Photographs used to illustrate John Reed Swanton's "The Indians of the Southeastern United States" depicting American Indians of the Southeast and their dwellings, food preparation, and ceremonies.
Biographical note:
John Reed Swanton (1873-1958) was an ethnologist and ethnohistorian with the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) from 1900 until his retirement in 1944. Swanton spent his first few years at the BAE studying the Haida and Tlingit groups of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and published a number of significant articles on the language, ethnography, and folklore of Northwest Coast Indians. His focus then shifted to the American Indians of the Southeastern United States, where his interest remained for the rest of his career. In addition to conducting ethnographic fieldwork in the Southeast, Swanton studied extensively the history of the area in order to better understand its indigenous cultures and is considered a pioneer in the field of ethnohistory. During his career Swanton published numerous articles and several major works on Southeastern American Indians, including the reference work The Indians of the Southeastern United States (1946), a Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin (No. 137).
Local Numbers:
NAA Photo Lot R87-2Q
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional photographs published in BAE Bulletin 137 can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 80-39.
Photographs made by Swanton can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 76 and the BAE historical negatives.
The National Anthropological Archives hold more than 200 manuscripts created or collected by Swanton, in the Numbered Manuscripts.
Objects collected by Swanton, including potsherds from various sites in Southeastern United States can be found in the Department of Anthropology in accessions 111748, 113252, 122679, 129788, 165802, and 062577.
Contained in:
Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology photograph collections, undated
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Copy prints in this collection that represent photographs not held by the National Anthropological Archives are for reference only.
Photo Lot R87-2Q, John Reed Swanton photograph collection of illustrations for "The Indians of the Southeastern United States", National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
From an engraving after an original drawing by J. C. Tidball, U.S.A. See Bushnell, Bulletin 69, Bureau of American Ethnology. Plate 13. Negative copy from Schoolcraft (1) V.P. 394. Published in "Pageant of America," volume II, page 114, with legend: "Creek house in 1791, from an engraving after drawing by J. C. Ludback, U.S.A. published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia courtesy of Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington. A log habitation, 1791. From an engraving published by Schoolcraft, taken from a drawing by J. C. Tidball, U.S.A.
