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The Peabody Museum at Harvard University, founded in 1866, is the oldest institution in the western hemisphere devoted solely to archaeology and ethnology. As a result of a commitment to field research and many generous bequests, the museum now houses one of the most exhaustive systematic records of material culture in the United States of America. There are over fifteen million objects in the collection, half of which represent North American material encompassing Paleoindian cultures through the present.
About half a million photographic images from around the world documenting the development of the different branches of anthropology are curated by the Department of Photographic Archives. Media range from daguerreotype to microfiche. This guide is an overview of a selection of the North American photographic collections with information noted regarding the museum's related collections of artifacts and paper archives.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, physical [biological] anthropology was concerned primarily with body measurements and the classification of racial types. Although the approach is now outmoded, the images produced at that time became historical records that enjoined anthropologists to reexamine ethical issues and change the direction of the discipline.
Archaeological research sponsored by the Peabody Museum began in the late 1800s when Frederic Ward Putnam, the third director of the museum, organized the excavation of burial mounds in the Ohio River Valley. North American fieldwork continued to dominate the museum's initiatives through the next century with numerous expeditions--particularly to the Southwest.
In addition to the factual data that the photographic archives contain, the collections also reflect more subjective findings of ethnologists. A shift in research concerns can be traced from an overt objectification of cultures in early studies to a search for elements of human interrelatedness in more recent work. Though some photographs lay bare uncomfortable truths about an interplay of power structures, they can also illustrate the earnest rigors of exploration and discovery. The unedited collections of both spontaneous and purposefully generated images which have ensued are remarkable for their rarity and breadth.
The Department of Photographic Archives makes the collection accessible to an international scholarly and public community by appointment. Images are used in publications, films, videos, CD-ROMS, and exhibitions. In addition to reproducing images from original negatives, the museum's professional staff photographer produces color transparencies and black and white prints of the objects in the material collection. Slides for lecture purposes can also be requested. Information on prices and copyright policies is available by contacting the department of Photographic Archives.