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.

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.

729 photographs in 2 boxes; prints 9 x 14 cm. (3.5 x 5.5 in.) and smaller.

The photographs which appeared in Navaho Trading Days are under copyright to the University of New Mexico Press. While the Huntington will provide copy prints for this material, permission to publish the photographs must be requested in writing from the Press itself. However, not all of the material in the Hegemann Collection is copyrighted by UNM Press. Hegemann arranged the photographs so that those images which appear in the book, and are hence under copyright, come first, followed by the uncopyrighted material. The images which are copyrighted are separated by those that are not by white paper dividers within the collection, and the status of the material is noted on the transcript. None of the photographs acquired in 1965 are copyrighted. At some point the status of this copyright needs to be investigated, since in several instances UNM Press has been unaware of the copyright status when approached by researchers for permission.

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