Mary Slusser (1918-2017) was a prominent scholar of Nepalese art, architecture, and cultural history. This collection contains personal files, professional correspondence, research files, travel documents, and photographs. The research files relate to her study of specific subjects and contain mixed media. Photographic materials include prints, slides, negatives, contact sheets, and digital images on compact discs in both color and black and white. Most of the collections are related to her study of Nepal, though other countries are represented including Tibet, Laos, China, and Vietnam. Subjects include firsthand observations of objects and sites; notes on secondary sources; correspondence with fellow scholars; manuscript drafts; and records of her work on the gallery space, and guide to, the Patan Museum. The earliest materials date from 1951 during the beginning of her time living abroad alongside her husband, while both worked for the State Department. The materials continue through 2017, reflecting her dedicated scholarship and travel through the end of her life.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into five series:
• Series 1: Biographical Materials
• Series 2: Correspondence
• Series 3: Research Files
• Series 4: Travel Files
• Series 5: Photographic Materials
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. Mary Slusser (1918-2017) was born as Mary Shepherd in Welland, Ontario to George Percy and Ethel Mary Shepherd. Her family moved to Michigan the following year and Slusser became a naturalized US citizen in 1934. Slusser followed her sister, Dorothy Shepherd (1916-1992), to the University of Michigan, where Mary graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1942. During her studies at Michigan, she met Robert Slusser, whom she would marry in 1944. Slusser moved to New York City in 1942, again following the path of her sister, Dorothy, who had enrolled in graduate school at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. Slusser undertook some coursework at NYU as a part-time student. Slusser would eventually complete her graduate studies at Columbia University, earning a PhD in anthropology in 1950. She completed some of her coursework at Harvard University, while her husband studied at nearby Tufts University. Her dissertation was titled "Preliminary archeological studies of northern Central Chile."
Next, Slusser worked as a research analyst at the US State Department. Her husband also worked at the agency and spent much of his career completing foreign service appointments as an economist with USAID. Slusser accompanied her husband to his various overseas posts, beginning in 1954 in Vietnam. The Slussers would live and work abroad in Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Guinea, Nepal, and Tunisia. Slusser continued to work for the State Department as a field anthropologist. Mary received funding from the Smithsonian to acquire a small collection of Nepalese artifacts. She immediately took to learning about the art and culture of the region. She found a dearth of English-language information on the area and did her own field work and engaged with local scholars to fill in the gaps. She remained in Nepal for five years, contracted by the Smithsonian to write a guide to Nepal. Her research would lead to Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of Kathmandu Valley, a two-volume set of text and images, predominantly her own photographs, which was published in 1982.
Robert Slusser retired in 1980, and he and Mary permanently settled in Washington, DC. Her scholarly work took her to museums, first at the Museum of African Art as a curatorial assistant from 1975 to 1978, and then a post-doctoral fellowship at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in 1989. After her fellowship, Slusser was asked to remain at the museum as a research associate, an unpaid position she held for the rest of her career. Slusser continued to publish works on Nepalese art, including the 2010 book, The Antiquity of Nepalese Wood Carving: a Reassessment, co-authored with Paul Jett, a conservator at the museum. Slusser used carbon dating tests to show that many Nepalese wood sculptures were much older than originally thought. Slusser also contributed to the establishment of the Patan Museum in Nepal, which opened in 1997. She served as the museum's cultural advisor and curator and wrote the museum guide and many of the exhibition materials.
Slusser continued to travel to Nepal and other parts of central Asia well into her eighties, often visiting remote sites on foot with the aid of local guides. Slusser stayed active at home, continuing her research work despite declining eyesight and hearing. She died in 2017 at age 98.
Related Materials:
Mary Shepherd Slusser papers, circa 1950 – circa 1995, National Museum of National History, National Anthropolgical Archives, NAA.1983.0407
Dorothy Shepard Photographs, National Museum of Asian Art Archives, FSA.A2015.12
Russell Hamilton Postcard and Photograph Collection, National Museum of Asian Art Archives, FSA.A2001.13
Russell Hamilton postcards, between 1900-1909, National Museum of African Art, Eliot Elisophon Photographic Archives, EEPA.2003-001
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the National Museum of Asian Art's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
Full film record is a research film project that focuses primarily on the daily life activities of the inhabitants of the subsistence agricultural Jyapu village of Thecho in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The edited film "Jyapu: Industrious Productivity as Lifestyle" and "We Know How to do These Things" was produced from this footage.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; August l9, mid-day, Gai Jattra (an annual festival to both honor and aidthe souls of recently deceased relatives) processions coming through the courtyard filmed from the third floor window of the house where the filmmaker stayed. August 20, 1PM, Gai Jattra processions continued, and views of the courtyard in rain. August 20, 2 - 4PM views of the courtyard during and after rain; a group of exuberant boys playing and throwing sticks in the air. (worship) at the courtyard's Buddha (also called "chaittya")statue; they sprinkle water libations on it from brass pitchers, circle it and bow their foreheads to the small Buddhas carved into each of the four sides of the statue. Other women wait for water at the courtyard water tap; some women and girls at the tap wash containers, a girl with a brass offering plate puts a "tikka", or dot of sinduri (a fine red powder mixed to a paste with water and sometimes curd) on the foreheads of a few younger girls standing around.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-9
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; August 20, 4PM, girls play a toss game with fruit pits, and a baby is passed from arm to arm as they take turns playing; toddlers share food; an aunt disciplines her young nephew; several boys play a one-legged hopping game; and older children care for younger ones. August 20, after dark, a gathering in which men play drums, sing, and watch as one man masquerades as a female witch figure, or demoness, called "La-Khe", who makes gestures with obscene sexual connotations. This activity is part of Gai Jattra, an annual festival to both honor and aid the souls of recently deceased relatives. August 26, 3 to 4 PM, courtyard activities including 5 to 6 year old boys playing a jumping game, then wrestling and pushing. August 26, 4 to 5 PM, a girl cries when her mother leaves, her brother picks her up and he and a boy cousin play with her. Other courtyard scenes, including example of affection between men. starts to rain.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-10
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; August 27, 9AM, Chili peppers put out to dry in Tawnany Tole courtyard, children play and work.Older sister solves a dispute among toddlers over an ear of corn by giving her younger sister another ear. August 27, 11 - 12 AM, Scenes in courtyard of a young boy (a nursing toddler, youngest and probably the last child in a large family)with his mother, grandmother and sister, including what happens when he bites his mother. August 27, 3 - 5 PM, children playing in courtyard.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-11
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; Morning of August 28, women work together pounding wheat, and a girl pounds wheat with women. August 28, 4 PM on, courtyard activities, including breastfeeding of a crawling, almost walking age child, and interaction between brothers. A boy cries near the courtyard communal water tap, and his sister is unable to get him to come with her. Their older sister comes and solves the problem by giving him a piggy back ride. Later in the morning views of women and girls spreading rice out to dry on corn husk mats in the courtyard. When they discover insects on one mat they place large leaves on the grain to attract the insects, remove the leaves, pick off the insects, and bring the leaves back to the mat for more.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-12
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; August 29, 4 to 5 PM, a young boy is crying in the courtyard while his mother works nearby. The boy had been crying much of the day, his mother said because he wanted to nurse and her milk had run out. He is an only child of older parents. The boy crawled toward his mother, who finally came and picked him up, and sat down at the edge of the courtyard to feed him some roasted corn that she first chewed for him. Some shots of a mother and daughter in the courtyard until the roll of film runs out. August 30, 11 AM, a mother oils the skin of her son and daughter. They are seated under the Chaitya, or statue of Buddha, in the courtyard. This kind of oiling uses mustard seed oil pressed in Thecho, and is typically done after bathing.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-13
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; August 30, 3 to 5 PM, children playing in the Tawnany Tole courtyard. Older girls entertain themselves by walking with one girl's younger brother who is just learning to walk. A favorite activity of girls in their early teens is to entertain a crawling age baby. They talk about their siblings as "my little boy" and "your little girl" to each other. See camera log page 7, CR 40, for filmmaker's speculations about the engaging personalities of the children who have the benefit of older siblings who lavish this kind of attention on them. This footage includes a circle game and noisy group play, and ends with views of old men in the courtyard. August 31, 7 to 10 AM, courtyard early morning activities. Quiet vignettes show small fairly quiet groups of both children and adults before they go inside to eat the morning meal of rice. There is a shot of a bicycle belonging to a man named Bailal, son of the sister of the head of one of the better off households in the courtyard. Bailal and his wife occupy a poor back house off of the main house, presumably because his father, from another village, did not leave him any house or land. He holds a menial job in Kathmandu, and the bicycle is his means of transportation. Just before the shot of the bicycle was filmmed Bailal's cousin Godi, the only son of the head of the household, walked up to the bicycle, kicked it, and went inside his house and started yelling at someone outside, presumably Bailal. His yelling can be heard during l or 2 shots after the bicycle shot. Later film shows a group of children focusing around a pit openning activity. A girl in a gold color print dress had just done something to a little boy in the background to make him cry. Film shows a variety of touching and small interactions. September 1, more courtyard activities, a mother and girls in doorway pleasurably socializing, another mother, Tulushimaya, grooming one of her daughters in the open way house building in the center of the courtyard, children play with kites.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-14
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot in early September by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; several observations of children interacting with each other and with adults. A small girl remains near but apart from a group of girls, crying, possibly for her mother. Boys play with a corncob on a piece of string, one dangling it out of a window as the other bats at it; soy beans hang to dry off of adjacent rafters. An older woman podding soybeans allows a toddler of no relation to her to crawl into her lap as she works. The camera focuses on a boy about 6 years old entertaining his 2 year old sister to distract her from the piece of film he has hidden in his pocket. A mother nurses one child as she plays a game with an older daughter, pretending to "hit away" another young girl everytime the girl approaches them; they all smile. Another mother of a 2 month old takes her blouse off so that an older daughter can rub oil on her back; being rubbed with mustard oil is a daily ritual for both mothers and their newborns. These incidents characterize the high level of interaction among related as well as non-related members of this community.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-15
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: September 4, mid morning and late afternoon; A group of boys antagonize a 5 year old boy. He makes an angry gesture, common among adults, with the back of his hand, but does not actually strike anyone. See filmmaker's camera log for CR46 for more background on the interaction with this boy. September 5 late afternoon, September 6 mid-morning, and September 13, early and late morning: A father sits in a doorway with his children; several boys play a hand slapping game, one boy holds a hand out as another boy pats it several times with the palms of both hands; some girls play jump rope as some boys play a pitching game with stones. Boys and girls often play separately. People gather around the water tap to wait for the water to be turned on. Mustard seed that has been drying in the sun is put in a sack. As their mother spreads mustard seed to dry on a mat two young children tie leaves, with holes cut in them for their eyes, on their faces with twine, imitating a masked dancer, a man masquerading as a witch figure, they had seen the evening before. An older woman uses a traditional kitchen utensil to cut a type of leaf stalk that will be eaten with the morning meal. A courtyard mother nurses her only child, a walking age little girl.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-16
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: September 13, 2 - 4:30PM, CR49, everyday activities in the Tawnany Tole courtyard. A boy sits by himself, perhaps lonely, his mother had been there before and then left, the boy seems to pretend to fly a kite. Two women sit together on a mat de-husking cornstalks, which will later be braided into mats. An older man spreads grains out to dry on mats. A grandmother is dressed in white because her husband has died within the past year. Two young girls "build" something with handfuls of dirt they scoop up from the ground. A young girl imitates her mother winnowing grain, the mother tolerates the "help". Tow boys roll up and carry a heavy mat and another is seen taking care of his baby sister. September 14, CR 50, a girl thoroughly washes her feet and calves in a puddle. Two elderly women sit on a mat and pass a cigarette back and forth. Several boys play a common game of hopping with one leg, trying to bump into each other. On September 15, 8 to 9AM, CR 51, a non-local watch repairman is seen with a group of villagers gathered around him. A mother nursing her own son pokes at the genitals of the baby boy who has come up to sit beside her, this is perhaps to tease her own son. A father plays with his baby son. A toddler gets into corn drying in the courtyard.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-17
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: September 15, 4PM, CR52: a boy and girl play a sitting game with stones under the Buddha statue or Chaitya in the Tawnany Tole courtyard while the girl's two year old brother plays with water nearby. The girl lifts her brother out of the water, laughing. See filmmaker's daily log for description of festival preparations beginning this day. It was the first day of the festival called Indra Jattra in Nepali, though the filmmaker's "mother" referred to it as YenyaPhuni. Phuni means full moon. Special foods were cooked during the day, including roast meat and small bean cakes, everyone bathed and put on clean clothes, and in the evening there were household rituals and a sharing of ceremonial food among neighbors in the courtyard. September 16, late morning to mid-day, CR 53 and 54: preparation for and activity of a full moon Buddhist religious ceremony (Phuni Puja) in the Tawnany courtyard. Bamboo poles hold a mandop, or fringed white canopy abouve the courtyard's small stupa, or Buddha statue. Colorful paper ornaments are huyng from the canopy; rows of small shallow clay pots to hold oil and wicks, called dep, are placed in tiers in front of the statue. A Buddhist priest, or Gubaju, from the village of Baregaon, directs the preparations, leads the singing and chanting, and intructs the participants throughout the ceremony. During the preparations, filmed from the filmmaker's third floor window, the Gubaju sits on a mat with several men; between their palms they all roll clay into small conical shapes resembling the stupa and place them on a brass plate. A kailash, or brass vessel filled with water and flowers, symbolizing the universe, is placed on the ground before the statue. Eventually a spirit invoked in the worship activities will enter the vessel. Several kinds of rice are used to decorate the area around the statue. The priest decorates a plate holding flowers and some rice with red "holy powder", a fine dust, and then puts the plate in a small brick-lined depression in front of the Buddha. A boy helps the priest wrap pieces of string into circles; these will later be used by the participants in the ceremony, who will at appointed moments during the worship drape them around water and flower vessels. A sunkha, or large conch shell, one of eight auspicious symbols of the universe, is placed on a small iron tripod between the priest and the statue. Women are tending grains and chillies spread to dry on mats throughout the courtyard. Children of all ages play and watch the preparations for the ceremony. Many, both boys and girls, are holding or watching their younger siblings. A boy and girl get into an argument when the boy takes something from the girl and tries to stick it into the cloth wrapped around her waist, called a "janni". She slaps his arm and chases him, he pushes her, and they start to fight facing each other. At this point a young teenage girl and a woman with a baby rush in and laughingly separate them. The puja is nearly ready to begin. A boy reads from a prayer book as the oldest man in the courtyard, sitting next to the priest, and probably the man who has financed the ceremony, drips water slowly out of a smaller conch shell as the priest begins to recite prayers. The priest then gives the man some flower petals, which he shreds and places on the spot where he dripped the water; the priest rings a bell, a female symbol of mercy. A metal crown with a double trident embossed on its top sits in front of him, indicating that he is a tantric buddhist priest. When it starts to rain several women who have been watching the ceremony scatter to gather the grains they have had drying on mats. A woman gets her 7 - 8 year old son away from the puja and tells him to gather up the corn from a mat while she puts away grain from another mat. Someone brings umbrellas to the priest and the other men seated around the statue.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-18
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; July l, 7AM, groups of women planting rice in paddies and men using hoes to loosen the soil in adjacent fields west of courtyard Tawnany Tole; until 4 PM courtyard residents trading wheat for fruit with someone from outside of Thecho; scenes of courtyard activities such as women and girls grooming each other, children playing and infant care; peppers drying on mats are scattered throughout the courtyard; 4 to 5 PM outside a house sw of courtyard, villager interest in filmmaker and camera. July 16 10 AM and July 17 before 7AM, courtyard during and after rain, children playing, filmed from 3rd floor kitchen window of Nakali's house where filmmaker stayed.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-1
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: September 16, CR55, the latter part of a several hour Buddhist full-moon ceremony (the Phuni Puja during Yenya Phuni) in the Tawnany Tole courtyard. The ceremony continues outside in spite of a lasting but light rain. The several men and boys and the women who are participating sit in rows around all four sides of the courtyard's Buddha statue sharing umbrellas. The Gubaju, or Buddhist priest, wears a wide red sash diagonally across his left shoulder. The participants enclose grains of rice in their palms which they then hold vertically and close to their chests as the priest prays; when he rings a bell they chant and sing. They raise their hands in unison above their heads, lower their heads and then their hands. At the end of the song they toss the grains into the air and unfold their hands. Other villagers stand around and watch. One adolescent girl holds her 1 - 2 yr. old brother or nephew, their faces close together, subtly interacting. Then her mother teasingly play-hits her daughter's head, and the young boy imitates her, repeatedly hitting his sister/aunt, which she tolerates without protest. Phuni Puja lasted 1 -2 hours after filming stopped, and ended with the Gubaju giving tikas to all the participants. See filmmaker's daily log for a description of nighttime processions that took place in Thecho that evening, the night of the full moon. On September 17, CR 56, the morning following the Puja, some film shot in the third floor kitchen of the house next to where the filmmaker stayed. The family who lives there operates a drinking and gambling "shop" in their kitchen which attracts small numbers of local men many nights of the week.The mother is cooking while her youngest daughter, Cyrimaya, lies on the floor. Glass bottles used to store twon (rice beer) can be seen.Outside, children play in the courtyard way-house as the rain continues. Two boys wash and stack leaves left over from the ceremony the day before in the small brick lined square which encloses the image of the serpent deity or "Nag", in front of the Buddha statue. A group of 4 - 8 year old boys talk, tease and splash barefoot in courtyard puddles. Girls are crocheting in the wayhouse. Later as the sun comes out people sit near the Buddha statue. A girl continues to crochet. A mother calls to an older daughter and tells her to hurry somewhere, while she sits and enjoys playing with her young son. CR 57 continues in the late afternoon of Sept. 17. Three courtyard women work together cleaning mustard seed, winnowing it to let the debris fly out of it and letting the seeds accumulate in a large central pile.The cooperative work proceeds in a social atmosphere of talking, smiling, sharing a cigarette. The women's husbands bring them more sacks of mustard seeds, which are one of the agricultural specialties of Thecho, used to make the cooking oil used throughout the Kathmandu Valley. Thecho farmers use mustard oil for trading with other villages in the valley. Many women and children are in the courtyard at this time of day. A group of boys plays near the Buddha statue. A grandmother comes to remove a toddler who has begun to get into the seeds. Another crawling baby is tolerated by her mother, saying "be, be" meaning give, or move away, until she makes eye contact with the same grandmother, who comes to remove the child. More children are tolerated near the edge of the work area.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-19
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: September 18, late afternoon, children in the Tawnany Tole courtyard. Two young girls attempt unsuccessfully to pull a third lying on a mat, all are giggling. Mongolas, a 5 year old boy sometimes teased and antagonized by the other boys, is pushed around by them, but laughs as they do. He acts dead, or as if he is being killed, as one boy uses a stick to "saw" off his legs and then his neck. A young girl sits with her baby sister and the two of them share some kind of snack food, either beaten rice or roasted corn kernels. Some boys play with a tire, rolling it with a wire as they run around the courtyard, and an old man fills a burlap bag with red peppers that were drying in the sun. September 19, afternoon, in an uncommon display of anger a woman standing in a doorway yells and gestures toward someone in the courtyard way-house who is not in view. This immediately followed a boy from her family walking through the courtyard hurt and crying, and then going into his house. Three men, one with a baby, squat in another doorway. One man wears a shawl, typical dress for men in Nepal in cooler weather. The oldest man, the baby's grandfather, winds thread he has wrapped onto his foot, onto a stick. When the baby wanders over to him the baby's father calls for his younger sister to remove the baby. She does, in a very non-threatening way, and walks the baby across the courtyard and back. September 20, 7 AM, boys fly a paper kite near the shrine SW of the Tawnany Tole courtyard. Another boy washes a water buffalo in a large puddle. Several little girls pick saag (like spinach) from a garden. A woman returns from a field carrying a scythe, hoe, and drinking water vessel. Some views back toward the courtyard showing the houses of the SW side of Thecho.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-20
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; CR 61, September 20, late afternoon, a courtyard family works together in a field half way down the valley West of Techo towards the Naku River. Women from the family cultivate the field for a new vegetable crop (saag, or spinach) after the corn harvest. A man in the family spreads humus, probably brought from the courtyard edges or gutters, and another woman begins to broadcast seeds out of a basket. Later in the afternoon a boy slings the tarpani (a length of bamboo with baskets hung on either end) onto his shoulder; the baskets have been loaded with grass by his younger sister. The tarpani had been used earlier to carry compost down to the family fields. All of these activities demonstrate the reliance on cooperation in accomplishing necessary tasks. CR 62, September 21, mid morning, a group of about 15 women from Thecho work in a line hoeing a field about an hour's walk east of Thecho. They have been hired for 5 rupees a day by the fields' owners, Nepali-speaking people, either Brahmins or Chhetris, for three or four days of work. Final shots in this roll take place back in the Tawnany courtyard, including footage of a woman nursing her only son. When another baby comes near her she offers him her other breast, at which point her son covers it up with his hand. CR 63, September 23, mid-afternoon, shows other courtyard activities, including two boys "fighting" with dried cornstalks; a father sitting in his doorway de-licing his daughter, as a younger daughter wearing his cap toddles towards her grandmother; and boys playing in the courthard way-house.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-21
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; CR 73, October 3, early morning in the Tawnany Tole courtyard. Older girls with younger brothers on their backs check their crocheting together. A young girl sits near the courtyard statue of Buddha while other children climb on it and play a stone toss game. Children share. Younger girls watch an older girl crochet, while a courtyard man, Bailal, works of his bicycle in the background. Bailal has a menial job in Kathmandu. An older sister takes a piece of rope from her younger sister and brings it to the courtyard way-house, or pathi. A grandmother arranges her hair while her grandchild climbs on her lap. Tulushimaya's children look out on the courtyard from their doorway, one of the girls urinates into the courtyard gutter. A group of children leave the courtyard together, younger children on the backs of 7 - 8 year old girls, to do some work outside the courtyard. Four year old Nankumari sitts on a mat in the courtyard, smiles at the camera. Later she gets absorbed in working with a needle(?), while her older sister Mayle stands nearby with her baby brother on her back. Another older girl sits with her younger sibling who is looking at a piece of corn husk. Three boys wind up some rope in the way-house. A mother helps her son remove his shirt, then checks it for body lice. She dries her wet hair in the sun, her son brings her a flower, and then nurses, as others are spreading grains out on mats in the courtyard. CR 74, mid-dayon October 3, the widow Nakali, with whom the filmmaker stayed, beats some dried branches (from old chilli pepper plants?) in front of her house, while the children from next door, her great neices, watch and squabble with each other. The younger girl, Cyrimaya, has something that her older sister Nankumari takes. When Cyrimaya can't get it back she takes a coin from her pocket and conspicuously holds, drops and picks it up while Nakali works. Tulushimaya, mother of 6 daughters, no sons, puts silver barretts in her oldest daughter's hair, while a group of women, older girls and children sit in the courtyard way-house. Nakali sits outside her house, shooing chickens from grain spread on mats with a long stick, and talking with Cyrimaya and Nankumari. Three boys of different ages play. Two older girls who are relatives of Nakali, Baramaya and Gangamaya, tie up chilli branches and corn stalks. A cry goes out that it's raining "Wa walla" and everyone in the courtyard moves to get the grain off their mats. Cyrimaya and her mother, Gyanmaya put grain in a sack, then Cyrimaya plays with a winnowing basket, rolls up a mat, and imitates her mother while her mother works. A boy nearby hits and pushes a dog. CR 75, 6 - 7:30 AM, October 4, scenes around the courtyard water tap, which runs once in the morning and once in the evening each day. Boys dressed in school clothes wash their faces, a woman fills a water jar, a father comes out of his house and calls his daughters. A sister washes her younger brother's face, and they have to move to let water buffalos pass. Another girl sets a dish of flowers on a water jar while she washes her face. The oldest grandfather in the courtyard and some girls all perform morning devotions around the Buddha statue, offering water libations, flowers, touching their heads to each of 4 sides of the Buddha statue, circling clockwise 3 times, and marking themselves with red powder tikka marks on their foreheads. Other children come and remove the flowers from the statue. Children play in and near thecourtyard way-house as it starts to rain.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-25
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Film footage shot by Barbara Johnson among the Jyapu subcaste of the Newars of Tawnany Tole, Thecho village in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: October 9, 9 AM,CR 85, View of the large water tank (man-made pond) east of Tawnany Tole courtyard, and the main street through Thecho, filmed from the 4th story rooftop of a courtyard house. All the varied uses of the water tank can be seen: washing clothes and dishes, drawing water, bathing, shampooing, and swimming. This is the day before Mauni, (Durga Puja in Nepali) and everyone in the village bathes and puts on clean clothes before the festival. Women and children can be seen washing their hair with the hulls of already pressed mustard seeds. Some boys use soap to shampoo and then swim to rinse off. A deaf boy from the courtyard is among this group of boys. A 6 - 8 year old girl bathes and shampoos her younger sister, holding her upside down to rinse her hair in the tank. A mini-bus stops on the road that passes the tank to pick up passengers wishing to go in the direction of Chappa Gaon, the next village south of Thecho. CR 86 continues around mid-day October 9, showing women and children sitting on mats in the courtyard and talking while drying off after bathing. The women have not put their blouses on yet, and their young children nurse while they talk. Two boy cousins gently play-wrestle on the courtyard mats. One woman, named Yele because she comes from Yele, or Patan, scratches her son's head while her daughter nurses. Her son has an itchy and painful skin condition, and both her children are among the few in Thecho who seem malnourished. A man joins the group to socialize, as does his mother, both wearing white because they are mourning the death of their father/husband. CR 87 takes place the next day, showing how the beginning of Mauni was observed in Nakali's house, where the filmmaker stayed. Between 7:30 and 8:30 AM Nakali, with the help of an old woman neighbor, and the daughter of her neice, prepares the ritual objects, including a brass plate holding flowers, rice and other foods, circles of string, a bottle containing rice beer, or twon. Nakali markes a raw egg with red powder, places a coin on the plate. She lights a wick in a brass oil lamp, and then her teenage great-nephew who has come in to help her, confers with her about what to do and places some of the ritual items on a collection of the household knives and tools, asks Nakali if that's all he needs to do, if he should kill the chicken. She says yes, and he takes the chicken she has been fattenning up for weeks and after a couple of tries, cuts its head off. He spatters the blood over the tools, and then Nakali tells her great neice to take the chicken upstairs. The rest of the roll shows a group of courtyard people, some young men and a married man and his daughter, socializing in the third floor kitchen of the house next to Nakali, with Nakali's nephew Juguta and his family. Visiting and drinking are a primary occupation during festival days.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.1-29
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Full film record is a research project that focuses primarily on the household and agricultural subsistence activities among inhabitants of the Jyapu villages of Thecho and Thimi in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1986.13.2
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
