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National Anthropological Archives
H. Scudder Mekeel photographs, circa 1920-1947 (bulk 1930-1933)
Summary
- Collection ID:
- NAA.PhotoLot.94-21
- Creators:
-
Mekeel, H. Scudder (Haviland Scudder), 1902-1947
- Dates:
-
bulk 1930-1933circa 1920-1947
- Languages:
-
Undetermined.
- Physical Description:
-
1 Printphotochrom443 Negativesnitrate235 Printssilver gelatin
- Repository:
Scope and Contents note
Scope and Contents note
The photographs primarily document ceremonies, people, and lands of Native Americans in the Plains and Southwest, taken during Mekeel's field research from 1929 to 1936. A large portion of the collection depicts Mekeel's research during the early 1930s among the Oglala of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Another large portion of the collection includes personal photos depicting Mekeel's homes and children.
Biographical/Historical note
Biographical/Historical note
H. Scudder Mekeel (1902-1947) was an anthropologist who studied social and psychological aspects of Native American cultures. Educated at Harvard University (BA, 1928), the University of Chicago (MA, 1929), and Yale University (PhD, 1932), he was a member of the 1929 Laboratory of Anthropology (Santa Fe) ethnological field school led by Alfred L. Kroeber. In 1929-1932, he carried out three field expeditions to the Sioux communities of South Dakota, working mainly on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs as Director of Applied Anthropology under Commissioner John Collier in 1935. Two years later, he was appointed Director of the Laboratory of Anthropology at Santa Fe and continued there until 1940, when he accepted a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin.
Administration
Author
Sarah Ganderup
Custodial History note
Transferred by Nicolette Bromberg at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1993.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access note
Original nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require special arrangements for viewing.
Conditions Governing Use note
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Preferred Citation note
Photo Lot 94-21, the H. Scudder Mekeel photographs, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Location of Other Archival Materials
Location of Other Archival Materials
The National Anthropological Archives holds copies of Mekeel's Field Notes from the summers of 1930 and 1931 in the White Clay District of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota (MS 7088). Originals of these field notes and Mekeel's population notes on the White Clay District are held by the American Museum of Natural History, Division of Anthropology Archives (.M454).
Location of Other Archival Materials
The Human Studies Film Archives holds Mekeel's film footage of a Lakota Sioux Sundance from 1930 (HSFA 92.8.1).
Location of Other Archival Materials
Correspondence from Mekeel held in the National Anthropological Archives in the William Duncan Strong papers, Raoul Weston LaBarre Papers, and Bureau of American Ethnology Administrative File.
More Information
Local Call Number(s)
Local Call Number(s)
NAA Photo Lot 94-21
Bibliography
Bibliography
Photographs published in Kniffen, Fred, et al. Walapai Ethnography, edited by A.L. Kroeber, Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association 42, Supplement to American Anthropologist 37, no 1, part 2. Menasha, Wisconsin: American Anthropological Association, 1935.
Addl. KW Subj
Addl. KW Subj
Chippewa
Walapai
Sioux
Keywords
National Anthropological Archives
Museum Support Center
4210 Silver Hill Road
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naa@si.edu