Pat Ryan photograph collection

GUID

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv4c6f23cd5-77b0-4800-b62a-a3548e22e4b5

Creator

Ryan, Pat (Pat Ryan)

Provenance

Donated by Lauren Manning in 2022.

Creator

Ryan, Pat (Pat Ryan)

Culture

Lakota (Teton/Western Sioux)

Summary

This collection consists of photographic images and manuscript items depicting collector Pat Ryan and the Native American material culture items he collected.

Biographical / Historical

Pat Ryan was born in 1858 to Irish Catholic parents, but sources differ as to his birth location, whether in Ireland or in Nebraska after his parents immigrated. He briefly worked on the railroad in the 1890s. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s Ryan began collecting Native American material culture items from the Indigenous individuals he encountered in his travels. These items, or "curios," he eventually displayed in his own home, and later in stores and showrooms as his collection grew. He is known to have exhibited these material culture items in at least two major expositions, including the 1898 Omaha World's Fair, and the 1901 Buffalo World's Fair. As a collector and businessman, Ryan sold items to George Gustav Heye in 1906, a decade before the official establishment of Heye's Museum of the American Indian. Ryan died in 1910 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Extent

16 Photographic prints

.01 Cubic feet

Date

1898-1910

Archival Repository

National Museum of the American Indian

Identifier

NMAI.AC.424

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographic prints

Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Pat Ryan photograph collection, NMAI.AC.424; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into folders.

Processing Information

Processed by Nathan Sowry, Reference Archivist, in 2023.

Rights

Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.

Content Description

The Pat Ryan photograph collection consists of 16 photographic images depicting collector Pat Ryan and the Native American material culture items he collected. Many photographs depict the display of these objects in Ryan's business in Omaha, Nebraska. This collection also includes a small number of manuscript items such as a newspaper clipping, business cards, and a catalogue related to Pat Ryan's collecting work at the turn of the twentieth century.

Scope and Contents

Please note that the language and terminology used in this collection reflects the context and culture of the time of its creation, and may include culturally sensitive information. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.

Restrictions

Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).

Record ID

ebl-1693223400641-1693223400749-0