Included are many physical anthropological subjects, but there are also many items of ethnological and archeological value. The coverage is world wide. In the past, the Department of Anthropology did not hesitate to break up collections to serve the research needs of staff members. Hence, some photographs accessioned by the museum have become divided between collections like this one and the collections of the Division of Ethnology, Division of Archeology, and several individual curators. See also the collection of photographs, largely of bone specimens, which is Photo Lot 83-41 .
Some negatives are in special storage.
Their use by researchers will require special arrangement. Included are prints and negatives and a few drawings, notes, and tables. Included are photographs used by Hrdlicka in publications and a few submitted for the American Journal of Physical Anthropology . There are also photographs acquired from researchers who were not affiliated with the Smithsonian, including some sent Otis T. Mason to report specimens taken from mounds. Also included are items from a series of photographs of skulls issued by the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences.