Zuni woman. Photograph by Edward Sheriff Curtis, 1903. Library of Congress Copyright Deposit Collection of American Indian Photographs.
How to Search Our Catalogs
Looking for digital images? You can instruct our online catalog to perform an image-only search by adding "jpg" (i.e., JPEG image) to your keyword search string (for example, "Chinese jpg" or "Korean jpg").
Looking for a specific subject? Try a keyword or subject search in SIRIS. Combine keywords (for example, "manuscript" and "maori") to narrow searches that would otherwise result in a large number of search results.
Looking for a specific collection? View our Guide to the Collections first. Browse the table of contents by collection title or the name of the creator. Find a keyword within an open file by typing Ctrl-F and a search term (Mac users can type Command-F).
Looking for a specific culture or society? Many of our catalog records were created more than 100 years ago. They may include ethnonyms that are no longer preferred by members of a particular culture, tribe or ethnic group. It's always useful to try your search with alternate and antiquated terms.
"The Bridegroom's Family Preparing Their Gifts to the Future Bride" by Kisan. Pen and ink, watercolor. Collected by Comm. R. W. Shufeldt at Ch'oryang, South Kyongsang Province, Korea, 1886. MS 211,195.
SIRIS: the Smithsonian Online Catalog
Anthropological fieldnotes,
journals, manuscripts, photographs, moving images, artwork, maps and more than 40,000 digital images are described in the Archival,
Manuscript and Photographic Collections
Guide
to the Collections
of the National Anthropological Archives
A comprehensive, alphabetically arranged guide to more than 650 manuscript and photograph collections acquired before 1996. More recent collections are described in SIRIS, in our finding aids, and in our What's New pages.
Guide to the Human Studies Film Archives
A comprehensive, geographically arranged
guide to more than 8 million feet of ethnographic film and video acquired before 1994. More recent collections are described in SIRIS (the Smithsonian Online Catalog) and in our What's New pages.
Finding Aids for Individual Collections
Eighty of the 250 finding aids listed in Guide to the Collections of the National Anthropological Archives are currently available online. Additional printed finding aids are available upon request.
Not-So-Annual List of New Acquisitions
Look here for collections that may not yet appear in our online catalog and guides. New collections are also described on our What's New page.
Guide to Anthropological Fieldnotes and Manuscripts in Archival Repositories
More than 850 anthropological collections in Smithsonian and non-Smithsonian archives are included in this continually updated guide to ethnographic fieldnotes and manuscripts.
Guide to Preserving Anthropological Records
The Council for the Preservation of Anthropological Records (CoPAR) has produced a series of guides to help anthropologists and information specialists preserve and provide access to anthropological records.
Links to Anthropology on the Web
Ethnographic archives, web sites about anthropologists, anthropology at the Smithsonian, resources for anthropologists, and more.
Bureau of American Ethnology Publications
An electronic edition of the List of Publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology, With Index to Authors and Titles is available from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.