National Museum of the American Indian

Kenneth C. Miller photograph collection

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAI.AC.001.049
Creators:
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation
Dates:
1926-1943
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
70 Negatives (photographic)
47 Photographic prints
Repository:
Photographic negatives and prints shot by and collected Kenneth C. Miller between 1926 and 1943. Miller served as a field assistant to Donald Cadzow on a 1926 trip to Northwestern, Canada and was later hired as an MAI staff member between 1935 and 1943.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection includes photographic prints and negatives shot by Kenneth C. Miller as well as photographs and postcards collected and donated to the museum by Miller dating between 1926 and 1943.
The majority of the photographic negatives in this collection are from a 1926 collecting trip with Donald Cadzow to the Canadian Northwest where Miller served as a field assistant. Cadzow was collecting on behalf of the MAI and had taken previous trips to the same area in 1924 and 1925. Cadzow and Miller visited various locations in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada collecting among the Plains Cree (Prairie Cree), Assiniboine (Stoney), and Apatohsipipiikani (Northern Piegan) among other communities. These photographs include images of Native community members posing for photographs as well as images of the expedition members, such as Donald Cadzow. Some of these photographs are restricted due to cultural sensitivity. (N13144 - N13150, N23001 - N23047, P11460-P11462, P15351, P16103).
Photographs shot by Miller while he was an MAI staff member include: Negatives (N21568 - N21573) of a mahogany canoe found in an old mill near Brooklyn, NY in 1938; Negatives of Joseph Keppler in Rochester, New York in 1937 with a group of Seneca at an event in Ellison Park (N23115 - N23123); and photographic prints of MAI staff from 1938 (P13057-P13059).
Additional non-MAI photographs include: excavation photographs from the Seip Mound in Ohio in 1931 which was not an MAI sponsored excavation (P11944-P11948); 16 postcards donated by Miller in 1940 which are mostly images of objects from an Exhibition of Modern Art, held at the Museum of Modern Art (P15107 - P15120, P15174, P15205); other miscellaneous postcards and photographic prints from Florida, Michigan, Montana, Rhode Island, California (P13439-P13440, P15310 - P15317, P15323 - P15326, P15934-P15935, P16103, P16566, P21175).

Arrangement

Arrangement
Arranged by catalog number.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Kenneth C. Miller (1901-1974) was born in New York in 1901. Miller joined the New York State National Guard in 1922 and eventually became a Major with the Seventh Regiment. In 1926, Miller accompanied Donald Cadzow as a field assistant on a collecting trip to Northwestern, Canada between May and September in 1926 sponsored by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (MAI). Cadzow and Miller visited 23 reserves in Saskatchewan and Alberta. In 1935 Miller was hired as a general staff member of the MAI from where he assisted with field collecting and photography until 1943. Miller later became the superintendent of the Washington's Headquarters Historical site in Newburgh, NY in 1956 and served as Vice President of the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and Highlands. He also sat on the committee of the Hudson River Historical Museum.

Administration

Author
Rachel Menyuk
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The photographs in this collection were gifted by Kenneth C. Miller to the MAI in various donations between 1927 and 1943.
Processing Information
This collection is still in need of processing. Collection record written by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist, in 2019.

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). Some photographs restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
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); Kenneth C. Miller photograph collection, Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution

Related Materials
For more photograph from Miller's 1926 trip to Canada see the Donald Cadzow photograph collection (NMAI.AC.001.004).

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Plains Cree (Prairie Cree) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Assiniboine (Stoney) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Apatohsipipiikani (Northern Piegan) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Canada -- Saskatchewan Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Canada -- Alberta Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Seneca Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Miller, Kenneth C., 1901-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cadzow, Donald A., 1894-1960 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Museum of the American Indian
4220 Silver Hill Rd
Suitland, Maryland 20746-2863
nmaiarchives@si.edu