Edward William Nelson photograph collection relating to Indigenous peoples of Mexico
odd: label: Local Call Number(s)
content: NAA Photo Lot 171
name: label: Creator
content: Nelson, Edward William, 1855-1934
topic: label: Topic
content: Coffee plantations
creator: label: Creator
content: Nelson, Edward William, 1855-1934
culture: label: Culture
content: Indians of Mexico
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Edward William Nelson (1855-1934) was an explorer and naturalist for the United States government known for his studies in Alaska, California and Mexico.  Born near Manchester, New Hampshire, Nelson grew up with an ardent interest in birds and the outdoors.  With the help of Henry W. Henshaw and Smithsonian Assistant Secretary Spencer F. Baird, he gained a post as a weather observer with the Signal Corps in 1877.  Nelson was stationed in St. Michael, Alaska, for the next four years, during which time he collected ethnological data and natural history collections for the Smithsonian Institution.  In 1890, Nelson joined the Bureau of Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture as a Special Field Agent on the Death Valley Expedition of Clinton Hart Merriam.  After this Expedition disbanded in 1891, Nelson continued to work in California under orders from the Bureau and met his future expedition partner Edward Alphonso Goldman.  A three month field survey in Mexico in 1892 evolved into fourteen years of research by the pair, during which they made extensive investigations of Mexican mammalogy, ornithology, and ethnology.  Following these studies, Nelson moved into an administrative role in the Bureau, holding appointments as Chief Field Naturalist, 1907-1912; Assistant in Charge of Biological Investigations, 1913-1914; Assistant Chief, 1914-1916; Chief, 1916-1927; and Senior Biologist, 1927-1929.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 21 Prints (silver gelatin and possibly platinum)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1892-1906
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.171
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
otherfindaid: label: Other Finding Aids note
content: Folder list available in repository.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Studio portraits of Indigenous people of Mexico and one image of a coffee plantation.  The photographs were probably collected by Edward William Nelson during his field studies in Mexico with Edward Alphonso Goldman, 1892-1906.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: This collection has been relocated from Photo Lot 123.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Additional photographs by Nelson are held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 89-8, Photo Lot 133, Photo Lot 24, and the BAE historical negatives.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds the Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection, circa 1873-1946 (SIA RU007364) and a registry to their additional field notes.