The National Anthropological Archives (NAA) collects and preserves historical and contemporary anthropological materials that document the world's cultures and the history of anthropology, including manuscripts, fieldnotes, correspondence, photographs, maps, sound recordings, film and video created by Smithsonian anthropologists and other preeminent scholars; records of anthropological organizations; 400,000 photographs, including some of the earliest images of indigenous people worldwide; and 20,000 works of native art, mainly North American, Asian, and Oceanic.
Browse the topics and images below to explore some of the NAA's digitized collections. Please note that these have been organized by our catalog records that often contain historical information, names, and terminology that may be incomplete, outdated, or culturally insensitive. Contact the NAA at naa@si.edu to learn more about researching anthropological collections and other cultural materials at the NAA, or to tell us how to improve and better describe these collections. The NAA values and welcomes input, feedback, and collaborations from and with source communities represented in its holdings. Please note that this sampling does not reflect all NAA materials. In addition, some NAA collections related to the history and culture of Native and Indigenous peoples are not digitized and accessible online due to cultural sensitivity issues. Please contact the NAA at naa@si.edu for questions regarding access and use, or to learn more about the NAA's and the Smithsonian's policies related to sensitive content.