William R. Pywell photographs from the Yellowstone Expedition
name: label: Photographer
content: Pywell, Wm. R. (William Redish), 1843-1886
label: Depicted
content: Bloody Knife, approximately 1840-1876
label: Depicted
content: Custer, George Armstrong, 1839-1876
index: label: Addl. KW Subj
content: Sioux
topic: label: Topic
content: Arikara Indians
label: Topic
content: Covered wagons
creator: label: Photographer
content: Pywell, Wm. R. (William Redish), 1843-1886
culture: label: Culture
content: Hunkpapa Lakota (Hunkpapa Sioux)
setName: label: See more items in
content: William R. Pywell photographs from the Yellowstone Expedition
abstract: label: Summary
content: Photographs made by William R. Pywell documenting the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873. They comprise images of the expedition's camps, transportation, and members including George Armstrong Custer and Bloody Knife. The collection contains images of human remains.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: William Redish Pywell (1843-1886) received photographic training from Alexander Gardner and worked as a photographer in a Washington, D.C., studio owned by Matthew Brady during and after the Civil War. After opening his own studio in Washington, Pywell became official photographer for the Yellowstone Expedition in 1873.
label: Historical Note
content: Comprised primarily of US Army cavalry and infantry, the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873 was organized to escort and protect the Northern Pacific Railroad Survey. Colonel David S. Stanley led the expedition, with Lieutenant Commander George Armstrong Custer second in command. The War Department also charged Stanley with exploring the region and reporting back on the natural features and resources. As such, a small scientific corps consisting of a paleontologist, geologist, mineralogist, zoologist, botanist, photographer (Pywell), and artist accompanied the expedition. The party set out to Yellowstone from Fort Rice in Dakota Territory in June of 1873, returning in September.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 13 Photographic prints (silver gelatin contact prints)
label: Extent
content: 10 Glass negatives (collodion stereo negatives)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1873
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: The Smithsonian Institution organized the expedition's scientific corps, however, the Army Corps of Engineers funded the scientists, who were equipped by the Quartermaster Corps. This led to confusion over the ownership of Pywell's negatives. From 1873 to 1877 they were passed around, with Pywell borrowing them to print from. Eventually the negatives returned to the War Department, who then gave them to the Smithsonian; they became part of the collections of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Around 1948, some of the negatives went to the National Archives. It is not clear why this occurred or if the division of the negatives between the two repositories was intentional.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.166
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographic prints
label: Type
content: Glass negatives
label: Type
content: Photographs
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection has been relocated from Photo Lot 78 and MS 4498. Contact prints of these and some additional Pywell negatives, previously filed in MS 4498, have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 166. 

The negatives and prints had been renumbered several times; for more consistent control new numbers were assigned with the format: collection number.item number (i.e. 166.2).
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Stereoscopic photographs made by William R. Pywell documenting the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873. They comprise images of the expedition's camps, transportation, and members including George Armstrong Custer and Bloody Knife.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: The National Archives holds Pywell negatives transferred by the BAE circa 1948 (Record Group 106) and the E. Marshall Pywell Photographic Collection, circa 1874 - circa 1975. Additional records of the Yellowstone Expedition can be found in Record Group 391 and 393.