IDNO

LS.26723.WHI

Description

On catalogue card: "N.W. Amazon. 175.30 - 33.
Boro women carrying children.
(4 slides)."

Full-length profile view of a Boro woman standing at a Muenane dance. The woman is wearing leg ligatures and a necklace made of white beads. She is carrying a child on her back in a sling made of a piece of ?bark-cloth, worn over her head and hanging down her back.
The background has been blanked out within the image, leaving only the figures on a white background. [TC 09/06/1999]

Place

S America; Colombia; North West Amazon

Cultural Affliation

South American Indian; Witotoan; Boro [Bora; Meamuyna; Meamuina; Miraña; Miranya; Mirane; Miranha; Miragua; Miraño; Mirania]; Muenane [Muinane; Muename; Muinana; Muinani; Moenane; Menekateno]

Named Person

Photographer

Whiffen, Thomas William

Collector / Expedition

Date

1908 - 1909

Collection Name

Whiffen CollectionTeaching Slide Collection

Source

Whiffen, Nöel H.

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Publication: Image reproduced in Whiffen, T. W. 1915 as Pl. XXXIX with the caption "Boro women carrying children".

Related Image: A duplicate print is at the RAI, reference 36180, and annotated by Whiffen in pencil on the reverse as "Boro. Method of carrying child."
Photocopies of Whiffen prints at the RAI are in the UCMAA archive, reference W19/1/3. See Whiffen Collection record for further details on RAI collection. [TC 09/06/1999, updated JD 02/10/2019]

This image is specifically referred to by Whiffen, who points out that "the number [of beads] worn by a Boro woman may be judged from the illustration, where the white appendage round the woman's neck is made simply by stringing a few pounds of white beads together" (Whiffen, T. W., 1915: 80).

See N.26852.WHI and N.26853.WHI records for information about the image of a Muenane dance event of which LS.26722.WHI is a detail.

See P.9283.WHI record for notes on child-carrying slings.

LS.26722.WHI and LS.26724.WHI to LS.26725.WHI depict similar slings in use.

Source: In MAA Correspondence Box 1934 is a letter from Noel Whiffen donating his "brother's collection of lantern slides" to the museum, on behalf of the Whiffen family. Louis Clarke replied. The gift is also noted in the annual report for that year in the list of accessions (UCMAA 1934: 3), which mentions that "the collection of lantern slides has also been increased by gifts from ... Mr N. H. Whiffen ... "
For full details see Whiffen Collection record. [TC 09/06/1999, updated, JD 02/10/2019]