Photographic Collections

Contemporary Ethnographic Images

One important aspect of the Arizona State Museum's mission is to document the lifestyles and cultures of the native peoples of the southwest. Photographic documentation is acquired through donations and by the past and ongoing work done by museum staff and anthropology department faculty.

From 1964 until her retirement in 1994, Helga Teiwes was the museum's staff photographer and produced an immense photographic archive documenting contemporary American Indian culture. She photographed extensively on the continuing use of traditional farming technologies and plants, and on the explosive growth in the market for American Indian crafts. Her work records harvesting of mesquite, cholla, and saguaro; traditional farming of corn at Hopi and of tepary beans among the Tohono O'odham; craftspeople and their art in basketry, katsina carving, pottery, and weaving.

Throughout his career at the museum in the 1940s and 1950s, E. B. (Ted) Sayles was, in addition to being the curator, also the museum's photographer. His work ranged from documenting pottery making in Mexico, to recording ranching scenes in Arizona, and photographing archaeological surveys and the University of Arizona archaeological field schools. One of his important projects was to document the pottery making of Ida Redbird, an outstanding Maricopa potter. He also provided photographs of the Yaqui village, Old Pasqua, to be used in their petition for land for relocation.

Other collections include work by: Emil Haury, archaeologist and director of the Arizona State Museum, who photographed views of both archaeological and ethnographic interest during his field trips and excavations around the state of Arizona; Donald Cordry, a photographer and collector of Mexican Indian masks and textiles; George Iacono, who photographed at the Yaqui village of Old Pascua.

Click on the following for enlarged views of these images: