Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art

Beatrix Heintze postcards, EEPA 2003-002, between 1905-1938

Summary

Collection ID:
EEPA.2003-002
Dates:
between 1905-1938
Languages:
Undetermined
.
Physical Description:
15 Postcards
black & white
9 x 14 cm.
Repository:
Container:
1
Postcards collected by Leo Frobenius (1873-1938), who was an eminent German ethnographer, scholar and writer. He founded the Frobenius-Institut in Frankfurt, which exists to this day. It is likely that he collected them during his 1926 expedition to explore rock painting in the Nubian desert, which took him to Upper Egypt and to the Sudan. Another possibility is that he collected the cards on one of his later expeditions to North Africa or even purchased them in Europe. Eleven postcards belong to a series published by G.N. Morhig, the English Pharmacy in Khartoum, a town Frobenius must have visited during his 1926 expedition. They depict peoples in the Sudan (Nubians, Arab, Shilluk, Tonga, Bari and Jur) and their various dress and adornment. Two photographic postcards by M. Venieris depict a dance, and, Ab del gadir-Wad Halomia, "the rebel of April 1908," clearly is republished from an earlier image. The remaining postcards are part of the typical Orientalist depictions of women and children. J. Geiser of Aligiers is one of the publishers.

Arrangement note

Arrangement note
postcards:organized in one volumes

Administration

Author
Paul Wood
Custodial History note
Originally collected by Leo Frobenius (1873-1928), an eminent German ethnographer; maintained by a former student of Frobenius, Dr. Hildegrad Klein, who in turn gave them to Dr. Beatrice Heintze. Heintze donated the postcards to the National Museum of African Art in 2003.

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
Picture postcards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Egypt Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Algeria Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Africa Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sudan Geographic 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