Charles Praetorius reproductions of drawings made by or associated with John White
name: label: Art copyist
content: Praetorius, Charles
label: Artist
content: White, John, active 1585-1593
place: label: Place
content: North America
label: Place
content: Caribbean Area
label: Place
content: South America
label: Place
content: Europe
topic: label: Topic
content: Picts
label: Topic
content: Animals
label: Topic
content: Birds
label: Topic
content: Fishes
label: Topic
content: Plants
label: Topic
content: Insects
creator: label: Art copyist
content: Praetorius, Charles
label: Artist
content: White, John, active 1585-1593
culture: label: Culture
content: Algonquin (Algonkin)
label: Culture
content: Eskimo/Inuit
label: Culture
content: Timucua (archaeological)
label: Culture
content: Tupian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Charles Praetorius reproductions of drawings made by or associated with John White
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Charles Praetorius was a print-maker and photographer. Born in Vienna, he was employed by the British Musem to make photographs of works in the Museum and make photographs of prints and drawings in other British collections.
label: Biographical Note
content: John White (circa 1539 – circa 1593) was an English colonial governor, explorer, artist, and cartographer. White served as artist and mapmaker for Richard Grenville's expedition to colonize Roanoke Island in 1585. He later served as the governor of the second attempt to found Roanoke Colony on the same island in 1587 and discovered the colonists had mysteriously vanished.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 69 Drawings (visual works) (Hand-colored photographs of watercolor drawings)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1889-1893
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: The drawings in this collection were purchased from Charles Praetorius in two lots.  The first group, consisting of 38 drawings of biological subjects, was commissioned by George Brown Goode, ichthyologist and Assistant Secretary in charge of the USNM, in 1889.  The second group, consisting of drawings of ethnological subjects, was commissioned in 1893 for use in the World's Columbian Exposition.  The ethnological drawings were accessioned by the USNM in March 1893 under 26851, but this number was subsequently cancelled.  All drawings were later accessioned under 66766 in June 1921.

The drawings were transferred from the object collections of the Department of Anthropology to the National Anthropological Archives in 1970.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS316516
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Drawings (visual works)
label: Type
content: Works of art
label: Type
content: Watercolors
label: Type
content: Facsimiles (reproductions)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The drawings in this collection were previously cataloged by the National Anthropological Archives individually by their USNM Catalog Number.  

The collection was reprocessed in 2023, and all drawings were incorporated into a single collection under MS 316516. The archivist replaced the titles previously assigned to the drawings and photographs with the titles and captions provided by the artist. Original spellings and capitalization were retained. Untitled drawings were assigned titles in square brackets []. The drawings were arranged in number order by their source album.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Works of art
label: Genre/Form
content: Watercolors
label: Genre/Form
content: facsimiles (reproductions)
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of sixty-nine (69) facsimiles of sixty-seven (67) watercolor drawings made by or associated with John White.  The reproductions were created by Charles Praetorius by photographing the drawings, and subsequently bleaching and hand coloring the images. The drawings come from two sources in the British Museum:  John White album (see British Museum Number 1906,0509.1.1) and a version of the John White album known as the Sloan album (see British Museum Number SL,5270.1-113).  The original drawings date from 1585-1593, and are some of the earliest European depictions of the flora, fauna, and peoples of the Americas.

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.