Microfilm of the Benjamin Stone collection of photographs relating to Britain and Europe, North America, South America, Africa, India, and Australasia. Prints made from the microfilm are mostly of portraits of American Indians and some field images relating to delegations, expeditions, dwellings, and the 1862 Sioux uprising in Minnesota. They include depictions of Arikara, Ojibwa, Miniconjou, Dakota, Pawnee, Winnebago, Iroquois, Ute, Blackfoot, Cree, Crow, Salish, and Kootenai Indians. There are also images of buildings, boats, railroads, and scenic views from around America, as well as the Smithsonian Castle in 1871 and Chicago after the Great Fire. Photographers represented include B. H. Gurnsey, Joel Emmons Whitney, and Adrian J. Ebell.
Biographical note:
Sir John Benjamin Stone (1838-1914) was born in Birmingham, England, to a glass-making family, a profession he briefly joined before starting a career in politics. He was elected representative of the Duddlestone Ward on the Birmingham Town Coucil in 1869, later becoming Mayor Cutton (1886-1891) and Member of Parliament for East Birmingham (1895-1910). Inspired by a love of antiquities, Stone began to collect and then make photographs during his international travels to East Asia, the West Indies, Africa, and North and South America. As the first president of the Birmingham Photographic Society, he encouraged the development of the Warwickshire Photographic Survey. Additionally, he helped found the National Photographic Record Association, and served as President of the organization. During his time in Parliament, Stone made a photographic survey of the Palace of Westminster and was official photographer for the Coronation of King Geroge V in 1910. His photographs were published in the two-volume Sir Benjamin Stone's Pictures (1905).
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot R4859
Reproduction Note:
Prints made by the Smithsonian Institution, 1969.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Some photographs have been separated into Photo Lot 24. These photographs are represented by item-level descriptions linked to this record.
Contained in:
Numbered manuscripts 1850s-1980s (some earlier)
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Copy prints of photographs in the Birmingham Public Library in Birmngham, England. Reference copies can be made for Smithsonian Institution staff only. Permission to publish and other prints can be obtained from the Birmingham Public Library.