Photographs depicting Native American baskets and portraits of Native Americans with whom C. Hart Merriam worked, as well as scenic views and images of animals and plants, mostly in California. Many of the photographs were made by Merriam himself or his daughter Zenaida Merriam Talbot. In addition, Merriam collected photographs from other researchers and photographers, including J. S. Diller, John Peabody Harrington, Henry Wetherbee Henshaw, and O. E. Meddaugh. There are also images acquired from the Boysen Studio of Yosemite and photographs of Mark Twain, John Muir, basketmaker Maggie James, and Merriam's family.
Biographical/Historical note:
Clinton Hart Merriam (1855-1942) was a Columbia University-educated physician who worked as a naturalist, including as head of the Biological Survey for the US Department of Agriculture. He joined the Harriman Alaska Expedition as a zoologist in 1899. In 1910, he left the USDA and began to conduct research among California tribes. Financed by Mary W. Harriman and the E. H. Harriman Fund administered by the Smithsonian, he researched tribes' vocabularies, history, mythology, crafts (particularly basketmaking) until about 1936. His resarch was assisted by his daughter, Zenaida, who took photographs and painted glass slides for him. Merriam served as President of the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1920-1921.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 74-27
General note:
Additional information supplied by Marvin Shodas.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Merriam's notes held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 1563 and in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in SIA Acc. 12-264.
Additional photographs by Merriam held in the National Museum of American Indian Archives in the Mary Harriman Rumsey Photograph Collection and the Harriman Alaska Expedition Photograph Collection.
Correspondence from Merriam held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4558, the Department of Anthropology records (Manuscript and Pamphlet file), Bureau of American Ethnology records, J.C. Pilling Papers, Ales Hrdlicka Papers, and Jesse Logan Nusbaum Papers.
The Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkeley holds the C. Hart Merriam Papers, C. Hart Merriam Collection of Native American Photographs (prints corresponding to negatives in this collection), and C. Hart Merriam pictorial collection.
8 Prints (halftone (including one newspaper clipping))
124 Prints (circa, silver gelatin, albumen, and platinum)
50 Copy prints (circa)
3 copper printing plates
1 Color print
1 Print (wood engraving)
3 Copy negatives (glass)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Prints
Copy prints
Color prints
Copy negatives
Photographs
Date:
circa 1860s-1970
Scope and Contents note:
This collection is an artificial collection of photographs, copper plates, and a few notes, all of which depict or relate to anthropologists, many of which were associated with the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Included are portraits of Franz Boas, Q. M. Bond, Arno B. Cammerer, Frank Hamilton Cushing, Edwin Hamilton Davis, J. Woodbridge Davis, Frances Densmore, James Owen Dorsey, Philip Drucker, Jesse Walter Fewkes (including photographs of his home by Frances Densmore), Albert Samuel Gatschet, James A. Geary, De Lancey W. Gill, George Brown Goode, Horatio Hale, Henry Wetherbee Henshaw, John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt, John K. Hillers, William Henry Holmes, William Henry Jackson, Eugene Irving Knez, Alfred Louis Kroeber, Pere Albert Lacomb, Augustus Le Plongeon, James Mooney, Lewis Henry Morgan, Carl Oschsicanes, James Constantine Pilling, John Wesley Powell, Frau Signe Rink, Frank Harold Hanna Roberts, Jr., Charles C. Royce, Robert Lloyd Stephenson, James Stevenson, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Julian Haynes Steward, Steward Struever, James Gilchrist Swan, John Reed Swanton, Edwin P. Upham, Wilcomb E. Washburn, and Gordon Randolph Willey. Groups depicted include the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1936; the De Soto Commission; officers of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1885; a 1920 expedition group to Hawikuk; staff of the Great Lakes Division, United States Geological Survey, in Salt Lake City, 1882; a group at Moundville, Alabama, 1932; the University of Nebraska archeological field party, 1920; the Pecos conference, 1927; John Wesley Powell with Wild Hank, Kentucky Mountain Bill, and Jesus Aloiso; and the United States Geological Survey staff, ca. 1894.
Among photographers represented are Vernon Orlando Bailey, Blackston Studios of New York, Dana of New York, Frances Densmore, Gene Garrett, C. W. Gilbert, De Lancey W. Gill, John K. Hillers, William H. Jackson, Kets Kemethy, Paul Koby, David McDonough, H. C. Phillips, Rice of Washington, D. C., and J. A. Shuck of El Reno, Oklahoma.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 33
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Four photographs with negatives by Matilda Coxe Stevenson have been relocated to Photo Lot 23.
This collection includes photographs that have been removed from other collections in the National Anthropological Archives, including MS 4970, MS 4851, MS 4780, MS 4250, MS 4751, MS 4516, MS 4860, MS 4695, MS 4970, and MS 4558.
See others in:
Portraits of anthropologists, 1860s-1960s
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Copy prints of original photographs held by the American Philosophical Society, National Geographic Society, and National Archives cannot be copied. Copies may be obtained from these repositories.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot 33, Portraits of anthropologists, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
MS 2114-a Comparative vocabulary of San Antonio (Salinan), San Miguel (Salinan), San Luis Obispo (Obispeno), Santa Rosa (Island Chumash), Santa Inez (Inezeno Chumash), Purisima (Purismeno Chumash), Santa Barbara (Barbareno Chumash), and Ventura (Ventur...
Creator:
Henshaw, Henry W. (Henry Wetherbee), 1850-1930 Search this
Manuscript 2114-a, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Digitization and preparation of these materials for online access has been funded by the National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Indians of North America -- Southern States Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
List compiled by Mooney. Includes letter from Dorsey to H.W. Henshaw, giving comparative information from other Siouan languages. October 14, 1890. Typescript and autograph letter signed. 2 pages. Also note from Gatschet to Mooney giving some Biloxi, Catawba and Tutelo comparisons. No date. Autograph letter. 1 page.
Contains several items, mainly brief vocabularies, whose interrelationship is not clear but seems indicated by the fact of their having been marked with the letters "A" through "E". No date. As follows: A. San Luis Obispo (Obispeno Chumash) vocabulary. 1 page. B. Soledad (Costanoan) vocabulary. 2 pages. C. "Tularenos" (Yokuts) vocabulary. 1 page. D. "Costanoan family." Discussion. 3 pages, typed. E. Comparative vocabulary of four dialects of the Costanoan family: "Mission Dolores Costano" (San Francisco Costanoan), Mutsun, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz. 3 pages.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 853
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 853, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
December 24, 1884
Scope and Contents:
MS 787-a Gabrieleno and Serrano vacabulary. Banning, California. Decemeber 24, 1884. 14pp. in pencil, in Powell's printed "schedule."
MS 787-b In ink, in Henshaw's hand. Apparently neat copy by Henshaw from the "schedule," but with some changes in orthography. Title page: "Vocabulary taken from a very old and decrepit Indian now living in an Indian rancheria near the town of Banning. He formerly lived at the San Gabriel Mission. His wife and children speak the Serrano ("Mountaineer") language. His granddaughter, a school girl, understands English and she acted as interpreter."
MS 787-c In ink, in Henshaw's hand. Apparently neat copy by Henshaw from the "schedule," but with some changes in orthography. Title page: "The few words herein given were taken from a schoolgirl belonging to the Serrano tribe."
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 787
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 787, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
In pencil, in Powell's schedule of Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages. (Approximately 346, 141 terms, respectively.)
Biographical / Historical:
Rumsen recorded from Eulalia, Carmelo Valley, California; source of the "Obispo" not stated . September 29- October 18, 1884. The "Obispo" column is marked "Copied," but no corresponding ink copy has been located (1962).
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 647
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 647, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Chumash encircled with a line, or otherwise marked; also the numbers 1-5 and 10 in Esselen (page 97). In pencil, in Powell's schedule of Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages.
Biographical / Historical:
Recorded from Clara, who lived at Arroyo Seco, 10 miles from Soledad; place of record not stated.
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 302, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Digitization and preparation of these materials for online access has been funded by the National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Contains: (1) Santa Clara (Costanoan) as given by Felix Buelna, at Mission of San Antonio, California September 27, 1884; (2) Obispeno Chumash, recorded near San Luis Obispo, California, October 19-28, 1884; (3) Santa Rosa Island Chumash, recorded from Pa-hi-la-tcet' at Los Alamos, California, October 30-November 7, 1884. Approximately 105 pages in pencil, in Powell's schedule of Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages. (Approximately 247, 313, 410 terms respectively.)
Biographical / Historical:
Note on the Santa Clara informant, Felix Buelna, page 228. The Reverend A.D. Spearman, S.J., University of Santa Clara, California, in postal card of October 4, 1960 adds: "Felix Buelna was an altar boy at M. Sta. Clara c. 1804 and later taught in the Mission school of the Franciscans prior to the coming of the Jesuits. I haven't the year yet." See also Number 868, apparently a neat copy of the Obispeno Chumash. Note on Santa Rosa informant, Pa-hi-la-tcet', page 222. See also Number 866, apparently a neat copy of the Santa Rosa Chumash.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 296
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 296, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
MS 291-a: In pencil, in Powell's Schedule in Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages. (Approximately 477 terms.)
MS 291-b: Written in ink, in Powell's Schedule in Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages. (Approximately 477 terms.) Apparently a neat copy of 291-a, with some differences in orthography, and with a note on the title page about the name of the tribe, and about Hostu, the informant.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 291-a and NAA MS 291-b
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 291-a, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
