Augustus and Alice Dixon Le Plongeon papers circa 1840-1937 1860-1910

ArchivalResource

Augustus and Alice Dixon Le Plongeon papers circa 1840-1937 1860-1910

The collection documents the archaeological excavations, fieldwork, research, and writings of the nineteenth-century photographers, antiquarians, and amateur archaeologists Augustus and Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, the first persons to systematically excavate and photograph the Maya sites of Chichén Itzá and Uxmal (1873-1886). The couple’s pioneering work in documenting Maya sites and inscriptions with photography, which in many cases recorded the appearance of sites and objects that have subsequently been damaged or lost, was overshadowed in their own lifetimes by their theories of Maya cultural diffusion, and in particular by their insistence that the Maya founded ancient Egypt. The Le Plongeon’s work, and evidence of their wide-ranging interests, is found in manuscripts, diaries, correspondence, and photographs. The collection also contains papers belonging to Maude and Henry Field Blackwell, who inherited the literary estate of the Le Plongeons.

39.4 linear ft.; (63 boxes)

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Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6654838

Getty Research Institute

Related Entities

There are 11 Entities related to this resource.

Blom, Frans Ferdinand, 1893-1963

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6718tf4 (person)

Frans Ferdinand Blom (born August 9, 1893, Copenhagen, Denmark – died June 23, 1963, Chiapas, Mexico), Danish explorer and archaeologist. He was most associated with his research of the Maya civilization of Mexico and Central America....

Hearst, Phoebe Apperson, 1842-1919

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Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson Hearst was born in St. Clair, Missouri, the daughter of Drucilla (Whitmire) and Randolph Walker Apperson. In 1860, businessman George Hearst met Phoebe when he returned to St. Clair to care for his dying mother. When they married on June 15, 1862, George Hearst was 41 years old, and Phoebe was 19. Soon after their marriage the Hearsts moved to San Francisco, California, where Phoebe gave birth to their only child, William Randolph Hearst. As a very successful miner wh...

Columbus, Christopher, 1451-1506

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Christopher Columbus was likely born in October 1451 in Genoa, Republic of Genoa. His name in Ligurian is Cristoffa Corombo. In one of his writings, he says he went to sea at the age of 10. In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the important Centurione, Di Negro and Spinola families of Genoa. Later, he allegedly made a trip to Chios, an Aegean island then ruled by Genoa. Columbus based himself in Lisbon from 1477 to 1485. Between 1482 and 1485, Columbus traded along th...

Le Plongeon, Alice D. (Alice Dixon), 1851-1910

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g745ks (person)

Biographical/Historical Note Augustus Henry Julian Le Plongeon was born on Jersey, Channel Islands on May 4, 1826. After graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris he embarked on a series of adventures in the Americas, beginning with an attempt to sail to Chile with a friend in the late 1840s. Wrecked off the coast, they made their way to Valparaiso, Chile, where Le Plongeon took a position at a local college. When gold rush fever reach...

Dixon, Henry, 1820-1893.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j46bfd (person)

Blackwell, Maude Alice, 1873-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vn6k3s (person)

Jesuits—Peru

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cs7xtr (corporateBody)

Blackwell, Henry Field, d. 1927.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64534z4 (person)

Le Plongeon, Augustus, 1826-1908

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w10fxq (person)

French doctor and early archaeologist. From the description of Views of Maya ruins in the Yucatan. 1873. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 419228157 Augustus Le Plongeon was a medical doctor, photographer, antiquarian, and amature archaeologist of French origins. In the early 1860s, after spending time in Chile and northern California, Le Plongeon moved to Lima, Peru, where he practiced medicine and photography, and became interested in Peruvian archaeology. On...

Cook, James, 1728-1779

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James Cook (b. November 7, 1728, Marton, Great Britan-d. February 14, 1779, Hawaii) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. He became an apprentice to some shipowners in Whitby. In 1759 he became master of his own ship, the Northumberland. The following winter, while laid up in Halifax, he studied mathematics and attained a sound knowledge of astronomical navigation. Cook went on to become an eminent circumnavigator. He made many geographical discoveries, ...

Morley, Sylvanus Griswold

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gp0dx4 (person)