IDNO

N.109463.WHI

Description

On Catalogue Card for duplicate image LS.26711.WHI: "N.W. Amazon. 175.14 - 16.
14. River view, with canoe.
15. Capt Whiffen in canoe, w. natives.
16. ? Capt. Whiffen's camp.
(3 slides)."

Scene of “Robuchon’s camp in the Japura Valley”, with what appears to be a small tent and camping equipment in the foreground. Amongst the rocks on the left are seated two small groups of men and two women, most of whom are holding rifles. The men and women appear to be mostly South American Indian and are wearing “European” style clothing. [TC 09/06/1999]

Place

S America; Colombia; North West Amazon; Japura Valley; near Japura River (Caqueta River)

Cultural Affliation

South American Indian

Named Person

Photographer

Whiffen, Thomas William

Collector / Expedition

Date

1908 - 1909

Collection Name

Whiffen Collection

Source

Format

Glass Negative Halfplate

Primary Documentation

Other Information

The glass negatives in the Whiffen Collection were previously stored in two wooden trays numbered “Trays 105” on Shelf 3. Some of the glass negatives were found by the cataloguer in one of these trays, which was numbered C59/ by the cataloguer. The others were loose in piles on the shelf. An address label found in C59/ is addressed to a member of the Whiffen family and dated 1960. The label is now in the UCMAA archive, reference number W19/1/1. Each glass negative was stored, with duplicate glass negatives if any, in a museum archival bag. The bags containing images for which there is a corresponding mounted print in the Haddon Collection were marked with the original number of that print. A note by Gwil Owen which distinguished the printed and unprinted piles of glass negatives is now in the UCMAA archive, reference number W19/1/2. For full details see the Whiffen Collection record.

This glass plate was found unaccessioned in Box K.4.1, in a bag of glass plate negatives annotated as “Whiffen Negs - Rubbish?. G. Owen 27/10/1978.” [JD 22/4/2010]

Related Image: A duplicate print is at the RAI, reference 36160, and annotated by Whiffen in pencil on the reverse with "Robuchon’s Camp in the Japura Valley."
Photocopies of Whiffen prints at the RAI are held 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]

Some of the photographs in the Whiffen Collection were taken by Robuchon and this is probably one of them. The camp depicted here appears to be in use, so the photograph was probably taken during Robuchon’s 1905-1906 expedition. Alternatively, this image may depict Robuchon’s last camp as Whiffen found it in 1908. The people depicted may, then, be some of Whiffen’s “carriers” and their wives, as described in Whiffen, T. W., 1915 (pp. 2-4). He explains that at the beginning of his expedition he “collected eight Indian carriers, two half-castes, and eight “rationales”, or semi-civilised Indians, armed with Winchesters, together with three Indian women, wives of three of the rationales” (ibid: 3). See Whiffen Collection record for further details.