Richard Lynch Garner photographs of Africans and apes
Photographs of primates, apparently those used by Garner in his experiments, as well as African people, villages, and plantlife. The collection also includes a few charts comparing the mental capabilities of apes and man, as well as maps of Africa; this suggests that the slides were used for lectures. The slides may have been used by Garner in his lecture entitled "The Land of Monkeys."
Richard Lynch Garner (1848-1920) was a scholar of primate behavior who studied how apes communicate through vocalizations. He began his research at zoos in 1884, employing sound recordings to study the monkeys' sounds and test reactions. In 1892, he began to study apes in their natural habitat in the Ogawai River region in central Africa. He spent time in an elevated cage among chimpanzees and gorillas as his studies expanded, observing general primate behavior as well as communication. While in Africa, he also observed the local people and wrote articles about their customs and circumstances.
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Photo lot 81-58A, Richard Lynch Garner photographs of African peoples and primates, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Digital surrogate is available online.
Lantern slides possibly sent by Garner to Ales Hrdlicka for a lecture. Transferred to the National Anthropological Archives by Ed Garner of the Department of Anthropology Processing Lab, 1981.
The National Anthropological Archives holds the Richard Lynch Garner papers, 1891-1941.
Garner sent African artifacts to the Department of Anthropology in accession 36893.
Artifacts from the Collins-Garner Congo Expedition can be found in the Department of Anthropology in accessions 62237 and 64018.
Notes and papers by Garner can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the John Peabody Harrington papers, the Ales Hrdlicka papers, and the records of the Department of Anthropology.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds the expedition history of the Collins-Garner Congo Expedition in the Interests of the Smithsonian Institution (SIA AH00413).