National Anthropological Archives

Morris Steggerda photographs of Mayan peoples, 1931

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.PhotoLot.3319
Creators:
Steggerda, Morris, 1900-1950
Dates:
1931
Languages:
Undetermined
.
Physical Description:
70 Prints
silver gelatin
Repository:

Scope and Contents note

Scope and Contents note
Anthropometric portraits of Maya people in the vicinity of Chichen Itza, probably made for Steggerda's Carnegie Institution publication 434, "Anthropometry of Adult Maya Indians: A Study of Their Physical and Physiological Characteristics," 1932.

Biographical/Historical note

Biographical/Historical note
Morris Steggerda (1900-1950) was a biological anthropologist who studied Mayan culture. He received his BA from Hope College in Michigan (1922) and his MA (1923) and PhD (1928) from the University of Illinois Department of Zoology. While still in his PhD program, he met Charles Davenport of the Department of Genetics at Carnegie Institution of Washington, with whom he studied the indigenous people of the British West Indies and published Race-Crossing in Jamaica (1929). Steggerda became an assistant professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, (1928-1930) before joining the research staff of the Carnegie Institution Department of Genetics based in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York. During his fourteen-year career with the Institution, Steggerda did research in Yucatan, Mexico, and wrote two reports that were published by the Carnegie Institution in 1932 and 1941. In 1944, he was appointed professor of Anthropology at Hartford Seminary Foundation (Connecticut), a position which he kept until his death. Steggerda was a founding member of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in 1930 (later serving on its Executive Committee and as its vice president) and a councilmember for the American Anthropological Association.

Administration

Author
Sarah Ganderup
Custodial History note
Donated by Charles B. Davenport, Carnegie Institution of Washington Department of Genetics, 1932.

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 3319, Morris Steggerda photographs of Mayan peoples, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Location of Other Archival Materials

Location of Other Archival Materials
Additional Steggerda photographs held in the National Anthropological Archives in the Bureau of American Ethnology-Smithsonian Institution Illustrations.
Location of Other Archival Materials
Correspondence from Steggerda held in the National Anthropological Archives in the Handbook of South American Indians Records, Bureau of American Ethnology General correspondence, John Lawrence Angel Papers, Ales Hrdlicka Papers, and MS 4846.
Location of Other Archival Materials
The Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine holds the Steggerda Collection of anthropometric records.

Contained in

Contained in
Numbered manuscripts 1850s-1980s (some earlier)

More Information

Local Call Number(s)

Local Call Number(s)
NAA Photo Lot 3319


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Photographs Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mayas Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Genetics Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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