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National Museum of the American Indian
George Gustav Heye's New York and New Jersey Farm excavation photographs
Summary
- Collection ID:
- NMAI.AC.001.047
- Creators:
-
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation
- Dates:
-
1914-1915
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
141 Glass plate negatives142 Copy negatives
- Repository:
Photographic negatives shot by George H. Pepper and George G. Heye during farm excavations in New York and New Jersey in 1914.
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
This collection includes 141 glass plate negatives shot in 1914 and 1915 related to New Jersey and New York farm excavations led by George G. Heye and George H. Pepper. Although George Gustav Heye is listed as the photographer it is much more likely that the photographs were shot by George Hubbard Pepper.
Photographs in this collection include: Images from the excavation of a cemetery site during summer of 1914 on the Burson W. Bell Farm in Montague, NJ and Milford, Pike County, PA (N00316 - N00361); Object photography taken circa 1915 for the publication "Exploration of a Munsee Cemetery near Montague, New Jersey" by George G. Heye and George H. Pepper (N00362 – N00463). It appears that all objects in this set were excavated from Burson Bell Farm; Images of the excavation at Cleary Farm, Avon, Livingston County, New York during October 1914 (N00437-N00439); Images of the excavation at George Marsh Farm, Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York during October 1914 (N00440 - N00450); Images of the excavation at W.G Raines and H. Reichelt Farms in Wheeler Station, East Bloomfield, Ontario County, New York during October 1914 (N00451 - N00456). N34267 is a copy negative of N00357. There are also acetate copy negatives (with the same N numbers) of all the glass plate negatives made in the 1960s during a large photographic conservation project.
Arrangement
Arrangement
Arranged by catalog number.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
In the summer of 1914, George Gustav Heye and George Hubbard Pepper took a crew to the Burson Bell Farm in Montague, New Jersey to excavate a Munsee Cemetery which contained over 60 burials. In early July, the men working the site were arrested for grave robbing on charges of violating a statute prohibiting the disturbance of human burials. Though Heye and Pepper were not there at the time, a warrant was issued for George Heye's arrest. George Heye faced trial and was convicted and fined $100 but he successfully appealed the conviction to the New Jersey Supreme court where the decision was reversed. Heye and Pepper resumed their excavations in October of 1914 in New York State at the Cleary Farm in Avon, Livingston County, the George Marsh Farm in Canandaigua, Ontario County, and the W.G Raines and H. Reichelt Farms in Wheeler Station, East Bloomfield, Ontario County.
It should be noted that since the passing of the NMAI Act in 1989, which governs the repatriation of human remains and funerary objects, as well as scared objects and cultural patrimony, many of the materials that were collected by George Heye during these 1914 excavations have now been repatriated to their source communities. Any photographic materials related to these repatriated materials are restricted.
Administration
Author
Rachel Menyuk
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The field photographs accompanied the lots of archeological material that arrived at the Heye Museum in 1914, the object photography (N00362-N00463) was shot at the museum by staff in 1915.
Processing Information
This collection is still in need of processing. Collection record written by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist, in 2019.
Separated Materials
See George Pepper's field notes from the New Jersey and New York excavations in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation records (NMAI.AC.001) in Box 190, Folders 11-12, and Box 191, Folder 1.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu). Photographs with burials, human remains or any other cultural sensitivity are restricted.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited users to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changed, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); George Gustav Heye's New York and New Jersey Farm excavation photographs, Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution
Keywords
Keyword Terms | Keyword Types | ||
---|---|---|---|
Excavations (Archaeology) -- New York (State) | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Excavations (Archaeology) -- New Jersey -- Photographs | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Stockbridge-Munsee | Cultural Context | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Negatives (photographic) | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Pepper, George H. (George Hubbard), 1873-1924 | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
National Museum of the American Indian
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Suitland, Maryland 20746-2863
nmaiarchives@si.edu