Marshall Family Archives: IMLS Grant
This extensive collection of photographic and written records, created by the Laurence K. and Lorna J. Marshall family, documents how Indigenous peoples of the Kalahari Desert region–primarily the Ju/’hoansi, G/ui, and Naro–lived prior to extended contact with the Western world. Over the course of the Marshall Family Expeditions from 1950-1961, the Ju/’hoansi the Marshalls followed transitioned from being independent, seasonally migrant hunter-gatherers to living on a reserve and participating in a cash and welfare economy. This collection offers an in-depth view of the process and immediate effects of cultural change that was unprecedented in anthropology. It is one of the most important archives of hunter-gatherers and includes historical images of other African peoples including Herero, Himba, and Ovambo.
Grant-funded digitization project
One of the Peabody’s largest and most comprehensive archival collections, the Marshall Family Archives contains over 32,000 photographs and over 20,000 pages of ethnographic journals, diaries, genealogical data, correspondence, and financial records. From 2020-2023 the Peabody Museum completed a three-year project to make the entire collection digitally available and easily searchable through Collections Online and Hollis for Archival Discovery.
This project was made possible by Harvard University and generous funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), (grant number MA-245387-OMS-20). The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. It advances, supports, and empowers America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Its vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow on Facebook and Twitter.
Project team members have written blog posts that provide a behind-the-scenes look at the project’s process and decision-making, which are available at the Collections Division Blog.
If you have any feedback about the project, or would like to learn more about our process, please contact pmresrch@fas.harvard.edu.
Outreach
In digitizing the Marshall Family Archives, we strive to share these important historical documents and photographs as widely as possible, especially with the communities with whom the Marshalls worked. We are supporting the exhibition Bringing Back the Archive. The San Exploring the Marshalls' Archival Legacy opening this fall at the !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre in South Africa, which includes contemporary elements from members of the Tsumkwe Ju/’hoan community with whom the Marshalls primarily worked. In addition, we have contributed photographs to projects initiated by the Museums Association of Namibia: a mobile exhibition and catalog Stand Together and a Museum of Namibian Fashion pocket guide and website. We will continue to build on these partnerships and establish new ones.
If you are a member of or work with relevant descendent communities and wish to engage with this collection, please contact us at pmresrch@fas.harvard.edu.
Thank you to the many people who kindly contributed their insights to this project, including: Elizabeth Marshall Thomas; Chris Low, Magdalena Lukas, !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre; Dag Henrichsen, Lisa Roulet, Basler Afrika Bibliographen; Alice Apley, Frank Aveni, Documentary Educational Resources; Jeremey Silvester, Museums Association of Namibia; NEDCC; Polly Wiessner; Robert Hitchcock; Alan Barnard; Bonny Sands; Ben Begbie-Clench; Anne-Marie Fein; Robert Gordon; Keyan Tomaselli; Jake Homiak; Christopher Morton; Charlie N!aici; Keziah Clark; Julia Pastreich; Karma Foley; Margaret Courtney-Clark; Mark Feitl, IMLS.
All mistakes, however, are our own.
Project team: Kim Allegretto, Lisa Barbash, Morgan Jackson-Flowers, Angela Lee, Danni Peters, Elise Riley, Katherine Satriano, Gloria Shin