Ruth Leah Bunzel photographs of Quiche peoples of Guatemala, 1930-1932

Scope and Contents note

Photographs probably made by Ruth Bunzel during her fieldwork among the Quiche in Chichicastenango, Guatemala, in 1930-32. Images include Quiche individuals and families, a church (probably the Church of Santo Tomás), a procession and ceremony, and landscapes.

Biographical/Historical note

Ruth Leah Bunzel (1898-1990) started a career in anthropology after acquiring a secretarial job with Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1922. With support from Boas, Bunzel regularly traveled to the Southwest to study Zuni potters from 1924-1929. Studying under Boaz, she earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1929. Her papers on Zuni ceremonialism as well as creation myths, kachinas, and poetry were published in the 47th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. From 1930 to 1932 she studied the Highland Mayan village of Chichicastenango and later published Chichicastenango, A Guatemalan Village (1952). She also conducted fieldwork in the village of Chamula in Chiapas, Mexico, and published a comparative study of the two villages entitled "The Role of Alcoholism in Two Central American Communities" (1940).

Location of Other Archival Materials

The National Anthropological Archives holds the Ruth Lean Bunzel papers and drawings of Kachinas collected by Bunzel (MS 4609).

Location of Other Archival Materials

Correspondence between Bunzel and the BAE held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4846 and records of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Location of Other Archival Materials

A photograph of Bunzel held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 92-35.

Location of Other Archival Materials

A video oral history of Bunzel, created as part of the "History of Anthropology Series" produced by the University of Florida's Department of Anthropology, is held in the Human Studies Film Archive in HSFA 89.10.8.