Two albumen prints of Indians and cliff dwellings in the Sierra Madre mountains, Chihuahua, Mexico circa 1890. According to the inscription on one print the cliff dwellings were still inhabited at this time, although these current inhabitants may not have been the original cliff dwellers who first constructed these archeological sites. Prints mounted to period album board approx. 14 x 18 inches with two scrap images on reverse. Together with a second album page showing two further views of the Sierra Madre mountains. Print size 6 x 7.75 inches (15x20 cm). Price: $350. ( Inventory# ic753b )
The two images are annotated on print "Tarahunnari woman grinding Indian corn" and "Side view of inhabited Cave near Mararachic Tarahummari." The images on second page include a view of mountain pass and a climbing view annotated "Descending on an Indian Trail in barranco de J. Carlo."
These photographs come from a group of travel albums descending from the family of Charles Goddard Weld (1857-1911) and believed to be Weld's personal albums, as several bear his bookplate. Weld, a Boston-area physician, traveled to the East at the end of the 19th century and had important connections to Asian art as well as to the photographer Edward Curtis. He donated a collection of over 100 original Curtis images to the Peabody Essex Museum of Salem, Massachusetts and an important collection of Asian art to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. These photographs were likely gathered by Weld during his travels in the East.
Below: Book plate from one of Weld's travel albums:
