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Captured by professional photographer and filmmaker Ann Bromberg in New Mexico in 1996, this is one of her five evocative images in the NMAI collection depicting the life of To’hajiilee sheepherder Dorothea Begay (Diné [Navajo]). Ann Bromberg Photograph Collection. NMAI-088_001_000_001


and-white silver gelatin paper prints. Images such as these are created when exposed onto a suspension of silver salts in gelatin coated onto a surface such as glass, plastic, film or paper. The use of baryta-coated paper to produce glossy prints, however, didn’t become popular until the 1920s and 1930s. The NMAI collection includes some unique prints,


such as American Indian leaders


meeting with U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. While experiments with color photogra-


phy began as early as the 1850s, it didn’t really take off until the Eastman Kodak Company modernized color film in 1935. While cameras and developing processes improved over the following decades, photography leaped for- ward with the advent of digital images in the late 1990s. Digitization has nearly eliminated the need for camera film, and photographers now capture thousands of images anytime, anywhere. Today, the NMAI archives serve not only as a repository of historical images and objects from the past centuries but the works of contemporary Indigenous artists, activists and organizations. In addition to serving as a research and teaching resource, the NMAI’s online ar-


chives provide an entrée into the museum’s collections at its Cultural Resources Center. While these collections help produce the scholarship for museum and online exhibi- tions, publications, articles and educational programming, even more importantly, they help connect Indigenous communities to the history of their peoples. Scheduled visits to the center offer the opportunity for tribal community members to view and study ob- jects and photographs as well as their records. NMAI archives staff, led by archivist Emily


Moazami, conduct extensive research to de- termine the circumstances under which these images were taken and any sensitive cultural content that would prohibit the public from viewing them. In addition, as stereotypical views of American Indians are perpetuated when historic photographs only describe their subjects as an American Indian or a person of a certain tribe, NMAI staff work with commu- nity members to “return people’s individuality to them by identifying them in photos,” says Pahn. “A photograph takes something abstract like a memory of someone you never got to meet and makes that person more real. How powerful and moving it is for them to see images of their ancestors.”


On February 25, the Smithsonian launched


Open Access (si.edu/openaccess), an addition- al online database that offers almost 3 million images that are available to download, share and use. These 2D and 3D digital files are from all of the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine re- search centers, libraries, archives and the Na- tional Zoo. Open Access items have a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation, which means they are in the public domain and free of copyright restrictions. NMAI curatorial, archival and collections staff carefully selected the 180 images of objects from NMAI’s collec- tions available through this database, as many of NMAI’s items have cultural sensitivities that would prevent them from being available for public viewing or use. As research continues to determine the


origins of NMAI’s objects and photographs, more of the collection will become available through Smithsonian’s online databases. Until then, NMAI’s robust online resources serve anyone interested in learning more about Indigenous communities across the Western Hemisphere and will only prove more valuable as time goes by. X


Michelle Anne Delaney is NMAI’s assistant director for History and Culture and a historian of photography.


SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 39


PHOTO BY ANN BROMBERG


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