Mexica (Aztec) (archaeological culture) Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Mounted prints
Place:
Mexico -- Antiquities
Date:
circa 1880-1910
Scope and Contents note:
The bulk of the photographs document Mayan reliefs and hieroglyphics at ancient sites, including Chichen Itza, Palenque, and Yaxchilan. Additional photographs depict items in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico, including a necklace, the Stone of Tizoc, and a stone altar disk to Tlaltecuhtli. The collection includes photographs made by Alvarez y Medina, Kildare y Cia, and a photograph of a drawing by Frederic de Waldeck.
Biographical/Historical note:
Cyrus Thomas (1825-1910) was an archeologist for the Bureau of American Ethnology best known for his work on American Indian burial mounds in the American Midwest. Born in Kingsport, Tennessee, Thomas was educated in law and served as Deputy County Clerk under his brother-in-law, the County Clerk of Jackson County, Illinois (1850-1853). In 1858, Thomas helped found the Illinois Natural History Society, through which he met John Wesley Powell. Thomas served for a brief period as an Evangelical Lutheran minister (1864-1866) before becoming an entomologist for the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories (1869-1873), Illinois State Entomologist (1874-1876), and a member of the US Entomological Commission (1876-1882). In 1876, he also worked as a professor of natural history at Southern Illinois Normal College and founded the school's Museum of Natural History (now the University Museum). During this time, Thomas also became interested in Mesoamerican ethnology, publishing articles about Mesoamerican codices and writing systems. In 1881 Thomas joined the Bureau of American Ethnology at the Smithsonian and served as the Director of the Division of Mound Exploration, a position he maintained until his death in 1910.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 169
Location of Other Archival Materials:
This collection has been relocated from Photo Lot 123.
Additional Cyrus Thomas materials relating to Mesoamerica held in the National Anthropological Archives are in MS 103, MS 1328, MS 3705, MS 3956, MS 3530, MS 3941, MS 3260, MS 2337, and MS 3920-b.
Correspondence from Thomas is held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4821, the J. C. Pilling papers, and records of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Indians of Mexico -- Languages -- writing Search this
Citation:
Photo Lot 169, Cyrus Thomas photograph collection relating to Mayan and Aztec carvings, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
An interview of Lee Mullican conducted 1992 May 22-1993 Mar. 4, by Paul Karlstrom for the Archives of American Art, at the artist's home/studio in Santa Monica, Calif.
Mullican speaks of his family background, childhood, and his first introductions to art; the influence of abstraction and surrealism in his work; his studies at Abilene College, University of Oklahoma, and the Kansas City Art Institute; his service in WWII; his interest in French painting, theater, opera and ballet; meeting Jack Stauffacher; the influence of Wolfgang Paalen in Mexico; and the connection between modern and primitive, and tribal art, especially in the American Indians of Mexico. He discusses his arrival in San Francisco and the art world and lifestyle there; the Dynaton group; early years in Los Angeles; his trip and exhibition in Rome; UCLA politics; his relationship to modernism and place in American art; regionalism; and the mystical and transcendental expressed in his work. He recalls Gordon Onslow-Ford, Jack Stauffacher, Peggy Guggenheim, Rachel Rosenthal, Richard Diebenkorn, David Hockney, Ed Moses, Isamu Noguchi, Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Lee Mullican (1919-1998) was a painter from San Francisco and Santa Monica, Calif.
General:
Originally recorded on 8 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 14 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 4 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators. Funding for this interview was provided by the Lannan Foundation.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- California Search this
Painters -- California -- Santa Monica -- Interviews Search this
The Teriananda Papers, located in the Cultural Resource Center of the National Museum of the American Indian, contain writings authored by Teriananda, as well as various position papers, news articles, flyers, correspondence, and group newsletters that represent the political activities she participated in on behalf of Native American and other indigenous peoples.
Scope and Contents:
This collection, from the 1970s to the 1990s, is comprised of published and unpublished writings by Teriananda, as well as letters, reports, newspaper and magazine articles, group newsletters, flyers and announcements of political events, and news releases. The issues represented here, including support work for "The Longest Walk," the campaign for justice for Leonard Peltier, and the Big Mountain relocation are indicative of the concerns in parts of Indian country in the United States and elsewhere during these decades.
Arrangement:
The Teriananda papers are arranged into two series:
Series I: Writings (1978-1991)
Series II: Political Activities (undated; 1972-1996)
Biographical / Historical:
Teriananda was born in Manhattan in 1947, where she grew up and has continued to live throughout her adult life. Teriananda's father, born in Brooklyn, became a financial officer and independent scholar, her mother, born in British Guiana (now Guyana), was a classical pianist who immigrated to the United States and later became an editorial assistant, working part-time during Teriananda's childhood. Her parents instilled in Teriananda a belief that she was "a citizen of the world." She studied ballet as a youngster, and, as a teenager, immersed herself in the artistic and intellectual milieu of the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village. An improperly diagnosed back injury while she was a senior in high school resulted in severe back problems in the 1970s that have persisted throughout her life.
Teriananda became interested in indigenous struggles in the 1970s following a "back crisis" that almost took her life yet proved to be psychically transformative. In seeking to know who she was, she realized she needed to know where she was, and this led her to ask who the original inhabitants of the continent were. She soon became involved in activist struggles for indigenous rights, and worked with a number of Native American groups during the 1970s and 1980s, including, among other things, the International Treaty Council's attempts to found the U.N.'s permanent Working Group on Indigenous People, support for Yvonne Wanrow and Leonard Peltier, the issue of uranium contamination from mining on Native American land, and the problem of the Joint Land Use Area near Big Mountain on the Hopi and Navajo reservations.
Teriananda also worked on issues surrounding the AIDS crisis after the death of several friends from this disease. She had become familiar with the possibilities of natural medicines, partly through contact with traditional Native teachers, and she became active promoting the benefits of nutritional, herbal and other natural therapies to sufferers of AIDS. As Teriananda's own health issues persisted and worsened, she turned to Tibetan Buddhism, and has devoted herself to artistic pursuits influenced by this spiritual path, although she has worked artistically since the early 1970s, when she stopped dancing. Although she has cut back on her activism, due to health problems and family demands, Teriananda remains a committed political activist who stays informed of current issues and is determined to pass on the heritage of struggles for peace and justice to the next generation.
Provenance:
Donated to the National Museum of the American Indian Archives by Teriananda in March 2003
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 materials from the collection must be requested from the NMAI Archivist. The Archives has no information on the status of literary rights for the work of others found in these papers; researchers are responsible for determining any question of copyright.
Topic:
Indians of North America -- Civil rights Search this
Indians of North America -- Relocation Search this
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Teriananda papers, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Photographs relating to a Mexican natural history collection, including archeological, ethnographic, physical, entomological, ornithological, conchological, and paleontological collections. The photographs are mounted in an album entitled "Collections de Auguste Genin," where they are divided according to discipline and have accompanying typewritten descriptions by Genin. There are images of Huichol peoples; a diorite yoke from Jalapa; Aztec, Zapotec, Matlatlzinca, Huichol, and Tarahumara arms, tools, urns, vases, and idols; statuettes from Nayarit and statuettes of musicians and musical instruments; a wooden instrument from Hidalgo; ancient and modern musical instruments; terra cotta Spanish objects; coins and medals; skulls from Guerrero and the Valley of Mexico; a shell collection; and mastodon bones.
Biographical/Historical note:
Auguste Genin (1862-1931) was a a Franco-Mexican writer, poet, photographer, ethnologist. He was a resident of Mexico and director of the Mexican National Company of Dynamite and Explosives.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 86-25B
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Digital surrogates for most of the photographs can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4523, a duplicate album sent to the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at rinzlerarchives@si.edu or (202) 633-7322 for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright restrictions apply. Contact archives staff for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Moses and Frances Asch Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at rinzlerarchives@si.edu or (202) 633-7322 for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright restrictions apply. Contact archives staff for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Moses and Frances Asch Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Source material (section from Valentina Pavlovna Wasson's Mushrooms, Russia and History, published in 1957)
News clippings from This Week, 5/19/52 (photcopy) and "Seeking the Magic Mushroom" (photocopy) rehoused to OS07-08
Reference materials - "Mushrooms, Russia & History" rehoused to OS07-09
Collection Restrictions:
Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at rinzlerarchives@si.edu or (202) 633-7322 for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright restrictions apply. Contact archives staff for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Moses and Frances Asch Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Reproduction of a drawing by Miguel Covarrubias, after a 16th c. codex. The god wears a feather headdress and tail along with his costume. Translation of caption at bottom of card: "Smoking mirror / God of Providence." Bourbon Codice, Lam. 22. Unmailed card, no message, no postmark.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000005 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Reproduction of a color drawing by Miguel Covarrubias, after a 16th c. codex, depicting Tonatiuh, the God of the sun. He kneels on one leg, holds an eagle in the air with one hand, and a shield of some sort in the other. Translation of caption at bottom of postcard: "He who gives light / God of the Sun." Bourbon Codex, Lam. 6. Unmailed, no message, no postmark.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000001 (AC Scan)
General:
Maker unidentified.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Reproduction of a drawing by Miguel Covarrubias, after a 16th c. codex. depicting the god of song, dance and music. This figure appears to have the head of a coyote, the animal that represents this god. Translation of caption at bottom of card: "Old Coyote / God of the Song, Dance and Music." Bourbon Codice, Lam. 4. Unmailed card, no message, no postmark.
Arrangement:
In series 3, box 27, grouping Religion--Mexico (Aztec).
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000002 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Reproduction of a drawing by Miguel Covarrubias, made after a 16th c. codex, depicting a hummingbird god holding a serpent in one hand and a shield in the other, with a feather headdress. Translation of the caption at the bottom of the card: "God of the Aztecs and of War / Humming bird from the South." Codice Borbonico, Lam 34. Unmailed card, no message, no postmark.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000003 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Reproduction of a drawing by Miguel Covarrubias, after a 16th c. codex: a goddess wearing a headdress, a nose ring, and carrying two unidentified objects in her hands. She has a long, wide tail of jade, where images of tricksters are imprinted. Translation of caption at bottom of card: "She of the skirt of jades / Goddess of the waters." Unmailed card, no message, no postmark.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000004 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Genre/Form:
Postcards
Picture postcards -- 1900-1920
Collection Citation:
Victor A. Blenkle Postcard Collection, c. 1880-c. 1970, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution,
Reproduction of a drawing by Miguel Covarrubias, after a 16th c. codex, depicting Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god. He wears a feather headdress and costume with a long tail and carries unidentified objects in his hands. The caption and illustration indicate he is also a patron of farming and agriculture. Translation of caption at bottom of card: "God of the Rain / He who causes the rains and growth of vegetation." (Bourbon Codice. Lam. 7). Unmailed card, no message, no postmark.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000006 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Reproduction of a drawing by Miguel Covarrubias, after a 16th c. codex. Illustration of Quetzalcoatl wearing a headdress that resembles a bird, with a mask that includes a beak. He holds a serpent in one hand and an unidentified object in the other. Translation of caption at bottom of card: "The quetzal feather snake / God of the wind." (Bourbon Codice, Lam. 22).
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000007 (AC Scan)
General:
Maker unidentified.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Reproduction of a drawing by Miguel Covarrubias, after a 16th c. codex: an Aztec god wearing an elaborate feather headdress, holding a shield in one hand and an unidentifiable object in the other. Translation of caption at bottom of the postcard: "Our Lord Flayed / God of gold smiths." (Bourbon Codice, Lam. 14). Unmailed card, no message, no postmark.
Local Numbers:
AC0200-0000008 (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
