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Roy Sieber papers, 1958-2010, bulk 1975-1990

A Guide to his Papers at the Indiana University Archives

Finding aid prepared by Jessie Riddle

Summary Information

Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives

Creator
Sieber, Roy, 1923-2001

Title
Roy Sieber papers, 1958-2010,  bulk 1975-1990

Collection No.
C635

Extent
9.4 cubic feet (18 boxes)

Language
Materials are in English

Abstract
Roy Sieber was a historian of African art who taught at Indiana University Bloomington from 1962 through 1983. Having been the first person to receive a degree in African art in the United States, Sieber was the creator of the study of African art history in the United States. This collection contains prints of his black and white photographs of African art in use and on display, slides of African art in museums, and annotated bibliographies written by his students exploring specific aspects of art in Africa.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research. Advance notice required.

Biographical Note

Roy Sieber (1923-2001) was an historian of African art, and the progenitor of this area of study in the United States. Sieber was interested in African and Oceanic art from a young age and worked to educate himself on African art history. In 1949, after graduating from the New School for Social Research in New York, Sieber began graduate studies at the University of Iowa. During this time he curated what would become the first of many exhibits on African art. In 1957 he graduated from the University of Iowa with his PhD and became the first person in America to receive a doctorate in African art history. He is considered to be the founder of this discipline in the United States.

Sieber began teaching at Indiana University as an Associate Professor of Art History in 1962 and was named a Rudy Professor of Fine Arts in 1974. In addition to teaching, Sieber was the recipient of several grants and curator to a number of exhibitions. He was also a consultant on publications and exhibitions, and spent time in Ghana teaching. In 1983, Sieber became the Associate Director for Collections and Research at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian. He retired from both IU Bloomington and the Smithsonian in 1994.

Sieber passed away on September 14, 2001.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into three series: Black and white prints (1958-1973), Slides, Videos, and Audio recordings (1969-1994), and Bibliographic materials (1977-1981).

Scope and Content Note

The collection is arranged into three series. The first series, Black and White Prints, consists of pictures taken during two time frames: Sieber’s first trip to Nigeria in 1958, and his later trips to museums from 1971 to 1973. This series retains Sieber’s original order of letter groups which were assigned by Sieber and his assistants when placing the prints on index cards. Some of these letters refer to the ethnic group depicted: for example, G seems to refer to the Goemai people, as many of the photos in that group were taken of Goemai communities. This is also true for I, for Igala, ID, for Idoma, and J, which refers to the Jos Museum in Nigeria. It is not clear what the K, L, and N labels are intended to represent.The photos are almost entirely of material artwork, including masks, figurines, doors, tables, and more, and are labeled according to film roll and photo number, ethnic group, village name, and geographic region. The non-museum photo sets alternate between photos of objects by themselves and the objects in use in dances and village celebrations. 1971 and 1973 refer to the dates when Sieber took the photographs in those sections, which were almost entirely taken in museum settings in the United States. A small number of photos following the 1973 group are labeled miscellaneous, and these are also photos of artwork in various museums.

The second series is Slides, Videos, and Audio Recordings, and contains slides of pictures taken of African art in European museums and paintings from Frederick Catherwood, as well as an exhibit program, a video disc and two audio discs pertaining to other exhibitions of African culture and art. The third series, Bibliographic Materials, contains two copies of a set of bibliographic surveys covering the art and culture of African peoples compiled by various scholars.

  • Indexing Terms

  • The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

Separated Material

Six cabinets filled with slides are housed with the University Archives photograph collection. Most appear to be slides of artwork which Sieber used in his courses.

Related Material

Additional publications and research materials may be accessed in IUScholarworks.

Related photographs may be available in the University Archives Photographs Database .

Other photographs by Sieber are available in the Smithsonian Online Visual Archives.

Administrative Information

Accrual Information
Future additions to this collection are expected and will be added to the collection as they arrive.
Acquisition Information
Accession: 2017/036
Usage Restrictions
The donor(s) of this collection have not transferred their copyrights for the materials to the Trustees of Indiana University. For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.

The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials. Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.

Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.

Preferred Citation
[Item], Roy Sieber papers, Collection C635, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Provenance
Accession 2017/036 was transferred from the Fine Arts Library to the University Archives, May 2017.
Processing Information
Processed by Walker Byer and Jessie Riddle.

Completed in March 2019

Container List


Series: Black and White Prints, 1958-1973

Box 1 G-1:1 – G-4:12, 1958

Photos of art in Yoruba, Igala, Egu, Goemai, and Montol communities in the Central Guinea Coast and the Equatorial Forest Cross River


Box 2 G-4:14 – G-5:21, 1958

Photos of art in Montol, Yergum, Goemai, and Piapum communities in the Equatorial Forest Cross River


Box 3 G-5:23 – I-1:24, 1958

Photos of art in Montol and Igala communities in the Equatorial Forest Cross River


Box 4 I-1:25 – I-2:19, 1958

Photos of art in Igala communities in the Equatorial Forest Cross River


Box 5 I-2:22 – I-3:13, 1958

Photos of art in Igala and Idoma communities in the Equatorial Forest Cross River


Box 6 I-3:15 – I-3:38, 1958

Photos of art in Igala communities in the Equatorial Forest Cross River


Box 7 I-4:1 – I-4:37, 1958

Photos of art in Igala, Idoma, and Oron Ibibio communities in the Equatorial Forest Cross River and the Equatorial Guinea Coast


Box 8 J-1:3 – J-1:32, 1958

Photos of art in the Jos Museum in northern Nigeria – art pertains to the Koro, Kaleri, Idoma, Jaba, Eggon, Wuko, Montol, Mama, Goemai, and Afo ethnic groups


Box 9 J-1:33 – L-1:26, 1958

Photos of art in the Jos Museum from the Afo community (J), and photos of art from Goemai (K) and Yoruba (L) communities in Sudan, Equatorial Forest Cross River, and the Central Guinea Coast


Box 10 L-1:27 – N 1:37, 1958

Photos of art in Yoruba, Benin, Idoma and Igala (L) and Jaba, Koro, and Igala (N) communities in the Central Guinea Coast and the Equatorial Forest Cross River


Box 11 ID-2:1 – ID-4:6, 1958

Photos of art in Idoma and Igala communities in the Equatorial Forest Cross River


Box 12 ID-4:7 – ID-4:36, 1958

Photos of art in Idoma communities in the Equatorial Forest Cross River


Box 13 1-46, 1971

Photos of art located in various museums, mostly in the United States. The art pertains to Pende, Dan, Baule, Cameroon, Benin, Bobo, Yoruba, Ekoi, Fang, Ashanti, Baga, Bambara, Mbala, Mende, Songe, Toma, Guro, Ibibio, Ibo, Kuba, Luba, Bena, Lulua, and Mambila communities


Box 14 41 – 1973 29, 1971-1973

Primarily photos of art in museums in the United States. The art pertains to Dogon, Yoruba, Senufo, Chokwe, Lozi, Barotse, Dan, Mpongwe, Bembe, Benin, Bobo, Bichi (?), Fing, and Pende communities


Box 15 30 – 1973 64, 1973

Photos of art in various museums, mostly in the United States. The art pertains to Yoruba, Dogon, Songe, Efik, Bafo, Ashanti, Baga, Bambara, Toma, Guro, Ibibio, and Ibo communities


Box 16 65 – 76 and Miscellaneous, 1973

Primarily photos of art in museums in the United States. Art pertains to Kota, Kuba, Landuma, Lega, Loango, Benalulua, Luba, Makonde, Kongo, Bini, Bobo, Ekoi, Baga, Ashanti, Bambara, Lobi, and Dogon communities


Series: Slides, Videos, and Audio Recordings, 1969-1994

Box 17 Symposium Program, 1994

Box 17 University of Iowa African Art exhibit video disc, undated

Box 17 Emerging Africa in the Light of its Past audio recordings part 3 and 4, 1969

Box 17 Photos of African artwork in museums, 1980

(two slide binders)


Box 17 Small slide case of photos of Frederick Catherwood’s paintings of monuments in Central America, undated

Series: Bibliographic materials, 1977-1981

Box 18 Bibliographic Surveys of African Peoples, Set 1 and 2, 1977-1981

(two copies)


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