Negatives and photographic prints taken by John Peabody Harrington in Santa Barbara and Ventura County, California in 1923. John Peabody Harrington (1884-1961) was an ethnologist and linguist who specialized in the Native peoples of California and served with the U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology from 1915 to 1955. Beyond his efforts to document innumerable Native languages, Harrington also collected objects for the Bureau of Ethnology and on his own. Photographs in this collection accompanied the objects he sold to or collected for the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
Scope and Contents:
The John Peabody Harrington photographs from California include negatives and photographic prints taken in 1923 by Harrington while in the field. All of the negatives were taken at the Ventura County fair in the fall of 1923. These photographs depict a group of Chumash men building a grass lodge, organized by J.P. Harrington, as well as Bob Bautista, a Tachi Yokuts man, demonstrating traditional boat and house building. George Gustav Heye is pictured in several shots while the Chumash grass lodge is being built. Prints [P11568-P11572] were made from the aforementioned negatives. There is also one copy negative made from one of the subsequent prints.
The remainder of the photographic prints in this collection were taken during the Burton Mound expedition, funded by Thea Heye and led by John Peabody Harrington in 1923. Photographs taken by Harrington show workers excavating the mound as well images of the mound itself. There are four additional photographs from Burton Mound that were not taken by Harrington. These include an image Of J.P Harrington, D.B. Rogers and George W. Bayley standing with excavated materials. Some of these photographs have been restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
John Peabody Harrington (1884-1961) was an ethnologist and linguist employed by the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) for forty years, from 1915 to 1955. He came to the Smithsonian after training at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. He became interested in Native American languages upon meeting historically renowned anthropologist A. L. Kroeber. J. P. Harrington was reportedly fluent in nine international languages and eighteen Native American languages.
In 1923, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye foundation provided funding for J.P. Harrington to lead an expedition in Santa Barbara, California to excavate the Burton Mound.
Additional information on John Peabody Harrington can be found on the National Anthropological Archives' website, home to his collection.
Related Materials:
Archaeological materials excavated from Burton Mound can be found in NMAI's archaeological collection. For more information on these object please contact NMAICollections@si.edu.
Provenance:
The negatives were acquired from John Peabody Harrington by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation shortly after they were taken in 1923. It is likely that prints [P11568-P11572] were made from the negatives some time in the 1930s. Prints from Burton Mound [P09497-P09502] were cataloged by the MAI in 1929 though the additional Burton Mound prints arrived with the collection in 1923. The provenance of P06039 and P28107 is unknown.
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).
Some images restriced: Cultural Sensitivity.
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.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); John Peabody Harrington photographs from California, Photo Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
The collection consists of photographs relating to Native Americans, which were submitted to the copyright office of the Library of Congress in and around the early 20th century. Many of the photographs are studio portraits as well as photographs made as part of expeditions and railroad surveys. It includes images of people, dwellings and other structures, agriculture, arts and crafts, burials, ceremonies and dances, games, food preparation, transportation, and scenic views. Some of the photographs were posed to illustrate literary works, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Hiawatha, while others depict paintings or other artwork.
Collection is organized alphabetically by copyright claimant.
Biographical/Historical note:
The collection was formed from submissions made to the Library of Congress as part of the copyright registration process. In 1949, arrangements were made to allow the Bureau of American Ethnology to copy the collection and some negatives were made at that time, largely from the Heyn and Matzen photographs. The project was soon abandoned, however, as too large an undertaking for the facilities of the BAE. In 1957-1958, arrangements were begun by William C. Sturtevant of the BAE to transfer a set of the photographs from the Library of Congress to the BAE.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 59
Provenance:
In 1965, the Bureau merged with the Smithsonian's Department of Anthropology to form the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology, and in 1968 the Office of Anthropology Archives transformed into the National Anthropological 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 59, Library of Congress Copyright Office photograph collection of Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photographs depicting Native American baskets and portraits of Native Americans with whom C. Hart Merriam worked, as well as scenic views and images of animals and plants, mostly in California. Many of the photographs were made by Merriam himself or his daughter Zenaida Merriam Talbot. In addition, Merriam collected photographs from other researchers and photographers, including J. S. Diller, John Peabody Harrington, Henry Wetherbee Henshaw, and O. E. Meddaugh. There are also images acquired from the Boysen Studio of Yosemite and photographs of Mark Twain, John Muir, basketmaker Maggie James, and Merriam's family.
Biographical/Historical note:
Clinton Hart Merriam (1855-1942) was a Columbia University-educated physician who worked as a naturalist, including as head of the Biological Survey for the US Department of Agriculture. He joined the Harriman Alaska Expedition as a zoologist in 1899. In 1910, he left the USDA and began to conduct research among California tribes. Financed by Mary W. Harriman and the E. H. Harriman Fund administered by the Smithsonian, he researched tribes' vocabularies, history, mythology, crafts (particularly basketmaking) until about 1936. His resarch was assisted by his daughter, Zenaida, who took photographs and painted glass slides for him. Merriam served as President of the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1920-1921.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 74-27
General note:
Additional information supplied by Marvin Shodas.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Merriam's notes held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 1563 and in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in SIA Acc. 12-264.
Additional photographs by Merriam held in the National Museum of American Indian Archives in the Mary Harriman Rumsey Photograph Collection and the Harriman Alaska Expedition Photograph Collection.
Correspondence from Merriam held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4558, the Department of Anthropology records (Manuscript and Pamphlet file), Bureau of American Ethnology records, J.C. Pilling Papers, Ales Hrdlicka Papers, and Jesse Logan Nusbaum Papers.
The Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkeley holds the C. Hart Merriam Papers, C. Hart Merriam Collection of Native American Photographs (prints corresponding to negatives in this collection), and C. Hart Merriam pictorial collection.
Image number 011 "Holiday Handcraft" has been removed from the slideshow due to culutral sensitivity.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
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.
