Scrapbook entitled "Our Wild Indians in Peace and War: Surveys, Expeditions, Mining and Scenery of the Great West," compiled by James E. Taylor, possibly as a source for his own illustrations.
Scope and Contents:
Scrapbook entitled "Our Wild Indians in Peace and War: Surveys, Expeditions, Mining and Scenery of the Great West," compiled by James E. Taylor, possibly as a source for his own illustrations. The album includes photographs (mostly albumen with three tintypes), newsclippings, wood engravings, and lithographs, some of which are reproductions of Taylor's own illustrations and paintings. Photographs depict American Indians, US Army soldiers and scouts, historical sites, forts, and scenery. Some were made on expeditions, including the Hayden and Powell surveys, and created from published stereographs. Many of Taylor's illustrations are signed, and some are inscribed with dates and "N. Y." The scrapbook also includes clippings from newspapers and other written sources relating to illustrations and photographs in the album.
Biographical Note:
James E. Taylor (1839-1901) was an artist-correspondent for Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Newspaper from 1863-1883. Born in Cincinatti, Ohio, he graduated from Notre Dame University by the age of sixteen. Taylor enlisted in the 10th New York Infantry in 1861 and the next year was hired by Leslie's Illustrated newspaper as a "Special Artist" and war correspondent. In 1864 he covered the Shenandoah Valley campaign, and was later one of the illustrator-correspondents at the 1867 treaty negotiations at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. He soon earned the moniker "Indian Artist" because of his vast number of drawings of American Indians. In 1883 Taylor retired from Leslie's to work as a freelance illustrator. Colonel Richard Irving Dodge used Taylor's drawings to illustrate his memoir, "Our Wild Indians: Thirty-three Years' Personal Experience among the Red Men of the Great West" (1882).
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 4605
Related Materials:
The National Anthropolgical Archives holds additional photographs by photographers represented in this collection (including original negatives for some of these prints), particularly in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 37, Photo Lot 60, Photo Lot 87.
Additional photographs by Whitney, Gardner, and Barry held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 80-18.
Julian Vannerson and James E. McClees photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4286.
Pywell photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4498.
O'Sullivan photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo lot 4501.
Additional Hillers photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 83-18 and Photo Lot 87-2N.
Provenance:
Donated or transferred by John Witthoft from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, April 14, 1961.
The collection consists of sixteen (16) drawings in a commercial exercise book. The book had been sewn into a second cover prior to its acquisition by the Smithsonian. This second cover was removed and the book was rebound. The second cover has been retained.
The drawings depict hunting, courtship, dance, social gatherings, Indian scouts, mounted and dismounted warriors, and part of the Kiowa Sun Dance. The inside of the front cover is inscribed:
"Capt Pratt U.S.A."
"Work by Indians"
"By the Indians incarcerated in Fort Marion St. Augustine Florida in 1876" "Engaged in the Custer Massacre"
"Care of Capt Pratt in charge assisted by the following ladies-- Mrs Linethurst, Mrs Gibbs - Mrs S'- Mother St Augustine, Mrs Kingsly Gibbs - aunt, Mrs Valentine - Phila, Miss Reed"
"Carlisle was the outcome of Capt Pratt's efforts assisted by Mrs Kingsly Gibbs of St Augustine"
The back cover is inscribed:
"Works of the Indians while in prison in Fort Marion St Augustine Florida-- After the Custer Massacre in care of Capt Pratt-- The founder of Carlisle-- These Indians finally taken there for housing and taming--by the Government-- under the care of Capt Pratt USA"
In addition to the inscription, the back cover bears the image of a man wearing a breechcloth, which was scratched into its surface. The name "ZOTOM" appears in stencil block letters on the back cover and the inside of the front cover. Although Zotom was a noted Kiowa artist, it is not clear that he is responsible for the drawings. Candace Greene notes that they are unlike his later work and early documented examples of his drawing style have not been identified.
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 National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Historical Note:
Fort Marion, also known as Castillo de San Marco, is a stone fortress in St. Augustine, Florida. Between 1875 and 1878, seventy-two prisoners from the southern plains were incarcerated in the fort. Captain Richard Pratt supervised the prisoners during their incarceration at Fort Marion. The prisoners consisted of 27 Kiowas, 33 Cheyennes, 9 Comanches, 2 Arapahos, and a single Caddo. With the exception of one Cheyenne woman, all the prisoners were men. They had been accused of participating in the recent Red River War, earlier hostilities, or both. With the exception of the wife and daughter of one of the Comanche men, the prisoners families were not allowed to accompany them to Fort Marion.
Local Numbers:
MS 98-54 000
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Ledger drawings
Citation:
MS 1998-54 Exercise book containing drawings by an anonymous Kiowa artist, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
This collection consists of copy slides of 122 slides taken by Lt. Col. S. F. Watson, U.S. Army helicopter pilot, during the Vietnam War. The slides include shots of helicopters, aerial scenes and air-to-air helicopter shots. Types of helicopters included are as follows: Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey); Bell UH-1B (HU-1B) Iroquois (Huey); Bell OH-58 Kiowa; Boeing-Vertol CH-47A Chinook; Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne; Bell AH-1G Cobra; and the Sikorsky (S-64) CH-54 Tarhe (Skycrane).
Biographical / Historical:
Lt. Col. S. F. Watson, US Army was a helicopter pilot, during the Vietnam War.
Provenance:
Frances J. Watson, Gift, 1993
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
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
The collection consists of a small notebook of ruled paper containing twenty-one drawings by Tichkematse, one (1) cyanotype photograph, and one (1) note. The notebook has been disbound and the covers retained. The drawings document an 1887 hunting excursion taken by Colonel Bliss of Fort Supply (in Indian Territory) and Major John Dunlop, a visitor to the fort from Washington D.C. Included in the collection are a cyanotype picture featuring Colonel Bliss, end papers, and covers of the book as well as a typescript note pasted to the inside cover describing the drawings. Many drawings are inscribed with names identifying the figures, most of whom are Cheyenne men who were enlisted as Army scouts.
Biographical Note:
Tichkematse, also known as Squint Eyes, (1857-1932) was among the men held prisoner at Fort Marion in Saint Augustine, Florida, from 1875-1878. While imprisoned, he learned to speak English and to read and write. Upon release he attended school at the Hampton Institute in Virginia for about a year before coming to the Smithsonian. There he was trained in the preparation of bird and mammal specimens for study and display. During his time at the Smithsonian, he also produced drawings illustrating his old life on the Plains, full of buffalo hunts and battles as well as everyday camp life. In 1880 he returned to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation in what is now Oklahoma, but he continued his affiliation with the Smithsonian. He was active in collecting bird and mammal specimens as well as craft items acquired from Cheyenne friends and relatives, which he shipped to the museum.
Major John Dunlop was a supply sergeant in San Antonio before the Civil War. He then went to Mexico, and later to Washington. While in Washington he met Col. Bliss and the maintained a friendship over time, resulting in his visiting Bliss in Indian Territory and participating in the hunt depicted.
Historical Note:
Fort Supply, established in 1868, was initially designated as a supply camp where U.S. Cavalry troops could restock and refresh themselves. It was from this post that Custer and the Seventh Cavalry marched to the Battle of Washita. Over the next twenty-five years, soldiers from Fort Supply performed duties that included peace-keeping and monitoring of the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation and the Cherokee Outlet as well as monitoring the Land Run of 1893. From 1869 to early 1870, the post served as the temporary location for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Agency.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 7500
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds a photographic copy of the complete book of drawings in PhotoLot R79-24.
The National Anthropological Archives holds additional drawings by Tichkematse in MS 39-d-2 Drawings by Tichkematse and others and Tichkematse and Etahdleuh drawings (MS 290844).
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Ledger drawings
Photographs
Citation:
MS 7500 Tichkematse book of drawings, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The collection consists of a bound volume of preprinted US Army forms for recording results of target practice, subsequently filled with drawings of courting, hunting, warfare, Saynday stories, and scenes from the Kiowa Sun Dance by Silver Horn and other Kiowa artists. The artists were probably all Army scouts. The book also contains a 30 page pictorial diary by Silver Horn, spanning the period between January 1893 to June 1897. The diary starts near the end of the book and proceeds from the back towards the front. Among the many names inscribed in the book are "Hawgone" (Silver Horn) and "Auchchiah," both of whom served in Troop L of the Seventh Cavalry, an all-Indian troop that was commanded by Scott. The manuscript contains 186 drawings, as well as a number of scribbled images. The pages are hand numbered, 5-356, in red ink in the upper left corner of each page. A second hand pagination in black ink runs from the back of the book toward the front, encompassing the last thirty pages of the book. Previous inscriptions in the book record the results of target practice at Fort Meade, Dakota Territory in 1884. Hugh Scott was stationed at Fort Meade between 1883 to 1886.
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 National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Biographical Note:
Silver Horn, known as Haungooah in Kiowa, was born in 1860. His name also appears as Hugone, Hangun or Hawgon. He was a member of a prominent Kiowa family. His residential band, led by his father Agiati (Gathering Feathers), actively opposed the United States government's efforts to confine the Kiowa to a reservation. Members of his family participated in the Red River War of 1874-1875 and were among the last Kiowa to surrender to the military. In 1891, Silver Horn enlisted in Troop L of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry. He served with Troop L, which was part of a broader experiment involving the enlistment of all-Indian troops, until 1894.
In 1901, Silver Horn secured employment with James Mooney, an ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Mooney was interested in the designs on Kiowa shields and tipis and hired Silver Horn to produce illustrations of the designs and models of the shields and tipis. The project provided Silver Horn with steady work between 1902 and 1904 and occassional employment between 1904 and 1906. Silver Horn also produced illustrations for Hugh Scott, an army officer and avocational ethnologist. Silver Horn was active in the religious life of the Kiowa. He was a Tsaidetalyi bundle keeper and participated in the Sun Dance, Ghost Dance, and Peyote religion. He was also a member of the Ohoma society. Silver Horn died on December 14, 1940.
Hugh Scott was a graduate of the United States Military Academy and served as an officer in the Seventh Cavalry. He was initially stationed in the Dakota Territory. There he learned Plains Indian sign language, a skill that enabled him to communicate more easily with the Cheyenne, Sioux, Crow, and Arikara scouts with whom he worked. He was transferred to Fort Sill, Indian Territory in 1889. From 1891 to 1893, he commanded Troop L of the Seventh Cavalry, an all-Indian troop that was comprised primarily of Kiowa men. He was an avocational ethnologist and compiled a small collection of Plains Indian material during his service in the West, including paintings and drawings by Silver Horn. In 1911, he published illustrations from this collection in "Notes on the Kado, or Sun Dance of the Kiowa", which appeared in American Anthropologist.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4252
Publication Note:
Many of the Sun Dance images are published with explanations in:
Scott, Hugh L. "Notes on the Kado, or Sun Dance of the Kiowa," American Anthropologist 13, no. 3 (1911): 345-79.
Exhibition Note:
Several of the Saynday images are published with associated stories in Saynday Was Coming Along...Silverhorn's Drawings of the Kiowa Trickster, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Candace Greene and Frederick Reuss, 1993.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Ledger drawings
Diaries
Citation:
MS 4252 Military target record book containing drawings by Silver Horn and others and a pictorial diary by Silver Horn, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The collection consists of a book of fourteen (14) drawings on eight (8) leaves of unruled paper in a commercial drawing book. The book was rebound by the Bureau of American Ethnology and the original covers are no longer visible. The drawings depict hunting, travelling, and camp scenes. The inside front cover is inscribed "Drawn by Buffalo Meat." The inside back cover is inscribed "Soaring Eegle [sic]." Buffalo Meat and Soaring Eagle were among the Cheyenne men imprisoned at Fort Marion. Although both men were artists, the drawings in this book are Kiowa, not Cheyenne.
Although the drawings were originally cataloged as Cheyenne by Buffalo Meat, neither Candace Greene nor Karen Daniels Petersen agree with this attribution. They note that the drawings can be identified as Kiowa based on elements of clothing, as well as shield and tipi designs. Furthermore, Greene compared the drawings with other works by Buffalo Meat and determined that they do not correspond with the artist's style. Both Greene and Petersen note that the drawings are the work of at least two artists. The inside of the front cover is inscribed, "Drawn by Buffalo Meat, Cheyenne." Petersen notes that the handwriting matches an inscription written inside the cover of MS 39-b, a drawing book that is known to have been collected at Fort Marion by George Fox, who inscribed the cover and captioned the drawings. (Candace Greene and Mike Jordan compared the inscriptions in MS 4656 and MS 39-b and agree that the handwriting is the same.) George Fox worked as an interpreter at Fort Marion until March 26, 1877. Consequently, the book dates between May 21, 1875, the date the prisoners arrived at Fort Marion, and March 26, 1877, the date George Fox departed.
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 National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Historical Note:
Fort Marion, also known as Castillo de San Marco, is a stone fortress in St. Augustine, Florida. Between 1875 and 1878, seventy-two prisoners from the southern plains were incarcerated in the fort. Captain Richard Pratt supervised the prisoners during their incarceration at Fort Marion. The prisoners consisted of 27 Kiowas, 33 Cheyennes, 9 Comanches, 2 Arapahos, and a single Caddo. With the exception of one Cheyenne woman, all the prisoners were men. They had been accused of participating in the recent Red River War, earlier hostilities, or both. With the exception of the wife and daughter of one of the Comanche men, the prisoners families were not allowed to accompany them to Fort Marion.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4656
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Ledger drawings
Citation:
MS 4656 Book of anonymous Kiowa drawings, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
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.
Collection Citation:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Collection Citation:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Collection Citation:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Collection Citation:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Albums
Prints
Photographs
Place:
Kansas
Oklahoma
Date:
1867-1874
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs by William S. Soule of Native Americans and camps in the vicinity of Fort Dodge, Kansas and Camp Supply and Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Tribes represented include Arapaho, Caddo, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, and Wichita.
One albumen print mounted on a card with C. W. Carter's photographer imprint, though the photograph was made by Soule. One album includes silver gelatin prints made from original Soule negatives by Henry G. Peabody.
Biographical/Historical note:
William Stinson Soule (1836-1908) was the photographer at Fort Sill (now in Oklahoma) from its founding in 1869 to the end of the Indian campaigns in 1874-1875. Soule moved from New England circa 1868, first working as a photographer at Fort Dodge, Kansas, then at Camp Supply with General Philip Sheridan's campaigning troops. As the photographer for the United States Army at Fort Sill, he photographed the construction of the fort as well as many of the people and events associated with the Indian Wars. Soule left Fort Sill in 1875 to return to Boston where he joined his brother's Soule Photograph Co. and then operated the Soule Art Company until his death.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 3912
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Soule photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4599, MS 4791, MS 2531, Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 97-6, and the BAE historical negatives.
Correspondence from Henry G. Peabody and Lucia Soule relating to this collection held in the National Anthropological Archives in the Bureau of American Ethnology general correspondence.
The Huntington Library Photo Archives holds the Henry G. Peabody Collection of Photographs and Negatives.
Lucia A. Soule also donated a Lincoln peace medal, which was transferred to the US National Museum, Department of History, in Accession 205943.
Photo Lot 3912, William S. Soule photographs of Native Americans and camps in Kansas and Oklahoma, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Basin Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Albums
Photographs
Date:
circa 1877
Scope and Contents note:
Albums probably assembled by William Henry Jackson, mostly containing portraits of Native American delegates in Washington, D.C. and photographs made on US Geological Surveys (including the Hayden and Powell surveys). Photographs from the field include John K. Hillers' photographs of the Southwest, photographs of Fort Laramie (possibly by Alexander Gardner), Orloff R. Westmann's photographs of Taos Pueblo, and Jackson's photographs of Crow, Shoshoni, Pawnee, and Nez Perce Tribes and related sites. Most of the photographs were made circa 1860s-1870s.
The albums were probably by Jackson while working under Ferdinand V. Hayden for the United States Geological Survey of the Territories. The reason for their creation is uncertain, though it may have been a project set up by Hayden or a continuation of William Henry Blackmore's tradition of publishing albums. Some of the albums include captions pasted from Jackson's Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians (1877) while others have handwritten captions.
Biographical/Historical note:
William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) was an American painter, photographer and explorer. Born in New York, he sold drawings and retouched photographs from an early age. After serving in the Civil War, he opened a photography studio in Omaha, Nebraska, with his brother Edward. As photographer for the US Geological and Geographical Surveys (1870-1878), he documented the American west and published the first photographs of Yellowstone. When the surveys lost funding in 1879, Jackson opened a studio in Denver, Colorado, and also worked for various railroad companies. Many of Jackson's photographs were displayed at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago (1893), for which he was the official photographer.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 4420
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Original negatives for many of the photographs in this collection can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the BAE historical negatives.
The National Museum of the American Indian Archives holds William Henry Jackson photographs and negatives.
Additional Jackson photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4605, MS 4801, Photo Lot 14, Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 29, Photo Lot 37, Photo Lot 40, Photo Lot 60, Photo Lot 93, Photo lot 143, Photo Lot 87-2P, Photo Lot 87-20, and Photo Lot 90-1.
Correspondence from Jackson held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4517, MS 4881, MS 4821, and collections of personal papers.
Photo Lot 4420, William Henry Jackson photograph albums based on his Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Search this
Extent:
245 Linear feet ((375 boxes and 10 map drawers))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1878-1965
Summary:
The records in this collection embody the administrative functions of the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1879 to 1965. The collection consists of correspondence, card files, registers, official notices, annual and monthly work reports, research statements, research proposals, grant applications, personnel action requests, notices of personnel action, meeting minutes, purchase orders and requisitions, property records, biographical sketches, resolutions, newspaper clippings, reviews of publications, drafts of publications, circulars, programs, pamphlets, announcements, illustrations, cartographic materials, photographic prints, photographic negatives, bibliographies, and reprinted publications.
Scope and Contents:
The records in this collection embody the administrative functions of the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1879 to 1965. The collection consists of correspondence, card files, registers, official notices, annual and monthly work reports, research statements, research proposals, grant applications, personnel action requests, notices of personnel action, meeting minutes, purchase orders and requisitions, property records, biographical sketches, resolutions, newspaper clippings, reviews of publications, drafts of publications, circulars, programs, pamphlets, announcements, illustrations, cartographic materials, photographic prints, photographic negatives, bibliographies, and reprinted publications.
Correspondence comprises the bulk of this collection. A significant portion of this correspondence originates from the Bureau's duty to field inquiries regarding North American aboriginal cultures and respond to requests relating to the duplication of BAE library and archival materials. Inquiries and requests, received from all parts of the world, were submitted by colleagues, museum curators and directors, students, professors, amateur archaeologists, government agents, military officials, Smithsonian Institution officials, artists, and members of the general public. Other correspondence reflects the Bureau's day-to-day operations and internal affairs. Subjects discussed in this correspondence include research projects, field expeditions, annual budgets, personnel matters, the acquisition of manuscripts, the disbursement of specimens, and production of BAE publications. Correspondence is occasionally accompanied by announcements, circulars, programs, pamphlets, photographs, drawings, diagrams, bibliographies, lists, newspaper clippings, and maps. Also among these records are the card files and registers of incoming and outgoing correspondence maintained by early BAE administrative staff. For a list of correspondents, see the appendix to this finding aid, available in the NAA reading room.
The majority of illustrations, artwork, and photographs that appear in this collection are associated with BAE publications, including BAE Annual Reports, BAE Bulletins, Contributions to North American Ethnology and Smithsonian Institution, Miscellaneous Collection. Maps located among the collection originate, by and large, from BAE field expeditions and research projects. BAE staff also amassed great quantities of newspaper clippings that concerned BAE research or points of interest. Of particular note are three scrapbooks comprised of clippings that relate to "mound builders" and the work of the BAE's Division of Mound Explorations.
Also worthy of note are the various records relating to the 1903 investigation of the BAE. Records related to the investigation highlight the Smithsonian Institution's longstanding dissatisfaction with the internal management of the BAE, its concerns over the BAE's loose relationship with the parent organization, and displeasure with the manner in which BAE scientific research was developing. Other materials of special interest are the various administrative records covering the period 1929 to 1946 and 1949 to 1965. The majority cover personnel matters; however, others justify the work of the BAE and bear witness to growing concerns that the BAE would eventually be absorbed by the Department of Anthropology within the United States National Museum.
Arrangement:
The collection has been arranged into the following 12 series: (1) Correspondence, 1897-1965; (2) Cooperative Ethnological Investigations, 1928-1935; (3) Miscellaneous Administrative Files, 1929-1946; (4) Miscellaneous Administrative Files, 1949-1965; (5) Records Concerning the Photographic Print Collection, 1899-1919; (6) Records Concerning Employees; (7) Fiscal Records, 1901-1902 and 1945-1968; (8) Records Relating to the 1903 Investigation of the BAE; (9) Property Records and Requisitions; (10) Clippings; (11) Publications; (12) BAE Library Materials, Pamphlets and Reprints
Administrative History:
The Bureau of Ethnology was established by an act of the United States Congress on March 3, 1879, but it was largely the personal creation of the geologist and explorer Major John Wesley Powell. His earlier explorations of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon formed the basis of the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. While exploring the area, Powell became alarmed at what he perceived to be the decline of the aboriginal way of life due to rapid depopulation. In a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, he warned that "in a few years, it will be impossible to study…Indians in their primitive condition, except from recorded history" (Hinsley). He urged swift government action; the result of which was the appropriation of $20,000 (20 Stat. 397) to transfer all documents relating to North American Indians from the Department of Interior to the Smithsonian Institution and its Secretary's appointment of Powell as director of the newly established Bureau of Ethnology, a position he held until his death in 1902. In 1897, its name was changed to the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) to underscore the limits of its geographical reaches.
Under Powell, the BAE organized the nation's earliest anthropological field expeditions, in which the characteristics and customs of native North Americans were observed firsthand and documented in official reports. Images of Indian life were captured on photographic glass plate negatives, and their songs on wax cylinder recordings. Histories, vocabularies and myths were gathered, along with material objects excavated from archaeological sites, and brought back to Washington for inclusion in the BAE manuscript library or the United States National Museum.
The fruits of these investigations were disseminated via a series of highly regarded and widely distributed publications, most notably BAE Annual Reports, BAE Bulletins, and Contributions to North American Ethnology. BAE research staff also responded routinely to inquiries posed by colleagues, government agencies, and the general public on matters ranging from artwork to warfare. Moreover, the BAE prepared exhibits on the various cultural groups it studied not only for the Smithsonian Institution, but also for large expositions held nationwide.
In 1882 Powell, under instruction of Congress, established the Division of Mound Explorations for the purpose of discovering the true origin of earthen mounds found predominately throughout the eastern United States. It was the first of three temporary, yet significant, subunits supported by the Bureau. Cyrus Thomas, head of the Division, published his conclusions in the Bureau's Annual Report of 1894, which is considered to be the last word in the controversy over the mounds' origins. With the publication of Thomas' findings, the Division's work came to a close.
The course of BAE operations remained largely the same under Powell's successors: W.J. McGee (acting director) 1902; William Henry Holmes, 1902-1910; Frederick W. Hodge, 1910-1918; J. Walter Fewkes, 1918-1928; Matthew W. Stirling, 1928-1957; Frank H.H. Roberts, Jr., 1957-1964; and Henry B. Collins (acting director), 1964-1965. However, following a 1903 internal investigation of the Bureau's administrative activities, Smithsonian officials called for a broader scope of ethnological inquiry and greater application of anthropological research methodologies. The BAE responded in 1904 by expanding agency activities to include investigations in Hawaii, the Philippines, and the Caribbean.
The BAE extended its geographical reaches once again, in the 1940s, to include Central and South America. In 1943, the Institute of Social Anthropology (ISA) was established as an independent subunit of the Bureau for the purpose of developing and promoting ethnological research throughout the American Republics. The findings of ISA-sponsored investigations were published in the six volume series, Handbook of South American Indians (BAE Bulletin 143). Julian H. Steward, editor of the Handbook, was appointed director of ISA operations and held the position until 1946 when George M. Foster assumed responsibility. The ISA was absorbed by the Institute of Inter-American Affairs in 1952, thus terminating its relationship with the BAE.
In 1946 the BAE assumed partial administrative control of the recently established River Basin Surveys (RBS), its third and final autonomous subunit. The purpose of the RBS was to salvage and preserve archaeological evidence threatened by post-World War II public works programs, more specifically the rapid construction of dams and reservoirs occurring throughout the country. Excavations conducted under the RBS yielded considerable data on early North American Indian settlements, and subsequent deliberations on this data were published as reports in various BAE Bulletins.
In 1965, the BAE merged administratively with the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Anthropology to form the Office of Anthropology within the United States National Museum (now the Department of Anthropology within the National Museum of Natural History). The BAE manuscript library, also absorbed by the Department of Anthropology, became the foundation of what is today the National Anthropological Archives (NAA).
In its 86 year existence, the BAE played a significant role in the advancement of American anthropology. Its staff included some of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries' most distinguished anthropologists, including Jeremiah Curtain, Frank Hamilton Cushing, J.O. Dorsey, Jesse Walter Fewkes, Alice Cunningham Fletcher, Albert H. Gatschet, John Peabody Harrington, John N.B. Hewitt, William Henry Holmes, Ales Hrdlicka, Neil Judd, Francis LaFlesche, Victor and Cosmo Mindeleff, James Mooney, James Pilling, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Matthew Williams Stirling, William Duncan Strong, and William Sturtevant. The BAE also collaborated with and supported the work of many non-Smithsonian researchers, most notably Franz Boas, Frances Densmore, Gerard Fowke, Garrick Mallery, Washington Matthews, Paul Radin, John Swanton, Cyrus Thomas, and T.T. Waterman, as well as America's earliest field photographers such as Charles Bell, John K. Hillers, Timothy O'Sullivan, and William Dinwiddie. Several of its staff founded the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1880, which later became the American Anthropological Association in 1899. What is more, its seminal research continues to be drawn upon by contemporary anthropologists and government agents through the use of BAE manuscripts now housed in the NAA.
Sources Consulted:
Hinsley, Curtis. Savages and Scientists: The Smithsonian Institution and the Development of American Anthropology, 1846-1910. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981.
McGee, WJ. "Bureau of American Ethnology." The Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1896, The History of its First Half-Century, pp. 367-396. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1897.
Sturtevant, William. "Why a Bureau of American Ethnology?" Box 286, Functions of the BAE, Series IV: Miscellaneous Administrative Files, 1948-1965, Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology, National Anthropological Archives.
Related Materials:
Additional material relating to BAE administrative affairs and research projects can be found among the National Anthropological Archives' vast collection of numbered manuscripts. Too numerous to list in this space, these include official correspondence, monthly and annual work reports, fiscal records, field notes, personal diaries, expedition logs, catalogues of specimens, vocabularies, historical sketches, maps, diagrams, drawings, bibliographies, working papers and published writings, among various other material. Most of these documents are dispersed throughout the numbered manuscript collection as single items; however, some have been culled and unified into larger units (e.g., MS 2400 is comprised of documents relating to the Division of Mound Explorations). Artwork and illustrations produced for BAE publications are also located among the NAA's numbered manuscript collection as well as its photograph collection (e.g., Photo Lot 78-51 and Photo Lot 80-6).
Photographs concerning BAE research interests can be found among the following NAA photographic lots: Photo Lot 14, Bureau of American Ethnology Subject and Geographic File ca. 1870s-1930s; Photo Lot 24, BAE Photographs of American Indians 1840s to 1960s (also known as the Source Print Collection); Photo Lot 60, BAE Reference Albums 1858-1905; and Photo Lot 85, BAE Miscellaneous Photographs 1895 to 1930. Other photographic lots include portraits of BAE staff and collaborators, namely Photo Lot 33, Portraits of Anthropologists and others 1860s-1960s; Photo Lot 68, Portraits of John Wesley Powell ca. 1890 and 1898; and Photo Lot 70, Department of Anthropology Portrait File ca. 1864-1921.
Additional materials in the NAA relating to the work of the BAE can be found among the professional papers of its staff, collaborators and USNM anthropologists. These include the papers of Ales Hrdlicka, John Peabody Harrington, Otis Mason, J.C. Pilling, Matthew Williams Stirling, and William Duncan Strong. Documents relating to the work of the BAE can be found among the records of the River Basin Surveys (1928-1969) and the Institute of Social Anthropology (1941-1952).
Records related to this collection can also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA). SIA accession 05-124 includes information regarding the 1942 transfer of six audio recordings related to the Chumash Indian language from the Bureau of American Ethnology to the National Archives, nine pages of Chumash translations, and "The Story of Candalaria, the Old Indian Basket-Maker." The Fiscal and Payroll Records of the Office of the Secretary, 1847 to 1942 (Record Unit 93), includes voucher logs, disbursement journals and daybooks of money paid out to the BAE from 1890 to 1910. BAE correspondence can also be found among the Records of the Office of the Secretary (Record Unit 776, accession 05-162). The Papers of William Henry Holmes, second director of the BAE, are also located among the SIA (Record Unit 7084).
Accession records concerning artifacts and specimens collected by the BAE are located in the registrar's office of the National Museum of Natural History.
Related collections can also be found at the National Archives and Records Administration. RG 57.3.1, the Administrative Records of the United States Geological Survey, includes register of applications for BAE ethnological expositions conducted between 1879-1882. RG 75.29, Still Pictures among the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, includes 22 photographs of Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Navajo, and Apache Indians taken by William S. Soule for the BAE during 1868-1875. RG 106, Records of the Smithsonian Institution, includes cartographic records (106.2) relating to Indian land cessions in Indiana created for the First Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1881 (1 item); a distribution of American Indian linguistic stock in North America and Greenland, by John Wesley Powell, for the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, ca. 1887 (1 item); a distribution of Indian tribal and linguistic groups in South America, 1950 (1 item); the Indian tribes in North America, for Bulletin 145, Bureau of American Ethnology, 1952 (4 items). Sound Recordings (106.4) include songs and linguistic material relating to the Aleut, Mission, Chumash, and Creek, gather by the BAE in 1912, 1914, 1930-41. Some include translations (122 items).
Provenance:
The Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology were transferred to the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives with the merger of the BAE and the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History in 1965. The Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives was renamed the National Anthropological Archives in 1968.
Restrictions:
The Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology are open for research.
Access to the Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Citation:
Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Army Medical Museum photographs prepared under the supervision of John Shaw Billings and Washington Matthews, and created by superimposing images of several skulls for comparative purposes. Each image has a caption that includes tribal or racial identification, number of skulls photographed, photograph number, negative number, and data on photographic technique.
The collection represents of Aleut, Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Dakota, Eskimo, Hidatsa, Navajo, Oglala, Ojibwa, Paiute, Piegan, Ponca, Wichita, African American, Hawaiian, people, and people of San Miguel and San Nicholas Islands (California).
Biographical/Historical note:
The United States Army Medical Museum (AMM, renamed the National Museum of Health and Medicine in 1989) was established by US Army Surgeon General William A. Hammond in 1862. Its initial focus was on collecting specimens of unusual pathology, mostly taken from victims of the American Civil War. By 1867, the museum had expanded to include medical, microsopical, anatomical, comparative anatomics, and other sections. The anatomical collection grew in part as a result of Circular No. 2 of 1867, which authorized military medical officers to collect cranial specimens from deceased Native Americans. Additionally, the AMM made an arrangement with the Smithsonian Institution, by which the Smithsonian transferred their collection of human remains in exchange for ethnological artifacts. AMM photographed and measured many of the specimens in its collection as part of the museum's anthropological research.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 6A
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Army Medical Museum photographs of skulls can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 6B, Photo Lot 73-26C, Photo Lot 78-42, Photo Lot 83-41, and Photo Lot 97.
The National Anthropological Archives holds microfilm of the papers of Washington Matthews, circa 1864-1905, and records concerning skeletal material transferred to the Smithsonian Institution from the Army Medical Museum.
See others in:
United States Army Medical Museum composite photographs of skulls, circa 1884-1885
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