Photographs and correpospondence relating to a 1970s project that correlated William Blackmore photograph collections in the National Anthropological Archives and the Museum of Mankind (Ethnography Department, British Museum). The collection includes photocopies of photographs of American Indians (mostly portraits) collected by William Blackmore and currently held in the British Museum, as well as copy prints of select photographs.
William Henry Blackmore (1827-1878) was an English financier and philanthropist. He founded the Blackmore Museum in Salisbury, England, to house the Squier and Davis collection of archaeological material and commissioned and collected photographs of American Indians for display in the museum. To make these images available to the Smithsonian Institution, Blackmore hired photographer Antonio Zeno Schindler to copy many of the photographs in his collection before they were shipped to England. Many of Schindler's copy glass negatives are now held in the National Anthropological Archives and some are the only surviving versions of these images. The Blackmore Museum continued after its founder's death until 1902, when it was consolidated with the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. The collection was ultimately dispersed in the 1930s to various institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution and the British Museum.
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Copy prints of photographs held by the Museum of Mankind (Ethnography Department, British Museum) cannot be copied. Copies may be obtained from these repositories.
Photo lot R80-54, Museum of Mankind copies of William Blackmore photograph albums of American Indians, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Copy prints and photocopies made by the British Museum, circa 1976-1980.
Photocopies and copy prints obtained from J. C. H. King of the Ethnography Department, British Museum, circa 1977-1981.
Photocopies in Photo Lot 80-41 have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 80-54. These copies were also part of the project to exchange images and data about the Blackmore Collection.
Glass negatives relating to William Henry Blackmore, including copies of photographs collected by Blackmore, held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 31 and the BAE historical negatives.
Artifacts collected by Blackmore held in the Department of Anthropology collections in accessions 1846, 2371, and 1826.