Pères Blancs (White Fathers) Photographic Albums
name: label: Creator
content: White Fathers
label: Names
content: Lavigerie, Charles Martial Allemand, Cardinal, 1825-1892
place: label: Place
content: Uganda
label: Place
content: Burundi
label: Place
content: Africa
label: Place
content: Rwanda
creator: label: Creator
content: White Fathers
culture: label: Culture
content: Tutsi (African people)
label: Culture
content: Tura (African people)
label: Culture
content: Hutu (African people)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Pères Blancs (White Fathers) Photographic Albums
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Pères Blancs (White Fathers) Society Photographic Album documents the group's missions and the Africans living near them in the East African kingdoms of Rwanda and Burundi (now the state of Rwanda-Burundi).  Subjects include individual and group portraits of Africans, including members of the Tutsi royal family and the Tutsi elite, Christian families of Hutu origin, missionaries and Western visitors, and Twa people on an elephant hunt.  There are also photos of landscapes, African villages and mission buildings, activities, including dancing and farming.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Cardinal Charles M. Lavigerie, the Catholic Archbishop of Algiers, founded the Society of Missionaries of Africa which became known as Pères Blancs in 1869. Beginning a plan of expansion in 1878, Lavigerie sent a group of missionaries across the Sahara to establish a mission in Timbuktu, but the efforts failed when the accompanying Africans revolted. Over 23 missionaries died before the mission was completed in the 1890s.

The Pères Blancs also established themselves in Uganda, Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and the Upper Congo by the 1880s. Despite resistance from local chiefs and governments, the society continued to expand in the first part of the 20th century, setting up hospitals; elementary, normal and technical schools; and seminaries in Africa, as well as training schools in several European countries. After World War II the society's influence declined, although it still operates today.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 217 Photographic prints (black and white)
label: Extent
content: 217 Copy prints (black and white)
label: Extent
content: 217 Copy negatives (black and white, 4 x 5 in.)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1903-1925
container: label: Container
content: Box 1
label: Container
content: Box 2
label: Container
content: Box 3
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: Purchased, 1988. Conserved through a preservation grant funded by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee, 2006.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: EEPA.1987-010
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographic prints
label: Type
content: Copy prints
label: Type
content: Copy negatives
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: Maintained original order (in order of original albums).
bibliography: label: Photos published in:
content: EEPA 1987-010-0042: Exhibited in "Marking Places: Spatial Effects of African Art," Fogg Art Museum, 2001-2002. 

EEPA 1987-010-0042: Published in "Changing Place: Spatial Effects of African Art," (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, 2001).

EEPA 1987-010-0049: Published in "At First Sight: Photography and the Smithsonian" (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003).

EEPA 1987-010-0060: Published in "At First Sight: Photography and the Smithsonian" (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003).

EEPA 1987-010-0079: Produced in "The Jesus Experience," video recording, (Studio City, CA: Paulist Productions, Spring 2002).

EEPA 1987-010-0089: Produced in "The Jesus Experience," video recording, (Studio City, CA: Paulist Productions, Spring 2002).

EEPA 1987-010-0095: Produced in "The Jesus Experience," video recording, (Studio City, CA: Paulist Productions, Spring 2002).

EEPA 1987-010-0102: Produced in "The Jesus Experience," video recording, (Studio City, CA: Paulist Productions, Spring 2002).

EEPA 1987-010-0104: Produced in "The Jesus Experience," video recording, (Studio City, CA: Paulist Productions, Spring 2002).
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographic prints
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The photographs document the Africans living near the Pères Blancs (White Fathers) Mission stations at Rwanda and Burundi. Most of the photographs are individual and group portraits of Africans, especially members of the Tutsi royal family and Tutsi elite of Rwanda and Burundi. Other portraits include Christian families of Hutu origin, the missionaries and Western visitors, and Twa people on an elephant hunt. Activities documented include attending a mission class, building grass and brick structures, carrying royalty on palanquins, carrying visitors, dancing, farming, drawing water, and weaving baskets. Objects depicted include baskets, combs, garments, jewelry, lances and shields. There are images of African villages and mission buildings, as well as landscapes of mountains and volcanoes.