Images of United States National Museum anthropological exhibits at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, also called the St. Louis World's Fair. Images of the Department of Anthropology's exhibits include those of photographs and models of Mayan and Mesoamerican temples; antiquities from Mexico, Mesoamerica, and the West Indies; and American Indian, Mexican, and Mesoamerican sculptures, ceramics, tools, textiles, masks, and baskets. Photographs also document the Bureau of American Ethnology's exhibits, including "symbolic art," drawings and paintings on artifacts from tribes of the New Southwest, Plains, and Northwest Coast. The collection also includes a photograph of carved designs on a structure at Xochicales, possibly used in the exhibition or as part of its design.
Biographical/Historical note:
The National Museum's Department of Anthropology and the Bureau of American Ethnology exhibits at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition were highly integrated, and both were designed by then chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology and former head curator of the Department of Anthropology, William Henry Holmes. The exhibits were intended to illustrate "the culture of the Native American peoples as shown in their arts and industries." The exhibit featured examples of architecture, sculpture, ceramics, metal work, water craft, musical instruments, pipes, and ceremonial objects and included models of Aztec ruins based on plans by De Lancey W. Gill.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 82-31
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Papers, photographs, and records relating to exhibitions at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4689, MS 7571, MS 7208, Photo Lot 24, and Bureau of American Ethnology Letters Received 1888-1906.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds Exposition Records of the Smithsonian Institution and the United States National Museum, 1867-1940 (SIA RU000070) as well as photographs of the exhibits.
Additional photographs of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 107, Photo Lot 89-8, and Photo Lot 90-1.
Photo lot 82-31, Photographs of Smithsonian anthropology exhibits at Louisiana Purchase Exposition, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
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
Photographs documenting archeological sites in Mexico, including Chichen Itza, Mitla, Palenque, Texcotzingo, Uxmal, Xochicalco, Quirigua, and Copan. Some of the prints were originally framed and captioned; these may have formed an exhibit or display, possibly in Holmesʹs office. Photographers include Allison V. Armour, Alfred Percival Maudsley, and E. H. Thompson.
Biographical/Historical note:
William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) was an artist, geologist, and archeologist who spent most of his career with the United States Geological Survey of the Territories, United States Geological Survey, Bureau of American Ethnology, and Department of Anthropology of the Smithsonian. From 1894-1897, he was the head of anthropology at the Field Columbian Museum (Field Museum of Natural History) and on the staff of the University of Chicago. During this time, he carried out investigations of ancient ruins in the Yucatan and other areas of Mesoamerica as a member of an expedition of Allison V. Armour. Many of the prints in this collection seem to relate to that expedition, and similar images were published in Holmesʹs reports in the Field Columbian Museum Anthropological Series, volume 1, number 1, 1895. Holmes served as head curator for the US National Museum Department of Anthropology from 1897-1902 and head of the BAE from 1902-1909.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 73-44, NAA Photo Lot 66B, USNM ACC 89688
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photo Lot 66B has been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 73-44. These photographs were also collected by William Henry Holmes and form part of this collection.
Correspondence by Holmes can be found throughout the National Anthropological Archives in MS 7206, the records of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and the records of the Department of Anthropology.
Manuscripts and notes by Holmes can be found throughout the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4698, MS 2125, MS 7112, and MS 7570.
The William Henry Holmes Papers, 1870-1931 (SIA RU007084), are held by the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot 73-44, William Henry Holmes photograph collection relating to archeological sites in Mexico and Mesoamerica, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Obsidian craft production in ancient central Mexico : archaeological research at Xochicalco / Kenneth G. Hirth with contributions by Bradford Andrews ... [et al.]
