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Marshall Family Archives: Researcher Guide

The Marshall Family Archives collection documents eight expeditions in the years 1950, 1951, 1952-53, 1955, 1956, 1957-58, and 1961. The Marshall family (Laurence Marshall, Lorna Marshall, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, and John Marshall) with an expedition team of staff and researchers spent months traveling through the Kalahari Desert conducting field research, taking photographs, and recording sound and film among the Ju’/hoansi and additional peoples including the G/ui and Naro. The collection includes images and paper records from these activities.

Terminology

General

Records:
numbered and cataloged entries searchable in the Peabody's Collections Online 

Display Title field:
the main title of a record, visible to all users

Images

Catalog Transcription field:
a direct transcription from the Marshall photograph log for the image; only visible to users with research accounts

Photograph logs:
type-written catalogs containing descriptions for almost all of the collection's images and likely written by Lorna Marshall, except for the 1957-1958 catalog 

Transcribed Annotations field:
transcriptions of writing on an image and/or its mount 

Alternate Number field:
the number assigned to a photo by the Marshall Family, consisting of the reel number and frame number separated by a hyphen, and used in the photograph log; only visible to users with research accounts 

Papers

Archives field:
indicates whether a record is for an archival Collection, or for a Series, Folder, or Item within a Collection

Archival Collections/Series field:
name of the archival Collection and (if applicable) Series (a sub-grouping within a Collection) that a record falls within

Archival Scope and Content field:
overview of materials 

Archival Box/Folder field:
indicates the number of the box and folder where the material is stored 

Archival Inventory field:
a more detailed overview of materials 

Images

Search overview and link

The majority of images in the collection are cataloged under accession number 2001.29.  Go to the Advanced Search and enter 2001.29.* (with the asterisk) into Object Number.  You can also add additional terms to your search, such as by entering keywords into Description (see “Suggested search terms”) and/or filtering by Geography. 

Screenshot of advanced search fields with "2001.29.*" in the object number field

 After you press Search, you will be able to further filter your results by Culture and/or Geography.

Please note when filtering by Culture/Period: In their photograph catalogs, the Marshall Family used the term “Bushman” or “!Kung” to describe many of the Indigenous people of Southwest Africa at that time. While some scholars and even some Indigenous people still use the term “Bushman,” others consider it to be offensive. “!Kung” is also thought to be outdated and more accurately refers to a language group. The term “San,” which is used in the Smithsonian Institution’s Human Study Film Archives, groups together cultures and ethnicities that are distinct. Thus, whenever possible, we used the specific name for each ethnic group, such as Ju/’hoansi, G/ui, Naro, etc. When we were not able to identify a specific San group, we used the term San.

Navigating collections online

Most, but not all, of the collection was numbered and digitized sequentially, following the order of the Marshalls’ photograph logs, which in turn usually followed the order in which they were taken. The Marshalls often took pictures of people, actions, and objects in sequence, so if you search neighboring consecutive Peabody numbers, you may find related images. Sometimes the Catalog Transcription field for neighboring images will have relevant information about places or individuals pictured. 

Some images are present in multiple formats—for example, there may be a negative, as well as a print made from that negative. There may also be multiple versions of a print.  The best way to pull up related images is to search by Alternate Number (the number the Marshalls used in the photograph catalog) in the search box on the Collections Online homepage.  Alternate Numbers are visible with a researcher account in Collections Online.  To request researcher access, first create a login for an individual account, then email the museum's curatorial department at pmresearch@fas.harvard.edu with a brief explanation of your research and the username of your Collections Online account. 

When quotation marks appear in the Display Title they may indicate unverifiable information, nicknames, or problematic language. 

In some records (see especially images of games) we have included Ju/’hoan language in the Display Title and Indigenous Term fields. 

Suggested search terms:

  • If you are interested in photography technical specifications, try searching these terms: flash; crop; paper types such as Kodak Velox or Agfa Lupex; film types such as Ektachrome; angle; close-up; portrait 
  • If you are interested in cultural change, try searching these words: American, bandana, Bantu, beads, bonnet, bucket, can(s), cigar, coat, dress, enamel, hat, inner tube, Jerry, lollipop, “modern”, opener, phonograph, safety pin, sandal, sewing, shells, shirt, shot-gun, t-shirt, tin, tube, under shirt, pants, shorts, jacket, jersey, Western. You may also filter Culture/Period by Colonial African to see some images relating to colonists.
  • If you are interested in music, try searching these words: //guashi, violin, bow (divided bow, hunting bow)
  • If you are interested in food, try searching these words: tsama melon, mealie, tsi, mangetti, veldkos, root
  • If you are interested in architecture, try searching these words: skerm, kraal, werft, hut, shelter
  • If you are interested in fashion, try searching these words: kaross, ornament, beads, apron
  • If you are interested in landscapes, try searching these words: pan, sky, trees, baobab, hills, mountains, veld, sand, view, grass, brush
  • If you are interested in belief systems (ritual ceremony), try searching these words: curing, dance, rattle, trance, medicine
  • If you are interested in games, try searching these words: N!owa T’ama (melon tossing game), djani (helicopter toy), counting game, ball
  • If you are interested in hunting, try searching these words: arrow, bow, poison, dead animal, gemsbok
  • If you are interested in women’s work, try searching these words: mortar, pestle, gathering 

Restricted images

Per current Peabody policy, posed nude images such as those taken to document steatopygia or other anatomical features will not appear on Collections Online if the people pictured are named or are children.  If they are not named or children, the images will appear if a user is signed in to a researcher account.  Graphic images will appear if a user is signed in to a researcher account.  To request researcher access, first create a login for an individual account, then email the museum's curatorial department at pmresearch@fas.harvard.edu with a brief explanation of your research and the username of your Collections Online account.

Photographers

Laurence Marshall and Lorna Marshall took photographs and hired photographers on some expeditions. Until they donated the photographs to the Peabody Museum, the Marshalls retained all rights to them, and did not note the names of individual photographers. 

Because expedition members used multiple cameras during their travels, it is sometimes difficult to determine who took which photographs. Whenever possible we have noted the individual photographers, and most of the ones taken by Anneliese Scherz have been identified by working collaboratively with the Basler Afrika Bibliographien to compare images to their Scherz Collection. When the photographer’s identity is known their name is captured in the “Artist” field. The following is a list of photographers by expedition:

  • 1950: Laurence Marshall took many of the photographs. Merl La Voy was also hired as a photographer. There are also photographs by F.D. van Zyl and Emil Paul Friede.
  • 1951: Lorna Marshall or Laurence Marshall took many of the photographs.
  • 1952-53: Many of the photographs were taken by hired photographer Anneliese Scherz.
  • 1955: Many of the photographs were taken by hired photographer Daniel Blitz and some by hired photographer William Donnellan.
  • 1956: Lorna Marshall took most of the photographs.  Eberhard and Heidi von Koenen were also hired as photographers.
  • 1957-58: Many of the photographs were taken by hired photographer Robert Gesteland.  Some were taken by Robert Gardner and Nicolaas Jacobus van Warmelo.
  • 1959: Lorna Marshall or Laurence Marshall took many of the photographs.
  • 1961: Lorna Marshall or Laurence Marshall took many of the photographs. Wulf Haacke was also hired as a photographer.

Photograph logs

Lorna Marshall made detailed records for almost every image in a series of photograph logs organized by expedition. The logs contain information about names of groups the Marshalls interacted with, the participants of the expedition, itineraries, image descriptions, and indexes. Their descriptions sometimes include terms for and about Indigenous people and groups that are racially coded, dated, and now considered derogatory.

The text from the photograph logs is transcribed in the Catalog Transcription field, which is visible with a researcher account in Collections Online.  To request researcher access, first create a login for an individual account, then email the museum's curatorial department at pmresearch@fas.harvard.edu with a brief explanation of your research and the username of your Collections Online account. 

The photograph catalogs are also scanned and viewable on Collections Online:

  • 2001.29.1.1 Lorna Marshall's notes about photograph catalogs
  • 2001.29.1.2 Photograph catalog, black and white stills, 1950
  • 2001.29.1.3 Photograph catalog, black and white stills, 1951-1953
  • 2001.29.1.5 Photograph catalog, black and white stills, 1955, Volume I
  • 2001.29.1.6 Photograph catalog, black and white stills, 1955, Volume II
  • 2001.29.1.7 Photograph catalog, black and white stills, 1956
  • 2001.29.1.8 Photograph catalog, black and white stills, 1957-1958
  • 2001.29.1.9 Photograph catalog, black and white stills, 1957-1958
  • 2001.29.1.10 Photograph catalog, black and white stills, 1959
  • 2001.29.1.11 Photograph catalog, black and white stills, 1961
  • 2001.29.1.12 Photograph catalog, stereo photographs, 1950-1953
  • 2001.29.1.13 Photograph catalog, color transparencies, 1950
  • 2001.29.1.14 Photograph catalog, color transparencies, 1951, 1952-1953
  • 2001.29.1.15 Photograph catalog, color transparencies, 1955
  • 2001.29.1.16 Photograph catalog, color transparencies, 1956
  • 2001.29.1.17 Photograph catalog, color transparencies, 1957-1958
  • 2001.29.1.18 Photograph catalog, color transparencies, 1959
  • 2001.29.1.19 Photograph catalog, color transparencies, 1961
  • 2001.29.1.20 Photograph catalog, color transparencies (handwritten), 1961  

Reading photograph logs: helpful tips

  • With one exception, each expedition (1950, 1951, 1952-53, 1955, 1956, 1957-58, 1959, 1961) has separate photograph logs for color and for black and white images. Images from the 1951 and 1952-53 expeditions were combined by the Marshalls in both the color and black and white photograph logs.
  • There is a separate photograph log for color stereoviews (1950, 1951, 1952-53) but no log for Land Polaroid black and white images (1950, 1951, 1952-53, 1956, 1959, 1961).
  • Most photograph logs contain forward matter which includes a list of most of the participants in the expedition, the itinerary and other notes. The photograph logs, except the 1957-1958 black and white log, contain indexes.
  • Image descriptions are arranged by camera reel. Depending on the type of film and camera used, reels differ in length. The reels are generally organized by number and often, but not always, chronologically.
  • Geographic information is often recorded in the header of each page of the photograph logs. The cultural group or ethnicity of the people living in that location is also often captured in the photograph log page header. That information is captured in the Catalog Transcription for each image where applicable. The 1961 logs contain geographical coordinates for some places, although some may not be entirely correct.
  • Some names of people, places and ethnicities are approximate/guesses by the Marshalls (spelling, or who people are). Some of the places the Marshalls describe are either no longer there or have had their names changed. Unverifiable Marshall place names appear in quotes in the Display Title. Some spellings vary: for example, water-hole vs waterhole vs water hole.
  • In the 1952-1953 color transparency photograph logs, subject codes were assigned to each slide. In Collections Online, the subject that corresponds to the code for a particular slide in the Catalog Transcription appears in square brackets after the code and appears at the beginning of the Display Title before a colon.
  • The 1955 expedition photologs contain image numbers starting with P and ones starting with T. While this likely indicates that two different cameras were used at the same time, it is likely that multiple people used each camera.
  • Individual people often share the same name. 

Excerpt from a photograph log describing the identification of individuals in photos

  • The Marshalls gave nicknames to some people whose name they did not know, such as “visiting girl,” “the handmaiden.” However, most nicknames were used by Ju/'hoansi themselves. Nicknames were in common use, especially among Ju/'hoan men, mainly referring to the physical characteristics of the individual. The following are examples:
    • Gao Feet
    • Gao Beard
    • Short Gao
    • Gao Thumb
    • /Gunda Chubby
    • Bo Black 
    • /Gao Knees
    • / Qui Stomach (because he ate so much)
    • /Qui Shoulder
    • /Qui Crooked
    • /Qui Short
    • /Qui Navel
    • /Qui Collarbone
    • //Ao Fat Chin  
  • The Marshalls used the term “visitors” to describe people who are not from the Ju/’hoan band the Marshalls are observing. 
  • Additional contextual information about sequences of images may be included within the photograph logs.  For example, for Reel # XXII, at the bottom of the page is a brief description of a project that Elizabeth initiated, working with Ju/’hoansi to make plasticine models of animals (the collection also includes drawings by Ju/’hoansi from another project Elizabeth initiated).  Additional contextual information such as this may be transcribed into the Catalog Transcription field. 
  • In their descriptions the Marshalls used terms that had local origins such as kaross (the animal hide worn as clothing), indaba (a council or conference, especially between or with Indigenous tribes of South Africa). They also used Afrikaans words that seemed not to have a better English translation: skerm or scherm (for the semi-nomadic homes the Ju/’hoansi built), kraal (a traditional African village of homes, typically enclosed by a fence), veld (open rural landscape), werft (yard or spaces adjacent to homes). 

 

Photographic formats: helpful tips

Formats in the collection include: black and white prints, color slides, stereoviews, and black and white negatives.  Format information will be found in the Materials and Dimensions fields.

Prints 

  • Most but not all prints have corresponding negatives; see “Navigating Collections Online” for tips on searching for corresponding images.
  • Some prints are duplicates or cropped. Exact duplicates, or duplicates without substantive additional annotations, have not been scanned. 
  • Some prints are loose; some prints are mounted on black paper, paperboard, or cardboard. 
  • While some prints have Anneliese Scherz’s stamp on them (see image below), they may have been printed but not taken by her. All negatives known to have been taken by Anneliese Scherz are identified as such.   

Example of Annaliese Scherz's stamp

  • Lorna Marshall organized a significant number of prints into folders by themes. These thematic folder titles are included in the relevant image Display Titles before a colon. 

Slides 

  • Some 1952-53 slides are organized thematically.

Stereoviews

  • Some are organized thematically. 
  • Laurence Marshall took most of these.
  • There are anaglyph images which may be viewed with 3D glasses.

Papers

Overview and links

Papers include field notebooks, correspondence, genealogical cards, and financial records.  Papers in the collection are cataloged under multiple accession numbers and are described on two platforms.

In Collections Online, you will find: records for descriptions of accessions/collections, as well as records for the folders that are part of them. Each record has a Classification field that specifies whether it is describing a larger conceptual grouping, or a folder that falls within one of those groupings. Attached to each folder record is a PDF scan of the entire contents of the folder. Description of the contents may be found in the Archival Scope and Content field and Archival Inventory field.

In Hollis for Archival Discovery are finding aids for the larger accessions, with detailed hierarchical descriptions that link to the corresponding Collections Online records. 

The following is a list of paper accessions, with links to both Collections Online and Hollis for Archival Discovery.

Southwest Africa expeditions records:

Expedition staff notebooks, journals, and memoirs

PM 2001.29.2, John Marshall and Claire Ritchie Ju/'hoan genealogical cards, 1980-1984, see below for access policy

PM 997-11, Paintings and drawings by Ju/hoansi, ca. 1951-1953

Supplementary research notes:

Genealogical cards

The genealogical cards comprise index cards with demographic and kinship information collected in Tsumkwe and other Ju/’hoan settlements in South West Africa by John Marshall and Claire Ritchie from 1980 to 1984. Because the cards include confidential information, such as medical and other private information, they are not viewable on Collections Online.  Access may be requested by following the Peabody’s procedures for requesting access to medical records, which involves submitting an application for review.  If this is of interest, please contact pmresrch@fas.harvard.edu for guidance on submitting an application. Please note that if access is granted, names on the cards will be replaced with numbers so that confidential information is not identifiable.

Additional Resources

Related publications

Lorna and Elizabeth both published on the Marshall family expeditions:

  • Lorna Marshall The !Kung of Nyae Nyae. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976.
  • Lorna Marshall Nyae Nyae !Kung Beliefs and Rites. Peabody Museum Monographs no. 8, 1999. 
  • Elizabeth Marshall Thomas: The Harmless People. 1959.

All four of the Marshalls included images from the expeditions in their work, including:

  • Lorna Marshall, “The !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert,” in Peoples of Africa, edited by James L. Gibbs, Jr., 241-78.  New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1965.
  • Lorna Marshall, “Sharing, Talking, and Giving; Relief of Social Tensions among the !Kung,” in Kalahari Hunger Gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and Their Neighbors, edited by Richard B. Lee and Irven DeVore, 349-57.  Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976.
  • Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, “The Bushmen: Gentle Nomads of Africa’s Harsh Kalahari,” in Vanishing Peoples of the Earth, edited by Robert L. Breeden, 58-75. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 1968.
  • Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, “Management of Violence among the Ju/wasi of Nyae Nyae: The Old Way and a New Way,” in Studying War: Anthropological Perspectives, edited by Stephen P. Reyna and R.E. Downs, 69-84. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach, 1994.

See also:

Related object collections at the Peabody

Ju Wasi exhibit-1990s: This collection exhibits a small selection of historically and culturally significant objects in the Ju/’hoan lifestyle.

Additional materials collected by the Marshall Family may be found under the following accession numbers:

Related collections at other institutions

  • Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History: John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman film and video collection, 1950-2000
    • Provides John Marshall's long-term documentary record of the Ju/'hoansi of the Nyae Nyae region of the Kalahari Desert in northeastern Namibia, spanning from 1950-2000.
  • Documentary Educational Resources (DER): John K. Marshall films
    • Provides John Marshall's filmography, including his iconic ethnographic films about Ju/'hoansi  
  • Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB): Scherz Archive. Finding aid
    • Holds a collection of photography and manuscripts of Anneliese Scherz (1952-3 Marshall expedition photographer) and her husband Ernst Rudolf Scherz 
  • University of Pennsylvania, Penn Museum Archives: Robert H. Dyson Director's Office records. Finding aid
    • Holds a collection of Robert Dyson’s records, who joined the 1951 Marshall expedition. He served as Williams Director of the Penn Museum from 1982 to 1994