Wells Moses Sawyer paintings of masks and tablets excavated at Key Marco, Florida
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: NAA MS 241,241-241,260

USNM Accession 48,531
name: label: Artist
content: Sawyer, Wells, 1863-1960
place: label: Place
content: North America
label: Place
content: Florida
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Transferred to the United States National Museum collection from the Bureau of American Ethnology through W. H. Holmes, Washington, D.C., April 1, 1908.

Transferred to Smithsonian Office of Anthropology (SOA) Archives (now the National Anthropological Archives) from the North American Division, SOA, April 19, 1967.
creator: label: Artist
content: Sawyer, Wells, 1863-1960
culture: label: Culture
content: Calusa (archaeological)
label: Culture
content: Paleoindian Tradition (archaeological culture)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Wells Moses Sawyer paintings of masks and tablets excavated at Key Marco, Florida
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Wells Moses Sawyer (1863-1960) was an American painter, illustrator, and photographer.  Sawyer received a law degree in 1882, but pursued a career in art after studying at the Art Institute of Chicago.  He was an illustrator for the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Tribune before becoming a draftsman for the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington D.C. He served as the artist for the Pepper-Hearst Expedition to Key Marco, Florida, 1895-1897.  The expedition, led by Frank Hamilton Cushing (1857-1900), uncovered over 1000 wooden artifacts created by Southwest Florida's early Calusa people or their Muspa ancestors.  As artist, Sawyer documented these findings in drawings, paintings, photographs, and maps.  He resigned from his position with the USGS in 1898 to oversee the design and inspection of furnishings for government buildings. Sawyer's artistic works were well exhibited during his lifetime, first showing in the early 1890s.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 20 Paintings (visual works) (watercolor and colored pencil, approximately 9 x 13 inches)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1896
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS241241
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Paintings (visual works)
label: Type
content: Watercolors
label: Type
content: Works of art
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The paintings are arranged by the original USNM Catalog number.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Watercolors
label: Genre/Form
content: Works of art
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of twenty-one (21) watercolor paintings of wooden masks and other objects excavated at Key Marco and Tarpon Springs, Florida.  The paintings are signed with the monogram W. M. S. Two of the paintings have pencil drawings of abstract and geometric designs on the reverse.

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.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The National Anthropological Archives holds additional material created by Sawyer for the Pepper-Hearst/Key Marco expedition in MS 1844-b List of manuscript material left by Frank Hamilton Cushing; MS 1849-b Maps of F. H. Cushingʹs excavation at Florida sites; MS 3381 Drawings of crania from Cushingʹs Florida Collection;  Frank Hamilton Cushing photograph collection relating to excavations on the west coast of Florida, 1895-1896 (Photo Lot 2).

The Archives of American Art holds the Wells Sawyer papers.

The University of Florida holds the Wells M. Sawyer Collection.