Chief George Nelson across the NMAI Archive

Rappahannock Chief George L. Nelson posed outdoors at the annual Nanticoke Festival in Millsboro Delaware, wearing NMAI catalog number 265403. Photograph by Frank Speck, circa 1920. Frank Gouldsmith Speck photographs, N12648. National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Sometime around the year 1920, Rappahannock Chief George Nelson posed for a portrait shot by anthropologist Frank Speck. Chief Nelson, dressed in an elaborately beaded outfit worn for special occasions, had been attending an annual Nanticoke Thanksgiving celebration held in Millsboro, Delaware. He, along with a group of Rappahannock councilmen and tribal members, had traveled up from Indian Neck, Virginia, home of the Rappahannock, to celebrate with the Nanticoke community, a tradition that continued for many years.

Three Rappahannock men in elaborate attire attending a Nanticoke annual festival in Millsboro, Delaware. From L: Rappahannock Councilor Robert H. Clarke, unidentified man, Rappahannock Chief George L. Nelson, wearing NMAI catalog number 265403.000. Photograph by Frank Speck, circa 1920. Frank Gouldsmith Speck photographs, N12654. National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Frank Speck, the photographer on this particular occasion, was an ethnographer and anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania who frequently worked on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian (MAI), Heye Foundation (NMAI’s predecessor institution). Speck became known for collecting ethnographic materials and documenting life among native communities across the Eastern United States and Canada. Over his years of conducting fieldwork for the MAI, Speck donated over 1400 negatives to the museum documenting his work with over 40 native communities, which now make up the Frank Gouldsmith Speck photographs collection. Speck spent time in Virginia between 1915 and 1924, eventually publishing "Chapters on the Ethnology of the Powhatan Tribes of Virginia" (1928) and “The Rappahannock of Virginia” (1925) in the MAI’s publication Indian Notes and Monographs. Speck also frequently visited the Nanticoke and other communities in Delaware due to their proximity to Philadelphia.

Drummers and singers in dance attire at Thanksgiving dance taking place in a clearing in the woods, with audience looking on. Possibly a group of Rappahannocks visiting from Virginia for an early Nanticoke powwow in Millsboro, Delaware. Photograph by Frederick Johnson, 1927. Frederick Johnson photograph collection, N14758. National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution. 

Frederick Johnson, a student of Speck’s at the University of Pennsylvania, accompanied Speck on several trips to Millsboro, Delaware and went on to shoot photographs in a similar portrait style to his teacher.  One such portrait by Johnson from 1927 features Rappahannock Councilman James Johnson in the very same outfit worn by Chief Nelson in the earlier photograph by Speck. For many years, Councilman James Johnson was mislabeled as “George Nelson”, most likely due to his wearing that particular outfit.

Outdoor portrait of Rappahannock Councilman James Johnson in an elaborately beaded or embroidered fringed cloth jacket, upright feather headdress, standing with other participants in front of a wooden clapboarded house. Possibly taken during an early Nanticoke powwow in Millsboro, Delaware. Chief Nelson's outfit is NMAI object 265403, and belonged to Chief George Nelson. Photoraph by Frederick Johnson, 1927. Frederick Johnson photograph collection, N14756. National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

 It was around the time that the Speck portrait of Chief Nelson was shot that Nelson had begun his work to incorporate his tribe under the state laws of Virginia, founding the Rappahannock Indian Association in 1921 and reorganizing the Powhatan Confederacy of Virginia. Chief Nelson also became involved in unsuccessfully opposing the Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924. The Act reclassified all Virginia Indians as “colored” making it nearly impossible for Virginia tribes to become federally recognized which requires documented historical continuity. The Rappahannock, along with the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Monacan and Nansemond were finally federally recognized in January, 2018, almost 100 years after Chief George Nelson began his work in Indian Neck.

Virginia Indians Powhatan Confederacy: First Convention Speech, circa 1922. George L. Nelson Papers, Box 1, Folder 10.  National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Chief Nelson’s daughter Waneta Swain Ackerman (born Waneta Pocahontas Nelson) bequeathed the very same outfit worn in the Chief Nelson portrait to the National Museum of the American Indian. Along with the outfit, Swain’s Estate also donated notes, correspondence and other documents related to Nelson’s work as the Chief of the Rappahannock in the 1920’s. These documents now make up the George L. Nelson papers and can be found digitized in their entirety on the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archive along with the Frederick Johnson photograph collection and the Frank Gouldsmith Speck photograph collection.

Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist
National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center