NMAI.AC.141 Representative Imgage
Arranged by catalog number.
Ferdinand Anthony Stahl, 1874-1950, was a Seventh-day Adventist missionary to South America. Along with his wife Ana, Stahl converted to Seventh-day Adventism in 1902 and trained as a nurse at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. In 1909 the Stahls, along with their children, were sent as missionaries to La Paz, Bolivia by the General Conference in order to evangelize the indigenous communities in the area. In 1911, they moved to the Peru side of Lake Titicaca, establishing schools among the Aymara and Quechua communities. In 1920 the Stahls moved from Lake Titicaca to the headwaters of the Amazon in Iquitos, Peru where they established the Metraro Mission Station and launched mission boats downriver. They returned to the United States in 1939.
See "Ferdinand Stahl, Missionary to Peru" Adventist Heritage - Vol. 12, No. 2, summer 1988 by Robert G. Wearner for more information.
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Gift of Ferdinand A. Stahl in 1927 (N14915-N14917) and part of a 1929 purchase along with ethnographic objects (P07956-P07965). It is unclear when the remainder of the prints (P08614-P08619, P09483-P09484) were acquired by the Museum.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Ferdinand Anthony Stahl photographs from Peruvian Amazon, image #, NMAI.AC.141; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Processed by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist, 2020.
The majority of the photographs in this collection include portraits of indigenous community members in the Peruvian Amazon taken by Ferdinand Anthony Stahl while on Mission for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Some of the photographs include images of Ferdinand Stahl and his wife Ana posing with community members and it is unclear who the photographer was for these images. The photographs were shot in 1925 and 1928 in the Ucayali (Atalaya Province), Junin (Chanchamayo Province) and Loreto regions in Peru. The bulk of the photographs were taken among the Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) and includes images of women weaving; group portraits along the Río Perené with canoes; as well as posed group portraits in front of the Stahl's Mission. There are also photographs of Yagua (Tahua) tribal members posed in traditional dress.
Negatives include N14915-N14917. Prints include P07956-P07965, P08614-P08619, P09483-P09484. Copy negatives include N36121-N36124, N36262-N36263. The copy negatives were created by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (NMAI's predecessor museum).
See Box 307, Folder 7 in the
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) woman weaving
Portrait of an Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) woman seated in a thatched shelter weaving with a backstrap loom. She is sitting on a woven mat and is surrounded by other members of her community. The photograph was taken either in Río Urubamba and Río Tambo junction (Río Ucayali), Atalaya Province or by the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru. Same image as P07960.
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) woman weaving
Portrait of an Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) woman weaving with a backstrap loom. She is seated on the ground outside a thatched roof structure in Río Urubamba and Río Tambo junction (Río Ucayali), Atalaya Province, Peru. Likely the same woman in N14917.
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) woman weaving
Portrait from behind of an Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) woman weaving with a backstrap loom. She is seated on the ground outside in Río Urubamba and Río Tambo junction (Río Ucayali), Atalaya Province, Peru. Likely the same woman in N14916.
Outdoor group portrait of Yagua (Yahua) men, women and children in Río Napo, Loreto Region, Peru. Ferdinand A. Stahl stands in the center of the group. Same image as P07959.
Outdoor group portrait of Yagua (Yahua) men, women and children in Río Napo, Loreto Region, Peru. Same image as P07958.
Outdoor group portrait of Yagua (Yahua) men, women and children in Río Napo, Loreto Region, Peru. Same image as P07957.
Outdoor group portrait of Yagua (Yahua) men, women and children in Río Napo, Loreto Region, Peru. Ferdinand A. Stahl stands in the center of the group. Same image as P07956.
Copy Negative: N36121
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) woman weaving
Portrait of an Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) woman seated in a thatched shelter weaving with a backstrap loom. She is sitting on a woven mat and is surrounded by other members of her community. The photograph was taken either in Río Urubamba and Río Tambo junction (Río Ucayali), Atalaya Province or by the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru. Same image as N14915.
Copy Negative: N36122
Outdoor portrait of Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group standing and sitting by a canoe along the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru. Ferdinand and Ana Stahl stand to the left with a young Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) girl, possibly Chave, or Helen, who was adopted by the Stahls. Same image as P07962.
Copy Negative: N36123
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group with canoe
Outdoor portrait of Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group standing and sitting by a canoe along the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru. Ferdinand and Ana Stahl stand to the left with a young Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) girl, possibly Chave, or Helen, who was adopted by the Stahls. Same image as P07961.
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group portrait
Outdoor portrait of large Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group standing and sitting in front of wooden structure near the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru. Ferdinand and Ana Stahl stand center. A young man, possibly their son Wallace, stands beside the Stahls.
Copy Negative: N36124
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group portrait
Outdoor portrait of an Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group standing in front of thatched structure near the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru. Ferdinand Stahl stands to the left.
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group portrait
Outdoor portrait of a large Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group standing and sitting in front of a large wooden structure near the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru. Ferdinand Stahl stands to the left.
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group with Ferdinand and Ana Stahl
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) men and women standing next to Ferdinand and Ana Stahl and pointing to a large mountain (unseen) along the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru. They are telling the Stahls of a tribe of "Watcharingas who wanted to know about the true God [caption]."
Ferdinand Stahl greeting Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group
Ferdinand Stahl greeting an Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group near the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru.
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) man
Outdoor portrait of an Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) man wearing a tradtional headdress and a shoulder sash made from black and white seeds near the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru.
Amahuaca man and woman
Portrait of an Amahuaca man and woman standing outdoors near the Wahamba River in the Ucayali Region, Peru.
Copy Negative: N36262
Ferdinand Stahl with Southwestern Amazonian group
Ferdinand Stahl standing with a Southwestern Amazonian group in front of a large wooden structure near the Ucayali River, Peru.
Copy Negative: N36263
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group
Outdoor portrait of an Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) group standing in from of the mission on the Río Perené in La Merced, Chanchamayo Province, Peru.
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) women weaving.
Portrait of Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) women and children weaving with a backstrap loom. They are seated on the ground outside Río Urubamba and Río Tambo junction (Río Ucayali), Atalaya Province, Peru.
Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) family
Group portrait of an Asháninka (Campa/Chuncha) family in the Río Urubamba and Río Tambo junction (Río Ucayali), Atalaya Province, Peru. They all wear necklaces made of black seeds.