Elizabeth Peratrovich: An Early Civil Rights Activist from Alaska

By Mikaela Hamilton and Nathan Sowry

On February 16th, 1945, nearly 20 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States was signed into effect. The Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 was created to address discrimination against Indigenous populations within the Alaskan territory by banning segregationist policies based on race. The successful passing of this act has often been credited to the dedicated work of Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich (Tlingit), a prominent figure in the fight for equality and civil rights in the early twentieth century.

As of this month, the Peratrovich family papers are now available online, and will soon be available for research and reference in the National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. This collection includes photographs, audio recordings, correspondence, and newspaper clippings documenting the life and important civil rights work of Elizabeth and her husband Roy. 

Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich, 1911-1958.
Peratrovich family papers (NMAI.AC.078), NMAI.AC.078_001_01_021.

Elizabeth (Ḵaax̲gal.aat) was born on July 4, 1911, in Petersburg, Alaska, as a member of the Lukaax̱.ádi clan, in the Raven moiety of the Tlingit nation. Elizabeth spent the first decade of her life in Sitka, a coastal city in southeast Alaska, until her family moved further southeast to the Native village Klawock, where Elizabeth met her future husband, Roy Peratrovich (Tlingit). Although Elizabeth and Roy spent their early years at segregated boarding schools, they were able to graduate from Ketichikan High School, which was integrated following a lawsuit won by attorney William Paul (Tlingit). In 1931, Elizabeth married Roy Peratrovich. They had three children: Roy Jr., Loretta Marie, and Frank Allen. 

In 1941, the Peratroviches moved to Juneau, the capital of the Alaska Territory, in search of more opportunities for themselves and their children. Although they encountered hostile white homeowners who refused to rent to Native Americans, they persevered to become one of the first Indigenous families to live in a non-Native neighborhood. They soon took on leadership roles within the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood. Throughout Juneau, discrimination was ubiquitous; local businesses commonly displayed signage reading "No Natives Allowed," "No Dogs, No Natives," and “We cater to white trade only." After encountering a “No Natives Allowed Sign” on a local inn just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Elizabeth and Roy were driven to write a letter to Governor Ernest Gruening in protest, marking the beginnings of their political activism to establish legal protections for Indigenous people in Juneau and beyond. The letter read, in part:

“The proprietor of ‘Douglas Inn’ does not seem to realize that our Native boys are just as willing as the White boys to lay down their lives to protect the freedom that he enjoys. …We as Indians consider this an outrage because we are the real Natives of Alaska by reason of our ancestors who have guarded these shores and woods for years past."

Letter from the Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich to Ernest Gruening, Governor of Alaska, December 30, 1941.
Peratrovich family papers (NMAI.AC.078), NMAI.AC.078_001_02_001.

Successfully gaining Governor Gruening’s support, Elizabeth and Roy began a campaign to pass an anti-discrimination bill in 1943. With a vote of 8-8 in the House of Alaska’s two-branch Territorial Legislature, it failed to pass. Undeterred, Elizabeth continued to tirelessly campaign across the Alaskan territory. After garnering public support, Elizabeth and Roy, representing the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Sisterhood, brought a new anti-discrimination bill before the Alaska Senate in 1945. In an eloquent two-hour long testimony, Elizabeth stood before a white male majority and eloquently argued for an end to racial discrimination within Alaska. 

During the hearing, Allen Shattuck, a Juneau territorial senator, asked Elizabeth “Who are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites, with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind us?” Elizabeth famously responded, “I would not have expected that I, who am ‘barely out of savagery,’ would have to remind gentlemen with five thousand years of recorded civilization behind them, of our Bill of Rights.” A local newspaper printed that she “shamed the opposition into a ‘defensive whisper.’” The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 was signed into law by Governor Gruening on February 16, 1945. The Act provided that all Alaskans be entitled to “full and equal enjoyment” of public areas and businesses and banned signs that discriminated based on race. This marked the end of “Jim Crow” laws within Alaska.

Transcript of Alaska Territorial Senate Hearing regarding proposed Equal Rights Bill, February 6, 1945.
Peratrovich family papers (NMAI.AC.078), NMAI.AC.078_001_02_082 and NMAI.AC.078_001_02_083.

In recognition of her antiracist advocacy to provide equal accommodation privileges to all citizens regardless of race, in 1988 the state of Alaska posthumously established February 16th as Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich Day. More recently, celebrating the 75th anniversary of Alaska’s Anti-Discrimination Law, Elizabeth Peratrovich appeared on the 2020 Native American $1 coin design. That same year, a Google doodle featuring the work of Tlingit and Haida artist Michaela Goade (Sheit.een) commemorated Elizabeth’s life and activism. Elizabeth and Roy’s efforts helped to pave the way for continued Indigenous activism within the United States. 

Mikaela (Mik) Hamilton, Intern, National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center

Nathan Sowry, Reference Archivist, National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center

Solving Inventory Problems with Archival Research

One of the most important tasks in a museum is keeping track of items in the collection. To properly care for a collection, you must know what you have and where to find it. However, staff in any museum—especially those with collections acquired over more than a hundred years—know that mistakes can occur and we can lose track of things. Museum staff often encounter lost or misplaced objects, items found in storage without catalog numbers or documentation, and confusing or missing information in catalog records. Today we have technology and record-keeping systems that help keep these types of errors to a minimum but many unsolved inventory issues from the past remain at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). 

Before computer databases and regular photography of all collection items, it could be difficult to determine when an item was truly missing or to match an unnumbered item found in storage to an existing catalog record. At the Museum of the American Indian, our predecessor institution, catalog card descriptions of objects were often vague. The cards usually only identified a culture and basic object type and did not physically describe the object, which often make it practically impossible to rectify inventory discrepancies. Without computerized records and accurate inventories, staff had to be certain of what was missing and also hope that a painstaking search through paper catalog cards might reveal a match. When staff couldn’t find a match and gave up the search, they would catalogue the item with a new number and note that it was “found in the collection.” That was the best they could do to ensure the object would be documented and tracked in the future. 

Typical Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation catalog card

At NMAI we are still dealing with longstanding inventory discrepancies. Our staff has made tremendous progress in sorting things out over the years but sometimes there are no clues or tangible leads to figure out an object’s origin or original catalog number. Fortunately, the Retro-Accession Lot Project—NMAI’s provenance research project to reconstruct the acquisition history of the museum’s collections—has provided new avenues to explore. Digging into the archives in search of provenance information has unexpectedly revealed solutions to longstanding inventory problems, including some we thought could never be solved. 

Haida figure from British Columbia, 24/8864. National Museum of the American Indian. 

In 1974, an unnumbered Haida figure was found in MAI storage: it could not be matched with records of any missing objects so it was assigned a new catalog number. Its new catalog card read “Carved wood figure of a kneeling man. Possibly a canoe prow or feast dish base, from collection - original number lost.”  

During the Retro-lot project review of an early scrapbook of clippings about American Indians and artifacts made by MAI founder George Heye, there was a familiar image: an article titled The Man Otter included a photograph of the figure found in the collection in 1974!  

Excerpt from Heye Scrapbook of Newspaper Articles. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation records, Oversize Box 2. NMAI Archives Center. 

Using this information, a collections database search retrieved a catalog record for an object described as an otter man totem, possibly Haida. The object had been purchased by George Heye in 1904 from Frederick Landsberg, owner of Victoria, British Columbia, art and artifact shop called Landsberg’s Free Museum, and its original catalog card even referenced a newspaper article. This “totem,” which had never been photographed by the museum, had been considered missing for many years but had clearly been in the collection all along; it was simply obscured by its new number and catalog card that no longer referenced the “man otter.” 

Top: Catalog card for Haida Figure 1125 (now 24/8864). Bottom: Catalog card made during re-cataloging in 1974

Without additional documentation, it would have been impossible to determine that these two catalog records were for the same object. And if not for this chance discovery, made while flipping through a scrapbook in the NMAI Archive Center, we may never have solved this inventory issue.  

A:shiwi (Zuni) jar from New Mexico, RP0104. National Museum of the American Indian.

This A:shiwi (Zuni) jar from New Mexico provides another example: it was also found in collections storage with no catalog number; it was assigned a temporary number and housed with other inventory problems for years. Archival documentation regarding the 1906 acquisition of the Lewis Hotchkiss Brittin collection finally revealed its background. Brittin, a noted collector of books and Native American art, maintained catalog cards of his collection and often pasted photos on the cards. When Brittin sold his collection to George Heye, the cards were included, but unfortunately they did not include Brittin’s name or any reference to the MAI collections they might represent.  In 2019, we identified the cards as the collection purchased from Brittin in 1906 and matched them to catalogued objects. One card for a Zuni jar could not be matched to any catalogued items, but inventory records showed that a Zuni jar from Brittin was listed as missing. A search through the inventory problems revealed the missing jar, whose distinctive shape and design made its identification obvious.  

L.H. Brittin Catalog Cards and Plates. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation records, Oversize Box CC3. NMAI Archives Center. 

Finally, this poncho from Peru has been a cataloguing mystery for years. It is a significant item because it shows evidence of the relationship between two Andean cultures from different regions of Peru, the coastal Moche and the highland Huari; its weaving and stylistic techniques represent both cultures and date it to AD 700–900. The poncho has been exhibited several times and been treated by museum conservation staff several times. Given its beauty and significance, it would have been a notable addition to the collection whenever it was acquired but it has never been clear exactly how or even when it was acquired. This is its long and convoluted story.  

Huari (Wari) poncho, AD 700-900, 24/4999. National Museum of the American Indian.

In 1976, the poncho was found stored in the museum vault and examined by MAI staff, who found that it lacked a catalog number. Due to its poor condition, it was recommended for conservation treatment in 1978 and was treated again in 1985. Documentation from this period refers to the object only as an unnumbered Moche-Huari poncho. In 1987, MAI staff concluded that the poncho had never been catalogued and assigned it a number: 24/4999. Given the poncho’s remarkable nature, some staff later felt that it must have been catalogued earlier and lost its number. Over the course of decades, they investigated missing archaeological textiles from Peru to try to identify the poncho’s background but met with no success. 

What complicated later efforts was that the catalog number 24/4999 suggested that the poncho’s acquisition dated to 1971. MAI (and NMAI) catalog numbers are sequential—1 to 270600 currently—and rough acquisition dates can often be ascertained by their placement in that sequence. The poncho’s catalog number fits in the range of numbers assigned in 1971 and, from the 1990s onward, staff assumed it was acquired before 1971. What they did not realize was that in the 1980s, staff had identified a block of unassigned numbers and used them for newly catalogued items, including the poncho. In the early 2000s, when staff attempted to match the poncho to a missing object, they only scrutinized objects catalogued before 1971. 

In 2019, the origins of the poncho finally became clear when it was matched with records for a 1973 purchase of what was described as “an extremely rare Mochica poncho from Peru.” The purchase—arranged by director Frederick J. Dockstader from Swiss antiquities collector Jean Lions—was significant enough to merit mention in the museum’s 1973 Annual Report. MAI supporter Harry Blumenthal had provided funds for the poncho’s purchase in the name of Arthur Sackler, a generous donor who had started an MAI fund to support purchase of unique and outstanding objects. In 1974, Dockstader catalogued the poncho with the number 24/8860, but that number was never written on or attached to the poncho itself, leading to decades of confusion.  

Original catalog card for Huari (Wari) poncho 24/8860 (now 24/4999).

In 1975, MAI dismissed Frederick Dockstader following a New York State Attorney General’s Office investigation of sales and irregular deaccessions of MAI collection objects. In 1976, when the poncho was found in the vault, no one sought an explanation from Dockstader, and during the inventory of the MAI collection in the late 1970s, poncho 24/8860 was never located and was assumed to be missing. 

As part of NMAI’s Retro-Accession lot project, we have not only worked to reconstruct how collection objects were acquired but also to understand MAI’s history as a museum and its practices. We can never take for granted that the standard museum practices we follow today actually pertain to earlier decades and understanding how MAI operated has helped us unravel some of these more complex situations. Looking back at the chain of events, it’s now clear how the poncho lost connection to its documentation and how staff repeatedly went astray in earlier efforts to determine its acquisition history. The poncho’s story also demonstrates how easily we can lose track of items and how changes in staff and loss of institutional knowledge can contribute to what we know about items in the collection, all of which shows that good and timely record-keeping is critical.  

Armed with a better understanding of our museum archives and collections documentation, we now have new tools to solve old problems, including persistent inventory issues and ensuring that collections data is accurate. For more information on the Retro-Accession Lot project and how it is changing what we know about the NMAI collections see previous blog posts here and here.  

Maria Galban 

Collections Documentation Manager 

National Museum of the American Indian 

Bringing to Light the Career and Correspondence of M.R. Harrington

Letter addressed to M.R. Harrington from the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1911.

Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation records, NMAI.AC.001, Box 231, Folder 7. 

Though now less well-remembered, M.R., or Mark Raymond, Harrington (1882-1971) was a prominent twentieth-century anthropologist who worked for many of the leading anthropological museums of his day. These included Harvard University’s Peabody Museum, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (the predecessor to the National Museum of the American Indian or NMAI) also in New York, Philadelphia’s University Museum, and later, from 1928 until his retirement in 1966 at the age of 82, the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles.

M.R. Harrington dressed in Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) clothing, ca. 1905.
Mark Raymond Harrington photograph collection, NMAI.AC.001.035, P28198.

The Smithsonian’s NMAI Archives Center staff consider themselves fortunate to steward such a great extent of Harrington’s archival materials, consisting of his ethnological field notes, object lists, and personal and professional correspondence. For many years these materials have served as an invaluable resource for Native and non-Native researchers, linguistic and language revitalization scholars, and community groups conducting repatriation work. Now, however, as the NMAI makes digital versions of Harrington’s correspondence accessible on the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives and the Smithsonian’s Transcription Center, an even greater number of interested users can learn about this individual’s important life from the comfort of their own homes.

Born in 1882 and commencing his first anthropological work while still a teenager in the late 1890s, Harrington’s career spanned more than sixty years and encompassed wide swathes of the U.S. and North America. Well-respected for his collecting prowess, in the two decades alone (1908-1928) that he worked for Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, founder George Gustav Heye, Harrington collected ethnological and archaeological material from Canada in the north to Cuba in the south, and from New York in the east to California in the west.

Harrington’s correspondence in particular reflects his work throughout North America and his sustained relationships with anthropological leaders in the field like Franz Boas, Frederic Ward Putnam, and Frank G. Speck, his personal relationships with fellow anthropological colleagues Alanson Skinner and Arthur C. Parker, and his dependence on the knowledge, advice, and friendship of Native American collaborators and interpreters in the field like Peoria leader Bill Skye and Otoe community member Grant Cleghorn.

Peoria chief, interpreter, and collaborator with M.R. Harrington, Bill Skye, 1908.
Collection still undetermined, likely part of the Mark Raymond Harrington photograph collection. NMAI P23479.

Harrington was a product of his time, and though his collecting of material culture items (now referred to as salvage anthropology) may have “saved” countless objects for future generations to admire in a museum setting, his collecting also inadvertently robbed many American Indian communities of their cultural heritage, creating a void in Native American cultural identity which in some cases still persists to the present-day.

Further, like his fellow turn-of-the-twentieth-century anthropologists Frank Hamilton Cushing, James Mooney, and Alanson Skinner, Harrington adhered to the anthropological practice of participant observation. Thus, he often dressed in Native clothing, spoke in Native languages, and referred to himself by his adopted Native names, even when away from Native communities. Harrington and Skinner, however, tended to blur the lines between participant observation and what Philip J. Deloria terms “playing Indian,” in which non-Native peoples simulate and appropriate the customs, manners, and lifeways of Native groups. Temporally removed and lacking Harrington’s personal thoughts on his actions at the time, it is difficult to label his and Skinner’s actions as intentional cultural appropriation, when they may demonstrate nothing more than the passion of two men of Euro-American ancestry interested in learning about other cultures. Regrettably, while Harrington’s correspondence is a treasure trove of information, it reveals little further insight into these men’s perspectives on matters such as this. Importantly though, Native American people were more than simply a subject of study for Harrington. They were integral to his life, his identity, and over time became intimate members of his family including his wife and Seneca community member, Endeka (Edna) Parker.

Mrs. Endeka Parker Harrington (Seneca), Don Chiaku (Hopi Pueblo), and M.R. Harrington dressed in Hopi clothing in Arizona, circa 1930. Mark Raymond Harrington photograph collection, NMAI.AC.001.035, P26879.

Harrington worked with more Native communities, at more museums, and for a longer period of time than many of his colleagues in the anthropological world. His Seneca friend, fellow anthropologist, and brother-in-law Arthur C. Parker called Harrington a devoted friend who defended Native peoples from every angle of attack. More recently, present-day scholar and Abenacki museum anthropologist Margaret Bruchac has praised Harrington as a determined researcher with an inclusive and egalitarian bent who advocated for the place of Native men and women in ethnological and archaeological work.

Despite such praise, M.R. Harrington’s name remains relatively unknown to many both within and outside of the museum field. Hopefully by making Harrington’s personal and professional correspondence more widely available to the public, his inspiring and complicated legacy will better be brought to light.

Nathan Sowry, Reference Archivist
National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day from the Smithsonian Transcription Center!

The voices, stories, and cultures of Native peoples - past and present - are found throughout the Smithsonian. For Indigenous Peoples Day (today) we're highlighting some resources for locating some of these materials within the Transcription Center (TC), and how TC projects are helping enhance collection access, and connect disparate information, for American Indian communities.

Since 2013, 129 projects have been launched in the Transcription Center, created by, or related to, Native Americans and Indigenous peoples. Staff at the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center (NMAI), the National Anthropological Archives (NAA), Smithsonian Libraries, and others, have worked to identify materials in their holdings needing transcription and ensure that chosen collections are not culturally sensitive before being launched in TC [1]. Linguistic vocabularies, correspondence, ethnographic field notes, historical materials from landmark legal cases concerning Native rights, the administrative records of the Heye Foundation (the National Museum of the American Indian's predecessor organization), and documentation for object collection histories, among others, have all been included. Transcription of these materials makes the text within each page text-searchable and readable, meaning increased access and discoverability for researchers around the world--including Native community members.

Beyond the Transcription Center
itself, are other online resources for locating Native American archival, museum, and library collections from within the Smithsonian. In 2018, the Transcription Center team collaborated with staff from the NMAI, the National Museum of Natural History's Anthropology Department (including the NAA), Smithsonian Libraries, and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition to aggregate Smithsonian-held materials related to the history of Native American boarding and day schools. Together, we created a "Gallery" page on the Smithsonian's online database, Collections Search Center, where researchers can explore related content by topic, geographic region, school name, and more. Included in this list of collections on this page, are archival collections from the NMAI and the NAA created by or about Native boarding and day school students, which were transcribed as part of a collaboration in the Transcription Center for Native American Heritage Month in 2018. Letters from a young Grace Thorpe, drawings and writings from students at the Pine Ridge Day School, and booklets from Carlisle are all included.  This "Gallery" page is part of a larger "Gallery" within Collections Search Center on Smithsonian archival, library, and museum collections related to Native American and Indigenous History, including materials organized by Smithsonian unit, language, tribe, and more.

These projects and resources are one way that staff around the Smithsonian are working together with Native communities and outside researchers to improve collection use and ensure the communities represented in museum holdings are not only able to access their history, but are welcomed as equal partners in transforming how the history of Native peoples is told and studied. Last week, archivists from the NAA and NMAI hosted a workshop (along with colleagues from the National Archives and the Library of Congress) at the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums annual conference on researching Native American archival materials. Included in presentations from the NAA was information on the Transcription Center projects and Gallery pages mentioned above, along with details on how Native communities and Tribal archivists can collaborate further with Smithsonian staff on TC projects transcribing sound recordings and other Native language materials.

This Indigenous Peoples Day, join in our efforts to ensure a more complete and inclusive historical narrative of Native Americans and Indigenous peoples by helping to transcribe ongoing Transcription Center projects--including business ledgers from collector and dealer William Ockleford Oldman, documenting the sale and purchase of Native objects (many of which are held in NMAI); as well as a sound recording from the NAA of Anthropologist Helen Rountree, an expert on Virginia Indians.

-Caitlin Haynes, Smithsonian Transcription Center Coordinator

Sources:
[1] Culturally sensitive content, as defined by the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials is: "tangible and intangible property and knowledge which pertains to the distinct values, beliefs, and ways of living for a culture. It often includes property and knowledge that is not intended to be shared outside the community of origin of specific groups within a community." http://www2.nau.edu/libnap-p/index.html.

Image 1 (right): Grace Thorpe, Sac and Fox, NMAI.AC.085.  Transcription Project.                            

Image 2 (left): MS 369: Vocabulary of the Tchugatz of Prince William Sound,  Alaska, NAA. Transcription Project

Collection Spotlight: Ambrotype of Chief Okemos

Ambrotype of Chief Okemos [Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa)]. P12521A,  NMAI.AC.385, National Museum of the American Indian

The NMAI Archives Center is pleased to share this ambrotype depicting Chief Okemos [Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa)], photographed by Henry H. Smith of Cheboygan, Michigan in 1858.

Ambrotypes became popular in the mid-1850s as a cheaper alternative to daguerreotype photographs. These underexposed collodion negatives on glass were usually placed against a dark background such as paper, cloth, or paint in order for the ambrotype to appear as a positive image. Most ambrotypes, like this one, were housed in a leather or thermoplastic case with a brass mat and a preserver in order to protect the photograph from scratches or peeling emulsion. By 1865, tintype photographs replaced ambrotypes in popularity because they were even cheaper and easier to produce.

Newspaper clipping inside Chief Okemos' ambrotype case. P12521B,  NMAI.AC.385, National Museum of the American Indian

What makes this photograph particularly interesting is that someone, possibly the collector, included in the case a newspaper clipping referencing the ambrotype. How meta! The article describes Okemos’ initial hesitation of having his photograph taken. In the early days of photography, some American Indian communities believed that the photographers were “shadow catchers” who could capture parts of their being via the camera. It seems that Chief Okemos changed his mind in later years, as there are three other known photographs of him. Two are in private collections and the third is an ambrotype held in the Archives of Michigan (Record Group 2005-13).

There is conflicting information about the details of Chief Okemos' biography including his birth year. It is believed that Chief Okemos was born circa 1769 possibly in the Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa) settlement of Ketchewandaugoning on the Shiawassee River (near present-day Bloomfield, Michigan). Other spellings of his name included Okemus, Okemans, Ogimaus, O-ge-mah, and O-Gee-Manse.

He fought in several battles including the battle of Tippencanoe, Indiana (1811), the War of 1812, the Battle of Sandusky (1813), and the Battle of the Thames (1813). During the War of 1812, Okemos suffered an injury, which left him with a large scar on his forehead. Chief Okemos also signed several treaties on behalf of the Anishinaabe including the Treaty of Saginaw (1819).

His family included his wife Waindegoquayzance; his son Paymechewaysawdung (1829-1899; also known as John); his son Waygeshegome (1845-1902; also known as James); his daughter Kawbaishcawmoquay (1845-1896); and his daughter Shawusquahbenoquay (d.1852). Chief Okemos died on December 5, 1858 in Michigan.

Want to check out more ambrotypes held in NMAI’s collection? Check out these images of Potawatomi Chief Shabonna. 

Emily Moazami, Assistant Head Archivist

National Museum of the American Indian

A Princely Visit: Photographs from British Columbia

One hundred years ago the Prince of Wales, and future King Edward VIII, made a long and highly publicized visit to Canada during his 1919 tour of the British Empire. The trip lasted from August 11th, when the Prince arrived by ship in Newfoundland, through November 10th, crossing westward and then back eastward across the continent. Photographers and journalists, alongside ordinary Canadians, gathered in cities and towns to catch a glimpse of the Prince. According to Library and Archives Canada, it was one of the first major cross-Canada events covered by the motion picture newsreels (see their blog post and video here). The Prince was photographed giving speeches, meeting with veteran soldiers from WWI, and shaking hands with dignitaries, as well as being greeted by leaders of First Nations communities across Canada. Many of these photographs were turned into postcards and have ended up in various Canadian Institutions such as the Library and Archives Canada and the Royal BC Archives, this one (below) however, made its way to New York City before landing in Suitland, Maryland in the NMAI Archives.

Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, being greeted by Kwakwaka'waka (Kwakiutl) and Coast Salish leaders in Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, 1919. Trio Photograph and Supply Company photographs (NMAI.AC.134), P00746. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. 

One of the photographers present at the prince’s arrival in Victoria, British Columbia was Ernest Crocker. Crocker, along with two other English emigrants to Canada, had co-founded “Trio Photograph Company and Supply” in Victoria sometime around 1903. Though the original partnership was later dissolved and Crocker took over the main operations, Trio continued to flourish as a military photography company, photographing soldiers and personnel from WWI and WWII. The company also photographed local landscapes and indigenous communities in and around Victoria. In the early years of the company, some of these photographs were made into scenic postcards and sold at a cigar-stand at the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Empress Hotel in Downtown Victoria. 

Postcard featuring a Kwakwaka'waka (Kwakiutl) totem pole in Cape Mudge Village on Quadra Island, British Columbia, circa 1920. This postcard was stamped with "Trio" on the back. Trio Photograph and Supply Company photographs (NMAI.AC.134), P06408. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. 

Though it is unclear exactly when the photographs were acquired, H. B. “Barney” Olson, an employee of the Empress Hotel at the time, must have either bought (or was given) several Trio photographs and postcards from the cigar-stand. These photographs included the first image of the Prince of Wales being greeted by the Governor of British Columbia along with leaders from the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) and Coast Salish communities, in addition to views of several Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) villages on Vancouver and Quadra Islands. 

In 1924, Olson donated his collection of Trio photographs to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (the National Museum of the American Indian’s predecessor institution) which is how they became a part of NMAI’s archival collections. Although the initial cataloging of the photographs did not include a photographer, many of the prints had the word “Trio” stamped on the back. 

View of a Kwakwaka'waka (Kwakiutl) totem pole in Cape Mudge Village on Quadra Island, British Columbia, circa 1920. The same totem pole can be seen in the postcard above. Trio Photograph and Supply Company photographs (NMAI.AC.134), P06412. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. 

Thanks to the many resources available online today we were able to quickly find information on Trio Photographic Supply through the directory "Camera Workers British Columbia, 1858-1950", by D. Mattison, as well as information on Crocker himself from the BC (British Columbia) Archives. (See guide to the Ernest Crocker Fonds).

Now, the “Trio Photograph and Supply Company photographs from British Columbia” (NMAI.AC.134) can be found digitized and online through the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives or at the Smithsonian’s Collection Search Center.

Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist

National Museum of the American Indian, Archives Center

Collection Spotlight: Fred Miller photograph collection

Portrait of Shows All The Time and her two children. Fred E. Miller photograph collection, NMAI.AC.108, N13744.

The National Museum of the American Indian is pleased to share with you a newly processed and fully digitized collection of historic photographs. The Fred E. Miller photograph collection depicts Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) families on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana circa 1898-1910.

Photographed by civil service clerk Fred E. Miller, the photographs reveal an intimate look at the Crow Nation during a period of forced acculturation and the transition from nomadic to sedentary reservation life. By 1883, the Crow peoples had lost millions of acres of land and around the following year all three Crow bands (Mountain Crow, River Crow, and Kicked in the Bellies) were forcibly relocated to the Crow Indian Reservation in south-central Montana.

Portrait of White Hip and Always Takes The Lead. Fred E. Miller photograph collection, NMAI.AC.108, N13667.

Twelve years later, in 1896, Fred Miller accepted a position as a civil service clerk for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and moved to the Crow Indian Reservation. Despite being a government agent, Miller advocated for the rights of the Crow people. For nearly a dozen years, he lived with and photographed the Apsáalooke peoples, learned to speak their language, and was officially adopted into the Crow Nation. He was nicknamed Boxpotapesh, or “High Kicker,” because of his skills at football - a game that he taught to the Crow children. He would also entertain the children with his elaborate ice skating routines on the frozen Little Bighorn River.

Outdoor portrait of Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) Chief Black Hair (1849-1905) with daughter Mary Black Hair (1896-1953). Fred E. Miller photograph collection, NMAI.AC.108, N13777.

Prior to arriving in Montana, Miller had learned photography in Iowa and operated a photo studio in both Nebraska and Iowa. Despite being a trained professional portrait photographer, Miller’s photographs of the Crow community were very candid and informal in nature. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Miller’s style of photographs appear to be devoid of romanticism or of “dying race” narratives. Rather than people depicted as anonymous archetypes, Miller’s photographs document individuals with names and personal stories. While we can only speculate about Miller’s intentions for photographing, his images capture diverse aspects of day-to-day life of the Crow peoples living on the Reservation. Because of his adoption into the tribe, the Crow permitted Miller to photograph all activities on the reservation, some of which were off-limits for other photographers.

Photograph depicting Chief Medicine Crow [Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke)]. Fred E. Miller photograph collection, NMAI.AC.108, N13649.

According to Joe Medicine Crow (1913-2016), the late Crow Chief and Tribal Historian, Miller did not pose people or dress them up for photographs. Instead, he documented people as he came across them on the Reservation. Chief Joe Medicine Crow further commented, “High Kicker photographed every facet of Crow life during the harsh years of the government’s unilateral acculturation program. His subjects represented all ages from infants to octogenarians, the latter proudly clinging to the last vestiges of their days of glory. The faces vividly reveal sadness, futility and anger, but also happiness, optimism and love.” Among the many faces represented in Miller’s photographs is Joe’s grandfather, Chief Medicine Crow (1848-1922), whom Miller photographed circa 1898-1910.

Outdoor portrait of three generations: grandmother Clara White Hip, her daughter Clara White Hip, and her granddaughter Agnes White Hip. Fred E. Miller photograph collection, NMAI.AC.108, N13729.

Miller’s other photographs include candid family portraits such as a photo of three generations of the White Hip family standing alongside a creek - grandmother Clara White Hip, daughter Clara White Hip, and granddaughter Agnes White Hip. Many other photographs depict Chiefs in traditional regalia such as war shirts and headdresses, as well as women and girls in elk tooth dresses about to partake in special events. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Miller also captured quieter moments, such as his photograph of Points The Gun braiding her hair with the aid of sunlight from a nearby window.

Photograph depicting Points The Gun braiding her hair. Fred E. Miller photograph collection, NMAI.AC.108, N13736.

Before his death in 1936, Miller was working on a narrative about his experiences living among Crow peoples, but unfortunately his writings have since disappeared and their whereabouts remain unknown. Fortunately, his visual record has survived, and can provide a glimpse into various aspects of everyday life on the Crow Indian Reservation at the turn of the twentieth century. Even more importantly, these photographs of Crow ancestors can be shared with descendants and future generations.

Emily Moazami, Assistant Head Archivist

National Museum of the American Indian

Connecting European Collectors to Indigenous Collections

In the early 20th century, archaeological and ethnographic items often travelled through a complicated web of dealers, collectors and museums after leaving their source communities. Some of these objects passed through multiple hands before ending up at museums such as the National Museum of the American Indian. NMAI’s recent collaborative project with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa—the digitization and transcription of the William Ockleford Oldman Research Materials through the Smithsonian Transcription Center (see an earlier blog about the start of the project here)—has helped us begin to untangle some of these webs of relationships and transactions.

Oldman, a British dealer of ethnographic art, archaeology, and weaponry, sold thousands of objects to museums and collectors throughout Europe and the United States. Over several decades, he maintained detailed records of items in his stock in collection ledgers as well as separate sale registers to document his clients and sales. Since January, hardworking volunteers have transcribed nearly 1,000 pages of Oldman records, including four registers dating from 1902 to 1914 and “Part 1” of his collection ledger, where he recorded items in his stock in numerical order. Because of this work, the ledgers are now text searchable and we are able to glean new information about objects in the NMAI collection acquired from Oldman. Through analysis of the Oldman documents, we have been able to identify connections between our objects and other European dealers and collectors, much of which was totally unknown. Previously, we believed that George Heye, the founder of our predecessor institution the Museum of the American Indian, began purchasing objects from Oldman in 1911; however, Oldman’s sale records indicate that relationships between Oldman, Heye, and Heye’s museum staff began as early as 1907.

In 1907, archaeologist Marshall Saville—Curator of Mexican and Central American Archaeology at the American Museum of Natural History—resigned his AMNH position and went to work for George Heye and the Heye Museum (as it was then called). Saville’s duties included identifying and securing objects for the museum and, in 1907, Saville purchased a set of items from Oldman for the Heye Museum: ethnographic objects from Ecuador, including ear ornaments, a necklace, and a club; archaeological axes from the Caribbean; and a steatite dish from Newfoundland. Until now, these items were listed simply as “purchases” and none had any known connection to either Saville or Oldman. However, because Oldman’s ledgers include notations about how he acquired objects, we can now connect these objects to Oldman and to their previous owners. For example, a notation in Oldman’s ledger for the steatite dish from Newfoundland indicates that Oldman acquired it in March 1906 from H. G. Beasley.

Harry Geoffery Beasley (1881–1939) was a British collector and curator who, along with his wife Irene, later founded the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum in Chislehurst, Kent, England, for their collection of objects from Oceania, the Americas, Africa and Asia.

1/2442 Steatite Dish from Newfoundland purchased from W. O. Oldman in 1907 and its catalog card.

In later years, the Museum of the American Indian had other connections to Harry Beasley and the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum, including exchanges of objects in the 1930s, but the possibility of an earlier connection was totally unknown. 

Based in London, Oldman maintained a shop and also produced a series of catalogues to advertise items he had for sale. Established buyers like George Heye received Oldman’s published catalogues and could ask that the item be shipped to them on approval or buy them outright. One such item that made its way from Oldman to the Heye Museum was an early 19th-century Delaware bag, which Heye purchased in 1909. This bag appears in Oldman’s Illustrated Catalogue of Ethnographical Specimens, catalogue No. 71. Along with an illustration, a brief description of the bag and its price, Oldman included his stock number: 17907. Using this stock number, we were able to trace the bag back through Oldman’s records to reveal that he purchased it in October 1908 from W. H. Fenton of Fenton and Sons, who were dealers in antiques and curiosities that operated in London from around 1880 until the 1930s.

2/1288 Lenape (Delaware) Shoulder Bag circa 1820, purchased from W. O. Oldman in 1909.

Excerpt from W. O. Oldman Illustrated Catalogue of Ethnographical Specimens, catalogue No. 71. NMAI Vine Deloria Jr. Library.

The third recorded purchase made by George Heye in June 1909 is the one that began the quest to find the Oldman records mentioned in the previous blog (linked above). Heye purchased a selection of items: pipe tomahawks, beaded bags, carving tools, a dance apron, painted skin, and cape from British Columbia, and two Haida canoe paddles. Oldman recorded that he had acquired the paddles just a month earlier from James Edward Little (1876–1953), a British antiques dealer and furniture restorer. Little was also a forger of Polynesian objects and sold his fakes alongside authentic items; he was arrested several times for stealing artifacts from museums and replacing them with his copies.

2/2107 Haida Canoe Paddles from British Columbia purchased from W. O. Oldman in 1909.

Since the beginning of our collaborative project with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, we have identified about 50 sets of objects purchased by George Heye and the Museum of the American Indian from Oldman between 1907 and 1937, totaling approximately 1500 ethnographic and archaeological objects from throughout the Americas.

As we delve deeper into Oldman’s records, we continue to learn about connections between individual European collectors, much of which is of potential significance to other museums whose collections include objects acquired from Oldman. Because the Smithsonian Collections Search Center now displays the results of the transcribed Oldman materials, the names of collectors, dealers, or institutions that did business with Oldman can be searched: pages in the ledgers that include specific names will be returned and the researcher can go directly to the relevant page.

Another way to search for a collector is by using Oldman’s coding system: he assigned each buyer a code based on the first letter of their last name along with a number. For example, George Heye’s code was H28, Marshall Saville was S29, and H.G. Beasley was B16. Once the code is known, these can be searched as well. Oldman’s stock numbers can also be searched to find where he recorded them both in his sale registers and in his collection ledger.

The final batch of Oldman records—one more sale register for pistols and three more collection ledgers—have been added to the transcription center. Look for these projects at the Smithsonian Transcription Center. Thanks to all of the volunteers that have worked on this project so far and to those that will join: your contributions are helping us re-discover the history of our collections!

Maria Galban, Collections Documentation Manager
National Museum of the American Indian


Sources:
Hales, Robert and Kevin Conru, W.O. Oldman: the remarkable collector: William Ockleford Oldman's personal archive. Graphius, 2016

Oldman, W. O. Illustrated catalogue of ethnographical specimens, reprint of original catalogues, London, 1976.

Waterfield, Hermione and, Jonathan C. H. King, Provenance: Twelve Collectors of Ethnographic Art in England 1760-1990, Paul Holberton Publishing, London, 2010

 

 

Searching for Oldman: Museum Collaboration Across the Globe

Since 2010, a project has been underway at the National Museum of the American Indian to reunite archival records with our collections and reconstruct the provenance, or record of ownership, of objects. You can read more about what we refer to as the Retro-Accession Lot Project here. Our research began by utilizing our own resources in the NMAI Archive Center, the Museum of the American Indian - Heye Foundation Records, but has since grown to include archival resources at other institutions including one halfway around the world.

Early in the project it became evident that the history of the MAI, our predecessor institution, was intertwined with that of other organizations. It was also clear that the world of collecting Native American objects in the 20th century was a relatively small one. Many anthropologists and archaeologists worked for multiple institutions over the course of their lives; the result was that their papers were often spread between several locations. Objects for sale were offered to multiple institutions or collectors and if one potential buyer declined to purchase an item, another might scoop it up. For this reason, documentation about these transactions may exist in multiple archives. We knew that for some objects in our collection, the only way to get the full picture of their provenance was to expand the search to other institutions. This would also give us a better understanding of the interconnected network of dealers in Native American objects.

The George G. Heye Collection of North American Ethnology on display at the University Museum in 1910.
Photo Courtesy of the Penn Museum.

In 2015, we expanded our search for collections documentation to the University of Pennsylvania Museum Archives. In 1908, George Heye struck a deal to place his growing North American ethnology and archaeology collections at the University Museum in Philadelphia. There, the collections were cared for and exhibited in two galleries from 1909 until 1916 when Heye withdrew them to create the MAI, much to the dismay of the University Museum staff, who believed he would donate his collection to their museum. George Hubbard Pepper and Mark Raymond Harrington, who would later join the MAI staff, were employed at the University Museum to care for the Heye collection, conduct research and collect additional objects. Due to these relationships, the Penn Museum archives hold documentation from this early period of Heye’s collecting. 

Surprisingly, correspondence in the Penn archives between Heye and George Byron Gordon, the University Museum’s director, pointed to a new connection. In a letter to Gordon dated July 19, 1909, Heye wrote that he had in his possession “a British Columbia painted skin from Oldman.” This led to the discovery of an incredibly rich archival collection on the other side of the world.

I recognized the name Oldman from Museum of the American Indian catalog records: William Ockleford Oldman (1879–1949) was a British dealer in ethnographic art and European weaponry. He sold to museums and collectors throughout Europe and the United States, including George Heye. The NMAI collections include hundreds of objects recorded as purchased from Oldman, but we had no record of a 1909 purchase. Searching our collections database, I found a painted skin from British Columbia acquired in 1909 but there was no source named: its catalog card simply indicated that it was a purchase.

2/2063 Painted Skin from British Columbia purchased from W.O. Oldman in 1909 and its catalog card. Photo by Ernest Amoroso.

Digging deeper, I learned that Oldman was not only a dealer but also a collector. He sold his personal collection of Oceanic objects to the Government of New Zealand in 1948. This collection, including his business records, is now part of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington.

To learn more about these business records, I contacted Te Papa’s archives and received word that they had several of Oldman’s sale registers as well as his collection ledgers and correspondence. Their archivist, Jennifer Twist, kindly provided a few photographs of the material so I could evaluate the type of information included. One photo from Oldman’s ledger confirmed not only the sale of the painted skin in June 1909 to George Heye but other objects Heye had purchased at the same time. Based on the descriptions in Oldman’s ledgers, I succeeded in identifying several other NMAI objects that were described simply as purchases on their catalog cards. As an added bonus, Oldman had recorded the date he had purchased the items and from whom. The painted skin that began this search was purchased by Oldman from the J.C. Stevens Auction on February 16, 1909. Documentation at Te Papa confirmed the items’ association with Oldman but also provided starting points for research into his sources and the hands objects had traveled through.

W. O. Oldman Sale Register CA000228/001/0001 page 209, New Zealand Museum Te Papa Tongarewa

It became clear that the information in the Oldman ledgers was pertinent not only to NMAI and our provenance research project but also to other museums around the world that also hold collections purchased from Oldman. Gaining a better sense of who Oldman bought from also has the potential to improve our understanding of how Native American objects made their way to Europe in the first place.

To maximize the importance of the Oldman records to NMAI and to other institutions, we initiated a collaborative project with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa to digitize the Oldman ledgers and make digital images accessible to the public. Te Papa has digitized five Oldman sale registers and two collection ledgers dating from 1902 to 1916. These collaborative research materials are now available for review on the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archive here . Since the ledgers date from the early 20th century and are handwritten, we have also begun a Smithsonian Transcription Center project to have them transcribed. Please take some time to check out this important project and become a volunteer!

Without the connections we have made with other institutions, research about the NMAI collections—including the Oldman objects—would quickly have reached a dead end. By researching relationships between early collectors, dealers, and museums, we can fill in some gaps in our catalog data and restore the connections that have long been broken between our objects and the individuals that made, used, or sold these items.

Many thanks to Alessandro Pezzati and Eric Schnittke for providing access and guidance during research at the Penn Museum Archives and to Jennifer Twist, Mike O’Neill, and Victoria Leachman at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa for their hard work in collaborating with us on this project.

Maria Galban, Collections Documentation Manager
National Museum of the American Indian