Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Provenance
Biographical Note
Scope and Contents
Existence and Location of Copies
Related materials in the Huntington Library
Arrangement
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: William H. Weinland photograph collection
Identifier/Call Number: photCL 39
Physical Description:
6.68 Linear Feet
(11 boxes)
Date (inclusive): approximately 1885-1920s
Abstract: This collection contains 525 loose
photographs and 3 photograph albums that depict the people, experiences, and places
witnessed by Moravian missionary William H. Weinland (1861-1930) and his family during their
years of missionary service between the mid 1880s and the 1920s, first in Alaska and, more
extensively, among Native Americans of Southern California. Though the vast majority of the
photographs depict life on the Morongo Reservation, near Banning, California, there are also
images from a number of the reservations that surrounded Morongo.
Language of Material: English.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services. RESTRICTED: Film negatives (Box 8) are housed
in cold storage; extended retrieval and delivery time required.
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], William H. Weinland photograph collection. The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
Gift of Clarence E. Weinland, youngest son of the Weinlands, in 1944 and 1970.
Biographical Note
William Henry Weinland (1861-1930) was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He
attended Moravian schools and graduated from Moravian College and Theological Seminary in
preparation for a life of professional ministry. In 1884 Weinland volunteered for an
exploratory expedition into Alaska with Henry Hartmann, a Moravian missionary based in
Canada, to determine an appropriate site for a mission. A settlement along the Kuskokwim
River was deemed suitable, and, in 1885, now ordained and newly married to Caroline Yost,
Weinland returned to Bethel, Alaska, with his bride and three other missionaries, thus
signaling the advent of a career devoted to missionary work. The Weinland's term of duty in
Alaska was to be curtailed, however, by the ill health of Mrs. Weinland and one of her
daughters.* The family returned to the United States where Rev. Weinland assumed the
pastorate of the Moravian Church in Grace Hill, Iowa.
In 1889, after nearly two years at their mid-Western post, the Weinlands received a formal
call to take part in more pioneering work. This time they would establish a new mission
among the Native Americans of Southern California. After surveying the general surroundings,
the Weinlands decided on the Morongo Reservation (then known familiarly as "The Potrero")
where they would represent the Moravian Church for some forty years. The Weinlands raised
seven children on the reservation and spent the final years of their lives in nearby
Banning, California.
*For more information
on Weinland's activities in Alaska see: Oswalt, Wendell H.
Mission of Change in Alaska: Eskimos and Moravians on the
Kuskowim
(San Marino, Calif.: The Huntington Library,
1963).
Scope and Contents
The William H. Weinland Photograph Collection contains 525 loose photographs and 3
photograph albums that depict the people, experiences, and places witnessed by Moravian
missionary William H. Weinland (1861-1930) and his family during their years of missionary
service between the mid 1880s and the 1920s, first in Alaska and, more extensively, among
Native Americans of Southern California. Though the vast majority of the photographs depict
life on the Morongo Reservation, near Banning, California, Weinland was an itinerant of
sorts, an activist who sought a foothold for Protestantism wherever he could. Consequently,
there are images from a number of the reservations that surrounded Morongo.
The Alaska images were photographed by Weinland and fellow missionary Henry Hartmann, as
many of the mounts attest, and by the commercial photographer M. Lorenz. The Morongo views
are harder to attribute, though many were definitely taken by Weinland himself. Some
commercial photographers are also represented throughout this portion of the collection.
Volumes 2 and 3 were albums compiled by Sarah Morris, one of the first schoolteachers at
Morongo and a personal friend of the Weinlands. Her albums focus, naturally enough, on the
schoolhouses where she taught as well as her charges. There are about 50 original film and
glass plate negatives in the collection. Contact prints were made for reference use and are
in Boxes 1 to 5, according to subject. See the Negatives series for a list of the item
numbers.
Existence and Location of Copies
All images in this collection have been digitized. Visit the
Huntington Digital Library
to view digitized
items from the William H. Weinland collection.
Related materials in the Huntington Library
Additional materials received as part of the Weinland Collection:
-
William Henry Weinland papers (mssWeinland),
Manuscripts
Department.
- California Scrapbooks 8 [St. Francis Dam Disaster Scrapbook], (California Scrapbook
Collection pephCSC 8)
-
[Native Americans in Morongo & surrounding areas
Scrapook] (California Scrapbook Collection pephCSC 59)
Arrangement
The collection is arranged according to subject in the following series and subseries:
- 1. Loose Photographs:
- Alaska, approximately 1884-1885
- Morongo Reservation, approximately 1890-1920
- Miscellaneous
- Scenes from Riverside and San Diego counties, approximately 1915
- Weinland Family photographs
- 2. Photograph Albums:
- Weinland Family Photograph Album, approximately 1910s and 1920s
- Morongo Reservation and "The Potrero" albums, approximately 1880s-1901
- 3. Negatives
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Box 8: Film negatives housed in cold storage; extended retrieval and delivery time
required.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Eskimos -- Alaska -- Photographs.
Fur traders -- Alaska -- Photographs.
Indians of North America -- California, Southern --
Photographs.
Indians of North America -- California -- Morongo Indian Reservation --
Photographs.
Indians of North America -- Montana -- Photographs.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains -- Photographs.
Pima Indians -- Dwellings -- Arizona -- Photographs.
Tohono O'odham Indians -- Dwellings -- Arizona --
Photographs.
Cheyenne Indians -- Photographs.
Indian children -- Great Plains -- Photographs.
Indian children -- California, Southern -- Photographs.
Indian children -- California -- Morongo Indian Reservation --
Photographs.
Indian children -- Fort Yuma Reservation (Ariz. and Calif.) --
Photographs.
Hopi dance -- Photographs.
Missionaries -- California -- Morongo Indian Reservation --
Photographs.
Basket making -- California -- Morongo Indian Reservation --
Photographs.
Baskets -- Private collections -- Photographs.
School children -- California, Southern -- Photographs.
School children -- California -- Morongo Indian Reservation --
Photographs.
School children -- Fort Yuma Reservation (Ariz. and Calif.) --
Photographs.
Cemeteries -- California -- Morongo Indian Reservation --
Photographs.
Saint Francis Dam Disaster, Saint Francis Dam, Calif., 1928 --
Photographs.
Alaska -- Pictorial works.
Kuskowim River Region -- Pictorial works.
California, Southern -- Pictorial works.
Morongo Indian Reservation (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
Soboba Reservation (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
Torres-Martinez Reservation (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
Agua Caliente Indian Reservation (Calif.) -- Pictorial
works.
Fort Yuma Reservation (Ariz. and Calif.) -- Pictorial
works.
Banning (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
Palm Canyon (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
San Diego County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
Photographs.
Cyanotypes.