De Lancey W. Gill: Photographer for the Bureau of American Ethnology
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- Article on the life and work of De Lancey W. Gill, who, as photographer for the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) from the 1890's until 1930, took more photographs of American Indians than all his predecessors combined. In 1884, Gill was hired as a paleontological draftsman by the United States Geological Survey's William Henry Holmes, and under his tutelage Gill's career flourished. He became head of the USGS illustrations division in 1889 and, then working under director John Wesley Powell, accepted the expanded duty of supervising BAE's illustrations work. The BAE had been established in 1879 to carry out ethnographic work which included studies of the American Indian; part of this work involved taking photographs of Indians who traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with government officials.
- Gill originally had not been very involved with photography work, but when he transferred to the BAE in 1898 to continue illustration work for its publications, he also began to photograph Indians on a regular basis, as no one else was available to do the work. The author states that Gill never thought of himself first as a photographer; however, it is estimated that over the years he took 2,000 to 3,000 portraits of American Indians, including Geronimo and Chief Joseph. Gill retired in 1932 at the age of 73, and died in 1940.
Subject
- Holmes, William Henry 1846-1933
- Gill, DeLancey W
- Powell, John Wesley 1834-1902
- National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)
- National Anthropological Archives (NAA)
- Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology
- United States Geological Survey (USGS)
Category
Smithsonian Institution History Bibliography
Notes
Fourteen photographs from the National Anthropological Archives are included in the article.
Contained within
History of Photography Vol. 7, No. 1 (Journal)
Contact information
Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu
Date
January 1983
Topic
- Photographers
- Historians
- Anthropology
- Ethnology
- Photographs
- Biography
- Indians of North America
Place
North America
Physical description
p. 7-22