Henry Bigger Nicholson (September 5, 1925-March 2, 2007) was Professor and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, dedicated to studying Aztec history, art and religion. The Henry Nicholson collection spans almost the entire 20th century, with the bulk of the material dating between 1950 and 1995. The collection includes his professional and research papers, photographs of excavations, and documentation of exhibitions curated by Nicholson. A large portion of the collection consists of photographs, negatives, contact sheets and photocopies of Aztec art and sculpture. Over the course of his career, Nicholson visited archeological sites, museums and private collections in Mexico, the United States and Europe compiling photographs of Aztec art and sculpture and bibliographic records for the UCLA Aztec Archive, a computerized image storage and retrieval system for the Late Post-classic Central Mexican art and sculpture.

Henry Bigger Nicholson (September 5, 1925-March 2, 2007) was Professor and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, dedicated to studying Aztec history, art and religion. Nicholson participated in WWII in Germany and Philippines (1944-1945), studied at University of California, Berkeley and received his PhD in 1958 from Harvard. He started his professional career in 1956 at UCLA. He researched the ethnohistory of the Mesoamerican area co-tradition, conducted field archaeological projects and published over 200 articles and monographs. Nicholson helped excavate Cerro Portezuelo in 1957, near the ancient shores of Lake Texcoco in Central Mexico (A.D. 350 - 1500, now Mexico City). The Cerro Portezuelo Archives at UCLA's Fowler Museum of Cultural History is a result of these excavations that were initially started by George Brainerd (1909-1956). This collection's ceramic objects represent the most complete and unbroken sequence for the region. The National Science Foundation provided funds to analyze the excavated materials in 1961 and funded several more projects conducted by Nicholson to catalogue Central Mexico's cultural history.

35 document boxes (17.5 linear feet) 2 oversize boxes

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.