Photographs made by Amos Burg in the coastal areas between Buenos Aires,Argentina, and Chiloe Island, Chile. Most depict the area around the Strait of Magellan, and include images of terrain, harbors, ships and shipping facilities, industries, and towns, though there are also some images relating to Yahgan peoples.
Biographical/Historical note:
Amos Burg (1901-1986) was a writer, photographer, and filmmaker for National Geographic, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and ERPI Classroom Films. He sailed around Cape Horn in a small boat in 1933-1934 and documented the trip for the National Geographic Society (NGS). Burg later obtained the release of negatives and prints from NGS to the Ethnogeographic Board, a World War II agency located in the Smithsonian. In turn, the board furnished copies to the US Navy and Army. Burg moved to Alaska in the 1950s, where he established the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Information and Education Section.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 88-36
Location of Other Archival Materials:
An additional Burg photograph can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 8.
A film by Burg can be found in the Human Studies Film Archives in HSFA 94.9.1.
The Alaska State Library and Oregon Historical Society hold Burg's papers and photographs, including original negatives.
Records relating to the Ethnogeographic Board can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the papers of Henry Bascom Collins and Homer Garner Barnett.
Records of the Ethnogeographic Board can be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in SIA RU000087.
Photographs made in Patagonia by John Bell Hatcher during his expeditions to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. They document Tehuelche and Yahgan peoples, dwellings, and the natural environment.
Biographical/Historical note:
John Bell Hatcher (1861-1904) was a paleontologist known for his work at Yale and Princeton Universities and the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Hatcher was born in Cooperstown, Illinois, but shortly thereafter his family permanently settled in Iowa. After studying for a few months at Grinnell College, Iowa, he transferred to Yale University, where he met paleontologist Othniel Marsh. Following Hatcher's graduation in 1884, he worked as Marsh's assistant, and in 1893 left Yale to became curator of vertebrate paleontology at Princeton University. During his time with Princeton, Hatcher made three expeditions to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (1896-1899) under the university's sponsorship. During these expedtitions, he also worked under commission by the Bureau of American Ethnology to collect material culture and make photographs of the Tehuelche and Yahgan communities, most of which were then purchased by the National Museum. Hatcher was appointed curator of peolontology and osteology at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh in 1900, though his narrative of the Patagonia expeditions was published by Princeton in 1903.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 124
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Hatcher photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 14, Photo Lot 24 and Photo Lot 97
Correspondence to and from Hatcher is held in National Anthropological Archives MS 4029 and the records of the Bureau of American Ethnology and in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in SIA RU000248.
Artifacts collected by Hatcher are held in the Department of Anthropology collections in accessions 035249 and 035895.
See others in:
John Bell Hatcher photographs relating to Patagonia, circa 1896-1899
The S.K. Lothrop collection primarily contains negatives, photographic prints, and lantern slides made by Lothrop while employed by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. Lothrop traveled on behalf of the Museum to New Mexico, Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru. The four New Mexico negatives in this collection date from 1915, before Lothrop worked for the Museum, and depict scenes around Zuni. During his 1924 trip to El Salvador, Lothrop photographed volcanos, archaeological sites, antiquities, the landscape, villages, and native peoples engaged in pottery and rope making, food preparation, house building, and ceremonial activities. The 1925 views particularly concentrate on Argentina (but also Chile and Peru). The Argentina materials include views made in the Tierra del Fuego (also part of Chile), including depictions of the daily lives and ceremonial activities of natives peoples of Tierra del Fuego--Selk'nam (Ona) and Yámana (Yagán/Yahgan); the Patagonia landscape; and excavations undertaken by the Museum's La Plata Expedition. The 1928 Guatemala views include depictions of Mayan ruins of Zaculeu and of Tz'utuhil Maya (Tzutuhil/Zutigil), Quiché Maya (Quiche), and Kaqchikel Maya (Cakchiquel) people engaged in weaving, rope making, canoeing, and ceremonial actitivies. The collection also contains photographs made by Lothrop before he worked for the Museum, including 1915 views of effigy mounds in Wisconsin and views at Hopi, Acoma, and Santa Clara; 1917 views of Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica, and El Salvador; and 1918 views of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Nicaragua.
Samuel Kirkland Lothrop was an archaeologist and photographer who extensively traveled and worked throughout Central America and South America. George Gustav Heye originally hired Lothrop to research native Guatemalan and El Salvadoran textiles and pottery. He subsequently excavated on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian in such places as the Tierra del Fuego. Here he photographed indigenous communities who would not survive the twentieth century as a distinct culture group. In 1923, he also photographed the activities of the Hendricks-Hodge Hawikku Expedition excavations. In addition to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, the Peabody Museum and the Carnegie Institute sponsored his research and archaeological work.
Provenance:
Historically, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation managed all photographic and related manuscript collections separately. This collection description represents current management practices of organizing and contextualizing related archival materials.
Restrictions:
Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.
Rights:
Copyright: National Museum of the American Indian
Topic:
Indians of Central America -- Guatemala -- Photographs Search this
Indians of Central America -- El Salvador -- Photographs Search this
Fuegians -- Social life and customs -- Photographs Search this
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Argentina -- Photographs Search this
Genre/Form:
Lantern slides
Photographs
Negatives
Photographic prints
Citation:
S. K. Lothrop collection of negatives, photographs and lantern slides, 1915-1928, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).
MAI Tierra del Fuego Expedition (1924-1925) (Lothrop Tierra del Fuego Expedition) Search this
Expedition leader:
Samuel Kirkland Lothrop (S.K. Lothrop/SKL), Non-Indian, 1892-1965 Search this
Possible owner:
Mary (unknown surname), Yámana (Yagán/Yahgan) Search this
Wife of Manuel (unknown surname), Yámana (Yagán/Yahgan) Search this
Object Name:
Necklace
Media/Materials:
Shell/shells, sinew
Techniques:
Strung
Object Type:
Adornment/Jewelry
Native Term:
apúrrshka
Place:
Puerto Mejillones or Puerto Piedra; Isla Navarino (Navarin Island); Antártica Chilena Province; Magallanes y Antártica Chilena Region XII; Chile (inferred)
