Born in Iowa in 1853, anthropologist, ethnologist, and geologist William J. McGee worked for the U.S. Geological Survey from 1881 until 1893 when the Bureau of American Ethnology was formed. He was in charge of the Bureau from 1893 to 1903. During that time, he conducted field expeditions to study the Tohono O’odham Indians in southern Arizona and Seri Indians in Sonora, Mexico in late 1894 and late 1895. He held various other prominent scientific positions until his death in 1912.
Photographer William Dinwiddie, born in Virginia in 1867, worked for the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1886 to 1895, then became a journalist and war correspondent.
From the guide to the W.J. McGee Photograph Collection, 1894-1895, (University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections)
