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
TitleRoy 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 RestrictionsThe 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 InformationProcessed 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)