Diné (Navajo) lantern slides from Arizona and New Mexico

GUID

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv4cdcbe980-d980-46e6-a849-c72ef14fa895

Creator

Pepper, George H. (George Hubbard), 1873-1924

Former owner

Matteson, Sumner W., 1867-1920

Place

Chaco Canyon (N.M.)

Pueblo Bonito Site (N.M.)

Topic

Weaving

Provenance

Part of a 1965 gift to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, from Jeanette Pepper Cameron, daughter of George Pepper.

Creator

Pepper, George H. (George Hubbard), 1873-1924

Culture

Diné (Navajo)

See more items in

Diné (Navajo) lantern slides from Arizona and New Mexico

Summary

This collection includes glass lantern slides depicting Diné (Navajo) scenes and items from Arizona and New Mexico, circa 1900. The lantern slides were made by George Hubbard Pepper and include photographs originally made by Pepper and Sumner Matteson, among other photographers.

Biographical / Historical

George Hubbard Pepper was born on February 2, 1873 in Tottenville, Staten Island, New York. As a young boy he exhibited a strong interest in archaeology and after his graduating from high school followed encouragement from Prof. Fredric W. Putnam to study at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, where Pepper stayed from 1895-96. In 1896 he was appointed assistant curator of the Department of the Southwest in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. From 1896 to 1900, Pepper was a member of the Hyde Exploring Expedition, which conducted excavations at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. In 1904, he conducted an ethnological survey of the occupied pueblos of the Southwest and at the same time continued his study of the weaving techniques of the Navajo. Pepper also participated in excavations in the yacatas of the Tierra Caliente of Michoacan in Mexico sponsored by George Gustav Heye, and in 1907 he went with Marshall Saville on an expedition to the Province of Manabi in Ecuador, also for Heye. In 1909 Pepper was appointed assistant curator in the Department of American Archaeology at the University Museum of Philadelphia, but after only a year there he joined the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in New York City, where he stayed until his death. In 1914 he excavated a Munsee cemetery of the historic period near Montague, New Jersey and in the following year he went on the exploration of the Nacoochee mound in the old Cherokee region in Georgia. In 1918 he joined the Hawikku explorations of the Hendricks-Hodge Expedition in New Mexico. Pepper died on May 13, 1924, in New York City. George H. Pepper was a co-founder of the American Anthropological Association, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Ethnological Society of New York, a member of the American Folklore Society, and a corresponding member of the Academia Nacional de Historia of Ecuador. A complete bibliography of his works can be found in Indian Notes, v. 1, no. 3, July 1924, pp. 108-110. The George Hubbard Pepper Papers are in the Latin American Library, Tulane University Library, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Extent

100 Lantern slides

Date

1896-1905

Archival Repository

National Museum of the American Indian

Identifier

NMAI.AC.454

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Lantern slides

Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Diné (Navajo) lantern slides from Arizona and New Mexico, image #, NMAI.AC.454; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Arrangement

Arranged by catalog number.

Processing Information

Processed by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist, 2025.

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. A number of photographs in this collection are restricted due to cultural senstitivity.

Genre/Form

Lantern slides -- Lectures

Scope and Contents

This collection includes 100 glass lantern slides, both hand colored and in black and white. The slides were likely made and used by George Hubbard Pepper for lectures on Diné (Navajo) culture, in particular, Diné (Navajo) weaving practices. Many of the slides are made from photographs shot by Pepper during his time in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, during the Hyde Exploring Expedition from 1896 to 1900. A number of photographs in the collection were made by Sumner Matteson, who was in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico with Pepper in 1899 and 1900. In addition to scenic views and portraits of Diné (Navajo) textile practitioners, there are photographs of weaving tools. This includes photographs of loom sets made by local Diné (Navajo) women purchased from J. L. Hubbell by George Pepper in 1905. Pepper ordered these from Hubbell in 1904 as he wanted them to demonstrate the weaving process. Many of these items were purchased by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, and are currently in the ethnographic collection at the National Museum of the American Indian. The photographs are by George Pepper, unless otherwise noted.

Catalog numbers: L01469-L01568

Content Warning

Please note that these slides reflect the context and culture of the time of their creation and may include what is considered derogatory and harmful language today on the labels. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.

Restrictions

Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).

Related Materials

Many of the lantern slides are duplicates of negatives and prints that can be found in the following two collections: See the George Hubbard Pepper photograph collection, NMAI.AC.001.034 See the Sumner Matteson photograph collection, NMAI.AC.129

Record ID

ebl-1742507700735-1742507701226-0