Ralph S. Solecki photographs of Anthropologists
odd: label: Local Call Number(s)
content: NAA Photo Lot 92-35
name: label: Creator
content: Solecki, Ralph S.
label: Names
content: Columbia University
label: Names
content: Bunzel, Ruth Leah, 1898-1990
label: Names
content: Coon, Carleton S. (Carleton Stevens), 1904-1981
label: Names
content: Ford, James Alfred, 1911-1968
label: Names
content: Kroeber, A. L. (Alfred Louis), 1876-1960
label: Names
content: Maranjian, George
label: Names
content: Roberts, Frank H. H. (Frank Harold Hanna), 1897-1966
label: Names
content: Saville, Marshall H. (Marshall Howard), 1867-1935
label: Names
content: Smith, Philip
label: Names
content: Solecki, Rose L.
label: Names
content: Stigler, Robert, 1921-
label: Names
content: Strong, William Duncan, 1899-1962
label: Names
content: Wedel, Waldo R. (Waldo Rudolph), 1908-1996
creator: label: Creator
content: Solecki, Ralph S.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ralph S. Solecki photographs of Anthropologists
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Stefan Ralph Solecki (1917-2019) was born on October 15th, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Newtown High School in 1936, he attended the City College of New York from 1936-1941 and received a B.S. in Geology in 1942. Solecki then served in the US Army and fought in World War II. He was discharged in 1945. In 1946, Solecki enrolled at Columbia University to study Anthropology, and he received a M.A. degree in 1950. During this time, Solecki worked for the River Basin Surveys at the Smithsonian Institution. He also accompanied a geological survey to northern Alaska in 1949 (and later in 1961). In 1951, he became an associate curator of archaeology at the Smithsonian Institution. In that same year, he traveled to Iraq to survey prehistoric sites and began Season I of excavation at Shanidar Cave. Solecki then received a Fulbright fellowship to return to Iraq in 1953-1954 to continue excavations at Shanidar Cave (Season II) and conduct research at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. In 1955, he married Rose M. Lilien (b. 1925). From 1956-1957, both Ralph and Rose Solecki travelled to Iraq, where Ralph conducted a third season of excavation at Shanidar Cave and Rose excavated the nearby Zawi Chemi Shanidar village site. In 1958, he received his PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University and accepted a faculty position within the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University. In 1960, the Soleckis returned for a fourth and final field season of excavation at Shanidar Cave and Zawi Chemi Shanidar, where they were accompanied by Smithsonian Institution curator of Physical Anthropology, T. Dale Stewart. Following the final two seasons of excavation at Shanidar Cave, Solecki led a number of Columbia University expeditions to various locations around the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. He also spent three seasons (1963-1964, 1981, 1987) surveying and excavating the site of Yabroud in Syria and three field seasons excavating the sites of Nahr Ibrahim (1969, 1970, 1973) and El Masloukh (1969) in Lebanon. Ralph and Rose Solecki both held positions at Columbia University until Ralph's retirement in 1988. In 1990, Ralph and Rose served as adjunct professors at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. In 2000, they left Texas A&M University and moved to South Orange, New Jersey. Ralph Solecki died in Livingston, New Jersey on March 20, 2019.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 24 Prints (silver gelatin)
label: Extent
content: 7 Negatives (photographic)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1922-circa 1980
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Donated by Ralph S. Solecki, 1992.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.92-35
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Prints
label: Type
content: Negatives (photographic)
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Some photographs are grouped together in a file, following original order. The collection is then arranged chronologically by date of the photograph or first photograph within a file.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was initially processed and described by Sarah Ganderup in 2012. 

In December 2022, Molly Kamph added photographs separated from the Ralph S. and Rose L. Solecki papers and updated the collection's finding aid including the collection-level descriptive notes and adding file-level descriptions.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Photographs include informal and formal portraits and candid images of anthropologists, including William Duncan Strong, Waldo Wedel, Carlyle Smith, Philip Smith, A.T. Hill, Rose Solecki, Robert Stigler, Ruth Bunzel, George Metcalf, and others. Some of the photographs were taken by archaeologist Ralph S. Solecki (1917-2019), but others are not. Handwritten labels on the back of most photographs indicate the photographer and the subjects.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The National Anthropological Archives holds the Ralph S. and Rose L. Solecki papers, Ruth Leah Bunzel papers, William Duncan Strong papers, the Waldo Wedel and Mildred Mott Wedel papers, the Carleton Stevens Coon papers, and several collections created by or featuring Frank H. H. Roberts, Alfred Kroeber, James A. Ford, and A.T. Hill.

The National Museum of the American Indian holds the Marshall Saville photograph collection.