National Museum of the American Indian

New York Zoological Society photographs of Tlingit totem pole and house

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAI.AC.204
Creators:
Sanborn, Elwin R. (Elwin Roswell)
New York Zoological Society
Dates:
September 23, 1904
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
12 Photographs
Repository:
This collection contains photographs depicting the erection of a Tlingit totem pole and chief's house near the Mammals' Pond at the New York Zoological Society on September 23, 1904.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
N37501-N37505, P15989-P15995
This collection contains 7 photographs shot by Elwin R. Sanborn depicting the erection of a Tlingit [Sanya (Cape Fox)] totem pole and chief's house near the Mammals' Pond at the New York Zoological Society (now known as Bronx Zoo) on September 23, 1904 and later in the year. The collection also contains 5 copy negatives made from the original photographs by Museum of the American Indian staff in the late 1960s. E. H. Harriman collected the totem pole and house from an abandoned Tlingit village at Cape Fox, Alaska during the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899. He then shipped the pieces to Seattle and donated them to the New York Zoological Society for installation at the zoo.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Arranged by catalog number.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Dedicated to the study of zoology and preservation of wildlife, New York Zoological Society opened their 265 acre zoo in the Bronx borough of New York City on November 8, 1899. The Society was later renamed the Wildlife Conservation Society and the zoo was renamed the Bronx Zoo.
The Harriman Alaska Expedition studied the Alaskan coast from Seattle to Siberia in June and July 1899. Funded by Union Pacific Railroad President Edward Henry Harriman, the expedition team consisted of prominent scientists, naturalists, photographers, artists, and writers. The expedition findings were published in the thirteen-volume Harriman Alaska Series.

Administration

Author
Emily Moazami
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the New York Zoological Society, 1942.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Emily Moazami, Supervisory Archivist, 2019.

Digital Content


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).
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); New York Zoological Society photographs of Tlingit totem pole and house, catalog #, NMAI.AC.204; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution
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.

More Information

Bibliography

Bibliography
A description of the totem pole and house can be found in Zoological Society Bulletin, Jan. 1905, No. 16.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Tlingit Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Totem poles -- Tlingit Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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