Photographic Collections

Arizona State Museum's photographic collections contain more than 500,000 prints, negatives, and transparencies illustrating the prehistory and ethnology of the American Southwest and northern Mexico.

General Information

The collection's emphasis is on prehistoric and historic archaeology and ethnology of the Native peoples of the American Southwest and northern Mexico. Photographs document both fieldwork and artifacts.

Major collections document archaeological excavations at Ventana Cave, Snaketown, Naco, Lehner, Point of Pines, and Grasshopper.

A sampling of ethnographic materials includes: O'odham peoples; contemporary craft artists (Hopi, Apache, and O'odham); contemporary use of traditional farming methods; historic photos by Daniel Linderman of Piman people; historic photos by Grenville Goodwin of Western Apache.

Special collections cover diverse topics such as aesthetic photography in Arizona; mission architecture of Sonora, Mexico; Mexican Indian costumes; and ethnoarchaeology in the Philippines.

Contact Jannelle Weakly by email for research requests and photographic permissions. See the Fees & Permissions page for costs and to download the permission form.

Photographic Hazards

ASM has done research into the hazards related to collections of photographic negatives. Results have been compiled into the following paper -
Deteriorating Negatives: A Health Hazard in Collection Management

Note Regarding Appraisals

Ethical guidelines prevent us from providing appraisals. For businesses that can assist you with appraisals you may consult our List of Resources (PDF * ). The list does not indicate any preference or recommendation by the museum. It contains mainly businesses in the Tucson, AZ area. For other areas you may refer to the American Society of Appraisers to locate an appraiser or check with a local gallery that deals with American Indian art.

* PDF requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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