National Anthropological Archives

Penoyer L. Sherman photographs of Philippine people, 1900

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.PhotoLot.106A
Creators:
Sherman, Penoyer L., Jr
Dates:
1900
Languages:
Undetermined
.
Physical Description:
38 Glass negatives
47 Gelatin silver prints
mounted
Repository:

Scope and Contents note

Scope and Contents note
Anthropometric photographs of Philippine peoples, made for the Pan-American Exposition by Penoyer L. Sherman on commission from Frank F. Hilder. Depicted are front, side, and back views of largely nude individual. Represented are Vicol (Bicol), Pangasinan, Ilocano, Tagalog, Visayan, Pambango peoples, and indivifuals of Chinese-Tagalog ancestry and Tagalog-Pampanga ancestry. Many of the photographs' mounts are marked with measurements of the depicted individual's stature.

Biographical/Historical note

Biographical/Historical note
In 1900, the United States Government Board of the Pan-American Exposition appointed Frank F. Hilder to travel to the Philippines and gather material for the government's exhibit on American colonial territories at the exposition in Buffalo, New York, the followng year. Hilder was a former British army officer, writer, and at the time employed by the Bureau of American Ethnology. Working under Smithsonian officials who were also exposition officials, Hilder was directed to "obtain such articles and information as will illustrate the natural resources of the islands, the characteristics and mode of life of the inhabitants, and the principal features and methods of government, past or present." Early thinking about the exhibit included the use of lay figures to represent the Philippine non-Christian tribes; and, accordingly, Hilder was instructed to collect a variety of photographs of these people.
When Hilder arrived in Manila, he engaged the services of Penoyer Levi Sherman, a chemist and associate of Dean C. Worcester of the Philippines Commission. Sherman had graduated from the University of Michigan and moved to the Philippines with the Bureau of Goverment Laboratories, for whom he wrote The Gutta Percha and Rubber of the Philippine Islands in 1903. Hilder hired Sherman to make photographs for the exhibition, which he did using Worcester's camera and darkroom; as a result of this loan of equipment, Worcester was then allowed to make his own copy negatives of Sherman's images.

Administration

Author
Sarah Ganderup
Custodial History note
Donated to the United States National Museum in 1901 (catalog numbers 210,801 and 210,802).

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access note
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Conditions Governing Use note
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Preferred Citation note
Photo lot 106A, Penoyer L. Sherman photographs of Philippine people, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Location of Other Archival Materials

Location of Other Archival Materials
Additional Penoyer L. Sherman photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 138.
Location of Other Archival Materials
Additional photographs collected by Frank F. Hilder for the Pan-American Exposition are held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 97.

More Information

Local Call Number(s)

Local Call Number(s)
NAA Photo Lot 106A


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Pangasinan (Philippines) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Physical anthropology Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Philippines Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bisaya (Philippine people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bikols (Philippine people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tagalog (Philippine people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chinese Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ilokanos (Philippine people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pampangan (Philippine people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Anthropological Archives
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