Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art

Keystone-Underwood stereographs, EEPA 1986-022

Summary

Collection ID:
EEPA.1986-022
Creators:
Keystone View Company
Underwood & Underwood
Dates:
1882-1930
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
240 Stereographs
black and white
9 x 22 cm.
Repository:
Container:
1
2
The photographs document African businesses, cities, industry, landscapes, peoples and resources. The collection documents various locations within Kenya, Tanzania, Congo (Democratic Republic of), Zimbabwe, Uganda and South Africa. Peoples represented include Kikuyu, Maasai, Bangi, Chagga, Ndombe, Poto, Bangala, Zulu, and Kongo peoples. There are many images of agriculture, hunting, making pottery, mining diamonds and gold, church services at a Catholic mission, a gathering of chiefs at a court, a lion-killing ceremony, and war dances. Businesses and industries shown include coffee plantations; the DeBeers Diamond Mine; a diamond mine compound and crushing mill; fishing boats; a hemp plantation; ivory trade; a market; and the stock market.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The photographs document African businesses, cities, industry, landscapes, peoples and resources. Place documented include Moshi Province, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru, the Serengeti Plain (Kenya), and Zanzibar in German East Africa (now Tanzania); Victoria Falls and the Zambezi River in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe); Cape Town, Devil's Peak, Johannesburg, Kimberly, Natal Province, and Port Elizabeth in South Africa; the waterfront of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Soko, Boma, Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), and Stanley Falls (now Boyoma Falls). There are also photographs of the Nile during a flood.
People portrayed include a Kikuyu man paying brideprice for a wife; Kikuyu women carrying water vessels and planting beans; Maasai women building houses; Swahili people dancing; Swahili women using a power figure to ward off evil; and Zulu men training for war. Other peoples portrayed include Bangala, Bangi, Chagga, Kongo, Ndombe and Poto.
Activities documented include buying ivory, carrying rubber, clearing the ground for a coffee plantation, fishing, gambling, grinding corn, hunting zebra, making pottery, mining diamonds and gold, peeling bark for bark cloth, picking coffee, preparing food, smoking meat, threshing beans, and tying house poles. There are also images of church services at a Catholic mission, a gathering of chiefs at a court, a lion-killing ceremony, and war dances.
Businesses and industries shown include coffee plantations in Rhodesia; the DeBeers Diamond Mine in South Africa; a diamond mine compound and crushing mill; fishing boats off Cape Town; a hemp plantation in Uganda; ivory trade in Mombasa, Kenya; a market; and the stock market in Johannesburg.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
In 1882 the Underwood and Underwood Company began operations in Kansas. Founded by brothers Bert Elias (1862-1943) and Elmer (1860-1947) Underwood, the company pioneered the technique of selling stereographs door-to-door. By 1884, Underwood and Underwood's operations had expanded to the West Coast, and the company soon opened offices throughout the world. In the 1890s, the firm began selling images to publications such as Illustrated London News and Harper's Weekly. At its peak in the early 19th century, the company produced 25,000 images per day.
In the late 1910s, Underwood and Underwood was purchased by a competing stereograph company, the Keystone View Company.

Administration

Author
Christraud Geary
Custodial History note
Stereographs assembled by the staff of the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives of the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, from various donors. The stereographs were produced commercially by the Keystone View Company and the Underwood and Underwood Company, mass publishers and distributers of stereographic views.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access note
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Conditions Governing Use note
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Marketplaces Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cultural landscapes Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zimbabwe Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bangi Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kongo (African people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ngala (African people) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zulu (African people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Swahili-speaking peoples Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
South Africa Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Congo (Democratic Republic) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Africa Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tanzania Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kenya Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Agriculture Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kikuyu (African people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stereographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Maasai (African people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Industry Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
National Museum of African Art (U.S.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
National Museum of African Art
P.O. Box 37012
MRC 708
Washington, DC 20013-7012
elisofonarchives@si.edu