600 Prints (circa, silver gelatin and contact prints (including stereographic images))
325 Negatives (circa)
3 Maps
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Color prints
Sketches
Prints
Negatives
Maps
Drawings
Photographs
Place:
Horry County (S.C.) -- Antiquities
Virginia -- Antiquities
Maryland -- Antiquities
Glynn County (Ga.) -- Antiquities
Florida -- Antiquities
Washington (D.C.) -- Antiquities
Sussex County (Del.) -- Antiquities
Date:
circa 1930-1960
Scope and Contents note:
The collection includes photographs of excavations and artifacts relating to Stearns' archeological work in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. There are also some sketches of artifacts and excavation sites, as well as notes on pictured artifacts. One photo album relates to Stearns' work in Florida, while the other contains photographs of various sites in Maryland, including Conowingo.
The collection relates to work in Sussex County in Delaware; the District of Columbia; Bay, Collier, Flagler, Franklin, St. Johnʹs, St. Lucie, and Volusia counties in Florida, Glynn County in Georgia; Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Queen Anneʹs, and St. Maryʹs counties in Maryland; Horry County in South Carolina; and Loudon and Page counties in Virginia.
Biographical/Historical note:
Richard E. Stearns (1902-1969) was a commercial photographer and amateur archeologist of Maryland's prehistory. He was known for his photographic documentation, particularly of sites and specimens, most notably at Conowingo, a large village site on the Susquehanna River. In the 1930s, he became a curator for the Department of Archeology of the Natural History Society of Maryland, a position he held for over thirty years. In the 1940s, Stearns published Nicholas Yinger's investigations of the Hughes site, as well as his own investigations of sites in Maryland.
The National Museum of Natural History's Department of Anthropology holds artifacts donated by Stearns, in accessions 163264, 176236, 182055, 183968, 186144, 188274, 200211, 202602, 247561, and 308221.
Additional photos by Stearns can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4524.
The material consists mostly of photographic prints. A few negatives, photomechanical prints, tintypes, drawings, newspaper clippings, notes, and letters are also included. Much of the material is annotated. In part, the file was assembled for or relates to many accessions and cataloging units of the division.
The material was received from professionals and amateurs, mostly working in North America. The images are of artifactual and skeletal specimens, fradulent specimens, collections of specimens, sites, excavations, site features, ruins, petroglyphs, and field parties. A few are reproductions of maps and portraits of native people. Some of the specimens are in the Smithsonianʹs collections, but many are not.
Included among the many subjects are photographs of Dighton Rock in Massachusetts; many ruins of the 1931 Moundville, Alabama, excavation; Tlingit burial boxes; excavations, specimens, and Aleut portraits taken by Waldemar I. Jochelsonʹs Ethnological Section of the Riaboushinsky Expedition, 1909-1912; Richard Wetherillʹs party in Mancos Canyon, Colorado, and F. S. Hempsteadʹs Archaeological and Topographic Map of Portsmouth," [Ohio].
Some of the material relates to the work of Charles L. Bernheimer in Utah, Burnham S. Colburn in Georgia and North Carolina, Thomas Featherstonehaugh in Florida, Otto William Geist in Alaska, A. T. Hill in Nebraska, Walter Hough in Arizona (for the Gates-United States National Museum Expedition, 1901), George Langford in Illinois, Henry Montgomery in North Dakota, Clarence B. Moore in Florida, Henri F. Pittier in Costa Rica, and F. B. Stebbins in Tennessee. Collections are those of Charles Artes (filed Indiana), Thomas Beckwith (filed Missouri), C. W. Branch (filed West Indies), Burham S. Colburn Cherokee relics (filed North Carolina), James Pillars (filed Ohio), Governor Price (frauds from New Mexico), Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis (filed Ohio).
The material is from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas Utah, Virginia, Washington, Costa Rica, British Columbia, Canada, New Zealand, Nova Scotia, South Pacific, and West Indies.
The works of many photographers are included. Among them are John K. Hillers, William Henry Jackson, Sumner W. Matteson, Edgar A. Mearns, Victor Mindeleff, and Timothy H. OʹSullivan.
Photographs relating to or made during Setzler's archaeological work. Images depict surveys and excavations, artifacts and burials, archaeological crew members, and other individuals. They document work in Ohio (including the original Hopewell site on Paint Creek, Turner site, Newark site, High Bank Works, Tremper Mound, Seip Mound, Turner Group, Miamisburg Mound, Serpent Mound, and the Madisonville site), Wisconsin (including the Schwert group, Nicholls mound, and Trempealeau group), Louisiana (including the Marksville works and sites at Saline Point, Johnson place, and West Carroll, Madison, and Union parishes), Arkansas (including the Foster Place site). Some photographs portray the excavation of an Indian canoe on Cumberland Island in Georgia, and a body found in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. Photographs of views in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida relate to the work of the De Soto Commission. Photographs from the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition largely relate to Yirrkala, Milingimbi, Oenpelli (Gunbalanya), and Groote Eylandt, and include travel scenes, dances, and the preparation of face masks and bark for drawing. Some lantern slides are associated with a lecture at the Smithsonian Institution, while others depict Latin American ruins and artifacts from Jalapa, Palenque, Uxmal, Chichén Ítza, Xochicalco, and Cuzco that once belonged to William Henry Holmes.
Setzler annotated many of the negative enclosures with image information. Photocopies of the enclosures are available in the collection, as well as one box of empty original enclosures. Also in the collection is an index card bibliography on Australia, and an index card catalog of individuals from Groote Eylandt.
Biographical/Historical note:
Frank Maryl Setzler (1902-1975) was an archaeologist with the United States National Museum who served as Head Curator in the Department of Anthropology from 1937 until his retirement in 1960. Setzler specialized in the archeology of the midwestern states, especially the Hopewell mounds, and was also interested in the southeastern states. During his career, he conducted fieldwork throughout the United States, and in 1948 was the deputy leader for the Australian-American Arnhem Land Expedition sponsored by the Smithsonian, the National Geographic Society, and the Australian government.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 36
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds the Frank Maryl Setzler papers.
Artifacts collected during the Arnhem Land expedition are held in the anthropology collections of the National Museum of Natural History in accession 178294.
The National Geographic Society holds motion picture film from the Arnhem Land Expedition.
The National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection holds some of Setzler's papers relating to the Arnhem Land Expedition (Frank Maryl Setzler - Records, 1948-1973, MS 5230).
Restrictions:
Original nitrate negatives are in special storage and require advance notice to view.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Lantern slides
Citation:
Photo Lot 36, Frank Maryl Setzler photographs, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Archives Center, National Museum of American History Search this
Container:
Box 9
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
undated
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Archives Center Postcard Collection, twentieth century, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Archeology at Last End Point: The Testing and Evaluation of Three Shell Midden Sites (38Bu66, 38Bu166, and 38Bu167) at the Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge
The Human Occupation Along the Steel Creek Floodplain: Results of an Intensive Archeological Survey for the L Area Reactivation Project, Savannah River Plant, Barnwell County, South Carolina
