Organization and Cataloguing of the Maxwell Museum's Photographic Collections

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Photographs are a highly useful anthropological tool. While its potential has been realized by many scholars, only recently has the value of the vast number of images held by anthropological institutions been emphasized for its research potential. Unfortunately, many collections have been badly maintained and are pooly recognized. Because of the nitrate base of our earliest documents, use is even dangerous. The Maxwell Museum of the University of New Mexico is conducting a two year program to organize, catalogue, index, and rehouse their photographic materials. A pilot project for this project was funded last year. A computerized catalogue, a visual reference index and an organized storage system will be developed, thereby permitting researchers ready access to these premier collections for the first time. The Maxwell Museum's photographic collections document a century of culture change around the world and a similar span of archaeological and ethnographic research. In many cases, the subject societies no longer exist as integrted units; in others they have been drastically modified. Thus the surviving imagery represents a valuable resource to both anthropology and the members of societies whose traditions have been recorded by the camera.