IDNO

LS.26760.WHI

Description

On catalogue card: "N.W. Amazon. (Tribes not identified) 175.77 - 79.
Woman, full-length front (2 slides).
Woman 3/4-length, front.
(3 slides)."

Three-quarter-length portrait of a South American Indian woman, wearing a bead necklace with disc and standing in front of a background that has been retouched out on the negative to create a plain backdrop. [TC 09/06/1999, updated JD 01/10/2019]

Place

S America; Colombia; North West Amazon

Cultural Affliation

South American Indian

Named Person

Photographer

Robuchon, Eugenio

Collector / Expedition

Date

1905 - 1906

Collection Name

Whiffen CollectionTeaching Slide Collection

Source

Whiffen, Nöel H.

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Bibliography Reference: The discs on the women's necklaces are probably coins. Whiffen explains that "smelting, or any description of metallurgy, cannot be looked for among the inhabitants of a country so singularly devoid of all metalliferous deposit or formation ... their only method of working metal when obtained is to heat and hammer it into various forms and shapes for ornaments" (Whiffen, T. W., 1915: 93-94). He states that "the pendants ... are mostly coins, depreciated Chilean dollars as a rule ... either given to the wearers by me or had filtered through from the Rubber Belt; a few ... through the medium of intertribal barter". He notes that "they are always the most rare and cherished possessions" (ibid: 80-81). [TC 01/06/1999]

Related Image: A duplicate print is at the RAI, reference 36188, and annotated by Whiffen in pencil on the reverse as "By Robuchon. tribe and group unknown." The photograph was probably made during Robuchon’s 1905-1906 expedition.
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]

See P.9269.ACH1 record for notes on Whiffen’s use of physical anthropology.

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]