Collection contains approximately (5000) 35 mm color slides taken by Thomas Seligman, of Tuareg daily life, portraits, cultural festivals, markets, vernacular architecture, rock art and natural lanscapes taken during various trips to Algeria, Mali, and Niger from around 1979 to 2007. Also contains around 1,928 digital images taken by Artstor, Inc.
Biographical / Historical:
Thomas K. Seligman grew up in San Fransisco during the 1950s and attended Stanford University in the 1960s. He avoided being drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Vietnam War by joining the Peace Corps. He was sent to Liberia where he taught English at Cuttington University and helped manage the Africana Museum.
From 1991 to 2011, Seligman was the director of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University. He was also the founding curator of the Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, serving as the Deputy Direcotr for Operations and Planner (1989-1991), Deputy Director for Educationa and Exhibitions (1972-1988), and Curator (1971-1987). He has curated many exhibitions, including "Timbuktu to Capetown," (Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, 2009), "the Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World" (UCLA Fowler Museum, 2007), and "Enduring Splendor: Jewelry from India's Thar Desert" (UCLA Fowler Museum, 2017).
Seligman specializes in the arts and culture of the Tuareg people of the central Sahara, as well as Indian jewelers of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
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. Contact Archives staff for further information. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Photographs taken by Seligman between 1970 and 2004 primarily of West Africa, including Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Dogon, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Swaziland, Kenya, and Morocco. Additionally, there are some images of masquerades in Cote d'Ivoire and Togo, and scenes in Ghana and Great Zimbabwe. Images depict cultural landscapes, masquerades, masks, vernacular architecture, and the Dogon people.
Arrangement:
Images indexed by slide number.
Other Archival Materials:
ArtStor has made digital images of some of the slides from Mali (approximately 539 digital slides).
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.
Interviews conducted by Kathleen Berrin, Letitia Brown, Elayne Marquis, Stacy Schaefer and Thomas K. Seligman, 1982, in connection with the exhibition, "The Bay Area Collects: art from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas," held at the H. M. de Young Memorial Museum, July 3, 1982-October 3, 1982. Interviewees are: Margery Anneberg, Charles Campbell, Herschel Browning Chipp, Lawrence E. Dawson, Ruth and Marc Franklin, Melinda Young Frye, John and Monica Haley, Erle and Clyta Loran, Allen Maret, Robert Neuhaus, Bill Pearson, Al Stendahl and James Willis.
Other Title:
Tapes labelled: The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 7/81-12/81.
5 Film reels (90 minutes, color sound; Super8, 8mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1977
Scope and Contents:
Full film record shot in Papua New Guinea by anthropologist Thomas Seligman, of the Mount Hagen sing-sing as well as shorter segments of footage in Middle Sepik villages. Depicted at the sing-sing are several villages' chant and dance displays, mostly by men, as well as a smaller number of women's performances and a bamboo and guitar orchestra. The performances encompass a range of ornaments, dress, body paint colors and patterns, masks, and dancing, and several groups often perform at the same time. Villages represented include: Kambaramba, Timbunke, Mindimbit, Aibom, Yentche, Korogo, [Kukaku?], [Angrinan?], and the military band of Goroka. Western anthropologists and tourists are present. Other footage includes the Asaro (3z(Bmudmen(3y (Bof Kenitasara Village, as well as canoe carving and woodworking in Middle Sepik villages (at times accompanied by chanting and dancing). Second film reel records daily life in Middle Sepik villages. Filming locations include Mindimbit Village and a larger town (Mount Hagen?). Depicted are a wide range of everyday tasks including whittling and carving canoes; sculpting clay pots; a village ceremony involving two large crocodile figures manipulated by dancers using poles; and another large ceremony beginning at the foot of a large temple. Both ceremonies involve choreographed dance, ceremonial attire and face paint, and musical accompaniment. Final shots are of a Western family, presumably at a resort.
Local Numbers:
HSFA 2015.9.1
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Thomas Seligman films, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Full film record shot by anthropologist Thomas Seligman, recording a desert crossing from the Hoggar Mountains in Algeria to the Agadez region of Niger from October 5-14, 1988. Filming locations in Algeria include: Assekrem (plateau in the Hoggar mountains), Idles, Tazrouk, Wadi [Tamkress?], and the route to In Guezzam; filming locations in Niger include the desert north of Arlit and around Iferouane, as well as the villages of Timia and Azel. Footage is largely of the Tuareg people Seligman encountered on the route, filmed both from afar and from within villages; activities depicted include agricultural tasks, making tea, drawing water with animals and machinery, weaving, carving, and saddlemaking, as well as families posing for portraits in Azel. Also depicted are several stops along the desert crossing, including shots of mountains, rock formations, waterfalls, and general vistas. First hour of video is sound and the rest is silent. Second cassette records the Tuareg wedding of Mohamed Amoumoun and Hawa Moussia in Agadez, Niger, from 15-16 October 1988. Footage includes the greeting of guests and a performance by a children's choir; a reception and tea; the henna ceremony; dances of men, of women and men, and of camels; and a visit to the bride. Depicted are a wide variety of formal clothing, hairstyles, shoes, and jewelry (both Western and traditional), and a number of posed and candid portraits of attendees. Third video cassette records an interview with Saidi Oumba and Andi Ouhoulou (both Tuareg) as well as footage of daily social life. All segments shot in Agadez, Niger, October 18, 1988. (Note that footage of interview itself is silent with no subtitles; however, Oumba and Ouhoulou do model several variations of formal clothing and accessories, shot from close-up to long. Interview conducted by E. Warner with Abdilahi as translator.) Village footage is relaxed; particularly of note is the footage of Ouhoulou braiding hair among a relaxed group of women and girls, including braiding the hair of a woman accompanying Seligman. Fourth video cassette documents the Oumba family making silver in Agadez, Niger, October 1988. Footage is of the full silvermaking process, including firing raw materials, modeling, hammering, shaving and final detailing on products that include jewelry and figurines, with close-up shots on each step. Craftsmen are the men of the Oumba family, who talk amongst themselves as they work. Brief footage near end of woman working with embroidered fabric.
Local Numbers:
HSFA 2015.9.2
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Thomas Seligman films, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
5 Film reels (90 minutes, color sound; 1,600 feet; Super8, 8mm)
4 Video recordings (7 hours, color sound; VHS)
0.25 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Film reels
Video recordings
Sound films
Place:
Oceania
Papua New Guinea
Mount Hagen (Papua New Guinea)
Africa
Algeria
Niger
Date:
1977 and 1988
Scope and Contents:
Films shot by anthropologist Thomas Seligman in Papua New Guinea, Algeria, and Nigeria in 1977 and 1988.
Collection contains supplementary materials.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Provenance:
Received from Thomas Seligman in 2015.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Art of being Tuareg : Sahara nomads in a modern world / edited by Thomas K. Seligman and Kristyne Loughran ; with essays contributed by Edmond Bernus [and others]
