Nancy G. Sayles Photograph Archive

Collection

Identifier: SC-032

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Nancy G. Sayles Photograph Archive consists of 258 color photographs taken by Mrs. Sayles in Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Morocco, Panama and Peru during the period 1975-1980. The ethnographic photographs primarily depict the wear and use of traditional textiles in their native context, though the collection includes complementary photographs of the landscape, architecture and general culture and activities in the documented areas.

Dates

1975 - 1980

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for public research. Researchers must make an appointment to view this collection.

Extent

2.00 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Arrangement

The collection has been arranged into five series based on geographic location. The five series are: Ecuador, Guatemala, Morocco, Peru, and Other which encompasses the small number of photographs of Mexico and Panama included in the collection. Within the Ecuador, Morocco, Peru and Other series, the photographs are further arranged alphabetically by location within each country.

The Guatemala series was cataloged by Carol Robbins for use in various exhibitions and publications of the museum's Guatemalan textile collection which included numbering the photographs; this series is arranged numerically by these identification numbers. This number series has gaps, though what this means is unknown.

Sayles labeled / titled each photograph to differing degrees of specificity, so in cases with more general labels the archivist has included additional description in brackets in the item title. Some normalization of spellings was also done in the description to facilitate searching.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection of photographs was acquired for the museum by Curator Carol Robbins in 1982 to provide contextual information for the museum's textile collection. The photographs were housed in the Textile Study Room / Textile Storage Room until 2010 when collections staff tranferred the photographs to archives when clearing out the storage space after Robbins' retirement.