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
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Copy prints
Prints
Photographs
Place:
New Mexico -- Antiquities
Alaska
Mississippi
Pueblo Bonito Site (N.M.)
Date:
circa 1920-1936
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs depicting crews, camps, artifacts, and excavated areas from various archeological digs and anthropological expeditions. These include Neil Merton Judd's archeological excavations at Pueblo Bonito, Collins and Hermes Knoblock measuring Choctaw people in Mississippi, James Alfred Ford and Paul Silook at Miyowagh on St. Lawrence Island, and Ford at Cape Prince of Wales.
Biographical/Historical note:
Henry B. Collins (1899-1987) began his career in anthropology as an assistant on Neil M. Judd's 1922-1924 expeditions to Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico. In 1924, he became an aid in the United States National Museum Division of Ethnology and shortly afterwards was promoted to assistant curator. He received a Masters in Anthropology from the George Washington University in 1925 and was appointed associate curator in 1938. In 1939, Collins took a position as senior ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology and became acting director in 1963. When the BAE and the Department of Anthropology were merged in 1965, Collins became a senior scientist in the new Smithsonian Office of Anthropology. He was appointed archeologist emeritus in 1967.
Collins' independent field work during the early part of his career focused on the American South, in which he conducted investigations relating to the Choctaw and to areas whose cultural history was little known. Collins is most recognized, however, for his efforts in Arctic archeology. Between 1927 and 1936, he and colleagues, including James A. Ford and T. Dale Stewart, focused on the Bering Sea area and the Arctic coasts of Alaska, including St. Lawrence Island, Nunivak Island, the Diomedes, Punuk Island, Bristol Bay, Norton Sound, Point Hope, Cape Prince of Wales, the Aleutians, and the interior of the Seward Peninsula.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 82-23
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds Henry Bascom Collins's papers, as well as those of James Alfred Ford.
Additional photographs by Collins can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 28, Photo Lot 86-42, Photo Lot 86-43, and Photo Lot 86-59.
Additional papers by Collins can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4908, MS 4976, and MS 4977.
Additional photographs of Pueblo Bonito by O. C. Havens can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo lot 83-16.
Indians of North America -- Southern states Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo Lot 82-23, Henry Bascom Collins photograph collection relating to Pueblo Bonito, Mississippi Choctaws, and Alaska, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Anthropometric portraits of Maya people in the vicinity of Chichen Itza, probably made for Steggerda's Carnegie Institution publication 434, "Anthropometry of Adult Maya Indians: A Study of Their Physical and Physiological Characteristics," 1932.
Biographical/Historical note:
Morris Steggerda (1900-1950) was a biological anthropologist who studied Mayan culture. He received his BA from Hope College in Michigan (1922) and his MA (1923) and PhD (1928) from the University of Illinois Department of Zoology. While still in his PhD program, he met Charles Davenport of the Department of Genetics at Carnegie Institution of Washington, with whom he studied the indigenous people of the British West Indies and published Race-Crossing in Jamaica (1929). Steggerda became an assistant professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, (1928-1930) before joining the research staff of the Carnegie Institution Department of Genetics based in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York. During his fourteen-year career with the Institution, Steggerda did research in Yucatan, Mexico, and wrote two reports that were published by the Carnegie Institution in 1932 and 1941. In 1944, he was appointed professor of Anthropology at Hartford Seminary Foundation (Connecticut), a position which he kept until his death. Steggerda was a founding member of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in 1930 (later serving on its Executive Committee and as its vice president) and a councilmember for the American Anthropological Association.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 3319
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Steggerda photographs held in the National Anthropological Archives in the Bureau of American Ethnology-Smithsonian Institution Illustrations.
Correspondence from Steggerda held in the National Anthropological Archives in the Handbook of South American Indians Records, Bureau of American Ethnology General correspondence, John Lawrence Angel Papers, Ales Hrdlicka Papers, and MS 4846.
The Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine holds the Steggerda Collection of anthropometric records.
The papers of Lawrence Oschinsky primarily document his research and professional activities from 1940s-1965 as an American physical anthropologist, but include some personal materials as well. The collection contains his published works, dissertations, field notes, correspondence, teaching materials, and many photographs depicting both his personal travels and his research subjects in the Canadian Arctic, Africa, Asia, and other regions.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Lawrence Oschinsky primarily document his professional life and research on the racial affinities and evolutionary characteristics of various peoples. The collection contains his published works, dissertations, field notes, correspondence, teaching materials, and many photographs depicting both his personal travels and his research subjects in the Canadian Arctic, Africa, Asia, and other regions.
Arrangement:
The Lawrence Oschinsky papers are organized into 9 series:
Series 1: Personal Information and Effects
Series 2: Correspondence
Series 3: Education
Series 4: Research and Notes
Series 5: Published Works
Series 6: Writings
Series 7: Teaching Materials
Series 8: Photographs
Series 9: Motion picture film
Biographical / Historical:
Lawrence Oschinsky was born on April 19, 1921, to Lea Pollak Oschinsky and John Oschinsky in New York City. He received his B.A. degree from Brooklyn College in 1943, where he was first drawn to anthropology. In 1947 he received his master's degree in Anthropology from the University of Chicago, with the thesis entitled "Islam in Chicago: Being a Study of the Acculturation of a Muslim Palestinian Community in That City." He attended the University of Zurich from 1947-1950 pursuing graduate coursework in anthropology.
From 1950-1951 he was instructor of anatomy at Makerere College Medical School, in Kampala Uganda, studying the racial affinities of various African tribes. From 1951-1952 he was a Research Student at the University of Cambridge, England. He returned to the University of Zurich in 1952 and received his PhD in Anthropology. His doctoral dissertation, published in 1953, was entitled "The Racial Affinities of the Baganda and Other Bantu Tribes of British East Africa." In October 1953, Oschinsky returned to the United States and began his teaching and research career as an Instructor in Physical Anthropology at the Graduate School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He also acted as research assistant to Dr. Wilton M. Krogman, Professor of Physical Anthropology, and took anthropometric measurements of school children for Krogman's child growth research program.
Concurrently, Oschinsky cooperated with police and other agencies in the forensic identification of unknown human remains and cases of disputed paternity. Toward the end of 1953, he obtained a position as a Research Scholar in Physical Anthropology at the United States Educational Foundation in Burma. He spent a year studying the peoples of Burma in relation to those of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaya, and the Philippines. From 1956-1957, he was an Instructor in Anatomy at Howard University Medical School in Washington, DC. During 1957-1958, he was Visiting Lecturer in Physical Anthropology at the University of Arizona, Tucson. In 1958, Oschinsky was offered the position of Curator of Physical Anthropology at the National Museum of Canada, in Ottawa, where he devoted himself to an intensive study of the museum's osteological collections. In 1962 he became a part-time instructor in Physical Anthropology at St. Patrick's College, University of Ottawa. In July 1963, Oschinsky became Assistant Professor, and later Associate Professor of Physical Anthropology, University of Toronto, where he taught for the rest of his career. He died on December 19, 1965.
Oschinsky wrote several scientific papers during these years, culminating in 1964 with the monograph The Most Ancient Eskimos: The Eskimo Affinities of Dorset Culture Skeletal Remains.. In this book, Oschinsky explored Eskimo prehistory via skeletal specimens.
Chronology
1921 April 19 -- Born in New York City, NY
1939-1943 -- Bachelor of Arts, Brooklyn College
1943-1947 -- Masters in Anthropology, University of Chicago
1947-1950 -- Graduate Coursework in Anthropology, University of Zurich
1950-1951 -- Anatomy instructor; studied racial affinities of African tribes, Makerere College Medical School, Uganda
1951-1952 -- Research student, University of Cambridge, England
1952-53 -- PhD in Physical Anthropology, University of Zurich
1953 -- Worked with police and other agencies in the forensic identification of unknown human remains and cases of disputed paternity
1953-1954 -- Instructor, Physical Anthropology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Research assistant to Dr. Wilton M. Krogman; took anthropometric measurements of schoolchildren for Krogman's child growth research program.
1954-1955 -- Research scholar in Physical Anthropology, United States Educational Foundation, Burma (currently Myanmar)
1956-1957 -- Instructor in Anatomy, Howard University Medical School, Washington, D.C.
1957-1958 -- Visiting Lecturer in Physical Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson
1958-1963 -- Curator of Physical Anthropology, National Museum of Canada, Ottawa
1962 -- Part-time instructor in Physical Anthropology, St. Patrick's College, University of Ottawa
1963-1965 -- Assistant Professor of Physical Anthropology, University of Toronto
1964 -- Published monograph, The Most Ancient Eskimos: The Eskimo Affinities of Dorset Culture Skeletal Remains
1965 December 19 -- Died in Toronto, Ontario
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological archives holds the records of the Wilton M. Krogman Center for Research in Child Growth and Development.
Separated Materials:
Oschinsky's measuring instruments and a number of dental casts were transferred to the biological anthropology collections of the National Museum of Natural History.
Provenance:
The papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Lawrence Oschinsky's nephew, Scott Fuller, in 2016.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to the Lawrence Oschinsky papers requires an appointment.
Notebook containing linguistic, ethnological, and anthropometric notes on the Chippewa collected by Truman Michelson in L'Anse and Baraga in Michigan. His notes include Chippewa words and phrases with glosses in English, stories, and anthropometric measurements.
See MS 7230 for translations of stories.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 1830
Local Note:
Title changed from "Linguistics and ethnology" 3/13/2014.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Schultz, Adolph H. (Adolph Hans), 1891- Search this
Extent:
1 Print (silver gelatin)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Prints
Photographs
Date:
1949
Scope and Contents note:
Image of Schultz doing cranial measurements of Gargantua at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Schultz signed the negative (in the emulsion).
Biographical/Historical note:
Robert W. Kelley was a photographer for Life magazine from 1947 to 1966. When the circus gorilla Gargantua died, its body was shipped to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore for examination and autopsy by physical anthropologist Adolph Schultz.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 86-36
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Correspondence and writings by Schultz can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4821 and the papers of Ales Hrdlicka, Muazaffer Suleyman Senyurek, and John Lawrence Angel.
This published account follows the manuscript in the main, with minor editorial changes, especially in the paragraphing and in arrangement of the sections. However, there are some paragraphs and several entire sections in the manuscript which do not appear in the published account. Manuscript page number 160-163. "Boats." Includes drawing of oomiak, kayak, and birchbark canoe, page 161. 163-165. "Houses." Includes drawing of ground plan and cross-section, page 164. 165-167. "Clothing." 167. "Tanning Skins." 167-168. "Thread, Rope, etc." 168-169. Line drawing and description of Malemute sledge. 175-179. "The Second Expedition. ...lists of the provisions, small stores and clothing, outfit, and trade articles of the expedition." 180-199. "Aurora." Observations, August 25, 1885-May 31, 1886. 200-207. "Explorer, Engines and Boiler; Particulars and Dimensions." 208-209. "First Expedition. Stores taken in stem cutter Helena on her survey trip." 210-216; Measurements of Uneluk, Putnam River Malemute, male, aged 32; [217-219] Apaucuk, No-to-ark River, Malemute, male, aged ca. 42; Tatantuk, Norton Sound Malemute, age unknown. [220-238] "Meteorological Observations," including original data sheets.
Manuscript page Number 8. Paragraph concerning native village, N.W. side of Nunivak Island. 10. Paragraph concerning native village, S.W. side of Sledge Island. 60. "Ground plan of hut showing interior." Ink diagram of hut described in published text, page 40. 82. "Section of hut showing interior." Diagram of hut described in published text, page 46. 121-22. "The Chipp or Ik-pik-puk River." 122-122 1/2. "The Colville or Kinyanook River." 127. "Puberty" and "Birth." (Published version lists "Parturation" in contents, but does not treat it in text.) 129. Native population figures. 134-35. Last paragraph of "Doctors" section, describing cure for petty illnesses, using shaman's belt and a stick. (Last 3 paragraphs in published version under "Doctors," pages 90-91, are not in Manuscript.) 139. Diagram of deer drive. 152-157. Legends." (Published version lists in Contents, "Native Legends as Chap. XIII, but this chapter is not in text. Chap. XIV of the Contents, "All Aboard for Home," is not in the published text, nor is it in the Manuscript.) 157-60. "Trade." Gives "articles most in demand," and "price list obtained from the traders" with value of trade goods in terms of number of skins.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2925
Local Note:
See Lt. George M. Stoney, Naval Explorations in Alaska; An Account of Two Naval Expeditions to Northern Alaska, with Official Maps of the Country Explored, U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, 1900, 105 pages, 3 maps, 7 plates. line drawings.
Mostly portraits of Albert Attocknie (Lone Tipi) and William H. Egberts made by De Lancey Gill and collected by Alice Cunningham Fletcher. The collection also includes a photograph depicting Smithsonian employee Paul C. Natta measuring Native Americans, a portrait of Charlie Saplish (Doctor or Chief Whirlwind), and another photograph of French Marshal Ferdinand Foch with Plenty Coups in 1921.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 81-7
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional photographs collected by the Division of Physical Anthropology can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the Division of Physical Anthropology Photograph Collection 1850s-1960s (Photo Lot 8).
Additional photographs of Attocknie and Egberts made by Gill, including original negatives, can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24 and the BAE historical negatives.
Additional photographs of Charlie Saplish can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24.
Additional photographs of Plenty Coups can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4423, Photo Lot 78-41, Photo Lot 86-46, Photo Lot 87-2, Photo Lot 90-1, and Photo Lot 89-8.
Photo Lot 81-7, Division of Physical Anthropology photographs of Albert Attocknie and other Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Field notes
Narratives
Manuscripts
Date:
1931
Scope and Contents:
Truman Michelson's anthropometric measurements of 23 Southern Cheyennes and a personal narrative by Mack Haag, also a Southern Cheyenne. The anthropometric data include tables of measurements and standard deviations. Haag's text, handwritten by him in English, is about consulting a Cheyenne medicine man and courtship and marriage customs. Includes occasional notes by Michelson.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3337
Local Note:
Title changed from "Anthropometrical data on 23 Southern Cheyennes, with tables of measurements and standard deviations Summer, 1931" 4/3/2014.
According to Explorations and Field Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1923 (Pub. 2752), Truman Michelson travelled to St. John's in Newfoundland and Labrador in June 1923 where he made cranial measurements of four Beothuk skulls. These undated notes, most likely from that work, consist of Michelson's measurements of the skulls of a Beothuk child, two adult males, and an adult female.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 1320
Local Note:
Title updated from "Physical anthropology of Newfoundland" 4/3/2014.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Field notes
Folklore
Narratives
Manuscripts
Place:
Fort Washakie (Wyo.)
Date:
1927
Scope and Contents:
Texts and anthropometric measurements collected by Truman Michelson during his research among the Arapaho at Fort Washakie, Wyoming. The texts consists of two stories handwritten by Michelson. The first story is in Arapaho with an interlineal English translation. The second story is in English and titled "N. runs a race with elk." The anthropometric measurements are primarily of Arapaho people, but includes measurements of people of other Native and European backgrounds. Included are the measurements of Harry Lincoln, who frequently assisted Truman Michelson with his Meskwaki research. It is unclear if all the measurements were collected in Wyoming as Lincoln resided in Iowa.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3353
Local Note:
Title changed from "Physical anthropology" 5/28/2014.
Topic:
Indians of North America -- anthropometry Search this
Department of Anthropology photographs of busts in the Biological Anthropology collection
Creator:
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Department of Anthropology Search this
Extent:
350 Negatives (photographic) (circa, nitrate)
350 Prints (circa, silver gelatin and contact prints)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Negatives (photographic)
Prints
Photographs
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs of busts and, in the case of infants, head and body casts made by A. Joseph Andrews. Generally, images consist of front, rear, and two side views. The busts show American white infants, females, males; NAtive American males and females; African American males and females; and a pygmy male. The persons are identified by name and age and included with the collection are lists by William H. Egbert, preparator of the Anthropology Laboratory, with additional details.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Biological Anthropology collection holds thousands of face molds and busts, which represent ethnic groups from around the world. Molds were often made by William H. Egbert and busts were sculpted by A. Joseph Andrews. Many of the busts were commissioned by Ales Hrdlicka, a curator in the Department of Anthropology, and the living masks include well-known Native Americans who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 88-25
Former Title:
Referred to as Photo Lot 95-38 in Guide to the National Anthropological Archives (1996)
Local Notes:
Prints were made from the negatives; in some cases there are duplicate prints.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photographs used to make busts in the collection can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the Ales Hrdlicka Papers and Photo Lot 9.
Photographs of finished busts can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 8.
The Department of Anthropology holds 3,000 face molds and busts, including many of those pictured.
Restrictions:
Nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require advanced notice for viewing.
Photo Lot 88-25, Department of Anthropology photographs of busts in the Biological Anthropology collection, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Folklore
Narratives
Manuscripts
Place:
Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation (Mont.)
Date:
1931 August
Scope and Contents:
Two notebooks containing notes from Truman Michelson's research at the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. One notebook contains anthropometric measurements of approximately 115 Cheyennes, identified by name, age, and tribal lineage. The second notebook contains stories by Ruben Black Horse, Mrs. High Walker, and Mrs. Black Crane, handwritten in English. William Rowland served as Michelson's interpreter.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3219
Local Note:
Title changed from "Anthropometrical data on 105 Cheyennes, identified by name, age, and tribal lineage August 11, 1931" 5/27/2014.
Topic:
Indians of North America -- anthropometry Search this
Assortment of notes and texts collected by Truman Michelson on the Cree at James Bay and Hudson Bay. Includes extracts from notes in Manuscript 3411 on Weenusk boundaries and dialect classifictions of Ghost River Cree, Le Ronge Cree, and Trout Lake Cree; references to publications on Cree; some notes on Island Lake Cree, God's Lake Cree, and Oxford House Cree; Albany Cree vocabulary from William (likely Etherington) and Stanley Lutet (or Loutet); anthropometric measurements of Attawapiskat Cree; and a story in Moose Cree syllabary by John Fletcher.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3413
Local Note:
Title changed from "Texts 1936" 6/5/2014.
Other Archival Materials:
See Manuscript 3411 for English translation of John Fletcher's Moose Cree text.
Truman Michelson's field notes consisting of anthropometric measurements and notes on the linguistics and ethnography of the Montagnais. These were collected by Michelson in Point-Bleue in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec. There are also a few references to the Mistassini and Têtes-de-Boules (Attikamek, Atikamekw).
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2212
Topic:
Indians of North America -- anthropometry Search this
