This collection contains 78 black-and-white negatives and 35 gelatin silver prints taken by Bernard J. Edley in 1948-1949. The images depict scenes of everyday life among the Santa Cruz Indians of Quintana Roo State and the Tzotzil Indians of Chamula, Chiapas State. Also present are views of archaeological sites at Monte Alban and Mitla in Oaxaca State.

Photographs and glass plate negatives documenting the various archaeological expeditions of all three Savilles. The bulk of the images concern the activities headed by Marshall Saville (and assisted by Foster and Randolph) in both South and Central America. Included to a lesser degree are the explorations of Foster in North America and Randolph in the Caribbean, South and Central America. Images document archaeological digs, their settings, the peoples encountered, as well as the objects found. The dates of the images found in this collection and taken by the various Savilles during their numerous expeditions are as follows (the photographer(s) attributed to photographs taken during a specific expedition is/are listed in parentheses following the country of the specific expedition) : 1891: Honduras (Marshall), 1900-1902: Mexico (Marshall), 1907: Cuba (Marshall), 1907: Ecuador (Marshall, Foster, Randolph), 1915: Honduras (Marshall), 1915: Cuba, Jamaica, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala (Randolph), 1914-1916: Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica (Marshall, Foster, Randolph), 1918: Pantigo site, Easthampton, Long Island, New York (Foster), 1922: Photographic portrait of Marshall

C. Earle Smith Jr. (1922-1987) was one of the founders of the modern field of paleobotany. This collection documents his research and professional activities through correspondence, research notes, data, manuscripts, publications, and photographs. Represented in the collection is his fieldwork in Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and Costa Rica.

Concerns archaeological field work in the area of the Monte Alban ruins in Oaxaca. Letter written by Ayme in Oaxaca describes his excavations in three areas. The first at an hacienda called Nazarene, at the foot of Monte Alban; a second along a river bank, one mile west of the …

These records document the governance and programmatic activities of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (MAI) from its inception in 1904 until its sublimation by the Smithsonian Institution in 1990. The types of materials present in this collection include personal and institutional correspondence, individual subject files, minutes and annual reports, financial ledgers, legal records, expedition field notes, research notes, catalog and object lists, publications, clippings, flyers, maps, photographs, negatives and audio-visual materials. These materials span a varied range of subjects relating to the activities of the museum which are more fully described on the series level.

William Duncan Strong's early interest was in zoology, but, while an undergraduate at the University of California, he was brought into anthropology under the influence of Alfred Louis Kroeber. He conducted archaeological and ethnological field research in several areas of the New World and was the first professionally trained archaeologist to focus on the Great Plains, where he applied the so-called direct historical method, working from known history in interpreting archaeological sites. Strong's papers include correspondence, field notes, diaries, newspaper clippings, teaching notes and student papers, manuscripts of his writings, writings by other authors, papers from the various organizations in which he served, maps, and a considerable number of photographs from his field work. The materials date from 1902 to 1965, with most of the materials being from 1927 to 1955.

The Beals papers in the National Anthropological Archives include field notes, correspondence, printed materials, copies of historical documents, drafts and final manuscripts of writings, photographs, and cartographic materials. Most relate to research projects and sometimes include materials of colleagues and assistants. Especially notable is the abundant material regarding Oaxaca markets. There are some materials relating to aspects of Beals's career other than his research but they are generally widely distributed throughout the collection. Materials relating to events that happened to occur at the time of certain field work are often interfiled with the material relating to that certain field work. There are also some personal materials included. Conspicuously missing from the papers are notes on Beals's archeological work, which he has retained. There are relatively few materials relating to his teaching career, although some of the letters exchanged with Alfred Louis Kroeber concern the establishment of anthropology at the University of California at Los Angeles; and correspondence with students in the field concerns teaching as well as research activities. A typesript of notes on the Nisenan are at the Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. Some of the letters concern Elsie Clews Parsons and Carlos Castenada.

The collections consists mostly of original and copy prints. There are also some negatives, artwork, photographs of artwork, and printed materials. Included is a large miscellany of ethnological, historical, and some archaeological subjects collected by the Bureau of American Ethnology from a wide variety of sources. To these have been …

The Department of Anthropology records contain administrative and research materials produced by the department and its members from the time of the Smithsonian Institution's foundation until today.

The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.