Elizabeth H. and Sarah S. Metcalf photographs
name: label: Creator
content: Metcalf, Elizabeth H.
label: Photographer
content: Gerhard Sisters
place: label: Place
content: Philippines
creator: label: Creator
content: Metcalf, Elizabeth H.
culture: label: Culture
content: Bagobo (Philippine people)
label: Culture
content: Negritos
label: Culture
content: Igorot (Philippine people)
label: Culture
content: Benguets
label: Culture
content: Moros -- depicted
setName: label: See more items in
content: Elizabeth H. and Sarah S. Metcalf photographs
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Sisters Elizabeth Henshaw and Sarah Sprague Metcalf became interested in the Philippines and Bagobo peoples after attending the Philippine "Reservation" at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis in 1904. They were particularly impressed by the Bagobo gong music, and developed acquaintances with several of the participants. The following year, the Metcalfs attended the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon, and again interacted with the Philippine peoples there, who were mostly Igorot. 

Middle-aged and unmarried, the sisters set off for Mindanao the following year. They spent several months in Zamboanga before moving to Santa Cruz where they were closer to the Bagobo people. During their stay in the Philippines (1906-1910), the Metcalfs photographed and advocated for their Bagobo friends and amassed an extensive collection of indigenous material culture. Uncertainties relating to the First World War brought the sisters back to the United States in 1910 and Elizabeth presented their ethnological research to the American Anthropological Association the following year.  

Around 1915, they returned to the Philippines, where they settled in Manila and sold indigenous handicrafts in their "Little Home Shop." Elizabeth and Sarah remained in Manila until their deaths in 1925 and 1939, respectively.

Biographical information mostly taken from Cherubim A. Quizon, "Two Yankee Women at the St. Louis Fair: The Metcalf Sisters and their Bagobo Sojourn in Mindanao," Philippine Studies 52, no. 4 (2004): 527-555.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 9 Linear feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1882-1944
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.107
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies note
content: Polyester copy negatives are available for viewing in place of the nitrate negatives.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: The Elizabeth and Sarah Metcalf photographs primarily document people of the Philippines and travels and activities around the Philippine Islands by the Metcalf sisters. Included are photographs of Bagobo, Moro, Igorot, and other indigenous peoples, towns and landscapes, events and activities, material culture, and the Metcalfs' "Little Home Shop" in Manila.

Papers include correspondence, photograph descriptions, ephemera, descriptions of objects collected by the Metcalfs on their travels and later donated to museums, newspaper articles, and notes for talks and lectures given by the Metcalfs.

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 National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Additional photographs and material relating to the Metcalf sisters are held in the National Anthropological Archives in the Department of Anthropology records, series 17.

Philippine ethnographic objects and collected by the Metcalf sisters are held in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and in the National Museum of Natural History Department of Anthropology collections in accessions 114868, 124603, 123977, and 57787.

The Penn Museum archives also holds correspondence with the Metcalf sisters.