Sugar Plant Hunting by Airplane in New Guinea
name: label: Creator
content: United States. Department of Agriculture
label: Creator
content: Brandes, E. W. (Elmer Walker)), b. 1891
label: Creator
content: Peck, Richard K.
place: label: Place
content: Oceania
label: Place
content: New Guinea
topic: label: Topic
content: Scientific expeditions
label: Topic
content: Sugarcane
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Received from United States Department of Agriculture in 1982.
creator: label: Creator
content: United States. Department of Agriculture
label: Creator
content: Brandes, E. W. (Elmer Walker)), b. 1891
label: Creator
content: Peck, Richard K.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Sugar Plant Hunting by Airplane in New Guinea
physdesc: label: Extent
content: Film reels (black-and-white silent, 35mm)
label: Extent
content: 116 Photographs (Lantern slides)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1929
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: HSFA.1982.07
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Silent films
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: silent films
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edited film made by the United States Department of Agriculture during an expedition to locate disease resistant varieties of sugar cane in the Territory of Papua and Mandated Territory of New Guinea. Footage was shot during 57 flights in what was ostensibly the first European exploration of sites in the interior. Locations and documentation include: aerial shots of coastal villages between Samarai Island (southeast of Milne Bay) and Port Moresby; villages along the Lower Fly and Strickland rivers, Lake Murray, and areas of the Upper Fly; a dubu (communal men's house) in a village on Lake Murray; Negritos on the Upper Fly and a Pygmy "tree house" village at the confluence of the Ok-Tedi and Fly rivers; sites on the Kikori and the Sepik rivers between Lae and Ambunti which includes shots of an Ambunti haus tambaran (ceremonial house) and Sepik Papuans making sac-sac from the sago palm; and scenes in the coastal village at Hula (near Port Moresby) which show stilt houses, outriggers, and missionized natives being put through military drill. Shots from the embarkation phase of the expedition include scenes in New York City and the Panama Canal and aerial shots over Mount Hood, Oregon, on return to Washington D.C. Film has intertitles.

Supplementary materials: 57 glass lantern slides from the Papua New Guinea expedition and 59 glass lantern slides from, we believe, Cuba that are associated with this expedition.

Legacy Keywords: Aircraft monoplane ; Canoes dugouts outriggers as transportation ; Agriculture agricultural crops gardens ; Barter ; Adornment shells feathers boar tusks ; Houses tree houses ; Cannibalism skull ; Weapons bows spears ; Cookery ; Settlement patterns ; Missionaries ; Crops agriculture ; Art men's houses ; Clothing acculturation ; Tools ; Language and culture ; Papua New Guinea ; Samari ; Point Hood ; Port Moresby ; Fairfax Harbor ; Lae (New Guinea) ; Kikori River (Papua, New Guinea) ; Fly River (Papua New Guinea) ; Sepik River (Papua, New Guinea) ; Juarangei ; Hula (New Guinea) ; Australia ; Queensland ; Panama Canal (Panama) ; Lake Murry (Papua, New Guinea) ; Oceania ; Strickland River, New Guinea ; Ok-Tedi River, New Guinea

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Photographs from the expedition are at the National Anthropological Archives, Photo lot 91-8, United States Department of Agriculture photographs relating to sugar expedition to Papua New Guinea.