This collection contains 86 black-and-white negatives taken by Gregory Mason from 1916-1931. The images depict scenes of Belize, Guatemala, Colombia and Mexico, including Mexico City, Cozumel, Chichén Itzá and other sites in Quintana Roo. There are also video copies of Mason's original films shot in 1925-1928 in British Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.
Scope and Contents:
The Gregory Mason collection contains negatives made from 1916 to 1931 by Mason. The 1916 negatives depict the streets in and suburbs of Mérida, Mexico, and of people bundling fibers on a nearby plantation. The negatives dating from 1922 were made in Chichén Itzá. In 1928, Mason made negatives in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. The Belize negatives depict Mayan antiquities, various street scenes, and native peoples gathering leaves and chicle, spinning fiber, and canoeing; the Quintana Roo, Mexico, negatives depict Isla Cozumel and other Mayan sites; and the Guatemala negatives Quiriguá. The 1931 negatives made in Colombia primarily depict individuals from the Kogi, Ika, and Wayuu culture groups. Mason made some of these negatives on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
Gregory Mason also shot films between 1925 and 1928 in British Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. The original nitrate negatives of the films were sent to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation by Mason in the 1930s but were transfered to 1 inch videoreels in 1993.
Arrangement:
Arranged by negative number (N20447-N20532)
Biographical/Historical note:
Born in 1889, Gregory Mason was an American journalist with a keen interest in anthropology. Early in his career, he traveled widely as a reporter for the newspaper New York Evening Sun and the news magazine The Outlook. In 1926, he and Herbert Spinden led the Mason-Spinden expedition to explore Mayan ruins in Mexico. Funded in part by Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Mason led four additional expeditions to Central and South America. He wrote several books, including "Silver Cities of Yucatan" (1927), "Columbus Came Late" (1931), and "Remember the Maine" (1939). From 1941 to 1954, he was chairman of the Department of Journalism at New York University. Mason died in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1968.
Provenance:
Historically, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation managed all photographic and related manuscript collections separately. This collection description represents current management practices of organizing and contextualizing related archival materials.
Restrictions:
Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.
Rights:
Copyright: National Museum of the American Indian.
Genre/Form:
Black-and-white negatives
Citation:
Gregory Mason negatives, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).
This collection consists of 265 photographic slides and 1 audio cassette recording made by former Peace Corps volunteer G. Gage Skinner while living and traveling in Chile and Colombia in the 1960s-1970s. Images include portraits, landscapes, ceremonies, and daily village life. Audio recording includes songs, chants, and musical instruments.
Scope and Contents:
The G. Gage Skinner collection consists of 265 photographic slides and 1 audio cassette recording made by former Peace Corps volunteer G. Gage Skinner while living and traveling in Chile and Colombia in the 1960s-1970s. Series 1: Chile, 1964-1966, includes images of individual portraits, landscapes, ceremonies, and daily village life of the Mapuche peoples of what is now the Araucanía Region of Chile. Also part of Series 1 is an audio recording of songs, chants, and musical instruments from a 1965 Nguillatún fertility ceremony near Lumaco, Chile. Series 2: Colombia, 1972, includes images of landscapes and daily village life of the Ika (Ica/Arhuaco) and Kogi (Kagaba) peoples of the area near Donachui in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range of Colombia. Images include a particular focus on Ika (Ica/Arhuaco) dwellings and architecture, weaving, trade goods, and agriculture.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in two series. Series 1: Chile, 1964-1966 and Series 2: Colombia, 1972.
Biographical / Historical:
G. Gage Skinner is a former Peace Corps volunteer, having served in Chile, 1964-1966, and later in Colombia, 1969-1972. A student of cultural anthropology and a graduate of San Diego State University, Skinner has taught at the college level, and has published on a wide range of topics, including beekeeping, the fur trade, and the history of the American West.
Related Materials:
The Peace Corps Community Archives at American University in Washington, DC maintains a collection of manuscript materials donated by G. Gage Skinner documenting his Peace Corps service in Chile and Colombia. These materials include diaries, biographical information, training materials, and publications. In addition to material culture objects in the NMAI Object Collections donated by Skinner, there are also a large number of objects documenting Mapuche culture which he donated to the San Diego Museum of Man's ethnographic collections.
Separated Materials:
G. Gage Skinner also donated a number of material culture objects to the NMAI Object Collections, documenting the Mapuche, Ika (Ica/Arhuaco), and Kamsá (Sebondoy) peoples of Chile and Colombia. The object numbers are 27/0087 - 27/0089 and 27/0102 - 27/0108.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by G. Gage Skinner in 2017 and 2018.
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:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Typical foot trail leading into higher elevations towards the Kogi (Kagaba) people, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Symbolic gateway or formal entrance separating Ika (Ica/Arhuaco) territory from higher elevation Kogi (Kagaba) territory, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Kogi (Kagaba) dwellings, with gardens in foreground, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Kogi (Kagaba) dwellings, with gardens in foreground, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Kogi (Kagaba) dwelling, with dog in foreground and mountains in background, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Kogi (Kagaba) dwelling, with several bags (mochilas) hanging out front, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Kogi (Kagaba) dwelling, with dog in foreground and mountains in background, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Two Kogi (Kagaba) men, barefoot and in traditional dress with bags (mochilas), descending the trail to Donachui to trade with Ika (Ica/Arhuaco), Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Kogi (Kagaba) man, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Kogi (Kagaba) man, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
An animal skull placed as a marker or warning of sorts, at a high elevation about the Kogi (Kagaba) settlements in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Symbolic gateway or formal entrance separating Ika (Ica/Arhuaco) territory from higher elevation Kogi (Kagaba) territory, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Kogi (Kagaba) man in traditional clothing, near Donachui, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Landscape view of Ika (Ica/Arhuaco) dwellings in distance, leading out of Donachui into higher, Kogi (Kagaba) territory, near Donachui, Colombia.
Collection 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).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); G. Gage Skinner collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
