Franz Boas drawings of Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) designs
odd: label: Publication Note
content: The drawings were reproduced in:

Boas, Franz. "The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians," Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Instituion 1895. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1897. Figure 12 and Plate 40.
name: label: Creator
content: Boas, Franz, 1858-1942
place: label: Place
content: North America
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The drawings were found in the USNM collection; no catalog or accession numbers have been identified. The drawing was transferred from the object collections of the Department of Anthropology to the National Anthropological Archives in 1969.
creator: label: Creator
content: Boas, Franz, 1858-1942
culture: label: Culture
content: Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Franz Boas drawings of Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) designs
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Franz Boas (1858-1942) was a German-American anthropologist and pioneer of modern anthropological practice. He studied physics and geography at the universities at Heidelberg and Bonn before completing a doctoral program in physical geography at Kiel in 1881. After graduation, he joined an expedition of Baffin Island (1883-1884), which influenced his decision to him to focus on cultural tradition rather than biological and physical influences. In 1885, Boas emigrated to the United States, where he took an editorial position with the journal Science and started what would become his most famous ethnographic project, working among the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw) Indians, in 1886. Boas spent three years teaching at Clark University in Massachusetts, then took an appointment at the Field Museum in Chicago in 1892. Boas then moved to New York, where he joined the American Museum of Natural History (1895-1905) and began teaching at Columbia University in 1896. For 37 years, Boas established himself as an academic and mentored numerous future influential anthropologists, including Margaret Mead, Alfred Kroeber, Edward Sapir, and Zora Neale Hurston. He also served as one of the founders of both the American Anthropological Association and the International Journal of American Linguistics.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3 Drawings (visual works) (graphite and crayon)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1895
container: label: Container
content: Box 87819 / 87824, Folder 2
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS87824
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Graphic Materials
label: Type
content: Drawings (visual works)
label: Type
content: Works of art
label: Type
content: Drawings
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Works of art
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of three (3) drawings of  Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) designs made by Franz Boas for publication in his article "The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians."  "Dr. Franz Boas" is stamped on the back of one page.


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.