Scope and Contents note

The bulk of the collection consists of photographs documenting Indigenous peoples of Central America, including Cheripo, Guatuso, Talamanca, and Guatemala people. Additional photographs document stone artifacts found at grave sites, Panamanian women, people in Bogata, and a museum in San Jose, Costa Rica. The photographs may have been collected by Robert Thomas Hill from H. N. Rudd, a postcard publisher in Costa Rica. A letter from Rudd to Hill is also in the collection.

Biographical/Historical note

Robert Thomas Hill (1858-1941) was a geologist best known for his work in Texas for the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Hill was orphaned during the Civil War and raised by his grandmother. While employed at his brother's newspaper in Comanche, Texas, he developed an interest in collecting rocks and fossils. In 1887, he earned a BS in geology from Cornell University. Hill worked for the USGS from 1885 to 1903 and is credited with discovering the Comanche Series of the Lower Cretaceous strata. Additionally, he conducted some preliminary studies in Central America and the West Indies between 1894 and 1902, collecting for the Bureau of American Ethnology and the United States National Museum. Hill resigned from the USGS in 1903 to pursue personal interests in geology and Texas history.

Location of Other Archival Materials

This collection has been relocated from Photo Lot 123.

Location of Other Archival Materials

Correspondence from Hill is held in the National Anthropological Archives in records of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Location of Other Archival Materials

Artifacts collected by Hill are held in the Department of Anthropology collections in accessions 035646, 053949, 028088, and 034831.

Location of Other Archival Materials

The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds a field notebook from Hill (1895, 1924) in SIA ACC. 12-126. Southern Methodist University, DeGolyer Library, and Autry Center's Braun Research Library, hold collections of Hill's papers.