National Museum of the American Indian

Field photographs for "Traditional Pottery of Mexico" exhibition

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAI.AC.001.058
Creators:
Guadagno, Carmelo
Krevolin, Lewis
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation
Dates:
1973
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1402 Negatives (photographic)
color, black and white
35mm
67 Contact sheets
Repository:
Photography taken by MAI staff photographer Carmelo Guadagno during a research project expedition with Lewis Krevolin on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in March of 1973. The project focus was pottery making techniques in various Indigenous settlements across Mexico in support of the 1976-1977 exhibition "Traditional Pottery of Mexico."

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection includes 35mm negatives (photographic) and contact sheets shot by Carmelo Guadagno and Lewis Krevolin on their 1973 research trip to Mexico. The majority of the negatives were made by Guadagno and included both color and black and white rolls. There are 32 rolls of color negatives, numbered 1 to 33 (roll 15 is missing), and four rolls of black and white negatives, numbered 34, 35, 1A and 3A. The negatives depict Guadagno and Krevolin's travels in the Mexican states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Jalisco, and Morelos where they photographed indigenous families, markets and landscapes with a special focus on potters and pottery making. Indigenous communities photographed include the Morelos Nahua, Nahua (Xalita), Guerrero Nahua, Puebla Nahua, Mixtec, Zapotec, Purepecha (Tarasco), Tzeltal Maya and Chamula Maya. There are an additional six rolls of color and black and white negatives shot by Lewis Krevolin labeled "A-F" that were likely shot before and after Guadagno joined him on the research trip. Unlike the Guadagno negatives, these photographs did not come with accompanying descriptions.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Arranged by Negative Roll number: 1-35, 1A, 3A, A-F.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Carmelo Guadagno was a staff photographer for the Museum of the American Indian, Heye foundation from 1948 through 1981. In addition to photographing objects in the collections, he also documented the museum's exhibits, events and participated in several research trips.
Initially begun in 1968, research and field work conducted for the "Traditional Pottery in Mexico" exhibition was led by Lewis Krevolin, a ceramicist and art historian at Duchess Community College. The project was supported by the State University of New York Research Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation along with the Duchess Community College. In March of 1973, at the suggestion of Frederick Dockstader, director of the Museum of the American Indian, MAI staff photographer Carmelo Guadagno accompanied Lewis "Lew" Krevolin on his field survey of traditional pottery in Mexico. In addition to photographically recording their trip, Guadagno also assisted in interviews with indigenous potters. The field survey covered 30 villages in the Mexican states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Jalisco, and Morelos. In addition to the photographs shot during the trip, Krevolin collected 125 pottery vessels along with tools and material samples. The Jenny and Lewis Krevolin Collection of Mexican ceramics was donated to the Museum of the American Indian in December of 1973 and the exhibition "Traditional Pottery of Mexico" opened at the Museum in December of 1976.

Administration

Author
Rachel Menyuk
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Lewis and Jenny Krevolin in 1973.
Processing Information
Processed by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist, in 2019.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
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 to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, 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. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Field photographs for "Traditional Pottery of Mexico" exhibition, Item Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Related Materials
Pottery and other materials collected during this trip can be found in NMAI's ethnographic collections with catalog numbers 24/8500 – 24/8695.
Photographs of the pottery collected during this trip can be found in the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation photographs collection (NMAI.AC.001.002) in the "Object Photography" series (N40964 - N41123 ; N41234).
Documents, correspondence and field notes from Carmelo Guadagno related to this trip can be found in the Museum of the American/Heye Foundation records (NMAI.AC.001) in Box 32, Folder 9 and Box 394, Folder 4a.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Mexico Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pottery -- Mexico Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Indians of North America Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Indians of Mexico -- Photographs Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Guerrero Nahua Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Morelos Nahua Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nahua [Xalita] Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Puebla Nahua Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mixtec Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zapotec Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Purepecha (Tarasco) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chamula Maya Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tzeltal Maya Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Negatives Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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