National Anthropological Archives

Matilda Coxe Stevenson photographs, 1882-1914 (bulk 1904-1912)

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.PhotoLot.23
Dates:
1882-1914
bulk 1904-1912
Languages:
Undetermined
Physical Description:
3,352 prints
modern contact prints and reprints, silver gelatin, albumen, and platinum
2,139 negatives
nitrate
118 negatives
glass
657 copy negatives
Repository:

Scope and Contents note

Scope and Contents note
Photographs made during Matilda Coxe Stevenson's field studies among Southwest Indians, particularly at Zuni. Images primarily document pueblos, people, ceremonies, and daily activities, as well as some photographs of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and ranches, probably those belonging to Stevenson or her friends. The collection includes photographs by William Henry Cobb and Wittick & Russell, as well as Stevenson's assistant May S. Clark and "Mr. Gray," a photographer that Stevenson hired as an assistant.

Biographical/Historical note

Biographical/Historical note
Matilda Coxe Stevenson (1849-1915; though her birth year is often erroneously listed as 1850) was the first woman to study the American Southwest and the first (and for a long time the only) female anthropologist hired by the US government. Born Matilda Coxe Evans in 1849 in San Augustine, Texas, Stevenson was brought to Washington, D.C., as an infant. She was educated at Miss Anable's English, French, and German School in Philadelphia and through private studies with her father and Dr. William M. Mew of the Army Medical Museum. In 1872 she married James Stevenson, a geologist with the US Geological Survey of the Territories. From 1872-1878, Matilda joined James on Ferdinand V. Hayden's geological surveys to Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, and assisted him by compiling geological data. When the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) was created in 1879, Matilda Stevenson was appointed "volunteer coadjutor [sic] in ethnology" and she went with James on his BAE expeditions to the Southwest.
After James Stevenson's death in 1888, BAE Director John Wesley Powell hired Matilda Stevenson to organize her husband's notes. In 1889, Stevenson became regular BAE staff. From 1890 to 1907, Stevenson did substantial individual fieldwork at Zuni and published "The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies" in the Bureau of American Ethnology's Twenty-Third Annual Report (1901-2). Starting in 1904, Stevenson conducted comparative studies at Zia, Jemez, San Juan, Cochiti, Nambe, Picarus, Tesuque, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, and Taos. In 1907 she purchased a ranch (Ton'yo) near San Ildefonso, which became her base for fieldwork. Stevenson died in Maryland on June 24, 1915.

Administration

Author
Sarah Ganderup

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 23, Matilda Coxe Stevenson photographs, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Location of Other Archival Materials

Location of Other Archival Materials
Stevenson photographs previously filed in BAE number 4325, MS 4624, MS 4717, Photo Lot 14, and Photo Lot 33 have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 23. These photographs were also made by Stevenson and form part of this collection.
Location of Other Archival Materials
Additional glass negatives made by Stevenson are held in the National Anthropological Archives in the BAE historical negatives.
Location of Other Archival Materials
The National Anthropological Archives holds Matilda Coxe Stevenson's papers in MS 4689.
Location of Other Archival Materials
Photographic images and portraits of Stevenson are in the National Anthropological Archives in the following collections: Photo Lot 33, Photo Lot 70, Photo Lot 89-19, and Photo Lot 90-1.
Location of Other Archival Materials
Additional photographs of We'wha, probably commissioned by Stevenson at a studio in Washington, D.C., are in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 2004-03.

More Information

Local Call Number(s)

Local Call Number(s)
NAA Photo Lot 23

Bibliography

Bibliography
Photographs published in: Matilda Coxe Stevenson, "Ethnobotony of the Zuni Indians," Thirtieth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1881-1882; Stevenson, "Dress and Adornment of the Pueblo Indians," edited by Richard V. N. Ahlstrom and Nancy J. Parezo, Kiva 52, no. 4 (Summer, 1987): 275-312; Stevenson, "The Sia," Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1889-1890; Stevenson, "The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies," Twenty-third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1901-1902; Stevenson, "Zuni Games," American Anthropologist 5 (July-Sept. 1903): 468-497; "Strange Rites of the Tewa Indians," Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 63, no. 8: 73-80; and "Studies of the Tewa Indians of the Rio Grande Valley," Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 60, no. 3: 35-41.

Other Finding Aids note

Other Finding Aids note
Draft of Matilda Coxe Stevenson "cross collections guide" available in the repository. This guide provides information about Stevenson's collections in the NMNH anthropology collections as well as National Anthropological Archives.

Addl. KW Subj

Addl. KW Subj
Pueblo
San Ildefonso
San Juan (Ohkay Owingeh)
Santa Clara
Santo Domingo (Kewa)


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Santa Fe (N.M.) Place Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Type Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zuni Indians Culture Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Taos Indians Culture Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zia Indians Culture Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rites and ceremonies Topic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pueblos Topic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ranches Topic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cochiti Indians Culture Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jemez Indians Culture Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Navajo Indians Culture Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tewa Indians Culture Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Culture Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pueblo Indians Culture Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cobb, William Henry, 1859-1909 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
We'wha, 1849-1896 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wittick & Russell Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Anthropological Archives
Museum Support Center
4210 Silver Hill Road
Suitland 20746
naa@si.edu