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Finding aid to C. Hart Merriam Collection of Native American
Photographscirca 1890-1938
BANC PIC 1978.008
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Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: C. Hart Merriam Collection of Native American Photographs
Creator:
Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1978.008
Physical Description:
4462 photographs
50 volumes and 1 oversize box (4,462 photographic prints and
photographic negatives) and 1441 digital objects
: chiefly b&w
; various sizes
Date (inclusive): circa 1890-1938
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.)
Language of Material:
English._bo
Viewing prints available on microfilm. Use of originals only by permission of the Curator
of Pictorial Collections.
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.
[Identification of item], C. Hart Merriam Collection of Native American Photographs, BANC
PIC 1978.008, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Digital Representations 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.
Title: C. Hart Merriam pictorial collection:
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1980.023
Title: C. Hart Merriam papers:
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 80/18 c
and
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 83/129 c
(both available
on microfilm only)
Title: Florence Merriam Bailey papers:
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 79/139 c
and
Identifier/Call Number: 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.
The C. Hart Merriam collection of Indian photographs was transferred from the Dept. of
Anthropology in 1977.
| 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. |
| 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. |
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Indians of North America -- Photographs.
Indians of North America -- Alaska -- Photographs.
Indians of North America -- California -- Photographs.
Ethnology -- California -- Photographs.
Anthropological linguistics -- California -- Photographs.
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.
California Heritage Project.
CU-BANC
Online Archive of
California.