MS 4731 Drawings of Katsinam by Hopi artists
Object Details
- Local Numbers
- NAA MS 4731
- Conservation Note
- The drawings were mounted on light board prior to publication in 1903. After publication, they were trimmed so that the paper and board were the same size and bound into four volumes. In 2000-2001, all four volumes were disbound, flattened, and rehoused in sink mats.
- Publication Note
- Almost all of the drawings were published in: Jesse Walter Fewkes, "Hopi Kachinas Drawn by Native Artists" Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 21, 1903. Plates II-LIII.
- Collector
- Fewkes, Jesse Walter, 1850-1930
- Artist
- Homovi (Hopi)
- Kutcahonauu (Hopi)
- Winuta (Hopi)
- Pobitsche (Hopi)
- Place
- Arizona -- First Mesa
- North America
- Topic
- Kachinas
- Collector
- Fewkes, Jesse Walter, 1850-1930
- Artist
- Homovi (Hopi)
- Kutcahonauu (Hopi)
- Winuta (Hopi)
- Pobitsche (Hopi)
- Culture
- Hopi Pueblo
- See more items in
- MS 4731 Drawings of Katsinam by Hopi artists
- Biographical Note
- The artists include Kutcahonauu (or White-bear), aged about 30 and who had attended the Keams Canyon School; his uncle, Homovi; Winuta; and Pobitsche, who had attended The Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansaa.
- Jesse Walter Fewkes (1850‐1930) was a naturalist, anthropologist, and archaeologist who served as chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1918 to his death in 1928. Fewkes received a Ph.D. in marine zoology from Harvard in 1877, and was curator of lower invertebrates at the Museum of Comparative Zoology until 1887. He became deeply interested in the culture and history of Puebloan peoples while on a collecting trip in the western United States. In 1891, he served as director of the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition and editor of the Journal of American Archeology and Ethnology. In 1895 he embarked on various archeological explorations for the Bureau of American Ethnology, during which he conducted excavations in the Southwest, the West Indies, and Florida.
- Extent
- 176 Drawings (visual works) (graphite, colored pencil, ink, crayon, watercolor)
- Date
- 1899 November-1900 March
- Custodial History
- The drawings were commissioned by Fewkes between November 1899 and March 1900. They were received by the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) shortly thereafter and mounted in preparation for publication in the BAE Annual Report 21 (1903). All of the drawings, except for one, were bound into four volumes and placed in the BAE library in 1917. Volumes 1-3 were transferred to the BAE Archives (now the National Anthropological Archives (NAA)) in 1965. Volume 4 was found in the Anthropology Library and transferred to the NAA in 1971. The missing drawing (Mucaias Mana, published as Plate XXXI) had been retained by Fewkes and was donated to the NAA along with a collection of his papers by his descendants in 1993 (Accession NAA.2002-17).
- Archival Repository
- National Anthropological Archives
- Identifier
- NAA.MS4731
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Drawings (visual works)
- Works of art
- Drawings
- Citation
- MS 4731 Drawings of Katsinam by Hopi artists, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
- Arrangement
- The drawings are arranged in inventory number order, which mostly follows the order of the plates in Fewkes' publication "Hopi Kachinas Drawn by Native Artists" in the 21st Bureau of American Ethnology Annual Report (1903).
- Processing Information
- The collection was redescribed in 2023. The title of the collection was changed from "Codex Hopiensis, Hopi Kachinas" to "Drawings of Katsinam by Hopi artists." Fewkes original titles and spellings were retained and variant spellings and alternate names were provided in the notes when possible.
- Rights
- Contact the repository for terms of use.
- Genre/Form
- Works of art
- Drawings
- Scope and Contents
- The collection consists of 176 drawings of Katsinam made by Hopi artists beteween November 1899 and March 1900. Katsinam are benevolent spirit beings in the Hopi religion, serving as messengers who accept Hopi gifts and prayers for health, fertility, and rain and carry them back to the gods. They may represent plants, animals, insects, the sun, and human qualities. The drawings were commissioned by Jesse Walter Fewkes, who referred to the collection as the Codex Hopiensis. Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
- Restrictions
- The collection is open for research. Access to the collection requires an appointment.
- Related Materials
- The National Anthropological Archives also holds Fewkes's field notes (MS 4408). Fewkes photographs are held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 1, Photo Lot 4321, Photo Lot 30, and Photo Lot 86 (his negatives). Correspondence from Fewkes is held in the National Anthropological Archives in the George L. Beam papers (MS 4517), the Henry Bascom Collins, Jr. papers, the Anthropological Society of Washington records (MS 4821), the Herbert William Krieger papers, the J.C. Pilling papers, the Walter Hough Papers (in the records of the Department of Anthropology), and the records of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
- Record ID
- ebl-1538054430658-1538054430896-0
- Metadata Usage
- CC0
