Edwin F. Coffin collection of negatives and photographs

View Finding Aid

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .

sova.nmai.ac.001.009

Creator: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation; Coffin, Edwin F. (Edwin Francis), b. 1883
Names: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation -- Photographs

Topic: Excavations (Archaeology) -- Texas -- Photographs; Excavations (Archaeology) -- New Jersey -- Photographs; Excavations (Archaeology) -- New York (State) -- Photographs

Provenance: Historically, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation managed all photographic and related manuscript collections separately. This collection description represents current management practices of organizing and contextualizing related archival materials.

Creator: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation; Coffin, Edwin F. (Edwin Francis), b. 1883

Biographical/Historical note: Around 1922, George G. Heye hired former racecar driver Edwin F. Coffin to be the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation's first official staff photographer, a position he retained until 1932. Coffin was a capable archaeological photographer--in 1918, 1921, and 1923, he also photographed the activities of the Hendricks-Hodge Hawikku Expedition excavations--and eventually conducted fieldwork in Texas.

Type: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Acetate negatives; Photographs; Negatives; Photographic prints; Albumen prints

Citation: Edwin F. Coffin collection of negatives and photographs, 1918-1932, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).

Arrangement note: Negatives Arranged by negative numbers (N02289-N02302, N03374-N03375, N07787-N07791, N08591, N08767-N08775, N18677-N18735, N20566)

Processing Information note: Processed by Heather Shannon, Photo Archivist, in 2012.

Scope and Contents: The Edwin F. Coffin collection consists of photographs made by Coffin on behalf of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. Aside from a number of views of New York real estate owned by the Museum (1924), the remainder of the collection contains Museum of the American Indian excavation photographs made in the Bee Cave Canyon rockshelter in Brewster County, Texas (1929); in the Burson Bell Farm in Montague, New Jersey (1932); and in the Bronx and on Staten Island, New York City (1918 and 1922 respectively).

Restrictions: Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.

NMAI.AC.001.009

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv4362815b4-ada4-4f76-83f6-3e0cabdc761c

NMAI.AC.001.009

NMAIA