Images include domestic and ceremonial scenes of Navajo Indians. Ceremonies include Blessing Way Ceremony, Enemy Way Ceremony,and Hoop Ceremony.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of negatives and color slides made in Arizona by Hight from 1963 to 1964 while on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor. The materials depict Diné (Navajo) men and women preparing for and participating in ceremonies and Diné women caring for and preparing sheep for butcher. In addition, Hight apparently made two negatives from nineteenth-century prints by Timothy O'Sullivan that depict Diné women; these too are in the collection.
Arrangement note:
Negatives Arranged by negative number (N33156-N33191, N34851, N34855)
Slides Arranged by slide number (S03709-S03719, S03730-S03741)
Biographical/Historical note:
Born in Gallup, New Mexico, Hight worked during World War II as an illustrator and photographic coordinator for Convair in Ft. Worth, Texas. After the war, he and his wife returned to Gallup and opened a photography studio. Hight was a successful photographer and painted in his spare time. In 2007, he and his wife retired to Albuquerque. In the same year he received the MasterWorks Lifetime Achievement Award from MasterWorks of New Mexico, the sponsor of a prestigious annual New Mexico art show.
Provenance:
Historically, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation managed all photographic materials 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:
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.
Restricted: Cultural Sensitivity
Topic:
Navajo Indians -- Rites and ceremonies -- Photographs Search this
George Hight collection of negatives and slides, circa 1963-1964, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).
