Carl Lumholtz Collection Expedition to Mexico, 1890-1898

Anna Rybakov LIS 695-01: Photography Collections 06.19.13

American Museum of Natural History

Carl Lumholtz, 1851-1922

Norwegian explorer, naturalist, ethnographer

Pioneer of the participant-observation technique

Studies: Theology, Botany, Zoology, Natural Sciences

Work: University of Christiania (Oslo)

Focus: Indigenous cultures of Australia, US & Mexico, Borneo

Expeditions: commissioned by institutions and individuals

Expedition to Mexico

Sponsored by AMNH, American Geographical Society, investors like Carnegie

Northwestern Mexico: Tarahumara, Pima, Tepehuan, Cora, Huichol, and Tabasco Indians

4 separate expeditions, 1890-1898: 2 with staff (scientists, students), 2 alone

Travel Regions: Sierra Madre Occidental, Chihuahua, Jalisco

Collection Photography

Lumholtz, Carl, 1851-1922, "Round Kodak negative series of Tarahumara (Rarámuri) woman carrying vessel, men in background, Mexico," c. 1892, Image # CL1432

Lumholtz, Carl. Unknown Mexico. 1902. pg. 34

2,500+ black & white photographs

Formats: 5x7 and 6x8 nitrate negatives +copies, glass plates, Kodak No. 2 circulars (2.5 inches in diameter), Kodak No. 4 4x5s

Subject: people (indigenous and non), landscapes, towns, archaeological sites, artifact

Condition: Varied

Description & Access

Cataloging: 6 yrs. +, interns/volunteers, Phyllis

Controlled Vocabs/Thesauri: TGM, LCSH, LC Name Authority, TGN, local authorities

Conventions: CDWA for title syntax

Omeka: modified Dublin Core + Item Type + tags

File Names: image #s taken from negative where first digit corresponds to image dimensions, CL prefix

Images can be found: Omeka site, on catalog, in books, AMNH publications, scrapbooks, print file

No finding aid yet

Primary users: researchers, scholars

Libbey, William, 1855-1927, "Mission church with bell tower, plaza with saplings in foreground, Sonora or Chihuahua," 1890-91, Image # CL0605

Digitization

P/T Digital Lab Manager + volunteers & interns

Flatbed scanning, Photoshop retouching, Lightroom batch processing

Embedded metadata: copyright and image #, needs development

Saved as hi-res tiff and jpeg derivatives w/ minimal retouching

Server, external hard drive, Omeka

Lumholtz, Carl, 1851-1922, "Tepehuan man and woman outside

log structure, Durango, 1893," Image # CL0546

Final Thoughts

Unique collection w/ historical documentation to support comprehensive cataloging & scholarship

Poor visibility in catalog but CLIR grant to add collection inventories to catalog and Omeka

Limited staff & budget

Inconsistency, redundancy of data & imaging

Minimal metadata

Lumholtz, Carl, 1851-1922, "Tarahumara man, in profile, next to measuring stick, Chihuahua, [1892]," Image # CL1543