Skip to main content

Search

My Visit
Donate
Home Smithsonian Institution

Site Navigation

  • Visit
    • Museums and Zoo
    • Entry and Guidelines
    • Maps and Brochures
    • Dine and Shop
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Group Visits
      • Group Sales
  • What's On
    • Exhibitions
      • Current
      • Upcoming
      • Past
    • Online Events
    • All Events
    • IMAX & Planetarium
  • Explore
    • - Art & Design
    • - History & Culture
    • - Science & Nature
    • Collections
      • Open Access
    • Research Resources
      • Libraries
      • Archives
        • Smithsonian Institution Archives
        • Air and Space Museum
        • Anacostia Community Museum
        • American Art Museum
        • Archives of American Art
        • Archives of American Gardens
        • American History Museum
        • American Indian Museum
        • Asian Art Museum Archives
        • Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, African Art
        • Hirshhorn Archive
        • National Anthropological Archives
        • National Portrait Gallery
        • Ralph Rinzler Archives, Folklife
        • Libraries' Special Collections
    • Podcasts
    • Stories
  • Learn
    • For Caregivers
    • For Educators
      • Art & Design Resources
      • Science & Nature Resources
      • Social Studies & Civics Resources
      • Professional Development
      • Events for Educators
      • Field Trips
    • For Students
    • For Academics
    • For Lifelong Learners
  • Support Us
    • Become a Member
    • Renew Membership
    • Make a Gift
    • Volunteer
      • Smithsonian Call Center
      • Ambassador Program
      • Museum Information Desk
      • Docent Programs
      • Behind-the-Scenes
      • Digital Volunteers
      • Participatory Science
  • About
    • Our Organization
      • Board of Regents
        • Members
        • Committees
        • Reading Room
        • Bylaws, Policies and Procedures
        • Schedules and Agendas
        • Meeting Minutes
        • Actions
        • Webcasts
        • Contact
      • Museums and Zoo
      • Research Centers
      • Cultural Centers
      • Education Centers
      • General Counsel
        • Legal History
        • Internships
        • Records Requests
          • Reading Room
        • Tort Claim
        • Subpoenas & Testimonies
        • Events
      • Office of Human Resources
        • Employee Benefits
        • How to Apply
        • Job Opportunities
        • Job Seekers with Disabilities
        • Frequently Asked Questions
        • SI Civil Program
        • Contact Us
      • EEO & Small Business
        • EEO Complaint Process
        • Individuals with Disabilities
        • Small Business Program
          • Doing Business with Us
          • Contracting Opportunities
          • Additional Resources
        • Special Emphasis Program
      • Sponsored Projects
        • Policies
          • Combating Trafficking in Persons
          • Animal Care and Use
          • Human Research
        • Reports
        • Internships
    • Our Leadership
    • Reports and Plans
      • Annual Reports
      • Metrics Dashboard
        • Dashboard Home
        • Virtual Smithsonian
        • Public Engagement
        • National Collections
        • Research
        • People & Operations
      • Strategic Plan
    • Newsdesk
      • News Releases
      • Media Contacts
      • Photos and Video
      • Media Kits
      • Fact Sheets
      • Visitor Stats
      • Secretary and Admin Bios
      • Filming Requests

Ralph Aspaas collection

National Museum of the American Indian

Object Details

Creator
Aspaas, Hans
Aspaas, Ralph
Names
Aspaas, Allie Ward
Aspaas, Carl Henry
Aspaas, Ellanette
Aspaas, Max Herndon
Aspaas, Ralph
Aspaas, Ralph Ward
Wirt, Emmet
Wirt, Emmet
Place
Tohono O'odham Reservation (Ariz.)
Jicarilla Indian Reservation (N.M.)
Arizona
Dulce (N.M.)
New Mexico
Topic
Indians of North America -- Southwest -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- Arizona -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- New Mexico -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- Social life and customs
Indian land transfers -- New Mexico
Indian land transfers -- Arizona
Provenance
Gift of Helen R. Aspaas, 2006.
Creator
Aspaas, Hans
Aspaas, Ralph
Culture
Jicarilla Apache
Tohono O'odham (Papago)
See more items in
Ralph Aspaas collection
Biographical / Historical
Ralph Aspaas served as an Allotting Agent for the United States Indian Service (now the Bureau of Indian Affairs). He was first assigned to the Jicarilla Apache reservation from circa 1900 to 1910 and then to the Tohono O'odham reservation from circa 1912 to 1915. As an Agent, he allotted land within these reservations to individual tribal members and for tribal community use. Born in 1876, Aspaas married schoolteacher Allie Maud Ward (1881-1959) on July 15, 1905. Together they had six children- Ralph Ward Aspaas (1906-1972), Carl Henry Aspaas (1908-1975), Max Herndon Aspaas (1911-1971), Ellanette Aspaas (b. 1913), Helen Marie Aspaas (1920-2012), and Ruth Louise Aspaas (1922- 1966). By 1920 Ralph was working as a farmer and rancher in Breen, La Plata County, Colorado. He died on September 30, 1939 in Colorado.
Extent
26 Photographic prints
181 Negatives (photographic)
Date
1900-1915
Archival Repository
National Museum of the American Indian
Identifier
NMAI.AC.086
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Negatives (photographic)
Correspondence
Marriage certificates
Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Ralph Aspaas collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into three series: Jicarilla Apache Reservation, Tohono O'odham (Papago) Reservation, and Colorado, Utah, and unidentified locations.
Processing Information
Processed by Emily Moazami, Assistant Head Archivist in 2016.
Rights
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Bibliography
For more information about Ralph Aspaas' work on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation please refer to the following publication: Greenwald, Emily. Reconfiguring the Reservation: The Nez Perces, Jicarilla Apaches, and the Dawes Act. Albuquerque, N.M.: University Of New Mexico Press, 2002.
Genre/Form
Correspondence -- 1910-1920
Marriage certificates
Photographic prints
Negatives (photographic)
Scope and Contents
This collection contains 207 photographs documenting U.S. Allotting Agent Ralph Aspaas (1876-1939), his work, his family, and his travels around the United States southwest circa 1900-1915. The bulk of the materials in this collection depict scenes from the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in New Mexico and the Tohono O'odham (Papago) in Arizona. The photographs may have been shot by Aspaas or his brother Hans Aspaas (1873-1968).
Restrictions
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Thursday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Separated Materials
The nitrate negatives are stored at the National Anthropological Archives.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1503510200285-1503510200288-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv4ebcf03e5-d6a8-4a9d-8b49-2ed98e210847

In the Collection

Pages

  • 1
  • 2
  • next ›
  • last »
  • Tipis on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation

  • Group sitting inside log cabin

  • Ralph Ward Aspaas

  • Rock formation

  • Women on horseback

  • Outdoor family portrait

  • Tipi

  • Jicarilla Apache boarding school children

  • Rock formation

  • Woman posing on a rock formation

  • Outdoor portrait

  • Goijiya ceremonial relay races

  • Ralph Ward Aspaas

  • Jicarilla Apache buildings

  • Ralph Aspaas

  • Woman on horse back with baby

  • Outdoor portrait

  • Landscape and buildings

  • Allie Ward Aspaas posing on a rock formation

  • Group outside schoolhouse

  • Goijiya ceremonial relay races

  • Group portrait

  • Ralph and Allie Aspaas and group outdoors

  • Outdoor portrait

  • Ralph Ward Aspaas

  • Group on burros

  • Group outside boarding school dormitory

  • Outdoor family portrait

  • Road construction

  • Landscape on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation

  • Jicarilla Apache Reservation, N.M.

  • Tipis on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation

  • Outdoor portrait of child (Jicarilla Apache)

  • Men digging a trench on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation

  • Student (Jicarilla Apache)

  • Emmet Wirt, Rose Ladd, and Ed outside Emmet Wirt Trading Post

  • Outdoor portrait of men and a dog

  • Ralph Aspaas

  • Landscape view on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation

  • Emmet Wirt trading post

  • Jicarilla Apache boarding school

  • Jicarilla Apache boarding school

  • Landscape

  • Ralph Aspaas and Emmet Wirt

  • Cattle in pen

  • Carriages on a road

  • Outdoor group portrait

  • Man in carriage

  • Woman and schoolgirl

  • Outdoor group portrait

  • Two children (Jicarilla Apache)

  • Road construction

  • Goijiya ceremonial races

  • Goijiya ceremonial races

  • Man standing in front of a tipi

  • Outdoor group portrait

  • Ralph Ward Aspaas

  • Outdoor group portrait with Ralph and Allie Aspaas and Emmet Wirt

  • Unidentified man (Jicarilla Apache)

  • Women and children outdoors

  • Ralph Ward Aspaas

  • Woman holding a baby (Jicarilla Apache)

  • Outdoor portrait of man (Jicarilla Apache)

  • Jicarilla Apache boarding school

  • Men standing outside tipi

  • Tipis on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation

  • Ralph Aspaas Ward

  • Jicarilla Apache boarding school children

  • Jicarilla Apache boarding school

  • Ralph Ward Aspaas

  • Man with Haskell wagon

  • Ralph Ward Aspaas

  • Emmet Wirt and children (Jicarilla Apache)

  • Teams of horses

  • Train

  • Group on burros

  • View of train

  • Allie Ward Aspaas in carriage

  • Outdoor family portrait

  • Group in wagon outside tents

  • Group on burros

  • Group posing on rock formation

  • Men posing in front of log cabin

  • Young women on horseback

  • Jicarilla Apache buildings

  • Child on horseback

  • Outdoor portrait

  • Group outside tent

  • Group playing outdoors

  • Girls on horseback

  • Ralph Ward Aspaas

  • Outdoor group portrait

  • Outdoor group portrait

  • Woman on horseback

  • Landscape

  • Jicarilla Apache Reservation landscape

  • Schoolgirl

  • Allie Ward Aspaas posing on a rock formation

  • Couple in log cabin

  • Palace of the Governors

Pages

  • 1
  • 2
  • next ›
  • last »
Ralph Aspaas collection
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
View manifest View in Mirador Viewer
View Finding aid

Footer logo

Link to homepage

Footer navigation

  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Get Involved
  • Inspector General
  • Records Requests
  • Accessibility
  • EEO & Small Business
  • Shop Online
  • Host Your Event
  • Press Room
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use

Social media links

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Get the latest news from the Smithsonian

Sign up for Smithsonian e-news

Get the latest news from the Smithsonian

Email powered by BlackBaud (Privacy Policy, Terms of Use)
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Back to Top