My job is assistant director for culture at the Smithsonians National museum of the American Indian. , theve the scholars historians, the curators at the museum. Charge of producing exhibitions, the books, a lot of the Educational Programs and symposiums, and work with a ,000ection of about 824 objects. But i have a real interest in photographys and we have also photographs in the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Been working very hard in the years i spent to this museum, i am a 30 year career at the smithsonian but i just joined the American Indian museum in the last year and these photographs are of much interest to me as an archivist. You wrote an article about the collection. Tell us why you wrote this article a virtual tour history. Ms. Delaney thanks, richard. We have a great magazine. American indian magazine that is a members magazine for our museums. It has become more and more familiar with it over time, so when i was asked to think about the opportunity to consider what photographs we have online for the public to see and for online, it wasdy a great opportunity, because i was able to review and get really deep into all of the collections of photography that are online, about 25,000 photographs of the 500,000 we are continuing to work all the time to get more online. Diveor me to do a deep into everything we have to was just fantastic. That is what i love. I love to do research. For me to understand the depth of collections from the beginning of photography in the 1840s in america to presentday contemporary in digital. Virtual,asked to do a an article about a virtual tour of photography online. And it really got me up to date with everything we have. While i cannot physically get into the archive, which i so want to do, so what i can do was bring to our readers a glimpse of what they can see online. Take a why dont we look, jump into the photographs in the first one that you referenced in the article is a to gero type. Why dont you tell us about that . Ms. Delaney when i did do it in museum to join a museum and got a tour of the Archive Center i asked about the earliest images because i wanted to know how far the collection went back. I know that to gary or types rrotypes one of the earliest forms of photography invented in france in 1839 was very popular in the u. S. By 1840 we were seeing these images. On the screen of dr. Peter wilson was from the early 1850s in buffalo, new york. When these incredibly expensive looking cases with these hundreds 180yearold images opened up, it is always exciting to me. First of all, if you do not look at them right, they are a mirror image. Scanning them, reproducing them is difficult. This is an excellent image by our staff photographers. Image of thisthe American Indian man went on to became who went on to become a doctor so early on. In our nations history, but in a time when you would think few leaders in the native community would become accredited through university and become a doctor. Really a window back into a different time. And you want to learn more about who dr. Wilson was. And why he was dressed as he is dressed in western attire. And why he looks the way he does. And possibly who did he give this image to . Whether something he cap. Was it something that was shared with family. Or was it something that was meant for Something Else . We spent a lot of time on Providence Research promenades research, which is learning about the creation of the photograph, in this case who made it, who is the sitter . And trying to find out just why it was made. So i want us to go back to the beginning and know that american our native populations in the u. S. And in the western hemisphere, they were being photographed. And what story does that tell . So, it was a pleasure to find this image right away when i was searching online. Richard a lot of these pictures you have the back. Sideways. Ms. Delaney thats unlocking history. That is a history detective when you open up the case and you see Something Like this with peter wilsons,me peter his name spelled out, his native name, his American Indian name is there which i will not try to pronounce. Because i do not want to do it in justice. And there it says, gifted to his. E. Thomas. It is through thomas that this image was donated to the National Museum of American Indian collection. You have to remember, our collection is a centuryold but the museum was only founded in 1989. So, all of the early collection come in tocomew in, the museum of American Indian based in new york city in particular. So, we have so many collections that have come in over the course of a century. Has taken us decades and we continue to try in research and get the origins of the objects in the images we half. Richard next in your article bro type. Am comeslaney ambro type being in the 1850s pretty can see they are fragile. Part of what i want to show to viewers is that we do try to take the best care we can of our objects. We have a Conservation Department it we take a lot of pride in keeping our collections in the best storage environment as possible. I work at the museums Cultural Resources center in suitland, maryland when we are open. Not in these covid times. And all of the images are stored at the Archive Center. Over time, the image from the midto late 1850s goes through some wear and tear. So, the images craft. But we try to keep it in the best shape possible. Image see a man in this who is about 100 years old. And, again, zooming and you can get such details from these early images. You see there could be a staying at the top of securing some of the image. But for what it has gone through in this century and a half, more than that, we are lucky to have it in the condition that it is. Individual who fought in wars. Probably in the war of 1812. And has, you know, has lived a tough life potentially. But he was also part of some major decisions and treaties that were signed with the native americans. One in michigan. Eeding millions of acres of land to the u. S. Government. He was part of that. Having this window into history to be able to recognize and identify some of the individuals in these early photographs up to today really brings history full circle. And you can understand that these are individuals who have exceptional live sometimes. Or we learn a lot about daytoday life on some of the photographs we have. Richard there is also an extra thing with this photograph. What is that . Willelaney sometimes we see small clippings from news, newspaper articles. About the individuals, talking about the chief. Outlining hisife as he was involved in some of the wars. His wife near lansing michigan. Also outline, sometimes the photographer. I was amazed the photograph. This was photographed by hen ry smith in 1858. There were not all that many photographers working that early. So, to have it identified, both the sitter and the photographer is extraordinary. Next thing you reference in your article chronologically is alexander gardner. And there is a lot of photographs here, but what are we looking at here . Ms. Delaney we are looking at a w indians who purchase a paid it the signing of the treating of fort laramie the treaty of fort laramie in 1868. They were hoping for reservation and land and ways to live in the black hills. Treaties have not come to fruition. But there was hope on this day. Justis collection is expansive, about 200 images by alexander gardner. Gardner gained fame during the american civil war. Worked with the Matthew Brady studio out of washington, d. C. Many of the images that are memorable from gettysburg battle, the aftermath of the soldiers, the soldiers that died during the battle are gardners work. And little was known about these photographs for many years. I mentioned earlier i have spent 30 years studying photography at the smithsonian, first at the National Museum of American History and now at the National Museum of American Indian. Collection, but significant collection, was unknown to many of us at the institution until the sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary of the civil war, just in the last decade. And as we were researching sharingons and i were Editorial Committee chairing an Editorial Committee for a book on civil war collections at the x, one of the archivists invited me over to the American Indian museum to see this collection that i did not know about. Many of my fellow curators did not know about. That there was a retrospective of alexander gardners work at our National Portrait gallery. And for the first time the American Indian museum loan photographs to another museum. So, that was just astounding to me. To be able to think about these gardner images, think about gardner being part of the civil , the first time americans were seeing wartime booksraphs published in and then in newspapers and illustrated monthly journals. Then he traveled with general sherman west as the indian wars begin. Just after the civil war. 1868 gardner is traveling with the generals troops and visiting the various sites, meeting these individual indians and visiting the tribal communities, being witness to treaty signings and the gatherings and documenting for as the what is happening wars move again from east to west with the indian wars that would go right up until 1890. Od gardnerwoyear peri is photographing and these were the images kept by general sherman. And then donated to the smithsonian. About thatinking andney that was happening the hard moment in American History that continued going getting difficult times to the civil war coming back together as a union. And then launching right into war in the american west. With the Indian Tribes and trying to move through the treaty making. It was, again, hard time, but gardners images capture it forever. Richard you selected this particular image as the kind of, the banner for the lead into your article. What jury you to this one . What drew you to this point . See several you can images, at the top of the screen you can see the variety of images online for this collection. I wanted to show the specific group that was signing the treaty. Calledwe have exhibition nation to nation at the museum, which i highly recommend people see when we are able to get open again. But it goes through the history of u. S. Government treaties with native American Communities across the u. S. And, you know, a lot of times those treaties were not fully executed. Highlight theo treaties a couple of the images referenced treaties. And gardner being present at that moment and showing the men thewere there to sign with u. S. Government was important for me to show within the article. Richard what do you suppose gardners purpose was . Did he make money with these photographs . Know, he wasyou the first wartime photojournalist. In america. Not in the world, but here in the u. S. So, he made his livelihood from photography. First working for the Matthew Brady studios as i mentioned in d. C. , then publishing a sketchbook of the civil war and selling volumes. You can find those in museums at the Smithsonian Library of congress and a couple of museums also still have that twovolume sketchbook he produced. And then his images would be sold for use in news periodicals , journals, monthly journals, newspapers. For many years, very successful in his work. Richard the next photograph that you had in your article was this. Tell us what we are seeing here. Ms. Delaney ok. Franks an image from the lennar collection. A photograph from Buffalo Bills wild west show. I have done a lot of research on William F Cody and Buffalo Bills wild west. My dissertation is an ardent advertising of Buffalo Bills wild west. My interest in this area started from one collection at the American History museum which is a portrait collection of sioux indian performers from the wild west. They photographed those images that i started out with the american in images represented in the collection happy so behind the scene photos which i like to see. What were the performers doing when they were not in the arena . A different element of what was happening. Instead of the performers in the arena reenacting things like, you know, the battle of little bighorn or horse races and other types of program acts that would happen during a visit to the wild west, here is cody sitting with a couple of the performers that i am thinking it is possibly chief iron tail at cody s left to performed for more than 20 years on the show circuit with cody traveling nationally and internationally with the show. Many of the performers were sioux indians from pine ridge reservation. I had the opportunity with another smithsonian colleague to visit pine ridge just two years ago. Theto learn more about families and the individuals who chose to leave the reservation and perform, whether it was one season or many seasons, there were lots of Different Reasons why an individual would choose to contract with a wild west show. And i wanted to be able to show one of these images that highlighted there was a relationship between cody and the indians. He was hoping this opportunity was not just stereotypical look at indian life. It was an education for the public. And some indians chose to join him. And, yes, they were sometimes reenacting scenes they had lived , but they were also being paid. They were seeing the country and seeing the world, at least europe, at times when the show would go there. And there were many personal reasons for an American Indian man or woman to join the show. The families could also travel with the show. So, women would be behind the scenes taking care of in the , were able to travel and live like and also Wear Clothing as they would. And they were always allowed to do that when they were on the resident they were not always allowed to do that on the reservations in the u. S. The wanted to highlight collection and show the incident moment behind the scenes and the engaged and the friendships that transpired between a lot of the indian performers and cody richard this category of photograph you call silver gelatin. What is that . Ms. Delaney silver gelatin photographs become popular through the Eastman Kodak company from the late 1880s all the way up to digital, what we know up until the 1990s. You do not see too much photographic film available for sale these days, but the silver and the photographic paper made those beautiful blackandwhite images that we have seen through time. And much of the history of the wild west show were documented in the silver gelatin photographs from the 1890s y was 1916 when cod traveling with the show. Until color becomes popular in the 1930s, the silver gelatin is really primary, and it remains today a favorite of some artistic photographs, photographers as well, for photographs that we see. Archives, att the the American Indian museum, there are many distinctive silver gelatin collections. Article, theour next category going in the history of photography is stereo. What are we seeing here . Ms. Delaney another popular type of image for many decades from the 1850s all the way to the 1940s to the world war ii era. What we see is an inaugural parade. A president ial inaugural parade from the time of theodore roosevelt. 1905,9 know five from in the parade we have six American Indian chiefs coming down pennsylvania avenue. We are very familiar with potentially seeing this on folkssion or in d c, many make it a tradition to go and watch the parade after the inauguration. And, again, just seeing ever uresent in American Life are o indigenous communities. And that is really at the heart of what we want to do at the National Museum of the American Indian is to make sure that our visitors, students and teachers understand the rich history of American Indians pre u. S. And through American History and today and being part of president ial inaugurations is about as american as it gets, i think. A way fors there people to see these in stereo, or is that just something that is hard to do . Ms. Delaney you know, some stereo enthusiasts do have that, you know, opportunity through all time viewers, handheld viewers. And i think there are some programs online. Im sure you can search stereo photography and learn how to do it with your laptop at home. Or your i type it do searching your laptop or your ipad. Do searching to see the three dimensional reality of what those images sidebyside can bring. And it is really fun to see them as a photographer this photographer hoped you would see them. Richard this is another category that you addressed in your article. Tell us about this. Ms. Delaney yes, so there are some subjects that i think we even need to investigate and research more and bring onto our ourbition floors and into online exhibitions and that is the history of American Indian boarding schools in the u. S. And this postcard photograph is from the 19 teens, 1914. And it is showing nurses at the Carlisle School in carlisle, pennsylvania, inoculating , you know, of course, just after this time would be another worldwide epidemic of the flu in 1918. But here in the dispensary at the hospital, you can see that the health and welfare of the students was being taken care of. There is a long history from the the 1960s and even some Indian Schools persist today outside the reservation system for educating American Indians. Is a complicated history, and these postcards, again, a test to that history and the groups, the Young Children here shown at this Indian Training School photo, beautiful color images. These are real photo postcards. In the upper left of the screenshot, you can share a memory. Talk about the schools. Send this image to a friend or family member. , you know, what folks are writing on the back of these postcards is fascinating. Here is a training room, a sewing room at the Indian School for girls. There is also images ive seen on these postcards of kitchens and cooking that happens at the school put lots of athletics and teams, also were part of school life. Wereagain, these individuals, children who work separated from their families who were separated from their family, sent to live and learn to assimilate and to wear western clothing, western tough s, and it is a you can imagine for the students to be separated from native ways, native culture, native ceremonies, but there are ways that they also chose to succeed , andxcel here in the band military skills at the schools. Images are atoric way for us to research that, and for us to include in exhibitions we consider around the schools as well. Richard while we are at this page, why, could you walk us through this information for people exploit photographs online . What is this over here . Ms. Delaney ok, so if you look at the smithsonian online virtual archives, it is one of the sites online that i recommend for you to find thousands of interesting photographs to you will see the field are archivists complete as they enter information. We tried entering as much information as you possibly can into these online collections. You see this series title indian boarding schools. The collection title. You can know who donated the image. The jenkins postcard and , with manycollection many postcards like this. You see the image name and the date. The image name will clue you in, as is the number at the bottom, if you archivists want to use them in a book or on a website or publish an article, youre going to need to have ed image number information. The images that you see on my are not usually, usually not restricted by copyright. Most of the time they are so old, they are historic. There is no copyright restrictions still on them. But all of that information that goes into documenting for our cataloging also then appears when you pull it up online in thehe sicilian smithsonian online virtual archives. There is a pdf. You can download the information. You can print it out, use it for future research. Richard thank you. So, the next category of photograph you had was this and brian burke photograph collection. Ms. Delaney again, Anne Bromberg is a working photojournalist and working in documented photography. She is using black and white silver gelatin in 1996 to sheepherder. The in navajo country. Which is the word for navajo. That American Indians use. And so, she is a sheepherder. You can see there are multiple images that bromberg donated to the museum and captured different aspects of her day as a sheepherder. And, every day life. The opportunity for our museum to bring to the forefront that a contemporary woman like dorothea is living as she is here. The native knowledge that is has been shared from generation to generation of how life on the reservation goes, how farming goes, and the sheep hurting is captured very beautifully in bromberg photograph. The final category of photograph in your article was the National Congress of American Indians. Tell us about that. Ms. Delaney well, this really represents a lot of 20thcentury history. I am becoming more and more interested to bring that history forward. 1890s forward. An 1890 and we pushed into the 20th century, there is such leadership to bring indian citizenship to the forefront in 1924. All the way to 1975 with the movement for selfdetermination and sovereignty for tribal leadership. The National Congress of thousands of photographs in the archives at the National Museum of the American Indian represent a whos who of American Indians of events, of moments that are happening and much of it in the 1960s and 1970s. Their we are seeing pageant winner from one of the events at the congress. But you will see men and women and students who are very active in American Indian life on the reservation, coming to washington, really moving forward. What some of the treaties had not accomplished earlier, which was sovereignty over land and the leadership of their own tribes and communities. You will see many museums and cultural institutions arise. In the latter part of the 20th century. Ur museum is working to connect with tribal leaders, communities, to share the history of the objects we have, the photographs we have, and having Something Like this collection, where we see the evolution of native American Life and the influence on exceptional, a ems of use with the g these archives, and of whos whos and meeting with president can he and mrs. Kennedy. President nixon. I am learning so much about the nixon administration. Selfdetermination act came into law in 1975. And so, here we have come again, in hyannis port, a meeting happening with the kennedys, governors from around the country. This is the governor of michigan, and leaders, frank from the National Congress of the American Indian. We have got a lot of research to do. 1970s, theythe are 50 years ago now. And i think i am very interested to see that the museum utilizes make photo archives, to them available online, to bring them into stories that we do digitally online, and that is a big push right now plus while so many people cannot get into museums, cannot get to research with us in person, we want to make sure these collections are available. And the National Congress of the American Indian, thousands of photographs to learn about history in the latter part of the 20th century. So, if someone is watching this and they want to explore this collection, it is a little bit overwhelming when you think about the number of pictures. So, is this where you begin . Ms. Delaney in no, richard, when you search online, you know, sometimes it is a grab bag and you want to be. But sometimes searching at edu,hsonian collections. Si. Are going onto the virtual archives, you just sometimes you hit the mother lode. And you have thousands of images and you clicked through and you find something you did not want you did not expect like i did when i was able to get onto sova and search the 220 collections the archives had available right now. And i was fascinated. I took hours to scrolling through. And you can do that online with smithsonian. Eduou go to collections. Si and you see on the left side you can do an advanced search. You can type in words that are meaningful to you, to your family, to research, and begin to scroll and see thousands of options. If you know you want to look at bromberg collection, type that in. If you want to learn about wild west shows, about president nixon and American Indians, you can do all of that, and find searches that hopefully satisfy your need. You are going to find a lot more to learn from at the same time, because, again, we know when you do a really generic search you are going to get some really big surprises. And, hopefully, when you are looking at all of these images that come up, as you modify your search online, you are going to learn about American Indian life , historic and contemporary, and you are going to see these incredible stories of the men and women and the children who have survived, who have persevered. During these times of covid19, you can read online, and you can search for the tough times that are being had on reservations across the country. Theknow, and we do studies, western hemisphere. We also study canadian first americans. In digits populations in latin america and south america. As well as the u. S. Indigenous populations in latin america and south america. Right now we are thinking about how do we find the stories. We are very active right now. And we continue to reach out to communities and interact with communities to know that this history is important. American history through the lens of American Indian history is American History. Richard tell us about how the pandemic has affected your work and your job. Ms. Delaney this 2020 pandemic. We have been closed as the smithsonian , the institution closed march 16. And we are only just now about to open a couple of the sites, the national zoo and the national air and space museum. Center in chantilly, virginia, will open july 24. We have been closed for a long time. I know our secretary is very disappointed to have to have shattered our doors and not been able to serve the public as we years in washington and around the world, especially, we have a museum of American Indian new york as well and that has been closed. Specifically during a critical times in new york, and now. But we have been working from home. We are teleworking for the perceivable future because even when those museums open, i do not think many of us will be back in our offices right away. We have been taking inquiries, trying to share information. I think that is why the information that is online, our Collections Online and these photographs we have been talking about today, is so important for folks to know that they can learn while we are closed, and we can expand the digital offerings. Also at the museum, we have online native knowledge 360 which is teacher curriculum that focuses on American History throughout American History. Ight some of the wrongs, some history that has not made it into textbooks and looking at native knowledge 360 is another way to search at our uebsite American Indian. Si. Ed or search for native knowledge we, and many of the images are talking about today are embedded in the curriculum online. So we have been trying to become that Digital Museum we always wanted to be. And now we have that with these uncertain, unfortunate time in covid. And we have also been wanted to be very respectful of what is happening in American Indian country right now. So we are also collecting digitally and thinking about what objects to collect in the future. That is different for our museum. Enthave not collected currr history. Other museums have, American History during the september 11 tragedy and black lives matter with the American History of africanAmerican History. In anacostia. There is active work happening, even though most of us are sitting in our living rooms, at our dining room and in our offices at home and we will continue to do that and try to bring new projects to life, even as we stay safe. Theard one less thing is february 25 missoni launched the smithsonian launched 3 million images that are public domain. Tell us about that. Ms. Delaney open access has been something that smithsonian wanted to do for many years. Many resumes around the country and the world are offering free and open access for use of images. We also do a lot of 3d imaging at the smithsonian. Have rightscan also to all the files for those if you have a 3d printer. Even better. So, open access is something that every unit is committed to. Are many sacred and ceremonial images and objects in our museums. We are more limited in what we can put up online right now, but we keep researching for how we can satisfy these open access highlights and requirements so that we can become more visible through open access. Openou can search through access all of the collections at the smithsonian and fine images you can use for personal use, for publication, if there any copyright issues, they are outlined as well. But open access is meant for free use and with no fees. Part of the american being american, these are your collections. That is why it is so important for us to keep on becoming more accessible. Richard michelle delaney, thank you very much for joining us. Ms. Delaney thank you for having me. It has been a pleasure. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] youre watching American History tv on cspan 3. Lexie lord is the chair of the museum of medicine and science at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Let me begin with this pandemic and how it has impacted the museum and univision in your division in particular. We are mostly working remotely. Our Museum Closed in march, but we began thinking about the pandemic in january. We are a division of medical historians and we tend to follow the news pretty carefully, especially news about public health. So we actually reached out and began speaking with the public
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