Scope and Contents

The Waterman collection consists of photographic materials made by Waterman from 1921 to 1924 in California, Alaska, Washington State, and Guatemala. He made the bulk of the materials on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation while working in 1921 in California among the Tolowa and in Washington State among the Southern Coast Salish and Duwamish (Dwamish) and in 1922 in Alaska at Kasaan (Haida) village. Of particular note are the series of photographs of a Tolowa fisherman. The few remaining photographs date from 1923 and 1924 and depict Quiché Maya (Quiche) Indians in the Quetzaltenango Guatemalan highlands and an illustration from Waterman's contribution to the 1924 Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.

Arrangement note

Negatives: organized in envelopes; arranged by negative number

Prints: organized in folders; arranged by print number

Arrangement

Negatives Arranged by negative number (N07288-N07289, N07291, N07295-N07300, N10859, N35256, N35848)

Photographs Arranged by photograph number (P04035-P04040, P04428-P04429, P05515, P05521, P37455, P37456)

Biographical/Historical note

Born in Hamilton, Missouri, in 1885, Thomas Talbot Waterman grew up in Calfornia and was expected, like his father, to become an Episcopalian clergyman. After taking courses in phonetics and fieldwork with P.E. Goddard, Waterman instead chose to study anthropology and in 1913 received his Ph.D in anthropology at Columbia University under the direction of Franz Boas. From 1907 to 1921, he held both teaching and curatorial positions at the University of California and the University of Washington and from 1921 to 1922 briefly joined the staff of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation as a field collector. Waterman went on to hold positions at the National Museum of Guatemala, Fresno State College, University of Arizona, Territorial Normal College (Hawaii), and University of Hawaii. He is best known for bringing Ishi, the last surviving member of the Yahi people, from the town of Oroville, California, to the University of California Museum of Anthropology. Waterman died in Honolulu at the age of 50.