Biographical/Historical note
Local Call Number(s)
Location of Other Archival Materials
Ruth Leah Bunzel photographs of Quiche peoples of Guatemala, 1930-1932
NAA.PhotoLot.2007-10
Bunzel, Ruth Leah, 1898-1990
silver gelatin
110 Negatives
Photographs probably made by Ruth Bunzel during her fieldwork among the Quiche in Chichicastenango, Guatemala, in 1930-32. Images include Quiche individuals and families, a church (probably the Church of Santo Tomás), a procession and ceremony, and landscapes.
Ruth Leah Bunzel (1898-1990) started a career in anthropology after acquiring a secretarial job with Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1922. With support from Boas, Bunzel regularly traveled to the Southwest to study Zuni potters from 1924-1929. Studying under Boaz, she earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1929. Her papers on Zuni ceremonialism as well as creation myths, kachinas, and poetry were published in the 47th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. From 1930 to 1932 she studied the Highland Mayan village of Chichicastenango and later published Chichicastenango, A Guatemalan Village (1952). She also conducted fieldwork in the village of Chamula in Chiapas, Mexico, and published a comparative study of the two villages entitled "The Role of Alcoholism in Two Central American Communities" (1940).
Sarah Ganderup
Custodial History note
Photographs found in Bunzel's home on Perry Street in Greenwich Village, NY, after her death. Donated by Arnold Finkelstein, 2007.
Conditions Governing Access note
Nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require advanced notice for viewing.
Conditions Governing Use note
Preferred Citation note
Photo Lot 2007-10, Ruth Leah Bunzel photographs of Quiche peoples of Guatemala, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The National Anthropological Archives holds the Ruth Lean Bunzel papers and drawings of Kachinas collected by Bunzel (MS 4609).
Correspondence between Bunzel and the BAE held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4846 and records of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
A photograph of Bunzel held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 92-35.
A video oral history of Bunzel, created as part of the "History of Anthropology Series" produced by the University of Florida's Department of Anthropology, is held in the Human Studies Film Archive in HSFA 89.10.8.
NAA Photo Lot 2007-10
Addl. KW Subj
Quiché Maya (Quiche) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Guatemala Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid