76 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
Photographic collections—Anthropologists, historians, publishers, 
and interested members of the public continued in increasing numbers 
to draw upon the extensive photographic collections of the Bureau as 
a source of documentation and illustration. The year’s total of 534 
orders and written and personal inquiries concerning photographs 
represents a 20-percent increase over the previous year’s figure of 
444, and is almost double the 1956 total of 294. The 1,231 prints 
distributed is also an appreciable increase over the 1,019 of last year 
and 978 in 1956. The preparation and distribution, during the past 
2 years, of descriptive lists of specific portions of the photographic 
collections have undoubtedly made more searchers aware of the photo- 
graphic resources of the Bureau, the result being an increased num- 
ber of purchase requests. Lists describing photographs relating to 
86 tribes or subjects are now available; 21 such lists were prepared 
during the past year. 
There were 22 new photographic collections received during the 
year, some of which are described below: 
A very important collection relating to North American Indians was 
received by transfer from the Library of Congress. It consists of some 
7,200 photographs pertaining to over 120 tribal units of the United 
States, Alaska, and Canada; the Southwest, the Northwest Coast, the 
Plains, and the Great Lakes areas are particularly well covered. The 
photographs were made by professional photographers from approx- 
imately 1890 to 1920, and are of excellent photographic quality. Over 
two-thirds of them are outdoor views; the remainder are portraits, 
most of which are accompanied by the name of the individual. At 
year’s end only a preliminary examination of the collection had been 
made. The arrangement and cataloging of the photographs by tribe 
and area will be a major project for the coming year. 
An album of 60 photographs relating to the several Indian tribes re- 
siding on the Muckleshoot Reservation, Wash., in the period 1902-36 
was received as a transfer from the Indian Claims Commission, 
through the courtesy of Arthur C. Ballard, who made and collected 
the photographs. The collection, with detailed captions, includes 
portraits of Indian informants and views of native activities and 
equipment such as fishing gear, firemaking equipment, ceremonial ob- 
jects, houses, and tools. 
A collection of about 40 photographs of Plains Indians made by 
commercial photographers of the late 19th century was received as a 
gift from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 
through John Witthoft, chief curator. Another group of 26 such 
photographs, including a number of Indian portraits by D. F. Barry, 
was lent for copying through the courtesy of Mr. Witthoft. 
