New York State hospitals and researching with the Department of Anthropology in the Pathological Institute of the New York State Hospitals. Hrdlicka joined the Hyde Expeditions to the American Southwest and made his own expeditions to study physical characteristics of Southwest tribes. In 1903, he was appointed head of the United States National Museum's newly-formed Division of Physical Anthropology.
In 1912, Hrdlicka planned and directed seven expeditions, gathering information that helped him prepare physical anthropology exhibits for the Panama-California Exposition at San Diego, California (1915). During this process, he hired sculptor Frank Micka to make busts of people from around the world. While in the field making casts, Micka also took front and profile photographs of subjects. Hrdlicka made his own trip to photograph the people in Urga, Mongolia, making 360 images of Mongolians and some Tibetans for use in the exposition.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 9, USNM ACC 61302
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds original negatives for many of these photographs (Photo Lot 73-26B) and images of resulting busts (Photo Lot 88-25).
The National Anthropological Archives also holds the Ales Hrdlicka Papers ca. 1887-1943.
Material from Hrdlicka, mostly correspondence, is held in the National Anthropological Archives in the papers and records of William Louis Abbott, Henry Bascom Collins, Herbert William Krieger, Frank Spencer, the American Anthropological Association, Bureau of American Ethnology, Department of Anthropology of the United States National Museum (National Museum of Natural History), Science Service, Anthropological Society of Washington, and the United States Army Medical Museum (anatomical section, records relating to specimens transferred to the Smithsonian Institution).
Hrdlicka photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 8, Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 70, Photo Lot 78, Photo Lot 97, Photo Lot 73-26B, Photo Lot 73-26G, Photo Lot 83-41, and Photo Lot 92-46.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Citation:
Photo lot 9, Aleš Hrdlička collection of photographs of Native Americans for the Panama-California Exposition, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The photographs primarily document ceremonies, people, and lands of Native Americans in the Plains and Southwest, taken during Mekeel's field research from 1929 to 1936. A large portion of the collection depicts Mekeel's research during the early 1930s among the Oglala of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Another large portion of the collection includes personal photos depicting Mekeel's homes and children.
Biographical/Historical note:
H. Scudder Mekeel (1902-1947) was an anthropologist who studied social and psychological aspects of Native American cultures. Educated at Harvard University (BA, 1928), the University of Chicago (MA, 1929), and Yale University (PhD, 1932), he was a member of the 1929 Laboratory of Anthropology (Santa Fe) ethnological field school led by Alfred L. Kroeber. In 1929-1932, he carried out three field expeditions to the Sioux communities of South Dakota, working mainly on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs as Director of Applied Anthropology under Commissioner John Collier in 1935. Two years later, he was appointed Director of the Laboratory of Anthropology at Santa Fe and continued there until 1940, when he accepted a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 94-21
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds copies of Mekeel's Field Notes from the summers of 1930 and 1931 in the White Clay District of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota (MS 7088). Originals of these field notes and Mekeel's population notes on the White Clay District are held by the American Museum of Natural History, Division of Anthropology Archives (.M454).
The Human Studies Film Archives holds Mekeel's film footage of a Lakota Sioux Sundance from 1930 (HSFA 92.8.1).
Correspondence from Mekeel held in the National Anthropological Archives in the William Duncan Strong papers, Raoul Weston LaBarre Papers, and Bureau of American Ethnology Administrative File.
Restrictions:
Original nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require special arrangements for viewing.
Contains "A Maker of Shavings," by Snider, autograph and typescript document signed, 13 pages with 2 page synopsis; statement by Forte, mainly regarding Sitting Bull; autograph document, 4 pages; letter from Forte to Frank B. Fiske, October 25, 1932, autograph letter signed, 8 pages regarding murder of Sitting Bull; miscellaneous notes by Snider, 10 pages; miscellaneous correspondence, mainly regarding possible publication of Snider's Manuscript, 1936, 10 pages; two photographs of Edward Forte, 1931, 1932; one photograph each of Red Tomahawk and Mad Bear [1890's?] (both copyrighted by Fiske).
Mostly images of Cherokee Indians, including informal portraits, group portraits, and views of Cherokee Indians engaged in agriculture, food preparation, craft, and games. There are also several images of the town of Cherokee, including the museum building, a school, homes, and the main street, as well as Cherokee artifacts. Numerous photographs depict the Thomas' Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians, and the statue and sculptor of Sequoyah in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. In addition, there are photographs of Fort Thompson and Fort Yates, including one of the Indian boarding school at Fort Yates and another of an encampment at the Fort Yates Fourth of July celebration in 1902.
There are several photographs made at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, including one taken at the ceremony in 1918 in which the school was turned over to the United States Army. The Carlisle photographs include images of Nez Perce Indians and other tribes. There is also a photograph of a group of Shoshonis, including Arimo. Photographers include Sherrill's Studio, Waynesville, North Carolina; Vivienne Roberts; Clifton Adams; Guth and Hensel; and F. B. Fiske.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Museum of the Cherokee Indian, established in 1948, has as its mission, "To perpetuate the history, culture, and stories of the Cherokee people." It does so through exhibits, education and outreach, and its collections and archives.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot R82-1
Reproduction Note:
Copy prints made by Smithsonian Institution, circa 1981.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional photographs from the Carlisle School can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4241, MS 4537, MS 4544, MS 4574, MS 4988, and Photo Lot 73-8, Photo Lot 81-12 and Photo Lot 90-1.
Additional Fiske photographs can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 25, Photo Lot 59, and Photo Lot 89-14, MS 4602, and the BAE historical negatives.
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.
Topic:
Indians of North America -- Southern states Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot R82-1, Museum of the Cherokee Indian photograph collection, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Prints
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
From a collection of approximately 3,5000 negatives made by Frank Fiske and others on the Standing Rock Reservation, ca. 1890-1950, and now in the possession of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Catalog 4602: (1) Tribe: Dakota Description: Rain in the Face, sitting in horse-drawn wagon Photographer: Frank Fiske Date: 1905 S. I. Negative Number BAE Negative 3196-a-2-j. (2) Dakota Rain in the Face, sitting, half-length, wearing buffalo horn headdress Frank Fiske (3) Dakota Rain in the Face, standing, half-length, wearing feather headdress and bear-claw necklace, and carrying painted shield (4) Dakota Boarding school classroom, Fort Yates, Standing Rock Reservation (5) Dakota Boarding school carpenter shop, Fort Yates, Standing Rock Reservation (6) Dakota Boarding school laundry, Fort Yates, Standing Rock Reservation.
Copies of family photographs, including those of the Archambault and Gates families, collected by Susan K. Power. There are studio portraits, images of family members in regalia, and photographs of crafts and paintings; a beaded satchel can be seen in multiple images, including nineteenth and twentieth century photographs. Annotated electrostatic copies of the images and mounts with identifications of pictured individuals are included with the collection.
Identified photographers include Frank B. Fiske; Fuller and Fansfer of Fort Yates, North Dakota; and J. Q. Miller of Aberdeen, South Dakota.
Biographical/Historical note:
Susan K. Power is the great granddaughter of Two Bears, a chief of the Upper Yanktonais.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot R89-14
Reproduction Note:
Copy prints made by Smithsonian Institution, 1989.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Fiske photographs can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4602, Photo Lot R82-1, Photo Lot 9, Photo Lot 25, Photo Lot 24, and the BAE historical negatives.
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.
