C. Hart Merriam Collection of Native American Photographs, circa 1890-1938

Summary

Creators:

Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942

Abstract:

The photographs in this collection accompanied a collection of material described by Robert Heizer in his "Catalogue of the C. Hart Merriam Collection of Data Concerning California Tribes and Other American Indians." (This manuscript collection is available on microfilm with call number BANC FILM 1022.)

Extent:

4462 photographs 50 volumes and 1 oversize box (4,462 photographic prints and photographic negatives) and 1441 digital objects

Language:

English ._bo

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], C. Hart Merriam Collection of Native American Photographs, BANC PIC 1978.008, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

The photographs in this collection accompanied a collection of material described by Robert Heizer in his "Catalogue of the C. Hart Merriam Collection of Data Concerning California Tribes and Other American Indians." (This manuscript collection is available on microfilm with call number BANC FILM 1022.) Heizer's guide arranged the photographs by tribe, according to a system devised for the manuscripts. This arrangement is described below. In 1978 Lawrence Dinnean, Pictorial Curator of The Bancroft Library, reviewed the collection, removing numerous duplicate photographs and produced a new listing that followed the general structure of Heizer's guide. Dinnean assigned a collection number and numbered the photographs according to this collection number. The structure of his system was the collection number (1978.008) followed by a group number that corresponded to Heizer's picture number (P1, P2, etc.), followed by an item number. This resulted in catalog numbers like 1978.008.1.1, 1978.008.2.3, etc. This cumbersome system has been dropped in the current finding aid and the pictures are identified solely by Heizer's system (see "Rationale of the Catalog System" below).

Merriam was a good photographer and this collection of his work is an important one. The collection, consisting mostly of prints, is primarily photographs taken during Merriam's work documenting the languages of California Indian tribes. The photographs are mostly of the people and places Merriam encountered in his work. The arrangement by tribe provides unique access to these latter photographs, allowing one to see the locations members of these tribes inhabited.

The collection also contains a number of miscellaneous photographs likely given to Merriam by persons who knew of his interest in Indians. These are largely Alaskan tribes, and a few Southwestern tribes, unidentified people, scenery, tools, and objects. Also included are photographs and other pictorial material (110 items altogether) from the Alaska Harriman Expedition in 1899. Additional photographs of the Expedition can be found in collection number BANC PIC 1980.23.

1,447 photographs of members of Californian tribes have been digitized and made available on the Internet. None of the non-Californian material found in the "Miscellaneous Photographs" portion of the finding aid has been digitized.

Biographical / historical:

Date	Event
1855	Born in New York, December 5 to Clinton Levi Merriam, a merchant, banker, and member of Congress and Caroline Hart Merriam. Siblings include an older brother, Charles Collins Merriam and younger sister Florence Merriam. Florence married an associate of C. Hart's, Vernon Bailey.
1872	Naturalist on the Hayden Survey of the territories.
1877	A Review of the Birds of Connecticut published.
1879-1885	Received M.D. Columbia University. Practiced medicine for 6 years.
1883	Surgeon on S.S. Proteus Arctic Seal Fishery from Newfoundland.
1884	Mammals of the Adirondacks published.
1885-1910	Appointed Special Agent in charge of Economic Ornithology under the Division of Entomology of the Dept. of Agriculture. This Division evolves into the U.S. Biological Survey, of which Merriam is named chief. He holds the position for 25 years.
1886	October 15. Marries Virginia Elizabeth Gosnel.
1889	U.S. Biological Survey to the San Francisco Mountains, Arizona. The life zone concepts are developed.
1890	May 21. Daughter Dorothy born.
1891	Appointed by President Harrison to a commission to investigate the problems of pelagic sealing in the Bering Sea.
1891-1892	President, Biological Society of Washington
1892	April 14. Daughter Zenaida born.
1898	U.S. Biological Survey of Mount Shasta, California.
1899	Harriman Alaska Expedition
1900-1902	President, American Ornithologist's Union
1905	"Indian Population of California" published.
1907	"Distribution and Classification of the Mewan Indians of California" published.
1910	Resigns from U.S. Biological Survey. Begins biological and ethnological investigations with Harriman special trust fund. Ethnological work is primarily with California Indian tribes. Continues until 1936.
1910	Dawn of the World published.
1917-1925	Chairman, U.S. Board on Geographic Names
1919-1921	President, American Society of Mammalogists
1920-1921	President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1924-1925	President, American Society of Naturalists
1928	An-nik-a-del, the History of the Universe, as told by the Modes-se Indians of California published.
1931	Receives Roosevelt Medal "for distinguished work in biology."
1942	Dies in Berkeley, Calif., March 19 at age of 86.

Date	Event
1855	Born in New York, December 5 to Clinton Levi Merriam, a merchant, banker, and member of Congress and Caroline Hart Merriam. Siblings include an older brother, Charles Collins Merriam and younger sister Florence Merriam. Florence married an associate of C. Hart's, Vernon Bailey.
1872	Naturalist on the Hayden Survey of the territories.
1877	A Review of the Birds of Connecticut published.
1879-1885	Received M.D. Columbia University. Practiced medicine for 6 years.
1883	Surgeon on S.S. Proteus Arctic Seal Fishery from Newfoundland.
1884	Mammals of the Adirondacks published.
1885-1910	Appointed Special Agent in charge of Economic Ornithology under the Division of Entomology of the Dept. of Agriculture. This Division evolves into the U.S. Biological Survey, of which Merriam is named chief. He holds the position for 25 years.
1886	October 15. Marries Virginia Elizabeth Gosnel.
1889	U.S. Biological Survey to the San Francisco Mountains, Arizona. The life zone concepts are developed.
1890	May 21. Daughter Dorothy born.
1891	Appointed by President Harrison to a commission to investigate the problems of pelagic sealing in the Bering Sea.
1891-1892	President, Biological Society of Washington
1892	April 14. Daughter Zenaida born.
1898	U.S. Biological Survey of Mount Shasta, California.
1899	Harriman Alaska Expedition
1900-1902	President, American Ornithologist's Union
1905	"Indian Population of California" published.
1907	"Distribution and Classification of the Mewan Indians of California" published.
1910	Resigns from U.S. Biological Survey. Begins biological and ethnological investigations with Harriman special trust fund. Ethnological work is primarily with California Indian tribes. Continues until 1936.
1910	Dawn of the World published.
1917-1925	Chairman, U.S. Board on Geographic Names
1919-1921	President, American Society of Mammalogists
1920-1921	President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1924-1925	President, American Society of Naturalists
1928	An-nik-a-del, the History of the Universe, as told by the Modes-se Indians of California published.
1931	Receives Roosevelt Medal "for distinguished work in biology."
1942	Dies in Berkeley, Calif., March 19 at age of 86.

Acquisition information:

The C. Hart Merriam collection of Indian photographs was transferred from the Dept. of Anthropology in 1977.

Physical facet:

: chiefly b

Dimensions:

; various sizes

Rules or conventions:

DACS

Related resources

Related material:

C. Hart Merriam pictorial collection:BANC PIC 1980.023

C. Hart Merriam papers:BANC MSS 80/18 c and BANC MSS 83/129 c (both available on microfilm only)

Florence Merriam Bailey papers:BANC MSS 79/139 c and BANC MSS 82/46 z

Merriam's home and field journals, 1873-1938, and other papers are located at the Library of Congress, Manuscripts Division.

Alternative form available:

Digital representations of selected original pictorial materials are available in the list of materials below. Digital image files were prepared from selected Library originals by the Library Photographic Service. Library originals were copied onto 35mm color transparency film; the film was scanned and transferred to Kodak Photo CD (by Custom Process); and the Photo CD files were color-corrected and saved in JFIF (JPEG) format for use as viewing files.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Indians of North America -- Photographs.
Indians of North America -- Alaska -- Photographs.
Indians of North America -- California -- Photographs.
Ethnology -- California -- Photographs.
Anthropological linguistics -- California -- Photographs.

Names:

California Heritage Project. CU-BANC
Online Archive of California.
Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942.
C. Hart Merriam papers relating to work with California Indians.
Heizer, Robert Fleming, 1915- Catalogue of the C. Hart Merriam collection of data concerning California tribes and other American Indians.

Restrictions:

Viewing prints available on microfilm. Use of originals only by permission of the Curator of Pictorial Collections.

Terms of access:

Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], C. Hart Merriam Collection of Native American Photographs, BANC PIC 1978.008, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US

Contact:

510-642-6481

bancref-library@berkeley.edu

Website