Contents and Arrangement Expanded View

Collection Overview

Creator:
Princeton University. Library. Special Collections
Collector:
Princeton University. Library. Special Collections
Title:
Princeton University Library Collection of Frederick Monsen Photographs
Repository:
Manuscripts Division
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/t435gg747
Dates:
circa 1890-1910
Size:
2 boxes and 4.0 linear feet
Storage Note:
Firestone Library (scamss): Boxes P-000079 to P-000080
Language:
English

Abstract

This is an open collection of photographs by Norwegian-born photographer, essayist, and lecturer Frederick I. Monsen (1865-1929). Photographs primarily depict Hopi and Navajo people, structures, and landscapes in New Mexico and Arizona.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Description:

This is an open collection of photographs by Norwegian-born photographer, essayist, and lecturer Frederick I. Monsen (1865-1929). Born in Bergen, Norway, Monsen emigrated to Utah Territory with his parents in 1868. Monsen learned photography as a teenager, when he and his father worked as a photographic team for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. He began photographing Indians while working for the U.S. Geological Survey in the late 1880s; and took a specific interest in the Native American communities of the Southwest, which he continued to document from the mid-1880s until his death in Pasadena in 1929.

The photographs in this collection primarily depict Hopi and Navajo people, structures, and landscapes in New Mexico and Arizona. Represented to a lesser extent are Paiute, Apache, Pueblo, and Mojave Indians. There are several views of Indian children, shown with and without clothes, in their daily activities. It consists of a portfolio, entitled "The Frederick Monsen Ethnogoraphic Indian Photographs," dating from circa 1890 to 1910, with twenty-five sepia-toned silver prints (approximately 16″ x 20″ in size) as well as 4 loose silver prints of varying size, dating circa 1905 to 1910.

Arrangement

Photographs are arranged by accession.

Collection History

Acquisition:

The collection adheres to a Departmental practice of combining into one collection material of various accessions relating to a particular person, family, or subject.

Purchases include: AM 2014-104 and AM 2015-6.

Appraisal

No materials were separated during 2017 processing.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Faith Charlton in March 2017. Finding aid written by Faith Charlton in March 2017.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.

Credit this material:

Princeton University Library Collection of Frederick Monsen Photographs; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/t435gg747
Location:
Firestone Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
(609) 258-3184
Storage Note:
Firestone Library (scamss): Boxes P-000079 to P-000080