Robert Thomas Hill photograph collection relating to the Indigenous peoples of Central America
odd: label: Local Call Number(s)
content: NAA Photo Lot 170
name: label: Collector
content: Hill, Robert Thomas, 1858-1941
place: label: Place
content: Colombia
label: Place
content: Costa Rica
label: Place
content: Guatemala
label: Place
content: Panama
creator: label: Collector
content: Hill, Robert Thomas, 1858-1941
culture: label: Culture
content: Indians of Central America
label: Culture
content: Talamanca
label: Culture
content: Guatuso
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Robert Thomas Hill (1858-1941) was a geologist best known for his work in Texas for the United States Geological Survey (USGS).  Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Hill was orphaned during the Civil War and raised by his grandmother.  While employed at his brother's newspaper in Comanche, Texas, he developed an interest in collecting rocks and fossils.  In 1887, he earned a BS in geology from Cornell University.  Hill worked for the USGS from 1885 to 1903 and is credited with discovering the Comanche Series of the Lower Cretaceous strata.  Additionally, he conducted some preliminary studies in Central America and the West Indies between 1894 and 1902, collecting for the Bureau of American Ethnology and the United States National Museum.  Hill resigned from the USGS in 1903 to pursue personal interests in geology and Texas history.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Letter
label: Extent
content: 29 Albumen prints (mounted)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1895
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: Donated to the Bureau of American Ethnology, probably by R. T. Hill, circa 1903.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.170
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Letters
label: Type
content: Albumen prints
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Correspondence
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence
otherfindaid: label: Other Finding Aids note
content: Folder list available in repository.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: The bulk of the collection consists of photographs documenting Indigenous peoples of Central America, including Cheripo, Guatuso, Talamanca, and Guatemala people.  Additional photographs document stone artifacts found at grave sites, Panamanian women, people in Bogata, and a museum in San Jose, Costa Rica. The photographs may have been collected by Robert Thomas Hill from H. N. Rudd, a postcard publisher in Costa Rica.  A letter from Rudd to Hill is also in the collection.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: This collection has been relocated from Photo Lot 123.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Correspondence from Hill is held in the National Anthropological Archives in records of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Artifacts collected by Hill are held in the Department of Anthropology collections in accessions 035646, 053949, 028088, and 034831.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds a field notebook from Hill (1895, 1924) in SIA ACC. 12-126. Southern Methodist University, DeGolyer Library, and Autry Center's Braun Research Library, hold collections of Hill's papers.