Photo Archive

The Photo Archive contains approximately 324,000 images (negatives, vintage prints, transparencies, lantern slides, glass-plate negatives, color slides, and digital photos) comprising one of the foremost collection of images of Native American culture and history from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The collection includes historic scenes, portraits, and field photographs of the museum's ethnographic and archaeological expeditions in North America, Mexico, and South and Central America. In addition, this collection also records contemporary Native American artists and events at NMAI and includes images of some of the objects in the collection.

George Gustav Heye collected not only material objects made by Native Americans but also photographs documenting the artifacts, dress, daily habits, and ceremonial life of the peoples he encountered. From his earliest endeavors, Heye considered photography to be an important tool for collecting information about the Native cultures that many Americans then thought were becoming obscured by new and more dominant political, social, and spiritual institutions. Over time the Photo Archive grew as Heye solicited and purchased images from photographers, anthropologists, and private collectors. He procured ever older images and greatly expanded the breadth of the collection both in terms of its time span and its geographic coverage—an immense range covering hundreds of Native nations across the Western Hemisphere.