The photographs document African businesses, cities, industry, landscapes, peoples and resources. The collection documents various locations within Kenya, Tanzania, Congo (Democratic Republic of), Zimbabwe, Uganda and South Africa. Peoples represented include Kikuyu, Maasai, Bangi, Chagga, Ndombe, Poto, Bangala, Zulu, and Kongo peoples. There are many images of agriculture, hunting, making pottery, mining diamonds and gold, church services at a Catholic mission, a gathering of chiefs at a court, a lion-killing ceremony, and war dances. Businesses and industries shown include coffee plantations; the DeBeers Diamond Mine; a diamond mine compound and crushing mill; fishing boats; a hemp plantation; ivory trade; a market; and the stock market.
Scope and Contents:
The photographs document African businesses, cities, industry, landscapes, peoples and resources. Place documented include Moshi Province, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru, the Serengeti Plain (Kenya), and Zanzibar in German East Africa (now Tanzania); Victoria Falls and the Zambezi River in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe); Cape Town, Devil's Peak, Johannesburg, Kimberly, Natal Province, and Port Elizabeth in South Africa; the waterfront of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Soko, Boma, Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), and Stanley Falls (now Boyoma Falls). There are also photographs of the Nile during a flood.
People portrayed include a Kikuyu man paying brideprice for a wife; Kikuyu women carrying water vessels and planting beans; Maasai women building houses; Swahili people dancing; Swahili women using a power figure to ward off evil; and Zulu men training for war. Other peoples portrayed include Bangala, Bangi, Chagga, Kongo, Ndombe and Poto.
Activities documented include buying ivory, carrying rubber, clearing the ground for a coffee plantation, fishing, gambling, grinding corn, hunting zebra, making pottery, mining diamonds and gold, peeling bark for bark cloth, picking coffee, preparing food, smoking meat, threshing beans, and tying house poles. There are also images of church services at a Catholic mission, a gathering of chiefs at a court, a lion-killing ceremony, and war dances.
Businesses and industries shown include coffee plantations in Rhodesia; the DeBeers Diamond Mine in South Africa; a diamond mine compound and crushing mill; fishing boats off Cape Town; a hemp plantation in Uganda; ivory trade in Mombasa, Kenya; a market; and the stock market in Johannesburg.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1882 the Underwood and Underwood Company began operations in Kansas. Founded by brothers Bert Elias (1862-1943) and Elmer (1860-1947) Underwood, the company pioneered the technique of selling stereographs door-to-door. By 1884, Underwood and Underwood's operations had expanded to the West Coast, and the company soon opened offices throughout the world. In the 1890s, the firm began selling images to publications such as Illustrated London News and Harper's Weekly. At its peak in the early 19th century, the company produced 25,000 images per day.
In the late 1910s, Underwood and Underwood was purchased by a competing stereograph company, the Keystone View Company.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Photographs taken and lantern slides collected by Andrew and Martha Ruch to document their experiences as missionaries in Africa during the 1920s. The photographs document Andrew and Martha Ruch's missionary work and their activities among the Kikuyu people. Places shown include Cairo, Egypt; the Mediterranean Sea; a beach in Mombasa, Kenya; Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania; Port Said, Egypt and the Suez Canal. Activities depicted include building houses, carrying loads such as grass (for thatching), luggage, water and wood; cooking; drying skins; grinding millet; pounding sugar cane and selling items from boats to ship passagers. Ceremonies included are baptisms and church ceremonies. Portraits of people include Christian converts; chiefs, children; families; Muhia, Ruchs' assistant; the Ruches; and warriors. Many of the portraits document African clothing, ornaments, scarification and weapons. Architectural images include building materials, grain bins, houses (including Ruch's home), mosques, museums in Cairo, pyramids, railroads, temples in Egypt and villages. Boats, motorcycles and ships are also pictured. Nature scenes of landscapes and animals vary greatly and include mountains, trails, rivers, vegetation, waterfalls as well as birds, camels, cattle, donkeys, lizards and a lion.
Arrangement note:
Images indexed by negative number.
Biographical/Historical note:
Andrew H. Ruch, 1899-1966, missionary and pastor; graduate of the Moody Bible Institute, 1921, received ThD from Webster University, 1930. Martha W. Ruch, 1898-1989, wife of Andrew Ruch, graduate of the Moody Bible Institute, 1922.After Martha Ruch graduated from Moody in 1922, they married and left for Africa. They set up a mission in a Kikuyu Reserve in Ruiru, Kenya, and worked there until 1925, when they returned to the United States. Andrew Ruch spent most of his life as a pastor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Genre/Form:
Lantern slides
Black-and-white photographs
Photographic prints
Identifier:
EEPA.1991-013
Archival Repository:
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
M. Marvin Breckinridge Patterson collection, EEPA 1985-009, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
M. Marvin Breckinridge Patterson collection, EEPA 1985-009, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Photographs taken by Dr. Christraud M. Geary during a research trip to Kenya and Tanzania in August 1994.
Scope and Contents:
The collection is comprised of photographs from one trip Geary took to Kenya and Tanzania between August 1-13, 1994. In Kenya, she visited Lamu, Manda Island, Shela, Mombasa, and Nairobi. She also traveled to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar in Tanzania. Subjects include: artists working at the Tingatinga Arts Co-operative Society in Dar es Salaam; museums, including the Lamu Museum, the Fort Jesus Museum, and the National Museum of Kenya; ruins of the ancient town of Takwa; the Sultan's Palace (Bait As-Sahel); Tropicana Studio and Capital Art Studio in Zanzibar; Jozani Forest on Changuu Island; and the ruins of Marahubi Palace. A few of the photographs depict anthropologist Doran Ross.
Arrangement note:
Arranged chronologically and by location into seven subseries.
Subseries 1.1: Lamu, Kenya, 1994 August 1-2
Subseries 1.2: Manda Island, Kenya, 1994 August 2
Subseries 1.3: Shela, Kenya, 1994 August 2
Subseries 1.4: Mombasa, Kenya, 1994 August 3-4
Subseries 1.5: Zanzibar, Tanzania, 1994 August 5-8
Subseries 1.6: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 1994 August 9-10
Subseries 1.7: Nairobi, Kenya, 1994 August 11,13
Biographical/Historical note:
Christraud M. Geary (1946-) was formally a curator of the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at the National Museum of African Art. She received a PhD in cultural anthropology and African studies from the University of Frankfurt, Germany, in 1973. Geary specializes in the history of photography in Africa and in the study of African art.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Genre/Form:
Color slides
Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Christraud M. Geary photographs of East Africa, EEPA 1994-008, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution