This collection reflects anthropologist Anne Chapman's studies of the Tolupan (Jicaque) of Honduras. The collection also contains her dissertation and the first two issues of the journal Anthropos.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains the professional papers of Anne Chapman, primarily documenting her ethnographic work among the Tolupan (Jicaque) in Montaña de la Flor, Honduras. Included are field notes with detailed indices; detailed genealogies; sound recordings; transcripts of some of the recordings; a map; photographs; and annotated photocopies of the photographs. The collection also contains her dissertation on the Jicaque, Paya, Sumu, Miskito and Matagalpa; copies of the journal Anthropos, which she helped published; and a computer disk that has not yet been examined.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into 7 series: 1) Genealogies; 2) Field Notes; 3) PhD Dissertation; 4) Anthropos Journal; 5) Sound Recordings; 6) Photographs; 7) Born Digital Records.
Biographical Note:
Anne MacKaye Chapman was born in 1922 in Los Angeles, California. She left for Mexico in 1940, enrolling at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (ENAH) in Mexico City. At the ENAH, Chapman studied with Paul Kirchhoff, Wigberto Jiménez Moreno, and Miguel Covarrubias. Inspired by the work of Covarrubias, Chapman and her colleagues published Anthropos, a journal combining art with articles on anthropology and politics. Only two editions were ever published, both in 1947, due to limited resources. Chapman conducted her first ethnographic fieldwork as a student among Mayan communities in Chiapas, Mexico --first, among the Tzeltales under Sol Tax, and later among the Tzoziles under Alfonso Villa Rojas. She eventually earned her Master's degree in Anthropology in 1951 from the ENAH; her Master's thesis, entitled La Guerra de los Aztecas contra los Tepanecas, used Clausewitz's theories on war to analyze the defeat of the Tepanecas by the Aztecs to gain their independence in the early 15th century.
Chapman returned to the U.S. in the 1950s, earning her PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University in New York City in 1958. Her dissertation was entitled An Historical Analysis of the Tropical Forest Tribes on the Southern Border of Mesoamerica. While at Columbia, she studied with Conrad Arensberg and worked as an assistant to Karl Polanyi from 1953-55. Another professor, William Duncan Strong, introduced her to the Tolupan (Jicaque) of Honduras. After being awarded funds by the Fulbright Foundation and the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM), Chapman began her fieldwork in 1955 among the Tolupan in Montaña de la Flor, Honduras. She would return for a period of several months every year through 1960 for her research, but maintained her relationship with the community for the rest of her life. During her fieldwork, Chapman primarily worked with Alfonso Martinez. Through him, Chapman was able to make a study of Tolupan oral tradition and social organization, as well as to elaborate detailed genealogies of the community. Her research eventually resulted in a book, Les Enfants de la Mort: Univers Mythique des Indiens Tolupan (Jicaque), published in 1978; a revised English text was published in 1992 under the title Master of Animals: Oral tradition of the Tolupan Indians, Honduras. Alfonso Martinez died of measles in 1969.
Chapman also conducted ethnographic research among the Lenca of Honduras, starting in 1965-66, and continuing through the 1980s. Her work followed up on analysis by Kirchhoff on "cultural areas," particularly Mesoamerica. She sought to address a doubt raised by Kirchhoff about whether the Lenca should be considered a Mesoamerican group, ultimately resolving the question in the affirmative in an article entitled "Los Lencas de Honduras en el siglo XVI," published in 1978. In addition, in 1985-86 she published a two-volume study of Lenca rituals and tradition titled Los Hijos del Copal y la Candela.
In 1964, Chapman was invited to join the team of archaeologist Annette Laming-Emperaire on a project in Tierra del Fuego. Although not an archaeologist by training, Chapman accepted for the opportunity to meet Lola Kiepja, one of the last few living Selk'nam (Ona) of Tierra del Fuego. After finishing the archaeology project, Chapman met with Lola and recorded her speaking and singing in Selk'nam, as well as her memories of life as a Selk'nam. Although Lola passed away in 1966, Chapman was able to continue working with the remaining Selk'nam in Tierra del Fuego. In 1976, she co-produced a film about the Selk'nam along with Ana Montes, The Onas: Life and Death in Tierra del Fuego. In 1985, she expanded her fieldwork to include the remaining Yahgans in Tierra del Fuego, Chile.
In 1961, Chapman became a member of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, working under Claude Lévi-Strauss until 1969, and eventually retiring from the center in 1987. During her long career as an ethnographer, she was associated with various other research centers in Europe and the Americas, including: the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, France; the Research Institute for the Study of Man in New York City; the Instituto Hondureño de Antropología in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Towards the end of her life, Chapman resided primarily in Buenos Aires, working and writing there. Chapman passed away at age 88 on June 12, 2010 in a Paris hospital.
Sources Consulted
Chapman, Anne MacKaye. 2005. A Genealogy of my Professors and Informants. Accessed on January 13, 2014 at: http://www.thereedfoundation.org/rism/chapman/articles.htm.
Chapman, Anne MacKaye. [Accession File]. National Anthropological Archive, Smithsonian Institution
Gonzalez Montes, Ana. 2010. La mujer que habló con los últimos onas. Pagina 12, June 17. Accessed on January 13, 2014 at http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/sociedad/3-147733-2010-06-17.html.
Nash, June. 2010. In Memoriam: Anne MacKaye Chapman. Anthropology News 51(7): 41.
1922 -- Born in Los Angeles, California
1947 -- Co-publishes Anthropos journal with other students in Mexico City
1951 -- Earns Master's degree from the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (ENAH) in Mexico City
1953-1955 -- Works as an assistant for Karl Polanyi at Columbia University
1955 -- Begins Tolupan (Jicaque) fieldwork in Montaña de la Flor, Honduras
1958 -- Earns PhD from Columbia University
1961 -- Member of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France Associate of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, France
1964 -- Begins works with the Selk'nam (Ona) of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
1965 -- Begins fieldwork with the Lenca in Intibuca, Honduras
1967 -- Receives Doctorate from the University of Paris, Sorbonne
1968 -- Fellow, Research Institute for the Study of Man in New York City
1979 -- Associate, Instituto Hondureño de Antropología in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
1981 -- Receives Doctorate from the University of Paris, René-Déscartes
1985 -- Begins fieldwork among the remaining Yahgans of Tierra del Fuego, Chile
1986 -- Associate, Instituto Nacional de Antropología in Buenos Aires, Argentina
1987 -- Retires from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
2010 -- Passes away on June 12 at the age of 88
Related Materials:
Other materials relating to Anne Chapman at the National Anthropological Archives include three photographs of Lola Kiepja, a Selk'nam woman from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, located within Photo Lot 97 Division of Ethnography photo collection. The National Museum of Natural History also has seven pre-Columbian objects in its collection donated by Chapman from Intibuca, Honduras (Accession 284737), including projectile points, a core, a blade/scraper, and a metate-maker. In addition, the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections has two phonograph records of Chapman's Selk'nam (Ona) chants of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina within its Folkways Records Collection, 1948-1986.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Anne Chapman in 1996 and 1997.
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Anne Chapman retained the publishing rights to her Tolupan materials. These rights were passed on to her executor after her death.
Includes a photostat of a catalog of baskets, pots, and other artifacts by Herbert Spinden; Xerox copies of letters in a notebook regarding the collection of artifacts for the Post collection; two newclippings about Marjorie Merriweather Post, and a typescript of Fr. Juan Alberti's "How the Ona Squaws of Tierra del Fuego Made Little Baskets." The photograph is of a painting by Kathryn W. Leighton of Iron-eyes Cody entitled "Cherokee Dancer."
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 7278
Genre/Form:
Articles
Catalogs
Letters
Clippings
Citation:
Manuscript 7278, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
This collection includes 10 copy negatives of E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego in Argentina made between 1900 and 1910. Bridges was the son of an Anglican missionary and grew up among the Selk'nam (Ona) indigenous people at the southernmost tip of South America. Bridges published The Uttermost Part of the Earth in 1949 documenting his family's experiences in Tierra del Fuego.
Scope and Contents:
This collection includes 10 copy negatives of E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego in Argentina made between 1900 and 1910. The majority of the images are of a Selk'nam (Ona) Hain, or Initiation ceremony. These images have been restricted. The remainder of the photographs include portraits of Selk'nam (Ona) men and women on Isla Grande de Terra del Fuego in Argentina. This includes portraits of Kautempklh and Paloa, Halah and his family, Te-al and Ishtohn, and an unidentified group. Many of these photographs were included in the 1949 book The Uttermost Part of the Earth written by E. Lucas Bridges. The book documents his family's experiences in Tierra del Fuego at the turn of the 20th century.
The copy negatives were made by photographing a set of Lucas Bridges prints. It's unclear whether this was done prior to the donation (by Bridges) or by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
N20227-N20036
Arrangement:
Arranged by catalog number.
Biographical / Historical:
Esteban Lucas Bridges, 1874-1949, was born to Anglican missionary father Reverend Thomas Bridges and mother Mary Ann Bridges in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Although his father resigned his missionary position in 1886, the family remained in Tierra del Fuego and built the Estancia Harberton on the coast of the Beagle Channel. From 1898 through 1914, Bridges, along with his brothers, opened new trails and visited frequently with the indigenous peoples of the region, often providing shelter from white settlers on their estancias. Many European colonizers between the 1870s and 1930 actively and knowingly decimated the Selk'nam population in the quest for gold and land. Although Lucas Bridges did much to try to help the local communities, by 1930 the Selk'nam community was reduced to about 100 members.
During World War I, Bridges went to England to enlist in the army. He married Janette McLeod Jardine in 1917 and following the war the couple moved to South Africa where they developed a ranch. Bridges returned to Argentina shortly before his death in 1949.
Provenance:
Gift of E. Lucas Bridges, 1932.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
View of a Selk'nam (Ona) Hain or Initiation Ceremony, showing a group of nude men with body painting crouched down next to an initiation lodge, in a cleared area, with woods in the background in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Per E. Lucas Bridges: "Ona boys take part in the Frog Dance."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Outdoor portrait of an unidentified Selk'nam (Ona) man, woman holding infant, and a young girl wrapped in guanaco hide robes, seated amongst trees; he is holding a bow in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
View of a Selk'nam (Ona) Hain or Initiation Ceremony, showing a group of nude men with striped body painting lined up next to an initiation lodge, in a cleared area, with woods in the background in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Per E. Lucas Bridges: "The Snake Dance. The ceremonial advance from the woods to the Hain, which is to be seen on the left. The leader (in the gochilh) is Doihei, elder son of Aneki. Next in line is Chorche, with K'Wamen, the recently initiated novice, beside him. The seventh from the left is Kankoat, the tenth is Metet, the younger son of Aneki, and the twelfth is Ahnikan."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
View of a Selk'nam (Ona) Hain or Initiation Ceremony, showing a group of nude men with striped body painting lined up next to an initiation lodge, in a cleared area, with woods in the background in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. See E. Lucas Bridges comment on N20228.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
View of a Selk'nam (Ona) Hain or Initiation Ceremony, showing two nude men with body painting gesturing, while another man stands behind, wrapped in a guanaco hide. They are posed in a cleared area, with woods in the background in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Per E. Lucas Bridges: "Koiyot, my adopted uncle, and Doihei show their hatred by making faces at the women, who are seated in a group nearly a quarter a mile away. I am sorry that Pahchik, master of ceremonies at the time, is wearing a cloth cap instead of his goochilh."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
View of a Selk'nam (Ona) Hain or Initiation Ceremony, showing men at entrance to initiation lodge. One man is nude and has extensive body painting; other men are wrapped in a guanaco hides in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Per E. Lucas Bridges: "Ahnikin impersonates 'Short.' On the left is Puppup. Halimink and Minkiyolh stand side by side, and on the right is Hatah, a good-looking young man who was one of Ahnikin's three companions...the encampment is in the distant woods behind."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
View of a Selk'nam (Ona) Hain or Initiation Ceremony, showing two nude men lying prostrate on the ground next to the initiation lodge. They are in a cleared area, with woods in the background in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Per E. Lucas Bridges: "Ona men shamming dead."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Outdoor portrait of two Selk'nam (Ona) men wrapped in guanaco hide robes, seated in underbrush, wearing conical hats, and holding bows in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Per E.L. Bridges: "Kautempklh and Paloa, northern men. The valiant Kantempkh (sic) fingers his chin, a gesture peculiar to him when deep in thought."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Outdoor portrait of a Selk'nam (Ona) man, woman and children wrapped in guanaco hide robes, seated in underbrush; he is holding a bow in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Per E.L. Bridges: "Halah of the northern group with his wife and children."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Outdoor portrait of a Selk'nam (Ona) man and woman wrapped in guanaco hide robes, seated in underbrush; he is holding a bow and is wearing a conical hide hat in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Per E.L. Bridges: "(left) Te-al...with her husband, Ishtohn (Thick Thighs)."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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). Some images restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives 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); E. Lucas Bridges photographs from Tierra del Fuego, image #, NMAI.AC.144. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
The S.K. Lothrop collection primarily contains negatives, photographic prints, and lantern slides made by Lothrop while employed by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. Lothrop traveled on behalf of the Museum to New Mexico, Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru. The four New Mexico negatives in this collection date from 1915, before Lothrop worked for the Museum, and depict scenes around Zuni. During his 1924 trip to El Salvador, Lothrop photographed volcanos, archaeological sites, antiquities, the landscape, villages, and native peoples engaged in pottery and rope making, food preparation, house building, and ceremonial activities. The 1925 views particularly concentrate on Argentina (but also Chile and Peru). The Argentina materials include views made in the Tierra del Fuego (also part of Chile), including depictions of the daily lives and ceremonial activities of natives peoples of Tierra del Fuego--Selk'nam (Ona) and Yámana (Yagán/Yahgan); the Patagonia landscape; and excavations undertaken by the Museum's La Plata Expedition. The 1928 Guatemala views include depictions of Mayan ruins of Zaculeu and of Tz'utuhil Maya (Tzutuhil/Zutigil), Quiché Maya (Quiche), and Kaqchikel Maya (Cakchiquel) people engaged in weaving, rope making, canoeing, and ceremonial actitivies. The collection also contains photographs made by Lothrop before he worked for the Museum, including 1915 views of effigy mounds in Wisconsin and views at Hopi, Acoma, and Santa Clara; 1917 views of Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica, and El Salvador; and 1918 views of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Nicaragua.
Samuel Kirkland Lothrop was an archaeologist and photographer who extensively traveled and worked throughout Central America and South America. George Gustav Heye originally hired Lothrop to research native Guatemalan and El Salvadoran textiles and pottery. He subsequently excavated on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian in such places as the Tierra del Fuego. Here he photographed indigenous communities who would not survive the twentieth century as a distinct culture group. In 1923, he also photographed the activities of the Hendricks-Hodge Hawikku Expedition excavations. In addition to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, the Peabody Museum and the Carnegie Institute sponsored his research and archaeological work.
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
Topic:
Indians of Central America -- Guatemala -- Photographs Search this
Indians of Central America -- El Salvador -- Photographs Search this
Fuegians -- Social life and customs -- Photographs Search this
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Argentina -- Photographs Search this
Genre/Form:
Lantern slides
Photographs
Negatives
Photographic prints
Citation:
S. K. Lothrop collection of negatives, photographs and lantern slides, 1915-1928, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).
