The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
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Received from American Film Institute (National Center for Film and Video Preservation) in 1991.
John B. Schuyler III films, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
COLUMBUS (1923), THE HOAX (1932), [HUNTING IN AFRICA] (194?), [A MATTER OF MURDER] (196?), [UNID. SCHUYLER: COFFEE DOCUMENTARY] (1926), and [UNID. SCHUYLER: DATING RITUALS IN NEW GUINEA] (196?) from the AFI/John B. Schuyler III Collection.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
The Hoax, 1932
Edited film produced by the Matto Grosso Expedition in Brazil. This semi-documentary film centers on the story of a young (Sao Lourenco) Bororo boy, who one day will be chief, preparing for and going on a hunt. He is shown speaking with an elder, making an arrow, feeding his pet otters, leaving for the hunt riding a tapir, and unsuccessfully hunting with bow and arrows. He comes across a dead iguana which he shoots in order to bring back to the village as game that he has killed. However, the village men know from the smell of the dead animal that a hoax has been played on them.
E. R. Fenimore Johnson, son of the founder of Victor Talking Machine (the world's leading sound recording company) and board member of the University of Pennsylvania Anthropological Museum, sponsored the expedition to Brazil with the express purpose of recording rapidly disappearing Amazonian cultures, including their languages. Through his Hollywood contacts, Johnson tapped technical talent and acquired the expensive and cumbersome sound recording equipment for the expedition.
HSFA 1991.7.1
Footage of unknown origin is of a safari. Footage includes: on board ship enroute to Africa; hunters posing with their trophies; skinning and butchering an elephant; and rhinoceros, wart hogs, water buffalos, lions, and ostriches.
HSFA 1991.7.2
Incomplete edited film structured around scenes of coastal (southern) and highland Papuan life. Film features examples of body painting and tattooing of a coastal Papuan girl, the manufacture of grass skirts, and a fictional "courtship" scene. Footage of the highland (probably of Mt. Hageners or Enga) includes a pig feast.
HSFA 1991.7.3
Edited film showing the growing and processing of coffee in Guatemala. Footage includes shots of the
HSFA 1991.7.4