Lot 408: Jack Hillers Photographs of Zuni Pueblo, Various Views

Jack Hillers Photographs of Zuni Pueblo, Various ViewsJohn K. Hillers (1843-1925). Zuni and Hopi pueblo photographs, 1879-1881. Lot of 18 albumen photographs of Zuni and one of the Hopi town of Walpi on first Mesa. All 10 x 14 in., mounted on cream colored 16 x 20 in. stock with printed Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Ethnology logo. Each print with an applied paper label verso with Compliments of J.W. Powell

In 1879, when Hillers took most of these photographs, he was a newly minted employee of the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology, headed by John Wesley Powell. Powell, of course, had given Hiller's his first break seven years earlier, when government survey photographer E.O. Beaman had left the Powell survey party midway down the Colorado River. While initially hired as an oarsman, Hillers had shown an interest in photography, and acted as Beaman's assistant. After Beaman left, Powell appointed Hillers the survey photographer. Thus began a near 30 year association with Powell and the U.S. Government, ending in 1900 when Hillers retired.

These images were taken during the summers of 1879 and 1881 when Hillers accompanied anthropologist James Stevenson on a collecting trip to the Southwest. Stevenson's activities were focused on the New Mexico Pueblo of Zuni, and to a lesser degree the Hopi mesa-top villages in Arizona. The images here provide a comprehensive view of the multi-storied Pueblo town of Zuni. Hillers positioned his camera in multiple places within the town, invariably on a roof to gain the best perspective. While most of the images are devoid of human subjects, signs of their everyday lives are seen in great detail in many of the photographs: corn, pumpkins and chilies dry on rooftops and poles; piles of ceramic shards lie waiting to be ground for tempering for new pots; a hide is staked out for drying; rooftop hornos with their firewood lie waiting; large painted water jars and dough bowls are everywhere. In addition to the rooftop views there are also several images taken from various ground level vantage points. A number of these are illustrated in Fowler (1989) Myself in the Water: The Western Photographs of John K. Hillers.

Most prints with strong, rich tonality, with avg. of about "8" on a range of "10". Several with marginal fading. Minor surface dirt on some of the mounts, one with waterstaining.