Photographs of Mexico and Latin America

William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) was an artist, geologist, and archeologist who spent most of his career with the United States Geological Survey of the Territories, United States Geological Survey, Bureau of American Ethnology, and Department of Anthropology of the Smithsonian. From 1894-1897, he was the head of anthropology at the Field Columbian Museum (Field Museum of Natural History) and on the staff of the University of Chicago. During this time, he carried out investigations of ancient ruins in the Yucatan and other areas of Mesoamerica as a member of an expedition of Allison V. Armour. Holmes served as head curator for the US National Museum Department of Anthropology from 1897-1902 and head of the BAE from 1902-1909. William Henry Jackson was a photographer for the US Geological and Geographical Surveys (1870-1878) before he opened a studio in Denver, Colorado, and began making official photographs for various railroad companies. In 1883, he made his first trip to Mexico under the sponsorship of the Mexican Central Railway. On one of his subsequent trips, he was accompanied by William Henry Holmes, who may have collected Jackson's photographs because of this trip.