Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art

Lower Congo photographs, EEPA 1997-013, 1886-1888

Summary

Collection ID:
EEPA.1997-013
Dates:
1886-1888
Languages:
French
.
Physical Description:
53 Photographic prints
(1 album)
black & white
12 x 17 cm.
53 Negatives (photographic)
dupe negs
black & white
4 x 5 in.
53 Photographic prints
dupe prints (1 v.)
black & white
12 x 17 cm.
Repository:
Container:
53
1
1
Photographs assembled by Major Leon Roget, 1858-1909, in 1886 and 1888 in Boma, Congo Free State. Major Roget had organized the first companies of Force publique and had become its first commander (1886-1888). Most of the images are described in captions written on separate sheets by Rene J. Cornet, author of "La Bataille du Rail." Some images show the building of the railroad of the lower Congo (Matadi-Kinshasa), Katanga, and relate to the Belgian occupation and geological exploration of the Southeastern province and Maniema of the Belgian Congo by his father, Jules Cornet, 1865-1929. The majority of the images show architecture and colonial life in Boma and Matadi. They include a balloon ascent in 1889, a group of African men and women, African troops and African women with scarification. The most remarkable photographs include a picture of a Kongo burial ground, a studio photograph of a "horizontale" in Sierre Leone and a portrait of Makoleka, a "feticheur," who was executed for murder.

Arrangement note

Arrangement note
Images indexed by negative number.

Administration

Author
Paul Wood
Custodial History note
Purchased, 1997. Conserved through a preservation grant funded by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee, 2006.

Using the Collection

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

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Africa Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Congo (Democratic Republic) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographic prints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Boma (Congo) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Roget, Léon, Major, 1865-1929 Personal 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