DOCSLIB.ORG

William Louis Abbott in Madagascar

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
William Louis Abbott in Madagascar museum anthropology william louis abbott in ethnographic and biological collections from Central madagascar: and Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, until his Revisiting Archival and Museum return to the United States in 1910. In fact, during Resources of a Smithsonian Naturalist this early period of collecting in Madagascar, he from the 1890s developed an interest in similarities to the material culture of the “Malays,” which he later continued Paul Michael Taylor exploring during his much longer period of collecting smithsonian institution in the ethnological region then commonly called “Malaysia” (peninsular Malaya and island Southeast 3 abstract Asia). Abbott’s ethnographic collections from Madagas- This article introduces an important group of ethnographic, car form a little-known resource whose potential use- biological, and unpublished archival materials deriving from two expeditions to Madagascar by American natural- fulness is much greater when considered in light of ist William Louis Abbott (1860–1936). The first was from related archival material and biological collections. February to September 1890; the second from January to Those who may have examined his ethnographic or July 1895 when Abbott rushed back to Madagascar not only even archival material from Madagascar probably did to collect for the Smithsonian but also to join the Merina in not realize that many important keys to its interpreta- their unsuccessful war of independence against the tion can be found in Abbott’s recollections about encroaching French government. Beyond summarizing Madagascar written much later in his correspondence localities he visited and the current organization and use- from Kashmir or Southeast Asia and that other rele- fulness of his collections for research, the article attempts vant information can be found within records of bio- to interpret archival records to assess Abbott’s collecting logical specimens from the same Madagascar focus, biases, and purposes; his perspectives on contem- expeditions. Consequently, after first introducing Ab- poraneous events in Madagascar; and also the role that bott himself and examining his role as a “naturalist “naturalist” collectors such as Abbott played within the collector” and his relationship to museum anthropol- history of anthropology and of museums. Ethnographic ogy, this article attempts to present a broader view of information is embedded not only within the ethnographic the resources available from these expeditions, then collections but also within associated biological collections finally to present examples of how his ethnographic and archives. [Madagascar, William Louis Abbott, natural- collections can be used and reinterpreted today. At a ist, ethnographic collections, Smithsonian Institution] time when many lament the under-use of museum collections (e.g., Museums Association 2005), this article will hopefully provide one good example of This article introduces an important group of ethno- how our legacy of material culture collections in graphic, biological, and unpublished archival materi- museums may very profitably be reinterpreted using als deriving from two collecting expeditions to associated archival information and other data. Madagascar by American naturalist William Louis Abbott (1860–1936) (Figure 1).1 The first took place Naturalist Collector William Louis Abbott between February and September 1890. The second Abbott was by far the Smithsonian’s most prolific took place from January to July 1895, during France’s collector of Indonesian and Malaysian artifacts war with the Merina (or “Hova”), whom the antico- (Taylor 1995, 2002; Taylor and Hamilton 1993; also lonialist Abbott tried to join in their unsuccessful see examples in Taylor and Aragon 1991) and a major struggle for independence prior to France’s capture of collector of ethnographic and biological specimens the Merina kingdom’s capital at Antananarivo in Sep- (mostly mammals and birds) from every region in tember 1895 (and formal annexation of Madagascar which he traveled. Although the Asian Civilisations in 1896).2 Aware that he might be prosecuted for aid- Museum (2009) has recently published information ing the enemy, Abbott never returned to Madagascar on Malaysian and Indonesian collections Abbott but rather went on to assemble major Smithsonian donated to museums in Singapore, and Taylor Museum Anthropology, Vol. 38, Iss. 1, pp. 28–45 Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Museum Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Anthropological Association. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. DOI: 10.1111/muan.12071 william louis abbott in madagascar Adornment,” “Architectural Objects and Furniture,” “Culinary Utensils,” et cetera. Thirteen objects were illustrated by line drawings within the catalogue.4 Abbott never prepared such a catalogue for any of his biological collections nor for his ethnographic collec- tions from Madagascar or any other place. By the time of his death in 1936, Abbott had become the largest single donor of collections to what is now the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. An eccentric millionaire, this Philadelphia native, who received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (1884) but never profes- sionally practiced medicine, was as allergic to publicity as he was to “civilization.” This article draws from archival research on Abbott’s widely scattered field notes and correspondence (Taylor in press), primarily with his family and with Smithsonian officials, regard- ing his lifelong series of expeditions that began in East Africa and continued in Madagascar and other Indian Ocean islands and then Central Asia before he first arrived in Southeast Asia and began his longest period of explorations there. Abbott’s collecting was entirely Figure 1. William Louis Abbott (1860–1936). (National Anthropological self-financed because at the age of 26 he received a Archives, Smithsonian Institution.) large inheritance upon the death of his father in 1886. (2014a) recently described his expeditions to south- His papers are now found in the Smithsonian’s ern Thailand in the 1890s, Abbott’s earlier African National Anthropological Archives, and in the sepa- and Madagascar ethnographic interests and rate Smithsonian Archives, as well as in field records collections are much less well known, though as noted stored in the Smithsonian’s Mammals Library and its below, Mary Jo Arnoldi (2002) examined textiles he Botany Library; all four of these repositories contain collected in Madagascar (now at the Smithsonian), material relating to his Madagascar period. which is also referenced within the survey by Simon Information about Abbott’s collecting mission Peers (2004:148–149). Laurence Dorr’s (1997:3) com- and purposes must be inferred almost entirely from pilation of plant collectors in Madagascar and the his archival correspondence and his field notes Comoro Islands briefly notes that Abbott collected (which, in Madagascar, consisted only of object labels plants from other Indian Ocean islands and that he without any field journal), alongside the collections collected birds, mammals, and ethnographic material he assembled. Abbott himself seems to have consid- from Madagascar, but he states that he found no evi- ered that the role of the “naturalist” (collector or dence that Abbott collected any plants on his trips to expert in “natural history,” which in the United States Madagascar. Because Abbott’s zoological collections subsumes anthropology as well as geology and biol- received far greater attention and were extensively ogy) could be separate from that of the curator and published, he is best known as a zoological collector. scientist. Just as he expected biologists to “write up” Yet, the only publication Abbott himself authored the descriptions of species of birds and mammals he about his lifelong series of collecting expeditions is an sent back to the museum, he seems to have consid- article on his ethnographic collections from East ered it the task of ethnologists (not necessarily him- Africa (1887–89) within the Smithsonian’s annual self) to describe and study the ethnographic report for 1892. That publication (Abbott 1892) materials. In a 1911 essay “The American Hunter- included a catalogue of 247 objects collected, which Naturalist,” published in the popular magazine The were grouped into categories such as “Dress and Outlook, President Theodore Roosevelt praised the 29 william louis abbott in madagascar typical unpaid volunteer spirit of America’s explorers proposed that Abbott author this multipart narrative and naturalists. Yet, he compared Abbott unfavorably of his collections: with naturalist and author Charles Sheldon, upbraid- It occurred to me that possibly you might have ing Abbott for recording but not publishing his notes. an idea of producing such a narrative yourself, It is exasperating to think of certain of our natu- in which case you might not wish us to duplicate ralists and hunter-naturalists the value of whose it. As I understand Dr. Goode’s idea, it was to really extraordinary achievements will wholly or have a non technical account of your work. ... in part die with them unless they realize the Each separate expedition
Load more

Recommended publications
  • William Louis Abbott in Thailand: a Research Resource on Southern Thailand in the 1890S
    William Louis Abbott in Thailand: A Research Resource on Southern Thailand in the 1890s Paul Michael Taylor Abstract—This paper introduces an important group of archival materials deriving from two expeditions to southern Thailand by American naturalist William Louis Abbott (1860-1936) in the late 19th century. Beyond summarizing the localities he visited in Thailand, and the current organization and usefulness of his collections for research, the paper attempts to interpret Abbott’s unpublished archival correspondence to assess his collecting focus, biases, and purposes, as well as his perspectives on contemporaneous events in the Kingdom of Siam and in the surrounding, encroaching colonial regions. This also allows for an assessment of the important role these short expeditions to Thailand played in Abbott’s later, much longer period of collecting in insular Southeast Asia, as well as the role that he and other collectors of this period played within the history of anthropology and of museums. William Louis Abbott, naturalist collector This paper introduces an important group of ethnographic, biological, and unpublished archival materials deriving from two expeditions to southern Thailand by American naturalist William Louis Abbott (1860-1936), the first from February 1896 to April 1897 (interrupted by a brief trip to Penang in June 1896), and the second from late December 1898 to March 1899. The ethnographic collections from Thailand that he assembled form a little known resource within a Thai collection at the Smithsonian Institution that is best known as the repository of a very different kind of collection, the Royal Gifts from Thai monarchs which were turned over to the Smithsonian as the country’s national museum (McQuail 1997), some of which constituted the earliest catalogued objects within our current records of ethnographic materials.
    [Show full text]
  • Alexander Wetmore Papers, Circa 1848-1983 and Undated
    Alexander Wetmore Papers, circa 1848-1983 and undated Finding aid prepared by Smithsonian Institution Archives Smithsonian Institution Archives Washington, D.C. Contact us at [email protected] Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Historical Note.................................................................................................................. 1 Chronology....................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 6 Descriptive Entry.............................................................................................................. 7 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 8 Container Listing ........................................................................................................... 10 Series 1: General Correspondence, 1901-1977, and undated, with Related Materials from 1879................................................................................................ 10 Series 2: Organizational File, 1901-1977 and undated.......................................... 64 Series 3: Smithsonian Institution
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to the Aleš Hrdlička Papers, 1875-1966, (Bulk 1903-1943)
    Guide to the Aleš Hrdlička papers, 1875-1966, (bulk 1903-1943) Robert Lynn Montgomery and Jennifer Chien The Repatriation Office, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, provided funds for the arrangement and description of the Aleš Hrdlička papers 1996, 2006 National Anthropological Archives Museum Support Center 4210 Silver Hill Road Suitland 20746 [email protected] http://www.anthropology.si.edu/naa/ Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Scope and Contents........................................................................................................ 9 Biographical Note............................................................................................................. 3 Arrangement................................................................................................................... 10 Names and Subjects .................................................................................................... 11 Container Listing ........................................................................................................... 13 Series 1: Miscellaneous Personal Papers, 1875-1940.......................................... 13 Series 2: Early Personal Correspondence, 1883-1919.......................................... 15 Series 3: Correspondence, 1885-1953.................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • William Louis Abbott in Kashmir and Ladakh (1891-1915)
    Man In India, 97 (2) : 609-637 © Serials Publications WILLIAM LOUIS ABBOTT IN KASHMIR AND LADAKH (1891-1915) Expeditions of an American Naturalist Collector Paul Michael Taylor* Abstract: This paper introduces an important group of unpublished ethnographic and archival materials deriving from nine separate expeditions to Kashmir and Ladakh, between 1891 and 1915, by the American naturalist collector William Louis Abbott (1860-1935), and re-assesses the importance of this region to him and to Smithsonian scientists of the time. The ethnographic collections from Kashmir and Ladakh Abbott assembled, along with his archival correspondence and field notes, form a little-known and largely unpublished resource at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Abbott is better known for biological collections he brought to America’s “national museum,” the Smithsonian, from those expeditions; his ethnographic collections and fieldnotes remain largely unstudied. Abbott’s trips to Kashmir and Ladakh are unlike his visits to other regions, because he returned so many times after his first trip, over a 24-year time span interspersed by many expeditions elsewhere. His collecting goals changed over time. This paper assesses the role Abbott and other “naturalist” collectors of this period played within the history of anthropology and museums, and points to some of the many new 21st-century uses of “legacy” collections and records of the kind he assembled about this region. Keywords: Kashmir; Ladakh; William Louis Abbott; museum anthropology; naturalist. INTRODUCTION This paper surveys a little-known resource for the history of anthropology and museums, as well as for the cultural history of Kashmir and Ladakh – the unpublished ethnographic and archival collections of the Smithsonian Institution deriving from nine separate expeditions to the Himalayan regions of British colonial-era India, between 1891 and 1915, by the American naturalist collector William Louis Abbott (1860-1935).
    [Show full text]
  • 23 July 2009:Hunters and Collectors Gather for Exhibition on the Asian
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA RELEASE Hunters And Collectors Gather For Exhibition On The Asian Civilisations Museum’s Southeast Asia Collection [23 July 2009, SINGAPORE] A new exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum follows the exciting journeys of explorers and collectors who travelled in Southeast Asia from the late 19th century onwards. Featuring more than 300 artefacts, Hunters and Collectors: The Origins of the Southeast Asian Collection will be on show from 25 July to 21 September 2009. The exhibition also features a recreation of Singapore’s first museum – the Raffles Library & Museum – along with its cabinets of curiosities, rich ethnographic collection and natural history specimens. The collectors featured in the exhibition ‘hunted’ down the objects that later found their way into the collection of the Raffles Library & Museum. This material was later inherited by the Asian Civilisations Museum when the Singapore national collection was devolved to start new national museums in the early 1990s. “This exhibition gives us the opportunity to share a little bit of the history behind our collection and how artefacts come to be in museums’ collections. The collectors featured in this exhibition enriched our Southeast Asia collection and helped make it what it is today. At the same time, their journeys have helped to further our understanding of the indigenous people of this region,” said Dr Kenson Kwok, Director of the Asian Civilisations Museum. The Early Collectors The exhibition unfolds in two parts – the first focusing on collectors, their adventures, passions and personalities. Six independent collectors, ranging from explorers and naturalists to businessmen and missionaries, are highlighted.
    [Show full text]
  • Material Culture Studies and Ethnocultural Identity Bernard Sellato
    Material Culture Studies and Ethnocultural Identity Bernard Sellato To cite this version: Bernard Sellato. Material Culture Studies and Ethnocultural Identity. Victor T. King; Zawawi Ibrahim; Noor Hasharina Hassan. Borneo Studies in History, Society and Culture, 4, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Institute of Asian Studies; Springer Publications, pp.57-78, 2017, IAS Asia in Transition Series, 978-981-10-0671-5. 10.1007/978-981-10-0672-2_4. hal-02883153 HAL Id: hal-02883153 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02883153 Submitted on 28 Jun 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Material Culture Studies and Ethnocultural Identity Bernard Sellato Abstract: This chapter briefly exposes the changing focuses of material culture studies through the twentieth century. It then assesses the available corpus of studies in Borneo’s material culture, proposing a rough periodisation of the types of publications and describing in broad categories the material productions examined in these publications. Finally, using some examples, it endeavours to shed light on the linkages between material culture, on the one hand, and social relations and ethnocultural identity, on the other. Keywords: Borneo, Material culture, Ethnocultural identity, Social relations, Trade 1 Material Culture and Material Culture Studies Material culture, a phrase that appeared in the social sciences in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, remained centred on the artefact per se up to the latter part of the twentieth century, and material culture studies were then primarily descriptive.
    [Show full text]
  • Musical Instruments Collected by American Naturalist William Louis Abbott in 1896
    A Contribution to the Ethnomusicology of Trang: Musical Instruments Collected by American Naturalist William Louis Abbott in 1896 Paul Michael Taylor Smithsonian Institution Abstract—This article presents information about Trang in southern Thailand from two trips there by the American naturalist William Louis Abbott (1860-1936), focusing on twelve locally used musical instruments Abbott collected in 1896 on his first visit. A second visit (late December 1898 to March 1899) provided another opportunity for him to record observations. The musical instruments he collected are now in the Ethnology collection (Department of Anthropology) of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. The information presented here adds to the relatively few 19th-century primary sources for the ethnography and music of southern Thailand. This article also notes similarities between some of these village instruments and the elaborately decorated but structurally similar ones produced under royal patronage for the Thai court, represented within the same Smithsonian collection by other musical instruments received as royal gifts from Thai monarchs. Introduction This article follows up on the author’s prior studies about the large Smithsonian collections assembled by the American naturalist collector William Louis Abbott (1860- 1935) from many parts of the world. Taylor (2014) previously summarized the position of Abbott’s two Thailand visits within the context of his lifelong traveling and collecting for the Smithsonian; then separately described Abbott’s visits and collections carried out among the “Chow pah” (Maniq) Negritos of the Trang-Pattalung border highlands (Taylor 2015a). The present article’s primary purpose is simply to present the previously unpublished data Abbott himself collected about these twelve musical instruments, with photographs and other collection information.
    [Show full text]
  • Report on the Progress and Condition of the United States National Museum
    nniyaiuiniHfliuuiiiiuuill Q 11 U52Z i CRLSSI SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND CONDITION OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1936 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1937 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. -- -------- Price 15 cents United States National Museum, Under Direction of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C, October 15, 1936, Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith a report upon the present condition of the United States National Museum and upon the work accomplished in its various departments during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1936. Very respectfully, Alexander Wetmore, Assistant Secretary. Dr. Charles G. Abbot, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. n CONTENTS Page Operations for the year 1 Appropriations 1 Collections 3 Explorations and field work 4 Assistance from work relief agencies 7 Educational work 8 Visitors 9 Library 10 Publications 12 Photographic laboratory 13 Buildings and equipment 13 Meetings and special exhibits 14 Changes in organization and staff 15 Detailed reports on the collections 17 Department of anthropology 17 Department of biology 27 Department of geology 43 Department of arts and industries 53 Division of history 68 List of accessions 73 List of Museum publications 115 in : : REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND CONDITION OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1936 By Alexander Wetmore Assistant Becretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in charge of the National Museum OPERATIONS FOR THE YEAR APPROPRIATIONS The regular funds for the maintenance and operation of the United States National Museum for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1936, were provided by appropriations carried in the Executive and Independent Offices Act approved February 2, 1935.
    [Show full text]
  • APPENDIX B the AMERICAN WILD FOWLERS AB Rief History of The
    261 APPENDIX B THE AMERICAN WILD FOWLERS A Brief History of the Association 1927 - 1931 By John C* P h illip s In w riting a b rie f aooount of the American Wild Fowlers from its inception in 1927 to its close in 1931, it is probably true that the ideas which brought the organization into being are the most interesting portion of the story. For a long time before 1927 Mr. Charles Sheldon of Washington, through his intimate contact with sportsmen, government o ffic e rs and national conservation work generally, had foreseen an ultimate conflict between those who hoped to save pioneer hunting for each and every game license holder and those who realized the impossibility of any such dream, regardless of its merit. Among duck shooters, those who had no land and who saw rapidly diminishing opportunities used the shooting clubs as a target to vent th eir discontent upon. Demands became more insistent for radical reduction in bag limits and restrictions so drastic as to actually threaten the sport of w ild-fow ling and the maintenance of huge areas o f winter feeding grounds held in private ownership. The B iologioal Survey was hampered by laok of funds with which to investigate actual conditions in the fie ld . The Game Befuge b i l l was on the rocks owing to the fig h t 262 over the public shooting ground clause. The federal government was being asked to rush Into the details of game management which Mr. Sheldon always and rig h tly held was the duty of the individual states.
    [Show full text]
  • Heritage in Our Backyard: Rediscovering Our Community and Natural Heritage
    W102781 Size: W208 x H280mm Mac 9 S.Fong 1st JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010 Vol 3 Issue 03 ISSN: 1793-5261 EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER Heritage in Our Backyard: Rediscovering Our Community and Natural Heritage JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010 i W102781 Size: W208 x H280mm Mac 9 S.Fong 1st In Memory of Dr Goh Keng Swee: Architect of Singapore’s Economic, Defence and Education Policies page 92 ii JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010 W102781 Size: W208 x H280mm Mac 9 S.Fong 1st JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010 1 W102781 Size: W208 x H280mm Mac 9 S.Fong 1st JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010 contents 36. learning ThROUGh 62. pictures fROM ThE PAST: looking: ThE natural thE ORIGINALS Of 10. I WANT TO LIVE ANOThER hISTORY COLLECTION Of g.R. LAMBERT Visit the Singapore Philatelic Museum ThOUSAND YEARS thE fORMER RAffLES library AND MUSEUM to view scenes of old Singapore at the Using charcoal, oils and tobacco stains, turn of the 20th century by G.R. Lambert Clement Onn of the Asian Civilisations Indonesian artist Agus Suwage created & Co. Lucille Yap shares some highlights Museum surveys the birth and a series of portraits with a story as from this collection donated by Koh development of the former Raffles intriguing as that of their subjects. Seow Chuan. Library and Museum and the relevance 14. a SURE draw: of natural history collections from the Renaissance to this day when both 68. Sumatra: ISLE Of GOLD thE istana ART EVENT biodiversity and natural history The great civilisations of China, India, Come to the Istana this 8 August to museums faces an uncertain future.
    [Show full text]
  • William Louis Abbott Papers, 1887-1923
    William Louis Abbott Papers, 1887-1923 by Smithsonian Institution Archives Smithsonian Institution Archives Washington, D.C. Contact us at [email protected] http://siarchives.si.edu Table of Contents Collection Overview......................................................................................................... 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Historical Note.................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 2 Descriptive Entry.............................................................................................................. 2 Names and Subject Terms ............................................................................................. 2 Container Listing.............................................................................................................. 4 Series 1: LETTERS TO THE SMITHSONIAN AND RELATED MATERIAL, 1891-1917. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY..................................................... 4 Series 2: LETTERS TO THE ABBOTT FAMILY 1887-1923. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.............................................................................................. 5 Series 3: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1891-1923................................................................... 7 Series 4: MISCELLANEOUS...................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Baltistan in 1891 and 1912: the Smithsonian’S Baltistan Collections from Two Expeditions by American Naturalist William Louis Abbott
    South Asian Studies A Research Journal of South Asian Studies Vol. 33, No. 1, January – June 2018, pp.161 – 184 Baltistan in 1891 and 1912: The Smithsonian’s Baltistan Collections from two Expeditions by American Naturalist William Louis Abbott Paul Michael Taylor Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, U.S.A. Jared M. Koller Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, U.S.A. ABSTRACT This paper introduces an important group of unpublished ethnographic and archival materials deriving from two expeditions to Baltistan by the American naturalist collector William Louis Abbott (1860-1935), the first in 1891-1892 and the second in 1912. This paper presents Abbott as a particular type of scientific explorer (the American ―naturalist‖), re-assesses the importance of this region to him and to Smithsonian scientists of the time, and publishes here for the first time a record of his observations and ethnographic collections from Baltistan. These ethnographic collections, alongside archival correspondence and field notes, form a little-known resource at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. This paper also summarizes the role Abbott and other ―naturalist‖ collectors of this period played within the history of anthropology and museums, and points to some of the many new 21st-century uses of ―legacy‖ collections and records of the kind he assembled about this region. Present-day museums often reach out to the descendants of peoples among whom such historic collections were made, inviting them to help interpret and display these artifacts. Museum collections can also thereby help preserve endangered cultural traditions. Key Words: Baltistan, William Louis Abbott, Archival Materials, Smithsonian, Expeditions Introduction This paper introduces an important group of unpublished ethnographic and archival materials deriving from two expeditions to Baltistan by the American naturalist collector William Louis Abbott (1860-1935), the first in 1891-1892 and the second in 1912.
    [Show full text]