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National Anthropological Archives
Joseph C. Farber photographs of Native American life, circa 1970-1975
Summary
- Collection ID:
- NAA.PhotoLot.78-1
- Creators:
-
Farber, Joseph C., 1903-
- Dates:
-
circa 1970-1975
- Languages:
-
Undetermined.
- Physical Description:
-
6,000 Contact printscirca 6000 contact prints (proof sheets)6,000 Acetate negativescirca8 Color transparencies1,000 Itemscirca 1000 enlarged prints: silver gelatin (some mounted for exhibition)
- Repository:
Scope and Contents note
Scope and Contents note
Photographs made as part of Joseph C. Farber's project to document modern NAtive American everyday life. Represented tribes include the Acoma, Apache, Blackfoot, Chehalis, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Cocopa, Dakota, Eskimo, Haida, Kiowa, Kutenai, Lummi, Mohave, Mohawk, Navaho, Northern Athabascan, Onandaga, Pima, Pueblo, Quinalt, Seminole, Taos, Tlingit, and Zuni. Subject coverage is broad and varies from tribe to tribe. Included are portraits, as well as totem poles, carving, weaving, pottery, painitng, landscapes, boats and canoes, ceremonial regalia, camps, classes and vocational training, homes and traditional dwellings, construction projects, rodeos and powwows, dances, industries (including lumber), herding and ranching, agriculture, stores and storefronts, cliff dwellings, parades, crab cleaning, fishing, games, health care, legal processes, music, office work, sewing, vending, and a funeral. There are also photographs of R. C. Gorman (and a letter from Gorman to Farber) and Fritz Shoulder (some in color).
Farber's travels included Alaska (Point Barrow, Dead Horse, Glacier Bay, Haines, Hoona, Hydaberg, Ketchikan, Mount McKinley, Prudhoe Bay, Saxman, and Sitka); Alberta (Blackfeet Reservation); Arizona (Canyon de Chelly, Cocopa Reservation, Flagstaff, Kayenta, Monument Valley, Pima Reservation, Quechan Reservation, Mojave Reservation, and Yuma); California (Alcatraz, Oakland, and San Francisco); Florida (Big Cypress Reservation; Miccosukee Reservation); Minnesota (Minneapolis and Nett Lake); Montana (Northern Cheyenne Reservation); New Mexico (Acoma, Gallup, Navajo Forest, Picuris, Puye, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Santa Fe, Taos, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, and Tesuque); New York (New York City and Onandaga Reservation); North Carolina (Cherokee Reservation); Oklahoma (Anadarko, Apache, Lawton, Stilwell, and Tahlequah); South Dakota (Rosebud and Wounded Knee); and Washington (Lummi Reservation, Nisqually River, Puyallup River, and Quinalt Reservation).
Biographical/Historical note
Biographical/Historical note
Joseph C. Farber (1903-1994) was a successful New York businessman and professional photographer. He studied with Edward Steichen at the New York Camera Club in the 1920s. The prints in this collection resulted from a five-year project that involved travelling to Native communities throughout the United States to document modern Native American life. The project resulted in a book, Native Americans: 500 Years After (1975), as well as exhibits, including one in the National Museum of Natural History in 1976-1977.
Administration
Author
Sarah Ganderup
Custodial History note
Some exhibition prints donated by Joseph C. Farber as part of the Natural History Museum's exhibit of his work, circa 1976. Rest of the collection donated by Farber's daughter, Joan Farber, after his death in 1994.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access note
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Conditions Governing Use note
Photographs published in Farber's books still under copyright. Reproduction permission from artist's estate.
Preferred Citation note
Photo Lot 78-1, Joseph C. Farber photographs of Native American life, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Location of Other Archival Materials
Location of Other Archival Materials
Farber's photographs, previously located in Photo Lot 95-3 have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 78-1. These photographs were also made by Joseph C. Farber and form part of this collection.
Location of Other Archival Materials
The National Museum of American History Archives Center holds the Joseph Farber Papers and Photographs, circa 1962-1990.
More Information
Local Call Number(s)
Local Call Number(s)
NAA Photo Lot 78-1
, NAA ACC 95-3
Bibliography
Bibliography
Photographs published in Joseph C. Farber, Native Americans: 500 Years After, New York: Crowell, 1975.
Other Finding Aids note
Other Finding Aids note
Partial inventory available in repository.
Addl. KW Subj
Addl. KW Subj
Pima (Akimel O'odham)
San Ildefonso
Blackfoot
Sioux
Seminole
Chippewa
Inuit
Alaskan Eskimo
Athapaskan, Athabaskan
Iroquois
Keywords
National Anthropological Archives
Museum Support Center
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