These records document the governance and programmatic activities of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (MAI) from its inception in 1904 until its sublimation by the Smithsonian Institution in 1990. The types of materials present in this collection include personal and institutional correspondence, individual subject files, minutes and annual reports, financial ledgers, legal records, expedition field notes, research notes, catalog and object lists, publications, clippings, flyers, maps, photographs, negatives and audio-visual materials. These materials span a varied range of subjects relating to the activities of the museum which are more fully described on the series level.
Scope and Contents:
These records document the governance and programmatic activities of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (MAI) from its inception in 1904 until its sublimation by the Smithsonian Institution in 1990. The types of materials present in this collection include personal and institutional correspondence, individual subject files, minutes and annual reports, financial ledgers, legal records, expedition field notes, research notes, catalog and object lists, publications, clippings, flyers, maps, photographs, negatives and audio-visual materials. These materials span a varied range of subjects relating to the activities of the museum which are more fully described on the series level.
Arrangement:
The MAI, Heye Foundation records have been arranged into 21 series and 50 subseries:
Series 1: Directors, 1908-1990 (1.1: George Gustav Heye, 1863-1962, 1.2: Edwin K. Burnett, 1943-1960, 1.3: Frederick Dockstader, 1950-1976, 1.4: Alexander F. Draper, 1972-1977, 1.5:Roland W. Force, 1963-1990, 1.6: George Eager, Assistant Director, 1977-1990)
Series 2: Board of Trustees, 1916-1990 (2.1: Board of Trustee Minutes, 1916-1990, 2.2: Individual Board Correspondence, 1943-1990, 2.3: Subject Files, 1917-1990)
Series 3: Administrative, 1916-1989 (3.1: Subject Files, 1904-1991, 3.2: Personnel, 1956-1991, 3.3: Legal, 1900-1989, 3.4: Task Force, 1976-1986, 3.5: George Abrams, 1980-1991)
Series 4: Financial, 1916-1990 (4.1: Ledgers, 1900-1962, 4.2: Correspondence, 1905-1985, 4.3: Subject Files, 1916-1990)
Series 5: Expeditions, 1896-1973Series 6: Collectors, 1872-1981Series 7: Registration, 1856-1993Series 8: Collections Management, 1937-1988Series 9: Curatorial, 1963-1990 (9.1: Curatorial Council, 1973-1990, 9.2: Gary Galante, 1979-1991, 9.3: Mary Jane Lenz, 1974-1994, 9.4: James G. E. Smith, 1963-1990, 9.5: U. Vincent Wilcox, 1968-1984, 9.6: Anna C. Roosevelt, 1973-1988)
Series 10: Exhibits, 1923-1991 (10.1: MAI Exhibits, 1923-1990, 10.2: Non-MAI Exhibits, 1937-1991)
Series 11: Public Programs, 1935-1990Series 12: Publications, 1904-1994 (12.1: Annual Reports, 1917-1989, 12.2: Publications by MAI, 1904-1990, 12.3: Publications by Other Sources, 1881-1990, 12.4: Administration, 1920-1988, 12.5: Archival Set of Official Publications, 1907-1976)
Series 13: Public Affairs, 1938-1991Series 14: Development, 1927-1991 (14.1: Administration, 1979-1990, 14.2: Donors, 1978-1990, 14.3: Fundraising, 1973-1990, 14.4: Grants, 1970-1990, 14.5: Subject Files, 1976-1990)
Series 15: Other Departments, 1914-1990 (15.1: Archives, 1914-1990, 15.2: Conservation, 1972-1989, 15.3: Education, 1921-1990, 15.4: Indian Information Center, 1977-1989, 15.5: Museum Shop, 1947-1989, 15.6: Photography, 1918-1990, 15.7: Physical Anthropology, 1919-1956)
Series 16: Huntington Free Library, 1926-1991Series 17: Museum Relocation, 1969-1992 (17.1: Subject Files, 1979-1990, 17.2: American Museum of Natural History, 1980-1987, 17.3: Dallas, Texas, 1984-1987, 17.4: Smithsonian Institution, 1979-1990, 17.5: U.S. Custom House, 1977-1990, 17.6: Other Locations, 1974-1987)
Series 18: MediaSeries 19: PhotographsSeries 20: Miscellaneous, 1837-1990Series 21: Oversize, 1873-1972 (21.1: Maps, 1873-1975, 21.2: Miscellaneous, 1884-1982)
History of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation:
The Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation was established by wealthy collector George Gustav Heye in 1908. Heye began collecting American Indian artifacts as early as 1897 and his collection rapidly increased over the next several years. Based in New York, Heye bought collections and documentary photographs, sponsored expeditions, and traveled and collected items himself. In addition, once MAI was established he sponsored numerous expeditions across the Western Hemisphere, including North American, Canada, South America and Central America.
From 1908 to 1917 Heye housed his artifacts on temporary loan at the University of Pennsylvania's University Museum, Pennsylvania, in lofts on East 33rd Street in New York City, and at other depositories. In 1917, the collections moved from his apartment to their permanent museum location at Audubon Terrace, at 155th Street and Broadway in New York City. The museum, containing ethnographic and archaeological collections from North, Central and South America, opened to the public in 1922. Less than ten years later, Heye completed a storage facility in the Pelham Bay area of the Bronx, known as the Research Branch. Heye served as Chairman of the Board and Museum Director until his death in 1957. After growing concern about the financial and other management of the collections came to a head, the museum became part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1989 and in 1994 opened exhibit space in the U.S. Customs House at Bowling Green near New York City's Battery Park. The Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland later opened in 1999 and the main Washington, DC museum opened in 2004.
Please visit the following links for more information about the history of the museum; History of the Collection, Collections Overview, and Significance of the Collection. Moreover, for information about how the museum currently cares for and exhibits the collection, please see the Conservation department and recent entries regarding Exhibitions and Conservation on the NMAI Blog. In addition, see portions of the NMAI Archive Center's collections highlighted in the SIRIS Blog.
Related Materials:
In 2004, the Huntington Fee Library, once part of the MAI/Heye Foundation, was transferred to the Cornell University Library Rare Book and Manuscript Collection. While this collection mainly contained books, it also contained a significant amount of archival materials. The Huntington Free Library's Native American Collection contains outstanding materials documenting the history, culture, languages, and arts of the native tribes of both North and South America, as well as contemporary politics and human rights issues are also important components of the collection. Further information about the collection and links to finding aids can be found here: rmc.library.cornell.edu/collections/HFL_old.html.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive 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).
Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Photography taken by George Heye, Joseph Keppler, David Sinclair and William Stiles during a trip to the Cornplanter Reservation in Pennsylvania and Onondaga, Allegheny, Cattaraugus, Tuscarora, and Tonawanda Reservations in New York October 1939.
Scope and Contents:
This collection includes 22 photographic negatives (acetate) made by David Sinclair, William Stiles and Joseph Keppler in October 1939 during a trip in New York and Pennsylvania. The negatives were shot on the Tonawanda Reservation, Cattaraugus Reservation and Allegany Reservation in Erie County, New York as well as the Cornplanter Reservation in Warren County, Pennsylvania. Many of the photographs include images of the log Seneca cabin donated to the Museum of the American Indian by Nicodemus Bailey (Seneca [Tonawanda]), NMAI object number 20/2211. Some of these photograph also feature images of Nicodemus Bailey and his wife Edna Bailey. There are also images of an elm bark tipi made in 1936, NMAI object number 02/6026, views of a monument to Chief Red Jacket in the Forest Lawn Cemetery and views of the Cornplanter Monument on the Cornplanter Reservation. Joseph Keppler is also photographed with Alice White (Seneca) and Mrs. George.
N21785-N21806.
Arrangement:
Arranged by catalog number.
Biographical / Historical:
In October 1939, George Gustav Heye, director of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation took a trip with Joseph Keppler, William Stiles and David Sincair to several Iroquois Nation (Seneca) reservations in Pennsylvania and New York. This included the Tonawanda Reservation, Cattaraugus Reservation and Allegany Reservation in Erie County, New York as well as the Cornplanter Reservation in Warren County, Pennsylvania. During this trip many Seneca ethnographic items were obtained, most notably the gift of a log cabin from Nicodemus Bailey (Seneca [Townawanda]). The cabin (NMAI 20/2211) was reconstructed on the grounds of the MAI Research Branch in the Bronx, New York and Nicodemus Bailey was elected a Life Member of the Museum. See the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Annual Report (April 1, 1939 to April 1, 1940).
Related Materials:
Ethnographic materials obtained during this trip can be found in NMAI's ethnographic collections.
Provenance:
Field collections obtained by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in 1939.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
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 users to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changed, 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.
Genre/Form:
Negatives (photographic)
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Field photographs from Seneca Nation Reservations in Pennsylvania and New York, Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection consists of views of New York, Rhode Island, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Newfoundland and Quebec (slides are primarily of Saint Augustin, Quebec).
Scope and Contents:
The Stiles collection consists of views made by Stiles on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation from 1938 to 1974. More than half of these document the life of Innu peoples of Quebec, Canada, in the years 1952, 1958, 1959, and 1964. They depict Innu men, women, and children, and food preparation, dwellings, fishing, canoes, settlements, the preparation of animal skins, and ceremonials. Stiles apparently photographed among the Seminole and Miccosukee peoples of Florida in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1966, and 1974. He also variously photographed the Narragansett and Niantic peoples of Rhode Island, the Onondaga on the Onondaga Reservation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina, the Seneca of New York, the Attikamekw (Tete De Boule Cree) and the Mohawk of Quebec, and the Mushuaunnuat of Labrador. He also photographed various archaeological sites in New York State, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
Prints arranged by print number (P13375-P13385, P13431-P13438, P15331-P15346, P15770-P15773, P15885-P15889, P16102, P17154, P17212-P17217, P17282-P17284, P18537-P18551, P18586, P19991-P20002)
Slides arranged by slide number (S02005-S02178, S02389, S04518-S04519, S04559-S04575, S04675-S04678, S04694-S04702, S04753-S04760)
Biographical/Historical note:
Before joining the staff of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in May 1938, William F. Stiles was George G. Heye's personal driver. An employee of the Museum for almost forty years, Stiles retired in March 1978 as the Curator of Collections. Although Stiles published very little, he was an active field collector and participated in numerous archaeological expeditions. As is evident from his photographs of the Innu and Seminole peoples, he often visited individual communities more than once and over the course of several years.
Restrictions:
Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Mississippi Search this
Indians of North America -- New York (State) Search this
Indians of North America -- Rhode Island Search this
Excavations (Archaeology) -- New York (State) Search this
Excavations (Archaeology) -- South Carolina Search this
Genre/Form:
Negatives
Photographic prints
Color slides
Photographs
Citation:
William F. Stiles collection of negatives, slides and photographic prints, 1938-1974, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or print number).
