1998.300.308
Rotuman group

Photographer: Arthur Maurice Hocart
Date of Photo: 1909 - 1914
Continent: Oceania
Geographical Area: Melanesia
Country: Fiji
Region/Place: Rotuma
Format: Glass Negative
Acquisition: Arthur Maurice Hocart - Donated ?1921

Description

Group portrait of Rotuman (Fijian) men, women and children, standing and sitting.

Research Notes

Research Notes - The location of this photograph ('Rotuma') has been taken from an annotated print [1998.237.12.2] in the Pitt Rivers Museum's collections, matched with the negative during a research visit by Alan Howard (University of Hawaii), Jan Rensel (University of Hawaii) and Loraine Tizard-Varcoe in June 2015. [PG 18/06/2015]
Accession information - A letter in the Related Documents File [1998.300] dated 15 May 1923 suggests that the Hocart negatives were in the museum by 1922 since Hocart states that he 'wrote last year to ask you [Balfour] to get your man to print me some of my negatives'. It is most likely therefore that Hocart deposited the negatives in 1921 on his leaving Oxford when appointed to the position of Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon. The prints in the PRM collection are likely to have been made from the negatives by PRM staff for inclusion in Balfour's photo archive project of 1931-2. [CM 01/05/2018]