National Museum of the American Indian

Mary Harriman Rumsey collection of Harriman Alaska Expedition photographs

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAI.AC.053
Creators:
Rumsey, Mary Harriman, 1881-1934.
Dates:
1898-1900
1903
1914
bulk 1899-1899
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
396 Lantern slides
286 Photographic prints
1 Map
Repository:
The Mary Harriman Rumsey collection largely consists of photographic prints and lantern slides documenting the Harriman Expedition to Alaska in summer 1899. These depict members of the expedition and Alaskan scenery and people. The collection also includes scenic photographs of Alaska taken by Dora Keen in 1914 and photographs of Blackfeet, Hopi, Apache, and Suquamish Indians made by Edward Curtis in 1900 and 1903.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The bulk of the collection comprises photographic prints, lantern slides, and one map documenting the Harriman Alaska Expedition from May to July of 1899. These photographs were made by members of the expedition, most prominently its official photographer Edward S. Curtis, funder Edward Henry Harriman, and lead scientist C. Hart Merriam. They depict Alaskan scenery, members of the expedition, and Native people and settlements that they encountered. Mary Harriman Rumsey's collection also includes later platinum prints of American Indians made and signed by Curtis (1900, 1903), photographs of glaciers in Alaska by Dora Keen (1914), a photograph of a painting by Charles Schreyvogel (1903), and a photograph of White Pass by Arthur Clarence Pillsbury (1898).

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged in three series: photographs relating to the Harriman Expedition; photographs of Alaska that were not made on the Harriman Expedition; and other photographs relating to American Indians. The Harriman series is arranged in a rough chronological order.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Mary Harriman Rumsey (1881-1934) was an important American philanthropist and the oldest child of railroad tycoon Edward Henry Harriman. In 1901, while studying at Barnard College, she co-founded the Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements (later named the Junior League of the City of New York), which facilitated charitable work by privileged women among New York's impoverished groups. Rumsey's efforts lead to the establishment of the Association of Junior Leagues International Inc. in 1921. Additionally, Rumsey co-founded Today magazine with her brother Averell Harriman and others, and in 1933 she chaired the Consumer Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration.
In 1899, Mary Harriman was among the Harriman family members who accompanied the Harriman Alaska Expedition. Originally planned as a bear-hunting trip for the family, the expedition, was funded by Edward Henry Harriman and organized with the help of ethnographer and naturalist Clinton Hart Merriam. The party of accomplished scientists, naturalists, photographers, artists, and writers cruised from British Columbia to Siberia and back on a private ship, the SS George W. Elder, in June and July of 1899. The scientists' findings were published in the thirteen-volume Harriman Alaska Series, and Harriman also paid the expedition's official photographer, Edward S. Curtis, to compile souvenir albums from the over 5,000 photographs made during the course of the expedition.

Administration

Author
Sarah Ganderup and Rachel Menyuk
Sponsor
This collection was processed with funding from the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Processing Information
Processed by Sarah Ganderup, Contract Archivist in 2014, with funding from the Smithsonian Women's Committee. Additional item level processing by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist, in 2018.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was donated as part of the estate of Mary Harriman Rumsey to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, in May 1934.
Custodial History
Photographs of the Harriman Alaska Expedition may have originally been collected by Edward Henry Harriman.
Separated Materials
The following materials were also part of Mary Harriman Rumsey's estate, gifted to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, in 1934. Where possible, their current locations have been noted.
  • 33 artifacts, most of which were likely collected in Alaska by the Harriman Alaska Expedition, are now housed in the NMAI object collection (catalog numbers 18/6460 - 18/6494)
  • A set of Harriman Alaska Expedition books, probably now in the Cornell University Libraries
  • 4 phonograph records
  • A bundle of botanical specimens

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 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); Mary Harriman Rumsey Collection of Harriman Alaska Expedition Photographs, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Related Materials
The Smithsonian Institution Archives, University of Washington Special Collections, and Library of Congress have photo albums relating to the Harriman Alaska Expedition. The SI Archives also holds the Harriman Alaska Expedition Collection and photogravure plates from the Harriman Alaska Series.
NMAI holds photogravure plates and proofs made from Edward Curtis's later photographs and Frederick Dellenbaugh's expedition notes in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation records. The National Anthropological Archives also holds Curtis photographs and papers.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Suquamish Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hopi Pueblo Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pikuni Blackfeet (Piegan) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scientific expeditions Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Yakutat Tlingit Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
A:shiwi (Zuni) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Apache Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Yuit (Siberian Yup'ik) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tlingit Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
British Columbia Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Siberia (Russia) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Unangan (Aleut) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Alaska Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ridgway, Robert, 1850-1929 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Harriman Alaska Expedition (1899) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Harriman, Edward Henry, 1848-1909 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Devereux, W. B. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Averell, William H. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cole, Leon J. (Leon Jacob), 1877-1948 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Keen, Dora, 1871- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gilbert, Grove Karl, 1843-1918 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Schreyvogel, Charles, 1861-1912 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Coe, Wesley R. (Wesley Roswell), 1869-1960 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pillsbury, Arthur C. (Arthur Clarence) Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Museum of the American Indian
4220 Silver Hill Rd
Suitland, Maryland 20746-2863
Business Number: Phone: 301.238.1400
Fax Number: Fax: 301.238.3038
nmaiarchives@si.edu