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James Mooney photographs

Natural History Museum

[Daveko or Recognizes Enemies]
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Finding aid
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Object Details

sova.naa.photolot.74
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw35162d7ce-2ae2-4302-963d-b416aa1eca3b
Creator
Mooney, James, 1861-1921
Place
Mexico
Creator
Mooney, James, 1861-1921
Culture
Apache
Caddo
Cherokee
Diné (Navajo)
Inunaina (Arapaho)
Kiowa
Niuam (Comanche)
Powhatan
Dakota (Eastern Sioux)
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
Wichita
Lenape (Delaware)
Mattaponi
Pamunkey
Nansemond
Chickahominy
See more items in
James Mooney photographs
Biographical / Historical
James Mooney (1861-1921) was an American ethnographer whose research focused on Native North Americans. The son of Irish Catholic immigrants, Mooney was born in Richmond, Indiana. His formal education was limited to the public schools of the city; most of his knowledge of anthropology and ethnography was self-taught, largely through his field experience working with various Native communities. In 1885, Mooney began working for the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) under John Wesley Powell. There, he carried out ethnographic research for more than 30 years. He was a very early adopter of photography and made thouands of photographs in the course of his fieldwork. Mooney married Ione Lee Gaut in 1897, and had six children. He died in 1921 in Washington, D.C. from heart disease. For fuller biographies of Mooney see George Ellison's introduction to the 1992 edition of Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, as well as The Indian Man: A Biography of James Mooney by L.G. Moses (2002). Chronology February 10, 1861 -- Born 1878 -- Graduated high school, then taught public school for 1 year 1879 -- Joined the staff of The Richmond Palladium April 1885 -- Joined the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) May-June 1885 -- Worked with Cherokee Chief N. J. Smith on Eastern Cherokee grammar Summer 1886 -- Worked with Chief Smith (in D.C.) Summer 1887 -- First trip to the Eastern Cherokee of the Great Smokey Mountains to study language, collect material culture, and document activities including the Green Corn Dance and Cherokee ball games (3.5 months) Winter/Spring 1888 -- Studied Iroquoian and Algonquian synonymies and published articles on the Irish and the Cherokee, collected and studied Cherokee sacred formulae 1889 -- Visit to Cherokee (worked with Swimmer, worked on his maps of place names/mound sites, witnessed ball play and the Green Corn Dance, gathered plants and collected objects for the Smithsonian December 1890 -- Visited Oklahoma Territory to complete research with Western Cherokee, witnessed the Ghost Dance at the Cheyenne/Arapaho Reservation for the first time 1891 -- "The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokee" published Visit to Cherokee in Oklahoma Territory April 1891 -- Delegated to collect material for Chicago Exposition. Collected for the next 2 years while studying the Ghost Dance May 1891 -- Photographed Kiowa Mescal (Peyote) Ceremony Headed west for a four month collecting trip for the Chicago exposition, commissioned model tipis and summer houses from the Kiowa 1891-1893 -- Observed/participated in three ghost dances during three seasons of fieldwork among Arapaho, Sioux, Kiowa, and Cheyenne communities 1892 -- Photographed Kiowa Mescal (Peyote) Ceremony and Oglala Sioux Ghost Dance Winter 1892 -- Began intensive field study of Kiowa winter counts and Kiowa heraldry Among the Navajo and Hopi, making collections for Chicago Exposition Fall 1893 -- Returned to Oklahoma Territory to observe and record Arapaho Sun Dance. Also studied the Hopi Kachina Dance, the Wichita Corn Dance, and possibly also the Arapaho Ghost Dance May 1895 -- "Siouan Tribes of the East" published 1895 -- Trip to the Southwest, visited Hopi and Navajo communities 1896 -- "The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890" published January 1897 -- At Anadarko September 28, 1897 -- Married Ione Lee Gaut Fall 1898 -- Trip to Southwest, visited Hopi and Navajo communities 1898 -- Attended Omaha Fair, helped plan 'Congress of Indians', supervised Frank Rinehart, who photographed many of the Indian delegates to the fair Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians published Fall 1899 -- For three weeks in the fall traveled with DeLancey Gill to William Co, VA to study and photograph Mattapony and Pamunkey communities; Gill took pictures while Mooney did census work before traveling to the Chickahominy River 1900 -- Myths of the Cherokee published Spring 1900 -- Studied communities of the Powhatan Confederacy in VA; traveled to VA again with Gill to visit the Pamunkey and Mattapony communities for more pictures and to complete census, then traveled to area south of Portsmouth to find the rural settlement of the Nansemond. Fall 1901 -- Cooperative agreement with Field Museum and George A. Dorsey; Studied Kiowa for BAE, studied Cheyenne for Field Museum (focused on heraldry). This project, with Dorsey working on Arapaho, continued until 1906 1902 -- Fieldwork on heraldry with Kiowa and Apache communities all year except for two brief visits to Washington, D.C. in September and November July 1903 -- Mooney and Dorsey study Sun Dance on Cheyenne reservation in Oklahoma Territory, brought staff photographer Charles Carpenter. Spent a week attending the Sun Dance and made the first photographs of the skull-dragging ceremony October 1903 -- Photographed Arapaho Tomahawk Dance Winter 1903 -- At the Cheyenne-Arapaho agency in Darlington; winter spent with Cheyenne, and finishing Kiowa tipi models for the Bureau's exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition March 1904 -- At Mount Scott with Kiowa June 1904 -- St. Louis Exposition opens April 1906 -- Last visit to Cheyenne Summers, 1911-1916 -- Visits to Cherokee 1918 -- Assisted with chartering the Native American Church of Oklahoma (the Secretary of the Interior issued a ban on his research) June 28, 1918 -- Requested by Fewkes to study peyote cult and Kiowa Heraldry (see Mooney Papers, Box 1, Letters, statement dated 1921) December 22, 1921 -- Died
Extent
11.75 Linear feet (Photographic prints: albumen, gelatin silver Negatives: glass, cellulose nitrate )
Date
circa 1872-1920
Archival Repository
National Anthropological Archives
Identifier
NAA.PhotoLot.74
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Citation
Photo Lot 74, James Mooney photographs, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Processing Information
Abby Clouse-Radigan carried out initial sorting of the prints and negatives and compiled the timeline in 2011. Eden Orelove processed the Kiowa series in 2015. Gina Rappaport completed processing in 2021. Mooney photographs previously filed in Photo Lot 78, Photo Lot 24, and the "Vintage Prints" collection have been reunited and merged with Photo Lot 74. Mooney's glass negatives remain integrated into the BAE glass negative collection, but have been intellectually arranged in this finding aid. It should be noted that not all negatives have associated prints, and some prints do not have associated negatives; therefore, both the prints and the negatives may need to be consulted to view all of the images. The item numbers for the photographs can be confusing as Mooney, the BAE, and the NAA employed various numbering systems for photographs over the years, all of which are present in the collection. Mooney's numbers include a number followed by a superscript, underlined number. The "base" number is the series indicator and the superscript number is the item number in the series. Other numbers relate to whether a copy negative was made, and several of the series include new numbers assigned based on series.item, for example KW4.2 indicates item 2 in Kiowa subseries 4. For several of the series there are spreadsheets available in the repository with numbers cross referenced. Collection and image descriptions provided in this finding aid were compiled using the best available sources of information. Such sources include the creator's annotations or descriptions, collection accession files, primary and secondary source material and subject matter experts. For the Kiowa series, many of the identifications of individuals were made by consulting A Guide to the Kiowa Collections at the Smithsonian Institution , by William L. Merrill, Marian Kaulaity Hansson, Candace Greene and Frederick J. Reuss. John Peabody Harrington's notes (largely informed by Delos K. Lonewolf) on many of the prints were also incorporated in the Kiowa series. Because there is no consistent spelling of individual names throughout the collection, all diacritics have been removed in an effort to maintain a systemic accuracy. While every effort was made to provide accurate information, it is understood that errors may reveal themselves following review by other subject experts, and new information is welcome.
Rights
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form
Photographs
Scope and Contents note
Photographs made during James Mooney's fieldwork with Apache, Arapaho, Caddo, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Comanche, Dakota/Lakota, Hopi, Kiowa, Navaho, Powhatan, and Wichita communities, as well as in Mexico. Photographs document individuals and families, gatherings, ceremonies and dances, daily activities, games, crafts, landscapes, and burials. 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 Anthropology 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.
NAA.PhotoLot.74
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw35162d7ce-2ae2-4302-963d-b416aa1eca3b
NAA.PhotoLot.74
NAA
Record ID
ebl-1634580022123-1634580022131-0

Showing 12 result(s)

  • Archival materials 12 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Negatives 8 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Photographs 8 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1890s 7 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • James Mooney photographs 12 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • CC0 12 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • No 11 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Yes 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • ead_component 12 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus

Clear facet(s):

Included:

  • Remove Set Name: James Mooney photographs / Kiowa / 6: Views of Anadarko, Ft. Sill, Wichita Mountain Region and unidentified locales close
  • Views of Medicine Bluff and Medicine Creek, near Fort Sill

  • Distant camp view near agency, Anadarko

  • Distant view of Fort Sill

  • Probably Kiowa/Comanche camp at Fort Sill

  • Views of unidentified locales

  • Traders' stores at Ft. Sill

  • St. Patrick's Drexel Catholic Mission near Anadarko

  • Wichita Mountains

  • Ravine on Medicine Bluff Creek

  • "Col Fred's House and Store at Agency Anadarko, Okla"

  • Views of Wichita Mountains

  • Ravine at Gaapiatan's Camp, 15 miles NW of Ft. Sill

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