Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
The glass plate negatives were a Gift of Joseph Imhof in 1930. It is still unclear how/when the photographic prints were acquired by the museum, but they were likely donated by Sarah Imhof along with a collection of Imhof artwork in the 1960s.
Arranged in two series by photographic type.
Joseph Adam Imhof was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1871. After teaching himself lithography, Imhof was hired by Currier and Ives and eventually earned enough money from this job to buy a bookstore. In 1891 he eventually quit his job and sold the bookstore to pursue a formal art education in Europe which led to four years in Paris, Brussels, Antwerp and Munich where he apprenticed with several artists.
During this time, Imhof met Buffalo Bill Cody and was invited to join him in Antwerp to sketch and paint members of his "Wild West Show". Returning to New York, Imhof rented a studio and began to study the Iroquois Indians in New York and Canada. He spent the next ten years painting and improving his lithography, photography and color printing innovations - which financed his early painting career. He also freelanced for Allen and Ginter, painting his Indian Head Series for insertion on cards in boxes of cigarettes.
In 1897 Joseph married Sarah "Sallie" Ann Elizabeth Russell. In 1905 they visited the Southwest for the first time to record the ceremonies of the Pueblo Indians. Joseph built a studio in Albuquerque in 1906, and the Imhofs spent the next few years traveling around the region, though they eventually returned to New York. In 1929, Joseph and Sarah moved to New Mexico permanently and built their new home and studio in Taos Pueblo. There, he would have Native Puebloan models to live in his home for a time before he painted them. He also collected many artifacts and had the first lithography press in Taos. His series of paintings called Kivas and Corn, which he gifted to the University of New Mexico, was his last and most famous work. The Koshare Indian Museum also houses one of the largest collections of his paintings. Joseph Imhof died in 1955 leaving the remainder of his collection in the care of his wife and daughter.
Bibliography:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Joseph A. Imhof photograph collection, image #, NMAI.AC.142; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Processed by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist, 2020.
A large collection of Joseph Imhof artwork and photographs can be found at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico.
The NMAI has a collection of Joseph Imhof artwork and lithographs donated by his wife Sarah in the 1960s.
For a bibliography on Joseph Imhof written by his wife, Sarah Imhof, see
The negatives have catalog numbers N19283-N19371. The prints have catalog numbers P19480-P19484, P19532-P19591.
The uncataloged photographic prints in Series 2 were originally housed with documents in
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's
N19283-N19310
The Frank A. Rinehart images include portraits of American Indian delegates at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition held in Omaha, Nebraska, between June 1 and October 31, 1898. During the Congress, Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) and/or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913) photographed more than 500 delegates and groups representing the estimated thirty-five tribes represented at the Exposition.
The majority of the negatives in this collection were made by photographing two Rinehart prints side by side on 8x10 glass plate negatives. It is unclear when these negatives were made, though they were presented to the Museum of the American Indian by Imhof in 1930. The Museum later made copy negatives (acetate) of the individual images rather than the full glass plate. In these cases, the negatives were given "A" and "B" numbers.
For additional Rinehart photographs in the NMAI Archives see:
N19311-N19320 (8x10), N19331, N19343-N19346 (5x7)
This subseries includes 17 glass plate negatives Joseph Imhof made in 1910 and 1912 in Albuquerque, Acoma Pueblo and Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico. The photographs made in Acoma are comprised of scenic views of the Pueblo whereas the photographs made in Isleta include portraits, a church service and a Christmas dance. There is also an image of the Imhofs home in Albuquerque, built in 1906.
N19321-N19330, N19332-N19342, N19347-N19366
These negatives were originally cataloged as "Blackfoot" but it has since been determined that the photographs were shot among the Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) community. Further research has led to the likelihood that the negatives were made by Orlando Scott (O. S.) Goff around 1894. Goff, a prominent Western photographer in his time traveled between Forts Custer and Assiniboine in Montana during the late 1880s and 1890s. In 1894 Goff accompanied the 10th Cavalry, stationed at Fort Custer, on a camping trip that took them through the Crow Reservation.
The photographs in this subseries include images of Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) encampments and horses along the Bighorn river; portraits of Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) men, women and children including Chiefs Medicine Crow, Plenty Coups and Bell Rock; and a series of photographs at a dance outdoors, possibly a 4th of July celebration. There is also a photograph of an officer of the 10th cavalry, likely shot at Fort Custer.
There are photographic prints in the
This series includes 89 cataloged and 38 uncatalogued photographic prints from 1900-1964. This includes Joseph Imhof photographs made in K'apovi (Santa Clara) Pueblo; images of Imhof's drawings, sketches and paintings; photographs in Taos of the Imhof home and studio; and portraits of Sarah and Joseph Imhof.
P19480-P19484
This subseries includes five photographic prints made by Imhof around 1920 at the K'apovi (Santa Clara) Pueblo. This includes K'apovi (Santa Clara) men and women performing a social dance, women performing the Basket Dance, a woman with a baby, a woman with a bowl and a profile portrait of a man. None of the people photographed have been identified.
P19532-P19570
This subseries includes photographic prints of drawings, sketches and paintings made by Joseph Imhof throughout his career as an artist. Many of the prints have prices listed on the back and may have been used to sell his artwork. Many of these are from Imhof's "Kivas and Corn" series.
P19572-P19591
This subseries includes snapshots and portraits made near the Imhof home in Toas Pueblo, New Mexico around 1930. These include images of ovens being plastered at the Imhof home, views of Joe "Sunhawk" Sandoval raising an Apache tipi for the sunset dance in front of the Imhof home, and portraits of Pedro and Pascal Abeita in Toas Pueblo.
This subseries of uncatalogued prints includes portraits of Joseph and his wife Sarah (Sallie) Imhof as well as snapshots of their home Toas Pueblo. The prints include studio portraits of Joseph and Sarah from 1900 as well as a tintype of Joseph Imhof from around that same time. Many of the later portraits were made in and around their home in Taos, New Mexico, with the bulk being from the 1940s. The last portait of Sarah was taken in 1964, after Joseph's death. There are also images of their home and studio being built in Toas in 1929 and then additional views of the home between 1929 and 1945.