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Raymond Baby Photograph Collection

 Collection
Identifier: Coll 0049

Scope and Contents

Photographs, negatives and lantern slides depicting excavations in Chaco Canyon. Majority are of site BC-53. Photographs are in good condition. Titles for photographs encompass what is written on the backs of the prints. When back of photograph provides no information, archivist-assigned title appears between brackets [].

Neg #s: 93001-93084

Dates

  • 1940

Creator

Biographical / Historical

Raymond S. Baby (pronounced "Bobby") was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1917. He attended the Western Reserve University and earned a B.S. degree in anatomy. He pursued graduate studies at the University of New Mexico, but did not earn a postgraduate degree. In 1940 he participated as an auditor in an Advanced Field Session at Chaco Canyon. The 1940 session excavated site BC53, a project documented in this photographic collection.

Baby's field notes on BC-53 have been digitized by the Chaco Digital Initiative and are available at http://www.chacoarchive.org/docs/000063_complete.pdf

Baby was hired by the Ohio Historical Society in 1946 to conduct an archaeological survey of the Delaware Reservoir area. In 1947, he became a full-time assistant in archaeology and in the following year he replaced Richard Morgan as curator of archaeology. During the 1960s and 70s, Baby taught classes in Ohio archaeology at Ohio State University. Many of his students assisted in excavations and some went on to careers in archaeology.

Baby's most significant contributions to Ohio archaeology include his collaboration with Olaf Prufer, of Kent State University, on the first major synthesis of the Paleoindians of Ohio and his work with William S. Webb, University of Kentucky, on refining our understanding of the Adena culture. Baby also collaborated with James Brown, Northwestern University, on new interpretations of the Mound City Group.

Baby retired from the Ohio Historical Society in 1979 accepting an appointment as curator emeritus. He died in 1982.

These photographs, negatives and lantern slides were discovered by a curator at the Ohio Historical Society in May 2009. The curator had no background information about the materials besides the descriptive information recorded on the backs of some of the photographs. The Ohio Historical Society sent these materials to the Hibben Center where it was deduced that they had belonged to Raymond Baby by F. Joan Mathien.

Extent

84 items

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

Park catalog numbers were assigned for tracking and filing purposes and crossreferenced to the inventory. Photographs and their matching negatives/lantern slides were cataloged using the same number.

Film negatives placed in cold storage August 2011

Provenance

Raymond Baby, Ohio Historical Society

These photographs, negatives and lantern slides were discovered by a curator at the Ohio Historical Society in May 2009. The curator had no background information about the materials besides the descriptive information recorded on the backs of some of the photographs. The Ohio Historical Society sent these materials to the Hibben Center where it was deduced that they had belonged to Raymond Baby by F. Joan Mathien.

Separated Materials

7 prints and 6 nitrates of Mesa Verde were removed from the collection for transfer to Mesa Verde National Park.
Title
Finding Aid for Raymond Baby Photograph Collection
Subtitle
Coll 0049
Author
Chaco Culture National Historical Park National Park Service
Date
2009
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the NPS Chaco Culture National Historical Park Repository

Contact:
Chaco Culture NHP & Aztec Ruins NM Museum & Archives Program
Hibben Center Rm 307 - MSC01 1050
450 University Blvd NE
Albuquerque NM 87106 USA