Portrait images and domestic scenes from Mauritania of Halpoular, Moor and Wolof peoples, mostly women; some children and men. All the images are captioned by the photographer and include the subjects names as well as the region, date and activity. The more noteworthy images include Moor women preparing wool for weaving (nos. 37, 38, 39), girls playing a game of "golorgal" with playing board clearly visible (no. 34), and a wooden tablet with verses from the Koran (no. 19). As a documentary photographer, Ms. Goodsmith focuses predominantly on the lives of women and children in developing countries. Her images—chiefly from North and West Africa, Egypt and India—are on file with the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), The Image Works, and Johns Hopkins Photoshare, and her portraits from a series done in Kashmir are in the photographic collection of the Brooklyn Museum. All of the images of this photographic collection are originals. Ms. Goodsmith works chiefly with Communication for Change, a New York-based nonprofit organization that has developed participatory video projects in collaboration with community groups.

This collection contains one framed map of Abyssinia circa 1784, measuring 25.5 x 21.5 inches, by cartographer and engraver Emanuel Bowen, and three 8 x 10 inch photographs depicting Ethiopian artist Afewerk Tekle (1971), Patriarch 'Abuna Tewoflos (1964) and Emperor Haile Selassie I (1967) respectively. Each photograph bears the signature of its subject. The photograph of 'Abuna Tewoflos was taken by Selassie's court photographer, Torkam "Tony" Boyadjian. Selassie's portrait is an official presentation photograph, with a green leather frame adorned with the emperor's coat of arms in gold, signed and dated by Selassie.

The photographs belong to the series of 417 images, entitled "L'Afrique qui disparaît", which Casimir Zagourski (1883-1944), a Polish photographer who lived in Léopoldville, created in the years between 1924 and 1935. He edited the series in different forms. One of the postcards includes a mistake in the captioning which could occur in the printing...

Forty-five color photographic prints of African art objects taken by Elliot and Amy Lawrence, circa 1995.

Two illustrated magazines collected by Ernest Godefroid entitled, "Le Congo Illustré: voyages et Travaux dse Belges Dans l'État Indépendant du Congo," volumes 12 (17 June 1894) and 16 (12 August 1894), both 12 pages including covers, front and back. The magazines include portrait drawings and photographic images of individuals.

Postcards collected by Leo Frobenius (1873-1938), who was an eminent German ethnographer, scholar and writer. He founded the Frobenius-Institut in Frankfurt, which exists to this day. It is likely that he collected them during his 1926 expedition to explore rock painting in the Nubian desert, which took him to Upper Egypt and to the Sudan. Another possibility is that he collected the cards on one of his later expeditions to North Africa or even purchased them in Europe. Eleven postcards belong to a series published by G.N. Morhig, the English Pharmacy in Khartoum, a town Frobenius must have visited during his 1926 expedition. They depict peoples in the Sudan (Nubians, Arab, Shilluk, Tonga, Bari and Jur) and their various dress and adornment. Two photographic postcards by M. Venieris depict a dance, and, Ab del gadir-Wad Halomia, "the rebel of April 1908," clearly is republished from an earlier image. The remaining postcards are part of the typical Orientalist depictions of women and children. J. Geiser of Aligiers is one of the publishers.

Photographs taken by Allan L. Pitcher, a Foreign Service officer working and traveling in Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Ghana and Upper Volta. Images include individual and group portraits of men, women and children, leaders and village elders. There are numerous images of markets to include close-ups of market stalls and street views. Also included are images of rites, ceremonies and various dance performances in Liberia, among the boys about to enter the initiation camp, women of Sande society and dances performed in conjunction with government ceremonies. Another focus of the photography are industry and economic activities. Slides show rubber production in Firestone Rubber plantation (Liberia), mining and dam construction. Among the most important images are architectural shots, which include African residences as well as official buildings. Pitcher also photographed the Esso station with the screens by Adebisi Akanji and a shrine in Oshogbo.

Linen covered family album of dark-brown album stock with 24 page and 101 photographic images ranging from small silver gelatin to large toned albumen ones. There are also several postcards and a pencil-drawing showing the owner on the last page. The album was compiled by the German merchant Paul Schaff, who lived and worked in German East-Africa (now Tanzania) in the years between c. 1904-1915. According to an entry in the album, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class for serving as a machine gun gunner under the command of General Lettow-Vorbeck in WWI in East-Africa, when the British fought the Germans and ultimately took over the region. According to a caption and a picture in the album, Schaff returned to Germany in 1919. The captions of the images give several locations in Tanzania, typical for the travels of somebody who worked in the colony. There is a caption under a postcard of a street in Dar es Salaam stating "Daressalam, my old domicile." Other photographs show Schaff in Tanga (1904), in Bukoba (1909), and in Kifumbiro as a soldier (1915). The photographs reflect various subjects to include landscapes (Lake Victoria), towns (Dar es Salaam) personal experiences (such as a Christmas celebration), and Africans. Among the latter are stunning high quality depictions of the Luo, here referred to by the German ethnological term Wagaia, and Maasai with an emphasis on dress and adornment. Another set of pictures shows life in a German military post. There are a few, large albumen prints towards the end of the album, which seem to depict German South-West Africa --judging by the dress of women in two images. These photographs might have been presents. Perhaps the owner of the album took a trip to that colony. Inscribed on the album cover are the words, "Zur Erinnerung an Deutsch-Ost-Afrika" [In memory of German East Africa] and a Maasai shield drawn in china ink and colors in the lower corner of the cover. On one of the last pages, there is the halftone color print of a bugle playing Askari, captioned "Deutsche vergesst nicht Eure Kolonien" [Germans do not forget your colonies]. The pencil portrait of the owner on the last page concludes the story line.

The collection includes 49 postcards collected by the English petty officer Russell Hamilton (d.1911) during his voyages made prior to 1909, likely for the British Merchant Marines. The postcards are from Madagascar, Mauitius and Seychelles. Among the twenty-seven postcards from Madagascar (dating 1900-1905) are images showing Betsimisarka women ...

Photographs of art objects from the International Exhibition Foundation. Photographed art objects include, "Dogon Art," from the Lester Wunderman collection; "Sculpture of Black Africa," from the Paul Tishman collection; and, "African Sculpture," by William Fagg.