Stuart Eldridge photograph collection of skulls from Taiwan and the Philippines
odd: label: Local Call Number(s)
content: NAA Photo Lot 6B
name: label: Names
content: Eldridge, Stuart, 1843-1901
label: Names
content: Otis, George A. (George Alexander), 1830-1881 (curator)
topic: label: Topic
content: Physical anthropology
label: Topic
content: anthropometry
culture: label: Culture
content: Filipinos
label: Culture
content: Taiwan aborigines
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Stuart Eldrige (1843-1901) was a New York-born physician known for his work in Japan for both the United States and Japanese governments. He traveled to Japan as Secretary and Physician to the Scientific Mission to Japan under General Horace Capron in 1871. He continued to serve there in several positions, including Surgeon-General of the Kaitakushi (Commissioner of Development Projects), director of the General Hospital of Yokohama, and Member of the Central Sanitary Board by the Japanese Government (1883).

The United States Army Medical Museum (AMM, renamed the National Museum of Health and Medicine in 1989) was established by US Army Surgeon General William A. Hammond in 1862. Its initial focus was on collecting specimens of unusual pathology, mostly taken from victims of the American Civil War. By 1867, the museum had expanded to include medical, microsopical, anatomical, comparative anatomics, and other sections. The anatomical collection grew in part as a result of Circular No. 2 of 1867, which authorized military medical officers to collect cranial specimens from deceased Native Americans. Additionally, the AMM made an arrangement with the Smithsonian Institution, by which the Smithsonian transferred their collection of human remains in exchange for ethnological artifacts. AMM photographed and measured many of the specimens in its collection as part of the museum's anthropological research.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 6 Prints (albumen)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1877-1881
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: Photographs probably transferred by the Army Medical Museum.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.6B
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Prints
label: Type
content: Photographs
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Photographs of skulls, which were sent by Stuart Eldridge of Yokohama, Japan, to the Army Medical Museum in November 1876.  They include front and profile images of skulls of "Botan" warriors from the island of Formosa (Taiwan) and of an adult male from Manila, Philippines.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Army Medical Museum photographs of skulls can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 6A, Photo Lot 73-26C, Photo Lot 78-42, Photo Lot 83-41, and Photo Lot 97.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: The National Anthropological Archives holds records concerning skeletal material transferred to the Smithsonian Institution from the Army Medical Museum.