Elizabeth Compton Hegemann Photograph Collection of Navajo Indians and the Southwest, 1922-1934

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Summary

Creators:
Hegemann, Elizabeth Compton, 1897-1962
Abstract:
This collection contains 729 photographs of the travels of Elizabeth Compton Hegemann (1897-1962) through the Navajo Indian Reservation and the Grand Canyon from 1922 to 1934. The images chiefly document Southwest Indian life, particularly of Navajo and Hopi Indians, trading posts, and archaeological monuments during Hegemann’s career based at the Shonto Trading Post on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. Many of the photographs were published in Hegemann's 1963 book Navaho Trading Days.
Extent:
729 photographs in 2 boxes;
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains 729 photographs of Elizabeth Compton Hegemann’s travels through the Navajo Indian Reservation and the Grand Canyon from 1922 to 1934. It also documents Southwest Indian life and archaeological monuments during Hegemann’s career based at the Shonto Trading Post on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. The most notable images depict Hegemann; United States National Park Service rangers; Fred Harvey Trading Company sites and employees; Navajo and Hopi Indians; trading posts; Charles F. Lummis; the Grand Canyon; various ruins of Indian pueblos; Hopi ceremonies; Navajo horse races; and natural rock formations scattered throughout Arizona. Many of the photographs were published in Hegemann's 1963 book Navaho Trading Days.

The subject of the first batch of this collection centers around Hegemann’s experiences from 1922 to 1926 at the Grand Canyon and on the Navajo Reservation, as narrated in her book, Navaho Trading Days. The second batch of photographs contains more candid moments from Hegemann’s travels through Arizona, Southern California, and New Mexico during the same time period as the first group of photographs. The second batch of photographs do not appear in "Navaho Trading Days." Photographs that are not published in "Navaho Trading Days" include Huntington call numbers (40-47), (84-85), (95), (119-142), (167), (170), (172-185), (257-271), (293-313), (340-361), (382-402), and (416-426).

Biographical / historical:

Elizabeth Compton Hegemann (1897-1962), a native of Ohio, began traveling in Arizona and Southern California at a young age. With her first husband, Michael Harrison, a National Park Service employee, she developed ties with Native American tribes in the Southwest and began documenting their culture. She and Harry Rorick, her second husband, ran the Shonto Trading Post west of Tsegi Canyon on the Navajo Reservation for ten years from 1929 until it burned down around 1938. Hegemann later married Anton Hegemann, and she died on April 8, 1962. In 1963, Hegemann's book Navaho Trading Days was published posthumously.

Acquisition information:
The Hegemann Collection of 729 prints came to the Huntington as two separate gifts. The first and largest part of the collection was donated by Elizabeth Hegemann in 1962. This portion (photographs numbered 1 through 539) was accompanied by copy negatives, the original negatives having been lost in the 1938 fire which claimed the Shonto Trading Post. The second group of photographs (numbered 540-729) came to the Library in 1965, three years after Hegemann’s death. Copy negatives were made for a sprinkling of this second group.
Arrangement:

The collection is broadly separated between the initial 1962 acquisition (Items 1-539) from Hegemann, and the addenda received in 1965 (Items 540-729). Each image has been given a unique number by the Huntington, which follows the sequential order in which Hegemann arranged the material. All copy negative numbers correspond to the print numbers. The prints and negatives are filed according to the Huntington number.

Arrangement of the 1962 acquisition

Hegemann arranged the photographs in the 1962 acquisition before donating them to the Huntington, and the order which Hegemann imposed on the photographs was maintained where possible. Hegemann prepared a typewritten transcript of captions for the photographs which elucidates her organizational schema. She apparently arranged the images in groupings to correspond with the chapters of her book Navaho Trading Days, assigning letters such as “A” for Chapters 1-2, “B” for Chapter 3 and so forth. Within each lettered section, she made the distinction between those images which were published in the book and those which were not, placing the published material at the beginning of each group. In the margin of Hegemann's original typescript list, each image received a letter and a number (A2/1). In the left margin of the list, a former Huntington curator (Edwin H. Carpenter or “E.H.C.” in original correspondence) put a red number corresponding to the plate number of the photograph as it appeared in Navaho Trading Days. The list is included as supplemental PDFs for each section in the body of the finding aid.

Arrangement of the 1965 addenda

The material which came in after Hegemann’s death was divided into four groups. The first group (Items 540-603) had the same letters as the original group (A through I) and are directly related to the book. The rest of the material was geographically divided into Arizona, California, and New Mexico. No transcript accompanied this material, and item titles are based on the handwritten captions on the versos of the images.

Dimensions:
prints 9 x 14 cm. (3.5 x 5.5 in.) and smaller.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Note:

Finding aid last updated on December 28, 2015.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2129
reference@huntington.org
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