diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 1ef325f1b111266a6b26e0196871bd78baa8c2f3..620175a3479c688a2d997ee93e9b80a3283b7f0f 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -57,3 +57,9 @@ saved_model/**/* filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
 # Video files - compressed
 *.mp4 filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
 *.webm filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+documents/re-entanglements_1987_0_1762516994964_excerpt_from_northcote_thomas_anthropological_report_igbo_proverbs_stories_tones_re-entanglements.ne filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+documents/re-entanglements_2428_4_1762516989135_northcote_thomas_igbo_report_proverbs_narratives_vocabularies_and_grammar_re-entanglements.net_-1024 filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+documents/re-entanglements_2690_1_1762516980397_northcote_thomas_edo_tour_catalogue_of_collections_medicinal_notes_otua_sabongida_re-entanglements.n filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+documents/re-entanglements_2690_4_1762516981507_northcote_thomas_flora_of_southern_nigeria_herbarium_specimen_labels_re-entanglements.net_-1024x603. filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+documents/re-entanglements_3189_2_1762516971997_n_w_thomas_lecture_on_dolls_to_royal_anthropological_institute_oldman_letter_re-entanglements.net_-1 filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+documents/re-entanglements_3286_7_1762516970239_northcote_thomas_edo_report_1910_appendix_c_photographic_and_phonographic_records_re-entanglements.n filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bfedd5dfffe6b6474b9895fdf533877b18c5e749
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+dataset_info:
+  license: other
+---
+# Re-entanglements (Documents) Dataset
+This dataset contains 27 posts with 56 images of historical documents (letters, catalogue pages, specimens, charts) scraped from the Re-entanglements project.
+**This is a placeholder README.md. Full metadata will be added later.**
diff --git a/data.jsonl b/data.jsonl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..635dbe4d0a6b248fa3f798692746e98500deb370
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data.jsonl
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{"id": "re-entanglements_3286", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/physical-types/", "title": "Physical type photographs", "raw_content": "\u2018Woman of Isele Asaba\u2019. Full face and profile physical type photographs taken by Northcote Thomas as published in his\nAnthropological Report on Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n, Part IV (1914, Plate XVIII).  Although unnamed in the caption, Thomas recorded the woman\u2019s name in his photographic register as \u2018Onolibwo\u2019. Issele Azagba is in present-day Delta State, Nigeria. (NWT 4170, NWT 4171)\nThe histories of anthropology, photography and colonialism are entangled. Of the various genres of anthropological photography, the \u2018physical type\u2019 portrait epitomises the colonial anthropological gaze most fully.\nIn the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the discipline of anthropology embraced not only the study of human social and cultural practices, but also the anatomical and physiological dimensions of human beings as a species \u2013 a field known as\nphysical anthropology\n.\nAnthropologists were interested in recording the physical characteristics of different population groups. As set out in\nNotes and Queries on Anthropology\n, the indispensable guide to anthropological fieldwork of the era, this included everything from documenting the colour of skin, eyes and hair to describing the shape of the face, nose and lips, as well as making anthropometric measurements of the body.\nPages 12 and 13 from the 1899 edition of\nNotes and Queries on Anthropology\nproviding a schedule for the recording of \u2018observations on external characteristics\u2019.\nThrough this documentation of human anatomy, anthropologists sought to identify the physical characteristics of what they perceived to be distinct racial and tribal \u2018types\u2019. Population groups were compared and categorised according to these typologies, much as natural scientists classified animal and plant species according to taxonomic conventions. Correlations were made between perceived biological differences and the distinct cultural and linguistic differences between groups, and these were placed in evolutionary schemata from the most \u2018primitive\u2019 to the most \u2018civilised\u2019.\nAll this would, of course, be thoroughly criticised by later generations of anthropologists, but it is important to acknowledge that, at the time, these quasi-scientific anthropological practices informed and legitimized ideologies of white supremacy that underpinned European colonial expansion and exploitation.\nSince the 1860s, it had been recognised that photography could be an effective tool for anthropologists to document human physical characteristics and differences. By 1909, when\nNorthcote Thomas\nset off on his first tour as Government Anthropologist in Southern Nigeria, the taking of\nanthropometric\nand physical type photographs had become standard practice in much anthropological fieldwork.\nIn 1896, for example,\nMaurice Vidal Portman\nhad argued in the\nJournal of the Anthropological Institute\nthat in \u2018Properly taken \u00a0photographs \u2026 will be found the most satisfactory answers to most of the questions in\nNotes and Queries on Anthropology\n\u2019. This included the photographic documentation of social and cultural practices (ethnography), but also the physical characteristics of people. Explicitly referencing the anatomical sections in\nNotes and Queries\n, Portman noted that these could be recorded by taking \u2018large photographs of the face, in full face and profile\u2019.\nPortman, a naval officer and colonial administrator, had collaborated with C. H. Read at the British Museum to produce a series of photographic albums documenting the inhabitants of the\nAndaman Islands\nin the Indian Ocean. These included examples of physical type and anthropometric photographs.\nA. C. Haddon\ndescribed the method for making the latter in his entry on Photography in\nNotes and Queries\nas follows:\nWhen the whole nude figure is photographed, front, side, and back views should be taken; the heels should be close together, and the arms hanging straight down the side of the body; it is best to photograph a metric scale in the same plane as the body of the subject. It is desirable to have a soft, fine-grained, neutral tinted screen to be used as a background.\nNorthcote Thomas would have been familiar with Haddon\u2019s guidelines in\nNotes and Queries\nas well as Portman\u2019s article and Andamanese photographs. It is likely that he emulated Portman\u2019s examples in his own photographic practice.\nFull face and profile physical type photograph by M. V. Portman of \u2018Riala, man of the Aka Bea-da tribe, South Andaman, aged about 37 years\u2019. From the album \u2018Heads of the Andamanese\u2019 held at the British Museum (\nAs,Portman,B22.1\nand\nAs,Portman,B22.2\n). Portman\u2019s Andamanese portraits probably acted as a model for Northcote Thomas\u2019s West African physical type photographs.\nFull face and profile physical type portraits of \u2018Nwobi\u2019, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Amansea, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911 (NWT 3479; RAI 400.20032 & RAI 400.20031). Thomas noted the value of photographic portraits for recording facial scarification marks, hair dressing and personal adornments, all evident in these photographs of Nwobi. Note, for example, his\nichi\nscarification marks\n.\nThomas and his assistants made over 7,500 photographs during his anthropological survey work in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Approximately half of those made in his three Nigerian tours were mounted in official photograph albums, copies of which were distributed to the\nColonial Office\nin London, the Colonial Secretariat in Lagos and the\nHorniman Museum\nin South London (the latter intended for scholarly use). In these albums, the photographs were organised according to different categories. A statistical analysis of the 3040 photographs in the albums shows that nearly half were physical types (these were further subdivided into type photographs of men, women and children).\nPages from the \u2018Physical Types (Men)\u2019 section in Volume 1 of the official photograph albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys of Igbo-speaking communities in Southern Nigeria, 1910-13. (The National Archives\nCO 1069/60 NIGERIA 6\n)\nStatistical analysis of the 3040 photographs mounted in the official albums of Northcote Thomas\u2019s first three anthropological surveys by category/subject heading. Nearly half of the photographs are physical type portraits.\nThomas did collect anthropometric data during his 1909-10 survey of Edo-speaking communities in Nigeria, but he abandoned this practice in subsequent tours. In that first survey he also made a few full-length anthropometric photographs \u2013 of four individuals in total, evidently all taken in a single session \u2013 in which the subject was made to stand naked alongside a measuring scale as per the guidance in\nNotes and Queries\n.\nNorthcote Thomas took thousands of physical type portraits, but only made what may be described as full-length anthropometric photographs of four individuals. Following the guidelines set out in\nNotes and Queries on Anthropology\n, the subject was posed standing naked, with heals together and arms straight down the side of the body, in front of a neutral background alongside a metric measure. Northcote Thomas records the name of the young man in these frontal and profile shots, photographed in 1909 in Benin City, as \u2018Agexwoni\u2019. Note also the\nperipheral presence\nof Thomas\u2019s assistant standing at the edge of the photographic frame on the left. (NWT 302, RAI 400.15468 ; NWT 303, RAI 400.15497)\nWhile a small number of physical type photographs were published in the official reports of Thomas\u2019s\n1910-11\nand\n1912-13\nsurveys of Igbo-speaking communities, and in his report of the\n1914-15 Sierra Leone survey\n, no photographs were published in his\nAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n(1910). Thomas did, however, provide detailed instructions for the taking of physical type photographs in an appendix of the Edo report. In addition to \u2018physical types proper\u2019, Thomas recommended taking portraits of family groups, and photographing subjects in more \u2018characteristic poses\u2019 (as opposed to the unnatural formalism of the full face and profile shots).\nPages from Appendix C of Northcote Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n, published in 1910, providing advice on the making of photographic and phonographic records. (Click on image to link to the Appendix on archive.org.)\nIn addition to taking \u2018physical types proper\u2019, Northcote Thomas recommended photographing family and kin groups. In this example, Thomas photographs male members of the \u2018Iviemezi\u2019 kin group of Benin City: \u2018Ihimi\u2019, \u2018Okumbawa\u2019 and \u2018Oviawe\u2019. With the frontal and profile views, these form a kind of group physical type photograph. (NWT 256a, RAI 400.18096 ; NWT 256b, RAI 400.18097)\nThat Thomas should include such guidance, which was largely intended for colonial administrators, is somewhat puzzling since he provides only a very brief description of physical anthropology in the main text of the report, failing to explain why it should be of significance to colonial governance. Indeed, in the limited discussion he does provide, it is hard to arrive at any other conclusion than that, from a practical point of view, the considerable effort required in taking such photographs was quite pointless.\nCertainly, the colonial authorities, both in West Africa and in London, had little interest in the physical type photographs, or, for that matter, in the anthropometric data that Thomas was at pains to collect during his first tour. This material was regarded as being of \u2018a more purely scientific character\u2019 and it was agreed that Thomas could pursue such work only insofar as it did not \u2018encroach materially on the more \u201cpractical\u201d side of the enquiry\u2019 \u2013 the \u2018examination of native law and custom\u2019 being the work for which he was \u2018primarily engaged\u2019.\nThe disconnect between the scientific inquiries of physical anthropology and the supposed practical value of ethnography (what became known as social anthropology) is evident in the incredulity with which a request from Thomas, in July 1910, to supply the\nNatural History Museum\nwith 20 \u2018enlarged photographs, representative of the racial types of the Central Province [of Southern Nigeria]\u2019 was met by the Colonial Office. As the senior Colonial Office clerk with whom Thomas had closest contact remarked in an internal minute: \u2018I cannot imagine what a natural history collection wants to do with ethnographical pictures\u2019. That the physical type photographs were mistaken for \u2018ethnographical\u2019 ones by the Colonial Office suggests that there was little understanding of these photographs or the purpose they were intended to serve. Indeed, in a letter to\nW. P. Pycraft\n, Head of the Anthropology Sub-Department at the Natural History Museum in 1920, Thomas admits that, with regard to physical types, \u2018no one cares much for them\u2019.\nGiven that Thomas was himself much more interested in ethnological and linguistic matters, and seemingly had little to say about physical anthropology, it is curious that he expended so much energy making physical type photographs. One can only speculate that his motivation lay in the sense that this was an essential dimension in the performance of anthropology and that adherence to the methodological orthodoxies of\nNotes and Queries\nwas a signal of his professionalism.\nPhysical type photographs published in Northcote Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on Sierra Leone\n(1916). Note the captions (clockwise from top left): \u2018Susu Boy\u2019, \u2018Koranko Man\u2019, \u2018Timne Woman\u2019, \u2018Limba Girl\u2019.\nOf the many hundreds taken, only 30 physical type portraits were actually published in Thomas\u2019s Igbo and Sierra Leone reports. These were accompanied by captions identifying the subjects only by place or \u2018tribe\u2019. Here we see further evidence of how people were stripped of their names and individuality and reduced in these \u2018scientific\u2019 reports to anonymous representatives of particular \u2018types\u2019. We should note, however, that Thomas was in fact careful to record the names of many of those he photographed in his photographic register books. We know, for example, that \u2018\nMan of Awka\n\u2019 (Igbo report, Part I, Plate IIa) is a blacksmith named Muobuo, aged about 40 years, \u2018\nWoman of Nibo\n\u2019 (Igbo report, Part I, Plate IIIa) is Ozidi, while \u2018\nLimba girl\n\u2019 (Sierra Leone report, Part I, Plate XVII) is Kaiyais, photographed in Kabala, and \u2018\nSusu boy\n\u2019 (Sierra Leone report, Part I, Plate VIII) is young Momo Samura, photographed in Somaia.\nAlthough this physical type photograph was labelled \u2018Susu Boy\u2019 in Northcote Thomas\u2019s Sierra Leone report, Thomas did record the name of the young man in his photographic register. We know that this is Momo Samura, photographed in Somaya in present-day Tambakha Chiefdom, northern Sierra Leone. Note how the large thatched building in the photograph\u2019s background has been blanked out in the published version. (NWT 5247-8; MAA\nP.32997\n)\nMany of the photographic portraits of individuals taken by Northcote Thomas are not strictly-speaking \u2018physical types\u2019. In the example here, we can see that Thomas photographed the same individual \u2013 Chief Obidigbo, the Ezeana of Neni \u2013 in very different ways. On the left Chief Obidigbo is pictured wearing his chiefly regalia. We might understand this as a more ethnographic style of photography, but also a formal portrait that communicates the subject\u2019s chiefly status and stature. On the right Chief Obidigbo poses for full face and profile physical type photographs. A close reading of Thomas\u2019s photographic portraiture complicates our assumptions that subjects were coerced into having their photographs taken by the colonial anthropologist, and that this necessarily entailed a loss of their agency and identity. (NWT 2269, RAI 400.18728; NWT 2261, RAI 400.15891; NWT 2262, RAI 400.15893)\nAs part of the [Re:]Entanglements project, we have returned copies of Northcote Thomas\u2019s photographic portraits to the descendants of those photographed in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. These are often occasions of great celebration. Left: Chief Onwuamaeze Damien Ezeani, the Igwe of Neni, photographed with Northcote Thomas\u2019s portrait of his grandfather Chief Obidigbo in 2019 (photo: George Agbo). Right:  When we returned to Neni in 2020, we found that Chief Obidigbo\u2019s portrait had been colourised and reformatted, and now hung above the stage at the obi or public meeting hall of the Igwe (photo: Paul Basu).\nIf anthropological photography afforded the dehumanization of individuals, reducing people to \u2018specimens\u2019 to be collected and ordered by type, the archive now affords the possibility of reuniting the subjects of these portraits with their names, which, in some small way, rehumanizes them and returns to them their individuality. Since we also been able to identify where each photograph was taken, it has been possible to bring the photographs back to Nigeria and Sierra Leone and present these portraits to the descendants of those photographed. In these contexts, rather than toxic traces of a colonial anthropological project, these photographs are treasured by family members as precious portraits of ancestors.\nCommunity members in Fugar, Edo State, Nigeria with Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909 photograph of their ancestor Obemhiata. (Photograph: Paul Basu)\nFurthermore, contrasting with the small selection of physical type photographs that were published in Thomas\u2019s reports, in which subjects appear lifeless and inexpressive, in the many hundreds of unpublished prints and negatives we find a great diversity of expression. The informality of many of the unpublished physical types, in which subjects may also be found smiling and even giggling, though failing in the performance of \u2018science\u2019, affords a glimpse into the human interaction between subject and photographer-anthropologist that was, after all, at the heart of these fieldwork encounters. We have explored some of the complexity surrounding these photographs, and the multiple ways in which we can \u2018read\u2019 them, in the film\nFaces|Voices\n.\nThe award-winning film\nFaces|Voices\nexploring contemporary responses to Northcote Thomas\u2019s physical type photographs. A film by Paul Basu and Christopher Thomas Allen.\nAn installation of Northcote Thomas\u2019s physical type portraits and\nFaces|Voices\nfilm in the\n[Re:]Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times\nexhibition,\nMuseum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge. (Photograph: MAA/Josh Murfitt)\nKey to the names (where known) of the subjects of Northcote Thomas\u2019s physical type portraits featured in the\n[Re:]Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times\nexhibition\n, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge. (Click image to enlarge.)", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_3286_1_1762516967884_descriptive_characters_notes_and_queries_on_anthropology_1899_re-entanglements.net_-1024x659.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Descriptive_characters_Notes_and_Queries_on_Anthropology_1899_re-entanglements.net_-1024x659.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages 12 and 13 from the 1899 edition ofNotes and Queries on Anthropologyproviding a schedule for the recording of \u2018observations on external characteristics\u2019.", "width": 1024, "height": 659, "file_size_bytes": 151394}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3286_4_1762516968520_physical_type_portraits_northcote_thomas_photograph_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x601.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Physical_type_portraits_Northcote_Thomas_photograph_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x601.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from the \u2018Physical Types (Men)\u2019 section in Volume 1 of the official photograph albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys of Igbo-speaking communities in Southern Nigeria, 1910-13. (The National ArchivesCO 1069/60 NIGERIA 6)", "width": 1024, "height": 601, "file_size_bytes": 81876}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3286_5_1762516969096_nwt_album_photograph_categories_table_re-entanglements.net_-1024x879.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NWT_Album_photograph_categories_table_re-entanglements.net_-1024x879.jpg", "raw_caption": "Statistical analysis of the 3040 photographs mounted in the official albums of Northcote Thomas\u2019s first three anthropological surveys by category/subject heading. Nearly half of the photographs are physical type portraits.", "width": 1024, "height": 879, "file_size_bytes": 156078}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3286_6_1762516969669_northcote_thomas_agewonu_physical_type_photograph_benin_city_1909_re-entanglements.net_-1024x698.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Northcote_Thomas_Agewonu_physical_type_photograph_Benin_City_1909_re-entanglements.net_-1024x698.jpg", "raw_caption": "Northcote Thomas took thousands of physical type portraits, but only made what may be described as full-length anthropometric photographs of four individuals. Following the guidelines set out inNotes and Queries on Anthropology, the subject was posed standing naked, with heals together and arms straight down the side of the body, in front of a neutral background alongside a metric measure. Northcote Thomas records the name of the young man in these frontal and profile shots, photographed in 1909 in Benin City, as \u2018Agexwoni\u2019. Note also theperipheral presenceof Thomas\u2019s assistant standing at the edge of the photographic frame on the left. (NWT 302, RAI 400.15468 ; NWT 303, RAI 400.15497)", "width": 1024, "height": 698, "file_size_bytes": 98116}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3286_7_1762516970239_northcote_thomas_edo_report_1910_appendix_c_photographic_and_phonographic_records_re-entanglements.n", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Northcote_Thomas_Edo_Report_1910_Appendix_C_Photographic_and_Phonographic_Records_re-entanglements.net_-1024x760.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from Appendix C of Northcote Thomas\u2019sAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, published in 1910, providing advice on the making of photographic and phonographic records. (Click on image to link to the Appendix on archive.org.)", "width": 1024, "height": 760, "file_size_bytes": 191148}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3286_10_1762516970817_momo_samura_northcote_thomas_5247_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Momo_Samura_Northcote_Thomas_5247_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Although this physical type photograph was labelled \u2018Susu Boy\u2019 in Northcote Thomas\u2019s Sierra Leone report, Thomas did record the name of the young man in his photographic register. We know that this is Momo Samura, photographed in Somaya in present-day Tambakha Chiefdom, northern Sierra Leone. Note how the large thatched building in the photograph\u2019s background has been blanked out in the published version. (NWT 5247-8; MAAP.32997)", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 54784}], "tags_scraped": ["Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone", "anthropometry", "Faces|Voices", "fieldwork", "photography", "physical type", "Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria", "physical anthropology", "Anthropological Report on the Edo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:02:51.327155", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 3286, "date_published": "2021-08-04T17:11:07"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_3189", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/dolls/", "title": "A questionnaire on dolls", "raw_content": "A selection of dolls collected by Northcote Thomas in Agbede, present-day Edo State, Nigeria, in 1909. (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge.)\nAccording to the\nEncyclopedia of Children and Childhood\n, dolls are known in all cultures across the world and are one of the oldest and most widespread forms of toys. Given their ubiquity, dolls made the perfect subject for comparative study across different cultural groups. Despite this, anthropological studies of dolls are rare. The colonial anthropologist\nNorthcote Thomas\ncollected many examples of dolls during his 1909-10 anthropological survey of the Edo-speaking people of Nigeria. Thomas\u2019s interest in dolls pre-dated his appointment as Government Anthropologist in West Africa.\nIn 1906, Thomas published a questionnaire on dolls in the anthropological journal\nMan\n. The use of questionnaires distributed to colonial administrators, missionaries and other travellers was a common anthropological practice of the late 19th and early 20th century. At this time, anthropologists relied on material collected by others to inform their research. Prior to his appointment as Government Anthropologist, Thomas had not personally undertaken fieldwork.\nPage proofs of Northcote Thomas\u2019s \u2018Questionnaire on Dolls\u2019, published in the journal\nMan\nin 1906. (Cambridge University Library.) (Click image to enlarge.)\nThe questionnaire shows that Thomas was interested in what defined a doll as a doll, as distinct from other representations of human figures. \u2018A doll\u2019, he writes, \u2018is, properly speaking, a child\u2019s plaything \u2026 But there are points of contact between them and (a) magical figurines, (b) idols, (c) votive offerings, and (d) costume figures\u2019. It is clear from the questions that, even as \u2018a child\u2019s plaything\u2019, dolls have quite remarkable properties. Many of the questions seek to interrogate in what ways dolls may be perceived to be alive, and treated as such. For instance, there are questions about feeding dolls, whether they suffer from illnesses, whether they have feelings and emotions. Do they sleep? Do they die? If so, are burial ceremonies performed?\nAlthough Thomas was particularly interested in the use of dolls among \u2018non-European peoples\u2019, many of his queries draw upon an earlier questionnaire formulated by the American psychologist\nG. Stanley Hall\n, which was distributed to school children in the USA and Scotland. The findings of this and a subsequent study by A. Caswell Ellis were presented in an article entitled \u2018A Study of Dolls\u2019 published in 1896 in\nThe Pedagogical Seminary\n. This is still regarded as a foundational work in \u2018doll studies\u2019. Thomas\u2019s innovation was in extending this area of research into a cross-cultural, ethnographic context.\nUnlike Hall and Ellis, however, it seems that Thomas did not complete his study or publish material gathered from the questionnaire. He did, however, present a preliminary paper on the subject of dolls at a meeting of the\nRoyal Anthropological Institute\non May 14th, 1907.\nTop right: Note recording Northcote Thomas\u2019s lecture on dolls presented to the Royal Anthropological Institute, May 14, 1907. Left: Letter from W. O. Oldman to Thomas following the lecture. Bottom right: Photograph of a Korean straw doll and Asante \u2018twin doll\u2019 enclosed with Oldman\u2019s letter. (Cambridge University Library.) (Click image to enlarge.)\nA brief write-up in the\nProceedings\nof the Institute notes that the discussants included anthropologists\nEmil Torday\n, Thomas E. Smurthwaite and Ernest A. Parkyn. The well-known dealer in \u2018ethnographic specimens\u2019,\nWilliam O. Oldman\n, was evidently also present. A letter survives in which Oldman compliments Thomas on his \u2018exhaustive and instructive lecture\u2019, and draws Thomas\u2019s attention to \u2018a type of doll I do not think you mentioned\u2019: straw dolls of Korea. Oldman encloses a photograph of such a straw doll in his collection as well as a \u2018twin doll\u2019 from Gold Coast (Ghana). Perhaps Oldman hoped Thomas would be interested in buying them! (Thomas states in the questionnaire that he would be \u2018glad to receive specimens, which should be carefully labelled with the name of the tribe, etc.\u2019)\nTop: Lantern slides with line drawings of African dolls, probably used to illustrate Northcote Thomas\u2019s lecture at the RAI in 1907 (Cambridge University Library). Bottom: Thomas\u2019s source for several of the line drawings was an illustrated article by Karl Weule entitled \u2018Aus dem afrikanischen Kinderleben\u2019, published in 1899 (\nhttp://rossarchive.library.yale.edu\n).\nIn addition to the questionnaire, Thomas had been conducting library and museum based research on dolls. Notebooks and record cards survive in the\nCambridge University Library\n, which include sketches and notes on different examples in European collections. A number of lantern slides also survive with line drawings of dolls from the African continent. These are probably the very slides used to illustrate Thomas\u2019s talk at the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1907. The original source for many of the line drawings is an article entitled \u2018Aus dem afrikanischen Kinderleben\u2019 (\u2018From the African child\u2019s life\u2019) by\nKarl Weule\n, assistant director at the\nMuseum f\u00fcr V\u00f6lkerkunde zu Leipzi\ng, published in\nWestermann\u2019s Jahrbuch der Illustrierte Deutschen Monatschefte\nin 1899.\nWhile Thomas did not publish a substantive article on dolls, he was clearly still interested in the topic at the time of his 1909-10 survey in Southern Nigeria. During this tour he collected approximately 40 dolls, mainly in the northern Edo towns of\nUzebba\n, Otuo, Sabongida,\nAgbede\n,\nIrrua\nand Fugar. Those collected in Agbede, in particular, share many formal characteristics, and some appear to have been produced by the same maker.\nDolls collected by Northcote Thomas in the northern Edo towns of Uzebba, Otuo, Sabongida, Agbede, Irrua and Fugar in 1909. (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge.) (Click on image to enlarge.)\nThomas also took a number of photographs of children holding dolls. In one instance, a girl appears to be holding one of the dolls collected by Thomas. This is somewhat puzzling since Thomas records the doll in question as being acquired in Fugar, while the photograph was taken in Ikpe, on the outskirts of\nAuchi\n, which Thomas visited after Fugar. It is possible that Thomas set up the photograph, getting the girl to pose with a doll he had previously collected. Alternatively, he may have recorded the provenance of the doll incorrectly, acquiring it in Ikpe. This raises the broader question about how Thomas acquired the dolls. Did he obtain them directly from makers? Or was he purchasing them from households? If the latter, did he persuade parents to sell him their child\u2019s doll? It seems especially cruel to think that he may have forced children to part with their beloved toys.\nLeft: Doll collected by Northcote Thomas in Fugar, present-day Edo State, Nigeria, in 1909 (NWT 2704A; MAA\nZ 12722A\n); Right: \u2018Child and doll\u2019, photographed by Northcote Thomas or one of his assistants in Ikpe, near Auchi, present-day Edo State, Nigeria (NWT 1122; RAI 400.18184). The girl holds the doll to her breast, perhaps mimicking her mother. The doll appears to be that pictured on the left, which Thomas records as being acquired in Fugar. It is not clear whether the provenance of the doll has been incorrectly recorded or whether Thomas set up the photograph, getting the child to pose with the doll he had previously collected. Note the child\u2019s bead waist band, which a number of the dolls collected are also dressed with.\nDespite assembling this remarkable collection of Nigerian dolls, Thomas did not include any discussion of them in his\nAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n. This is not surprising since the reports were primarily intended to provide information of use to colonial administrators, and the study of dolls would have been regarded as a matter of purely academic interest. But neither have we been able to locate any unpublished fieldnotes relating to the dolls. It appears, therefore, that Thomas did not use the opportunity of his fieldwork to gather the kinds of information that he requested in his 1906 questionnaire. As with much of the material assembled during Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys, we have only fragmentary knowledge.\nLeft: Detail of beadwork adorning doll collected by Northcote Thomas in Agbede, present-day Edo State, Nigeria, in 1909 (NWT 2302; MAA\nZ 11738\n); Right: Young girl holding a similar doll to that pictured left, including bead headdress/hair decoration. Photographed by Northcote Thomas or one of his assistants in Agbede, present-day Edo State, Nigeria, in 1909 (NWT 965; RAI 400.17321).\nWe can, however, learn much by examining the collections and photographs themselves. The form of many of the dolls is highly abstract \u2013 some are barely more than sticks. Others, even though they may not have representations of arms or legs, have facial or body scarification marks similar to those worn by local people. Most striking is the correlation between the body ornamentation of the dolls and children photographed by Thomas, including hair beads, necklaces, waist bands and anklets. Some of the dolls are more representational in style, with arms, legs and more realistically carved facial features.\nDetail images of a doll collected by Northcote Thomas in the Esan town of Irrua, present-day Edo State, Nigeria, in 1909. As well as the representations of scarification marks, note the beaded hair decoration, waist band, arm band and anklet. These body adornments can be seen in many photographs of children taken during the anthropological survey. Thomas gives the name \u2018omorha\u2019 for the waist band. (NWT 2501; MAA\nZ 12737\n)\nIn most cases Thomas uses the English word \u2018doll\u2019 to label these figures. Occasionally a local language word is used. Two of the dolls collected in Fugar are, for example, labelled \u2018omo\u2019, which means child in the\nEdo language\n. One of the dolls collected in Agbede is labelled \u2018utomo\u2019, while another collected in Uzebba is labelled \u2018omowowo\u2019 (both of these include the word fragment \u2018omo\u2019). One example collected in Irrua is labelled \u2018agagaigboie\u2019.\nA series of photographs of an adolescent girl named Mogiake posing with a doll taken by Northcote Thomas or one of his assistants in Agbede, present-day Edo State, Nigeria, in 1909. (NWT 950a, 950, 950b; RAI 400.17301, 17300, 19718)\nIn the absence of more detailed contextual information, it is not always clear what distinguishes the figures Thomas labelled as dolls from other kinds of figures collected by Thomas.  Some, particularly more representational and less abstract figures, are visually more of less indistinguishable from those Thomas labels as \u2018ele\u2019 or \u2018olose\u2019 figurines, or figures associated with shrines. Fascinating though this wonderful assemblage of Nigerian dolls is, we can only regret that Thomas did not also collect the kinds of information he sought to elicit from others in his 1906 \u2018Questionnaire on Dolls\u2019. How interesting it would have been to have answers to those questions: Were they fed? Did they suffer from illnesses? Do they die? Are they reincarnated? What names did they carry? Did they feel emotions? Who made them? Do they have magical properties? We shall perhaps never know.\nDisplay of dolls collected by Northcote Thomas included in the\n[Re:]Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times exhibition\nat the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, June 2021-April 2022.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_3189_1_1762516971430_northcote_thomas_questionnaire_on_dolls_man_proof_1906_re-entanglements.net_-1024x710.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Northcote_Thomas_questionnaire_on_dolls_Man_proof_1906_re-entanglements.net_-1024x710.jpg", "raw_caption": "Page proofs of Northcote Thomas\u2019s \u2018Questionnaire on Dolls\u2019, published in the journalManin 1906. (Cambridge University Library.) (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 710, "file_size_bytes": 103936}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3189_2_1762516971997_n_w_thomas_lecture_on_dolls_to_royal_anthropological_institute_oldman_letter_re-entanglements.net_-1", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/N_W_Thomas_lecture_on_dolls_to_Royal_Anthropological_Institute_Oldman_letter_re-entanglements.net_-1024x616.jpg", "raw_caption": "Top right: Note recording Northcote Thomas\u2019s lecture on dolls presented to the Royal Anthropological Institute, May 14, 1907. Left: Letter from W. O. Oldman to Thomas following the lecture. Bottom right: Photograph of a Korean straw doll and Asante \u2018twin doll\u2019 enclosed with Oldman\u2019s letter. (Cambridge University Library.) (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 616, "file_size_bytes": 103290}], "tags_scraped": ["Otuo", "dolls", "Uzebba", "children", "Sabongida", "Fugar", "Agbede", "toys", "Irrua"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:02:52.513421", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 3189, "date_published": "2021-06-30T15:02:43"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_3079", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/unspoken-stories/", "title": "Unspoken stories: Five archival monologues", "raw_content": "Between 1909 and 1915, during four ethnographic surveys in West Africa, the colonial anthropologist\nN. W. Thomas\nand his assistants made over 7,500 photographs. Approximately half of these were so-called\n\u2018physical type\u2019 portraits\n: head and shoulder shots intended to document the physiological characteristics of different ethno-linguistic groups. Thomas also made hundreds of sound recordings of\nsongs\n,\nstories\n,\n\u2018linguistic specimens\u2019\nand\nconversations\n.\nTo date, from this mass of archival photographs and sound recordings, we have only been able to identify one recording of a first person narrative by an individual who Thomas also photographed. This is a speech given by\nOnyeso, the son of Eze Nri \u00c8nwele\u00e1na\n, the spiritual head of the Igbo\nNri Kingdom\nin the second half of the 19th century. In fact, only the published transcript of Onyeso\u2019s speech survives. Onyeso\u2019s speech provides a remarkable insight into the experience of colonialism from the perspective of the displaced ritual and political elite. In elliptical terms, Onyeso refers to the havoc wreaked by colonial intrusion into the Igbo cosmological order of things:\nOge \u1ee5wa G\u1ecd\u1ecdment\u1ecb b\u1ecbara , any\u1ecb wee lee, obodo mebie\n, he says (\u2018When the Government came, we looked, and the town was spoiled\u2019).\nWhat, we wondered, if Thomas had recorded the first person narratives of the hundreds of other individuals that were photographed? What other perspectives on colonialism would they have voiced? What stories would they have told of themselves and their experiences? What might they have said about their encounter with the colonial anthropologist, his camera and his phonograph recorder?\nPhysical type photographs in albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys of Igbo-speaking communities in Nigeria. Copies of the albums are held at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, the UK National Archives and the National Museum, Lagos.\nThe Haitian historian\nMichel-Rolph Trouillot\nhas written about silences in the archive and in the production of histories. Certain voices \u2013 usually the voices of the powerful \u2013 are privileged in the historical record, while others are excluded (even if they are visually present, as in Thomas\u2019s \u2018voiceless\u2019 physical type photographs). It comes as no surprise that the account of West African societies produced during Thomas\u2019s anthropological tours privileges the authorial voice of Thomas himself. This makes the inclusion in his published report of\nOnyeso\u2019s speech\n, with its anti-colonial sentiment, all the more interesting, complicating the assumption that Thomas merely represented a narrow colonialist viewpoint.\nDrawing on decolonial thought regarding presencing silenced voices in the colonial archive, and ideas of \u2018speculative history\u2019, we worked with the Sierra Leonean storyteller\nUsifu Jalloh\nand other storytellers with Sierra Leonean or Nigerian heritage to imagine the stories other individuals photographed by Thomas might have voiced had they been recorded. Five short monologues were developed collaboratively with the storytellers based on archival research but also by \u2018listening\u2019 to the photographs of the individuals, as proposed by\nTina Campt\nin her book\nListening to Images\n.\nStoryteller Olusola Adebiyi during filming of\nUnspoken Stories\n, 2020. Photograph: Paul Basu.\nWe collaborated with multimedia artist Chris Thomas Allen of\nThe Light Surgeons\n, to create a video installation of the monologues for the\n[Re:]Entanglements exhibition\n. The monologues were filmed in portrait aspect ratio to reflect the framing of the physical type portraits. Between each of the storytellers\u2019 performances, we intercut and morphed between more of the archival photographs to communicate a sense that these were just five from among many hundreds of untold stories, and that each person photographed had their own story to tell. The films\u2019 soundscapes are drawn from the wax cylinder recordings made during the anthropological surveys.\nThe monologues are, of course, works of imagination. They are also recorded in the English language, whereas Thomas\u2019s interlocutors would have spoken in various dialects of Igbo, Edo and other West African languages. We hope, however, to voice another kind of truth in these characters\u2019 words. As Usifu Jalloh notes: \u2018as a storyteller, I live in a world of magic; and in a world of magic, everything is possible!\u2019\nBelow, you will find videos of the five short monologues, followed by comments by Usifu Jalloh on each of the characters, and discussion of the archival sources that informed our scripts. The article concludes with Usifu Jalloh\u2019s more general comments on bringing the archive to life through storytelling.\nMonologue 1: Onyeso\nPerformed by Olusola Adebiyi\nListen to Usifu Jalloh discussing the character of Onyeso in\nUnspoken Stories\n.\nAlthough the text of Onyeso\u2019s speech was published in Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\nin 1913, we wanted to include this as one of the monologues for a number of reasons. As mentioned previously, Onyeso\u2019s is the only first person narrative actually given by an individual who Thomas also photographed and named. Since the original recording has not survived, we wanted to re-enact the speech and bring Onyeso\u2019s words to life.\nOnyeso\u2019s father was one of the most powerful people in the Igbo world: a \u2018spiritual potentate\u2019 of the Igbo people. When a person assumes the role of\nEze Nri\n, he dies as a mortal human and is reborn as a deity-king. In doing so, he becomes subject to many ritual prohibitions. Traditionally, the Eze Nri cannot leave the town of Nri, and should not be seen by ordinary people. An Eze Nri does not die, but \u2018goes travelling\u2019 for a number of years before a new Eze Nri is appointed through the agency of the spirits/gods. In the interregnum between \u00c8nwele\u00e1na\u2019s reign and that of Obalike, the Eze Nri when Northcote Thomas visited the town, Onyeso acted as Regent. He remained a powerful and influential man at the time of Thomas\u2019s surveys in 1910-11. He had many wives and children.\n\u2018Chief Onyeso and family\u2019, photographed by N. W. Thomas, Agukwu Nri, 1911. NWT 2236. RAI 400.15837.\nThere are at least two photographs of Onyeso in the archive. One of these shows Onyeso surrounded by his children (no fewer than 26 of them!). He wears a highly decorated gown and a European hat with the eagle feathers of his chiefly office tucked into its band. A horsetail flywhisk is laid across his shoulder \u2013 another symbol of his titled status. In his right hand, he holds a cloth, the significance of which is not clear. On his forehead we can discern ichi scarification marks.\nN. W. Thomas photographs of Onyeso of Agukwu Nri, pictured with oton, ofo and goat skin bag. NWT 2563 and 2564; RAI 400.15415 and 400.15416.\nIn a second photograph, Onyeso is seated alone on a folding deckchair (perhaps Thomas\u2019s). His right eyelid is marked with\nnzu\n, sacred chalk. Around his ankles are\nakar\u1ecb\n; anklets which again show that Onyeso has attained the\nozo\ntitle. Arranged before Onyeso, besides his goat-skin bag, are two ritually significant objects: his\noton\nand\nofo\n.\nIn his speech, Onyeso states that he received ichi marks as a baby before he cut his first teeth. He explains that the son of an Eze Nri cuts his teeth by the time he is fourteen weeks old, and that it is necessary for the child to be given the ichi marks before this. Had his teeth come through before he received the marks, this would be considered an abomination according to traditional Igbo cosmology and the child would, in Onyeso\u2019s words, be \u2018thrown away\u2019.\nOnyeso goes on to talk about the role of the Eze Nri\u2019s sons in maintaining social order. He reminds his audience that it is they who are \u2018the wearers of the leopard skins\u2019; they who have the authority to settle disputes, not the colonial government. He speaks of the traditional Nri hegemony that has been usurped by the British. This is not just a matter of political authority, but Nri\u2019s role in maintaining the cosmological order. Through Nri control of ritual power, the land is \u2018made good\u2019. It is this order that has broken down through the coming of \u2018the Government\u2019. There is a suggestion that the Igbo people have willingly accepted colonial authority, perhaps as a way of freeing themselves from Nri\u2019s power over them.\nOnyeso stands for the traditional patriarchal and ritual order, which has been shattered by the coming of the Europeans. He speaks defiantly of this into the phonograph recorder of the colonial anthropologist.\nSee also\nIt is I who come, Onyeso!\nMonologue 2: Unnamed children\nPerformed by Nadia Maddy\nListen to Usifu Jalloh discussing the children\u2019s perspective in\nUnspoken Stories\n.\nAs well as adult men and women, Thomas photographed many children during his surveys. We wondered how they might have experienced the anthropologist\u2019s visit to their town or village. What did they make of this strange white man, who spoke with a funny voice in a mysterious language through intermediaries. What did they make of all the boxes and crates that his carriers and assistants brought with them: a box with a glass eye on legs that he crouched behind (the camera), another box with a wide mouth, into which people were asked to speak (the phonograph). What rumours might have passed between the children about these things? The white man was capturing people\u2019s faces, capturing their voices. What was he doing with them? Where was he taking them?\n\u2018Boys\u2019, photographed by Northcote Thomas or an assistant at Aja-Eyube, present-day Delta State, Nigeria, in 1909. NWT 1410c; RAI 400.16679.\nIn the photographs, some children seem to avert their eyes from the camera\u2019s lens; others gaze open-eyed, partly in curiosity, partly in fear; some hide behind their older siblings. Had they been told by their parents to do as the white man instructed? Would they be punished if they did not comply?\nUnlike the other four monologues, we imagined this as a story as a conversation between different children as they exchanged views about what they had seen and heard. We used names recorded by Thomas or his assistants during the 1909-10 Edo tour. The children relate the views of adults they have overheard: that the white man is a trickster, like Egui the tortoise in traditional Edo stories. They also relate how their elders have outwitted the\noyibo\n: how one man gave misinformation about his name, how the blacksmith over-charged the white man for tools he had been asked to make for his collection.\nChildren\u2019s game, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Eviakoi, near Benin City, 1909. NWT 1199a; RAI 400.18304.\nWe also did not want to over-state the impact of the colonial anthropologist\u2019s visit in the communities he worked. His presence would have been fleeting, and no doubt the children had other chores to perform or games to play. His visit may have soon been forgotten.\nMonologue 3: Yainkain\nPerformed by Anni Domingo\nListen to Usifu Jalloh discussing the character of Yainkain in\nUnspoken Stories\n.\nMen\u2019s voices and perspectives dominate in the colonial ethnographic archive. We wanted to challenge the white, male gaze of the anthropologist with a strong female response. One of the most powerful photographic portraits in the archive is that of Yainkain. Described in Thomas\u2019s photo register (in the handwriting of one of Thomas\u2019s assistants) as \u2018Head wife of Chief Sehi Bureh of Tormah\u2019, Yainkain gazes defiantly to camera. Chief Sehi Bureh was not, of course, defined by his wife in Thomas\u2019s notes, and, when we \u2018listen to\u2019 this image, we are certain that Yainkain was in no way defined by her husband, even if he was the paramount chief!\nLeft: Yainkain, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Tormah, Bum Chiefdom, Sierra Leone, 1915. NWT 6191-2; RAI 400.19748. Right: Corresponding entry in photographic register (Royal Anthropological Institute).\nYainkain\u2019s hairstyle is similar to that reproduced on the carved heads of the female masquerade, the\nndoli jowei\nor \u2018dancing sowei\u2019. The masquerade of the female Bondo society is one of the few female masquerades in Africa that is actually danced by women (others represent female spirits, but are danced by men). The\nndoli jowei\nrepresents ideals of feminine beauty \u2013 the smooth, polished black surface signifies health and beauty. Yainkain personifies the Bondo spirit, while the Bondo spirit is a symbol of female qualities and power.\nNdoli jowei\n(dancing sowei) of the Bondo society, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Tormah, Bum chiefdom, Sierra Leone, 1915. NWT 6183-4; RAI 400.38125.\nThe Bondo society is an important female counterpart to the male Poro society, and keeps male power in check. Thomas writes quite a lot about the Poro society in his\nAnthropological Report on Sierra Leone\n, but he barely mentions the Bondo society. Indeed, he would have struggled to get information from the women. Perhaps Yainkain and other members of the Bondo sisterhood were proud of the fact that, while the men gave away their secrets, the women kept their knowledge to themselves. (Thomas attempted to get initiated into the Poro society, but was stopped due to the interference of the colonial authorities.)\nSee also\nSierra Leone masquerades\n.\nMonologue 4: Ngene\nPerformed by Usifu Jalloh\nListen to Usifu Jalloh discussing the character of Ngene in\nUnspoken Stories\n.\nNgene is a shrine figure, a representation or manifestation of the Igbo\nalusi\n(deity or spirit) Ngene. One would communicate with Ngene through a priest of the shrine or\ndibia\n(diviner/doctor). Sacrifices must be made. One must greet Ngene first with an offering of kola nut and alcoholic spirits. Ngene is regarded as a good spirit, but he can cause trouble if upset \u2013 for instance by building or trespassing on his land without gaining his permission. The Ngene shrine would be within a large enclosure, surrounded by mud walls decorated with\nuli\nmurals. Ngene himself is painted in white and yellow ochre; he wears the\nichi\nmarks on his forehead.\nWalls of the Ngene shrine painted with uli designs, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Nibo, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911. NWT 3068; RAI 400.16439.\nNgene tells the story of sacred gods turned into secular objects in the ethnographic museum. He represents many of the things collected by Northcote Thomas, and others like him, from Africa and now incarcerated in museums. Instead of a revered and powerful god, he is treated as a thing \u2013 a piece of shaped and painted wood that comes to stand for the \u2018primitive religion\u2019 of the local people, or a specimen of African art.\nNgene was acquired by Thomas in\nAwgbu\n, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. A label was strung around his neck, carrying the obscure description \u2018Ngene. Alusi. To keep alive\u2019. The number \u2018378\u2019 was scribbled on the back of his leg. He was crated up with other artefacts, carried over land to the port, shipped as a piece of cargo on the\nElder Dempster\nline to Liverpool, transported by railway to Cambridge and carted into the museum store room.\nLeft: Close-up of the Ngene alusi figure. Note the igbu ichi marks on the forehead. (Photograph: George Agbo.) Right: George Agbo and Paul Basu encountering Ngene for the first time having taken him out of his storage crate at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology stores, Cambridge. (Photograph: Katrina Dring.)\nFor over a century Ngene has lain in a coffin-like crate, rarely seeing the light of day. A \u2018dead\u2019 museum object. The paradox is that his incarceration has ensured the physical survival of his carved representation \u2013 had he been placed in a shrine in Awgbu, the insects would have eaten him and the weather rotted him. Perhaps he would have been burned like so many of his spirit family by iconoclastic converts to Christianity.\nAs part of the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject, we have set Ngene free (for the time being at least). Removed from his crate, he stands upright and is placed on a strange new shrine \u2013 a plinth in the museum gallery. What is he now? Part of the ethnographic archive? An African art object? Or, indeed, is he a god once again? The star of the show? A deity to dance before?\nDisplay in the [Re:]Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times exhibition at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, 2021. The display recreates a photograph taken by Northcote Thomas (or one of his assistants) in Awgbu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in which collected objects are lined up and recorded prior to being shipped to Cambridge. (Photograph: Paul Basu.)\nSee also\nCollections notes: Ngene alusi figure\nMonologue 5: John Osagbo\nPerformed by Richard Olatunde Baker\nListen to Usifu Jalloh discussing the character of John Osagbo in\nUnspoken Stories\n.\nJohn Osagbo was employed by Northcote Thomas on his first anthropological survey, which focused on Edo-speaking areas of Nigeria (present-day Edo and Delta States). John accompanied Thomas on his travels. Thomas sometimes refers to him as his \u2018boy\u2019, his \u2018servant\u2019 or his \u2018assistant\u2019. He can occasionally be seen at the edge of the frame in Thomas\u2019s photographs, holding an umbrella to shade the sitters, holding a number board, or supporting the photographic backdrop. Thomas also recorded John playing a flute.\nNorthcote Thomas gives an ident at the start of this phonograph wax cylinder recording, stating: \u2018\u2026Song played by my servant, John, February 10th, 1909.\u2019 Recorded in Benin City. (NWT 16; BL C51/2245.)\nPhysical type portrait of Igbenosa (centre of frame) made by Northcote Thomas in Benin City, Nigeria, in 1909. On left, holding an umbrella, is Thomas\u2019s assistant, whom we believe to be John Osagbo. NWT 198a; RAI 400.18019.\nAlthough John was not Thomas\u2019s official translator, the anthropologist probably relied on him for informal translations and help understanding what was going on. In return Thomas probably taught John how to use a camera and operate the phonograph sound recorder.\nNorthcote Thomas\u2019s assistant, whom we believe to be John Osagbo, appears in the periphery of many photographs from Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 tour of Edo-speaking communities. The photographs are re-framed here to place John more centrally. Left, photographed in Utekon (NWT 427; RAI 400.15581) ; right, photographed in Agbede (NWT 959; RAI 400.17317).\nWe don\u2019t know how John came to work with Northcote Thomas, but it must have been a remarkable experience. He would have travelled extensively throughout the Edo-speaking territories of Southern Nigeria as part of Thomas\u2019s retinue. As Thomas\u2019s \u2018boy\u2019 or \u2018servant\u2019, he was probably intimately familiar with Thomas\u2019s personal habits and quirks. The photographs show that he dressed in European clothes, though went barefoot. We might imagine him being plucked out of his ordinary life in Benin City and finding himself part of the world of the colonialists.\nLetter from Northcote Thomas to Alexander Fiddian of the Colonial Office dated 14 May 1910, after Thomas\u2019s return from his first anthropological survey. Thomas writes, \u2018I have an assistant \u2013 John Osakbo \u2013 the most capable boy I ever saw. He can\u2019t read or write. I recommend that he get a retaining fee (\u00a31 per mensem) during my absence on condition that he learns to read and write. He should also go and get training in photography. He is in Benin City and could do all this there.\u2019 (TNA CO 520/100.)\nAt the end of the 1909-10 survey, Thomas sent a letter to Alexander Fiddian at the Colonial Office in London expressing his appreciation of John \u2013 Thomas describes him as \u2018the most capable boy I ever saw\u2019 \u2013 and asking that he be paid a retainer of \u00a31 a month, on condition that he learns to read and write. He also suggests that he receive training in photography, which, he notes, can be done in Benin City. His address in Benin City is given as care of Mr J. C. Mbanugo at the Government Telegraph Office in Benin City.\nWe do not know if Thomas\u2019s requests were acted upon. There is no mention of John in Thomas\u2019s subsequent tours in Igbo-speaking areas of Nigeria. We don\u2019t know what happened to him. Did he learn to read and write? Did he receive formal training in photography? Perhaps he became a photographer, or went on to work for the colonial administration? Or were Thomas\u2019s promises empty ones? Did he return to obscurity, forever recalling his year as the anthropologist\u2019s assistant? We might imagine him as an elderly man, in the 1970s, telling stories about his youthful escapades with Mr Northcote \u2013 maybe his grandchildren\u2019s eyes rolled at hearing the stories told again and again!\nJohn was, of course, just one of many assistants that accompanied Northcote Thomas on his travels in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. John represents all those who straddled, perhaps uneasily, the worlds of the British colonialists and the indigenous populations. They were rarely the main subject of Thomas\u2019s photographs, but they appear occasionally in the periphery. There is an interesting pair of photographs, one presumably taken by Thomas of a uniformed man, wearing the stripes of a corporal. We believe this is Corporal Nimahan, a corporal in the Police Force and one of Thomas\u2019s main interpreters in 1909-10. Nimahan and John Osagbo would have travelled together, and we imagine the older man cautioning John not to allow himself to be enthralled by the world of the colonialists (reminding him he is merely a \u2018servant\u2019 after all). The other photograph, taken in exactly the same location, beside the same bush, is of Thomas himself, most likely taken by Nimahan.\nLeft: Northcote Thomas, probably photographed by his translator/assistant Corporal Nimahan (RAI: 400.38267); Right: Corporal Nimahan, in the same location, probably photographed by Northcote Thomas (RAI 400.38292).\nInterpreters and assistants can be seen in other photographs made during the anthropological surveys, including in a photograph \u2013 again presumably taken by one of Thomas\u2019s assistants \u2013 of a meeting of chiefs to discuss a land dispute in Neni, present-day Anambra State, in 1911. John tells the story of these people ambiguously caught between worlds. They are part of the African world that Thomas was researching, but also caught up \u2013 at least for a while \u2013 in the world of the researcher and the colonialists. Dressed like the white anthropologist, jotting down notes, operating the camera and the phonograph, how were they perceived by the local people? We can read much into the interchange of gazes in the photograph taken in Neni. This being \u2018between worlds\u2019 has become an increasingly familiar experience. Many of the descendants of those photographed may have migrated to or been born in Europe or North America, and speak English as a first language, yet still retaining a profound connection to Africa. (See, for example, Obianuju Helen Okoye\u2019s article on\nAncestral Reconnections\n.)\n\u2018Group of chiefs at meeting of land dispute and Government Anthropologist\u2019, photographed by one of Northcote Thomas\u2019s assistants in Neni, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911. NWT: 2270; RAI 400.15905.\nSee also\nPeripheral presences: N. W. Thomas\u2019s field assistants\n.\nBringing the archive to life through storytelling\nUnspoken Stories was a collaboration between the [Re:]Entanglements project and the storytellers who gave voice to these five characters from the archive. They were led by the Sierra Leonean storyteller,\nUsifu Jalloh\n, also known as The Cowfoot Prince. Jalloh was born in Kamakwie in the north of Sierra Leone, attended St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown, and began his professional storytelling career as a member of the famous Tabule Theatre group. In the remainder of this article, he discusses how West African storytelling traditions can bring the anthropological archives of Northcote Thomas to life.\nAs a professional storyteller, I have learnt that stories are the palm oil with which wisdom is swallowed. The work that Northcote Thomas did in many ways reflects the traditions of oral storytelling. Most African kingdoms and communities have designated families entrusted with and dedicated to learning, archiving and telling the stories of the past. These people are called Djali among the Malinke people of West Africa.\nThrough the voices of these highly respected people we are able to access the lives of ancestors past. Their stories are sometimes yardsticks embedded with moral and ethical codes that guide the smooth running of the community.\nSierra Leonean storyeteller, Usifu Jalloh (\nwww.usifujalloh.com\n).\nStorytelling is used effectively today to connect the younger generation to their ancestral identity. One way this is done is by understanding names given to certain children or objects. Names are used in storytelling to maintain genetic continuity. My name is Jalloh. It identifies me to be a Fulla and that I am from a merchant clan. The same is true for names belonging to blacksmiths, hunters and farmers. This is one important aspect of information for a storyteller in order to influence and maintain traditions of old.\nThrough the names recorded by Northcote Thomas we are transported back to the narratives of families a hundred years ago and more. We have been able to reawaken the lives of ancestors into a contemporary paradigm through the objects, sounds, photographs and names provided. Much like the ancient Djali did and still do.\nTo bring these characters to life we had to search within our own cultural experiences. Each chosen character resonated deeply within all the tellers for this project. All the storytellers had to draw from their practical experiences to give the narratives of these characters a real time relevance.\nFor example, I related to Ngene as I am also a part of the rites of passage fraternity in my community. We have the Matoma masquerade, which is revered and serves as a protector for the farms. There is Bondo, which Yainkain must have been part of during her rites of passage from girl to womanhood. My grandmother was the one who initiated many girls. I grew up with many aunties like Yainkain, beating drums and singing all night during initiation ceremonies.\nIn addition to this is the dual Afro-colonial narrative, which John embodies. I went to a school with a strict European paradigm, and we were all taught in a manner that encouraged us to leave behind our identity as native Africans to embrace the new \u2018civilised\u2019 Western ways. We wore suits and ties to school, and learnt and spoke English, French and Latin with pride \u2013 usually in spite of our native tongue. We saw John as a young man in this dual thought process, which many young Africans still experience today.\nThe curiosity of children is as present today as it was back a hundred years ago. I can still remember the fascination of standing in front of a camera for a photoshoot with my family. It was usually a special event where we will dress up with our Sunday best, as we called it. We would wait with excitement for a few days for the photos to be printed and then show off to all friends and relatives who visited our home.\nThe fascination of seeing a white person is still yet another attraction. Rumours and hearsays of the whiteman coming to catch the evil spirit, Kassila, at the river were rife because white people seemed not to be afraid of swimming far into the river where the evil Kassila resides. These were useful reflections while the storytellers were developing the story for the children. There was also ample information given in the records of Northcote Thomas that formed a springboard for us to leap from.\nThe Unspoken Stories video installation at the [Re:]Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times exhibition, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, 2021. (Photograph: Paul Basu.)", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_3079_0_1762516972577_northcote_thomas_physical_type_photographs_in_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x641.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Northcote_Thomas_physical_type_photographs_in_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x641.jpg", "raw_caption": "Physical type photographs in albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys of Igbo-speaking communities in Nigeria. Copies of the albums are held at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, the UK National Archives and the National Museum, Lagos.", "width": 1024, "height": 641, "file_size_bytes": 88823}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3079_19_1762516973148_northcote_thomas_to_fiddian_regarding_john_osagbo_1910-1024x702.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Northcote_Thomas_to_Fiddian_regarding_John_Osagbo_1910-1024x702.jpg", "raw_caption": "Letter from Northcote Thomas to Alexander Fiddian of the Colonial Office dated 14 May 1910, after Thomas\u2019s return from his first anthropological survey. Thomas writes, \u2018I have an assistant \u2013 John Osakbo \u2013 the most capable boy I ever saw. He can\u2019t read or write. I recommend that he get a retaining fee (\u00a31 per mensem) during my absence on condition that he learns to read and write. He should also go and get training in photography. He is in Benin City and could do all this there.\u2019 (TNA CO 520/100.)", "width": 1024, "height": 702, "file_size_bytes": 85471}], "tags_scraped": ["John Osakbo", "Bondo", "children", "physical type", "film", "The Light Surgeons", "Usifu Jalloh", "Ngene", "storytelling", "Onyeso"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:02:54.261841", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 3079, "date_published": "2021-06-14T13:49:50"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_3003", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/labels/", "title": "Collection notes: object labels", "raw_content": "Labelling matters\nAs part of the broader movement to decolonise museums, the labels used to identify and describe objects in collections has attracted critical attention. In many cases, the language used on museum labels, particularly in ethnographic museums, is outdated, offensive and inappropriate. This includes the labelling of particular ethnic or cultural groups.\nProminent initiatives to rethink the use of museum texts include the\nWords Matter\nprogramme and publication organised by the\nResearch Centre for Material Culture\nin The Netherlands and the\nLabelling Matters\nproject at the\nPitt Rivers Museum\n, Oxford. Both organisations are partners in the\nMuseum Affordances / [Re:]Entanglements\nproject.\nThe \u2018Labelling Matters\u2019 project at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford aims to identify areas of improvement and to trial ways of changing its public texts where derogatory and other problematic language is used. It seeks to reimagine the definition of labelling and find innovative ways forms of interpretation to challenge the traditional narratives of its current displays. See\nhttps://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/labelling-matters\nA main focus of this work has been to attend to the labelling of objects in public galleries. This has resulted in various gallery interventions where alternative texts have been produced to \u2018re-narrate\u2019 the displays. However, as Ciraj Rassool has noted in his article \u2018\nMuseum Labels and Coloniality\n\u2019, textual records become attached to cultural artefacts from the moment of their acquisition. It is at this moment that they are first classified, often according to \u2018tribal\u2019 categories that themselves reflect colonial ideologies. This is part of a process in which objects, as well as people, become \u2018entribed\u2019.\nThe labelling and re-labelling of collections is an important part of an object\u2019s biography. Even when old labels have been removed, it is important that they are retained as part of the historical record. In this article, we take a closer look at some of the historical labels that are, or have been, attached to objects assembled by Northcote Thomas during his anthropological surveys in Nigeria and Sierra Leone.\nN. W. Thomas collection labels\nVarious different labels have been attached to objects in the so-called \u2018Thomas Collection\u2019 at the\nMuseum of Archaeology and Anthropology\nin Cambridge. The first of these appears to be have been attached to the objects in West Africa prior to shipment to the UK. These are mostly manila luggage tags. The writing on these card labels is usually in Northcote Thomas\u2019s own hand. They typically include the sequential object number that Thomas used to identify them, a brief description of the object, including phonetic transcription of the name of the object in the local language or dialect, and the location in which the object was collected. The names of locations and \u2018tribal\u2019 groups are sometimes used interchangeably, and some of these are now regarded as offensive colonial appellations:\nAfemai\nethnic groups/territories in the north of present-day Edo State are, for example, labelled \u2018\nKukuruku\n\u2019;\nUrhobo\ngroups/territories in present-day Delta State are labelled \u2018Sobo\u2019. Only very occasionally have we have identified more extensive field notes made by Thomas about particular objects he collected, so these original labels constitute the main source of information about each item.\nExamples of Northcote Thomas\u2019s original luggage tag labels from his 1909-10 survey of the Edo-speaking peoples of Southern Nigeria. Note reference to the \u2018Kukuruku\u2019 region/tribe \u2013 now regarded as an offensive colonial term referring to Afemai ethnic groups of North Edo, Nigeria.\nOnce the objects arrived at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge, some of the information on the original labels was transferred to catalogue books and new labels were attached to the objects. Sometimes the original labels were left in place, in other cases they were removed. There is, for example, a collection of detached labels associated with objects from Thomas\u2019s\n1909-10 survey of Edo-speaking peoples\nin the Museum\u2019s archive. Pre-printed labels were made for the materials collected during Thomas three tours in Southern Nigeria with the words \u2018Thomas Colln | S. Nigeria 1910-13\u2019 printed at the top. Under this printed header, are written: Thomas\u2019s original object number, a Museum accession number, a brief description of the object taken from the original label, and the place of collection. These were either adhered directly onto the objects or stuck on small luggage tags and tied to the objects. For the Sierra Leonean collections, equivalent labels were produced in-house, with \u2018Thomas Collection | Sierra Leone 1914\u2019 typed at the top.\nNecklace made from \u2018kolime\u2019 tree root made and worn by women after childbirth, collected by Northcote Thomas in northern Sierra Leone (probably Samaia) in 1914. Bottom left: Thomas\u2019s original luggage tag label, which includes additional information such as the\nSusu language\nname of the necklace and the fact that women would continue wearing the necklace for the rest of their lives. Bottom right: label attached to the necklace once it was accessioned into the collections of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge. Note that no location is given for the object, only reference to\nSusu\n\u2013 part of what Ciraj Rassool refers to as the \u2018museum entribement\u2019 of collections. (\nMAA Z 14441\n)\nIt is likely that the work of relabelling the Nigerian collections was started in 1913-14, between Thomas\u2019s third and fourth tours. The 1914 annual report of the University of Cambridge Antiquarian Committee makes mention of Thomas spending a week at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, as it was then called, \u2018classifying and labelling his collections\u2019. It appears that the relabelling work continued for some time. Evidently labels were prepared for objects from Thomas\u2019s catalogues that could not actually be identified or located in the Museum: an envelope containing such labels survives in the Museum archive. In the curator Baron von Hugel\u2019s hand is written: \u2018Thomas Collection | Written labels of objects not identified | A.v.B. 1916\u2019.\nExcerpt from the 1914 Annual Report of the University of Cambridge Antiquarian Committee, noting that Northcote Thomas had \u2018devoted a week to superintending the work of roughly classifying and labelling his collections\u2019. Thomas left for his final tour as Government Anthropologist on 18 February 1914.\nAn envelope in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology archive containing object labels for items in what was called the \u2018Thomas Collection\u2019 that could not be located. The note on the envelope is written by the Museum\u2019s curator, Baron von Hugel, and is dated 1916.\nIn preparation for the\n[Re:]Entanglements project exhibition at the Museum of Archaeology and Archaeology\n, we have collaborated with the museum conservation programme at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London (UCL) to\nconserve objects collected by Northcote Thomas\nthat will be included in the displays. As part of the process, the object labels were also conserved, acknowledging that they are integral parts of the objects\u2019 histories and biographies. One of the students working on the project, Ben Knox, takes up the story \u2026\nConserving Thomas collection labels\nby Ben Knox\nThe way an object is labelled can influence the perceived history and values associated with an item or wider collection. Conversely damage or loss of labels can take away the context of an object.\nAs a conservation student at UCL I had the pleasure of working on a small selection of objects from the Thomas Collection as part of the Museum Affordances / [Re:]Entanglements project. As well as preparing the objects for exhibition, this work included cleaning, flattening and repairing their historic labels.\nAs conservators, we attempt to use the minimal amount of materials in treating objects, with the goal of cleaning, repairing and stabilising an object without introducing undue changes or excessive modern materials.\nAs noted by Paul Basu above, we encountered two types of labels: small paper labels stuck directly to the objects and larger card tags tied on with twine. The small paper labels had come unstuck around the edges, with some buckled and one completely detached from the object. Those with loose edges were re-stuck using a water-based methyl cellulose adhesive.\nIn the case of one mirror frame that we were working on, collected by Thomas in Okpe in 1909, the paper label had buckled and was lifting away from the surface of the object in the middle. Initial attempts to counter this by introducing a small amount of water vapour to ease the tension in the paper and make it easier to manoeuvre were unsuccessful, so it was decided to fully remove the label from the object, thus allowing flattening and stain removal.\nDifferent stages in the treatment of the paper label on the mirror frame (ourzugegbe) collected by Northcote Thomas in Okpe in 1909. The label, which was poorly adhered to the mirror frame, was removed from the frame for conservation and then reattached. Right: stages in the cleaning and conservation of the paper label. (\nMAA Z 13092\n)\nThe label was removed with two soft bristle brushes, gently brushing water under the edges and easing it away from the surface of the object. In order to remove the stains and flatten the label water vapour was introduced from under the label, with a dry absorbent layer over top. As the water vapour moved through the label it mobilised some of the dirt, allowing it be drawn away from the surface of the label into the absorbent layer. After the stains were removed, the label was dried under weights to ensure it remained flat before being adhered back to the mirror frame.\nThe large brown luggage tags presented a different challenge to treat as they were thicker than the small paper labels and ranged from slightly buckled to significantly curled. Most of these include brief notes in either pencil or pen with a number and the object\u2019s cultural group or collection location.\nMy initial focus for the luggage tags was a label from what Thomas described as an \u2018oji onu\u2019 mask, collected in Awgbu (then spelled Obu) in present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. The label had become badly curled, with tears along edges and weak points where the label had been bent. To allow treatment I gently untied the tag from the mask and cleaned minor dirt from the surface of the luggage tag.\nStages in the conservation of the crumpled luggage tag label associated with the \u2018oji onu\u2019 mask collected by Northcote Thomas in Awgbu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911. Top right: the brittle, curved label being \u2018humidified\u2019 in a polyester sheet tent. Bottom right: the label after conservation. (\nMAA Z 14230\n)\nAfter surface cleaning I placed the label in a sealed polyester sheet \u2018tent\u2019 with water vapour. This controlled micro-environment allowed the paper fibres to become humidified and relaxed, permitting me to ease the label from its original curled state to a flat state. Once flat the label was placed under weight, ensuring that it did not curl again as it dried.\nOnce the label had dried flat I repaired any tears in the paper and supported weak parts of the luggage tag. This was done with a small amount of water based adhesive and strips of a special type of tissue paper (conservation-grade k\u014dzo long fibre tissue paper) that gave strength to the repairs.\nIn the case of a large carved mirror frame that was being conserved, the brown luggage tag had broken completely at one end. Thankfully the detached piece had been saved, preserved with the object in a sealed plastic bag. After initial surface cleaning of the luggage tag I decided not to attempt to remove the tied end of the luggage tag and instead repair the tag in situ. After carefully aligning the two pieces I adhered the two edges together, placed a length of tissue paper over top and brushed adhesive over the tissue paper and onto the luggage tag to give strength to the join. This repair was allowed to dry under weight before the luggage tag was turned over, at which point another piece of tissue paper was placed along the join and adhesive brushed over. Small tears in the luggage tag were also adhered together and backed with tissue paper to support the repairs.\nThe final object I was able to work on was a charm from Sierra Leone. Two luggage labels were tied to this object: a larger pre-printed Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology tag, and a smaller tag with a paper label stuck on it (those used on Thomas\u2019s Sierra Leone collection). Both were curled, with the larger label cracked and torn in places, while the smaller label was in mostly good condition.\nStages in the conservation of two luggage tag labels associated with a charm collected by Northcote Thomas in northern Sierra Leone in 1914. The smaller label was conserved \u2018in situ\u2019 attached to the charm to avoid damaging its string. In an attempt to flatten it, it was humidified and held in a clamp (bottom left). Right: the pre-printed Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology label before and after conservation. (\nMAA Z 14499\n)\nTo treat the larger label I initially placed it in a polyester sheet tent with slow release water vapour to gently relax the paper fibres in the label and allow it to be gradually flattened. The label was then dried under weight to ensure it remained flat. Although the detached fragment had been included with the label, there still remained a gap in the long bottom edge of the label. To help support this I adhered the detached fragment to the large label and then backed both the fragment and gap on the label with tissue paper to strengthen the repair. Minor tears and weak points from folding were also adhered and backed with tissue paper to ensure the repairs were supported.\nFor the smaller label I decided not to remove it from the charm as this may have damaged the string holding it onto the object. Instead, I introduced water vapour to the label by clamping it between archival cardboard and Bondina polyester sheets, with a Gore-Tex barrier layer to stop direct contact between the damp paper and label to avoid saturation. Because this was not dried under weight, the label remained a little curved, but in a more stable and legible state.\nAs a conservation student it is often daunting to treat historic objects, especially when trialling new treatment approaches. Overall the treatments proved successful, allowing the labels to be more easily read and handled without worry of causing further damage. Perhaps the most effective method was the use of humidification to help flatten the various labels. The gentle and controlled introduction of water vapour, followed by careful flattening and drying, proved to be a very effective treatment for the labels.\nIt has been a great opportunity to work on these objects from the Thomas Collection and as a student I feel much more confident in treating organic materials, especially works on paper. I would like to give special thanks to conservator Carmen Vida for her support while treating these objects, and all those who are involved in the [Re:]Entangelments project for allowing access to these objects.\nThanks for your great work too, Ben!", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_3003_1_1762516974371_northcote_thomas_collection_labels_maa_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Northcote_Thomas_collection_labels_MAA_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Examples of Northcote Thomas\u2019s original luggage tag labels from his 1909-10 survey of the Edo-speaking peoples of Southern Nigeria. Note reference to the \u2018Kukuruku\u2019 region/tribe \u2013 now regarded as an offensive colonial term referring to Afemai ethnic groups of North Edo, Nigeria.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 77915}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3003_2_1762516974949_susu_necklace_and_labels_collected_by_northcote_thomas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Susu_necklace_and_labels_collected_by_Northcote_Thomas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Necklace made from \u2018kolime\u2019 tree root made and worn by women after childbirth, collected by Northcote Thomas in northern Sierra Leone (probably Samaia) in 1914. Bottom left: Thomas\u2019s original luggage tag label, which includes additional information such as theSusu languagename of the necklace and the fact that women would continue wearing the necklace for the rest of their lives. Bottom right: label attached to the necklace once it was accessioned into the collections of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge. Note that no location is given for the object, only reference toSusu\u2013 part of what Ciraj Rassool refers to as the \u2018museum entribement\u2019 of collections. (MAA Z 14441)", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 90191}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3003_3_1762516975498_university_of_cambridge_annual_report_antiquarian_committee_1914_p5_re-entanglements.net_-1024x219.j", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/University_of_Cambridge_Annual_Report_Antiquarian_Committee_1914_p5_re-entanglements.net_-1024x219.jpg", "raw_caption": "Excerpt from the 1914 Annual Report of the University of Cambridge Antiquarian Committee, noting that Northcote Thomas had \u2018devoted a week to superintending the work of roughly classifying and labelling his collections\u2019. Thomas left for his final tour as Government Anthropologist on 18 February 1914.", "width": 1024, "height": 219, "file_size_bytes": 33442}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_3003_4_1762516976060_museum_of_archaeology_and_anthropology_northcote_thomas_collection_labels-1024x576.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Museum_of_Archaeology_and_Anthropology_Northcote_Thomas_Collection_labels-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "An envelope in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology archive containing object labels for items in what was called the \u2018Thomas Collection\u2019 that could not be located. The note on the envelope is written by the Museum\u2019s curator, Baron von Hugel, and is dated 1916.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 91027}], "tags_scraped": ["Sobo", "Labelling Matters", "Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology", "UCL Conservation", "labels", "Urhobo", "Kukuruku", "Pitt Rivers Museum", "Afemai", "object labels"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:02:56.567629", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 3003, "date_published": "2021-03-25T22:57:18"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_2690", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/botanical-collections/", "title": "N. W. Thomas botanical collections", "raw_content": "Examples of laid herbarium specimens collected during N. W. Thomas\u2019 anthropological surveys at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (RBG\nK000412375\n;\nK000489471\n;\nK000234313\n)  (Click image to enlarge.)\nAlthough the collecting of botanical specimens fell outside the remit of his anthropological surveys,\nNorthcote Thomas\ndevoted increasing energy to this pursuit during his tours in West Africa. Collections made during his final tour, in Sierra Leone, between 1914 and 1915, still constitute one of the most comprehensive reference collections of Sierra Leonean plant species in the world.\nLike many aspects of his work as \u2018Government Anthropologist\u2019, collecting information about plants was not something Thomas was instructed to do by the colonial authorities, but was rather something he undertook on his own initiative. While his published reports make little mention of botany, Thomas was clearly very interested particularly in the medicinal uses of plants among the people he worked with.\nLists of medicinal plants used at Otua and Sabongida, North Edo. Excerpts from the object catalogue from Thomas\u2019 1909-10 anthropological survey of the Edo-speaking peoples of Nigeria. (MAA Doc.413) (Click image to enlarge.)\nAs far as we know, he did not collect actual samples of plants during his 1909-10 survey of Edo-speaking people of Nigeria. He did, however, make detailed notes on indigenous names of plants and their uses. Unfortunately, due to changes in pronunciation and the idiosyncrasies of\nThomas\u2019 phonetic transcriptions\n, it is not easy to identify species based on the vernacular names of plants written in Thomas\u2019 notes. We were, however, able to identify\nova\n, in Thomas\u2019 list of medicinal plants in Otuo, North Edo, which is recorded as being used as a \u2018strengthening medicine\u2019 for babies. \u2018The child\u2019, Thomas explains, \u2018is washed with it and drinks it for three months. Then the leaf is put in the girdle\u2019. According to a 2017 article by Prof Idu MacDonald and colleagues at the\nUniversity of Benin\nconcerning \u2018indigenous plants used by the Otuo tribe\u2019,\nova\nis identified as\nAlchornea cordifolia\n, which is widely used in traditional medicine throughout sub-Saharan Africa.\nThomas began collecting samples of plant specimens during his next tour, in 1910-11, in what was then the Awka District of Southern Nigeria \u2013 corresponding approximately to present-day\nAnambra State\n. Having assembled an initial collection of about 350 specimens from Awka and Agulu, Thomas sent these to the\nRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew\n, so that their\nscientific names\ncould be determined. It appears that he intended to include these lists of vernacular name, scientific name and local uses in his reports on the Igbo-speaking peoples of Nigeria.\nLeft: Given his interest in West African botany, Thomas photographed very few plants in situ. He photographed this example of\nGloriosa superba\n(English:\nflame lily\n; Igbo:\nolodi\n) against his photographic backdrop in vicinity of Agukwu Nri in 1911. (NWT 2826a; RAI 400.16241) Right: A more recent colour photograph of\nGloriosa superba\n(http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org).\nIn a letter of 11th May 1911 to\nDavid Prain\n(1857-1944), Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Thomas apologises for the poor quality of the specimens. \u2018I fear most of them are in very bad condition\u2019, he writes, \u2018as I have been having four tornadoes a week for some time and mist round my tent till 10am every day, so that nothing can be kept dry.\u2019 He also explains that he lacks the technical knowledge and equipment to preserve seeds in such conditions, and seeks advice and materials so that specimens can be kept in better order in the future.\nOver the following months, Thomas sends further batches of specimens to Kew for identification. In one letter he notes that \u2018the collections are largely made by my junior interpreter\u2019. Alas, we do not know the name of this interpreter and, typical of colonial era scientific practice, the specimens are all recorded under Thomas\u2019 name. Thomas did seek to have this interpreter employed to continue the work of collecting during the following dry season at a cost of \u00a320, including carriers. Neither the colonial government of Southern Nigeria nor Kew was disposed to fund this. In a letter from\nArthur W. Hill\n(1875-1941), Assistant Director at the Royal Botanic Gardens, an offer was, however, made to purchase specimens collected under Thomas\u2019 supervision at \u2018the usual rate of \u00a32 per 100 specimens\u2019 \u2013 so long as they were in good condition and properly labelled.\nLeft: Excerpt from \u2018List of plants (in part) collected by Mr N. W. Thomas. Recd.1911-1912\u2019 prepared by John Hutchinson, assistant Tropical Africa section, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (RBG PDL Folio 205) Right: Excerpts from corresponding pages of plant catalogue, including vernacular (Igbo) names of specimens and their uses. (MAA Doc.416) (Click image to enlarge.)\nAt Kew, the actual work of identifying the scientific names of the plant specimens sent by Thomas was most likely undertaken by\nJohn Hutchinson\n(1884-1972), who was then assistant in the Tropical Africa section. In an internal memo attached to his determination list, Hutchinson notes that many of the specimens could not be identified due to the absence of flowers or fruits, which, in addition to leaves, are frequently necessary to determine species.\nPrain conveyed Kew\u2019s enthusiasm that Thomas should continue to send specimens during his subsequent tours and provided further guidance on botanical collecting practice. Templates were prepared for labels to encourage Thomas and his assistants to improve the quality of their documentation at the time of collection. These were adapted from a design included in a 1908 edition of Kew\u2019s\nBulletin of Miscellaneous Information\n, dedicated to\n\u2018The Useful Plants of Nigeria\u2019\n.\nLeft: Page from the\nRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Additional Series IX, The Useful Plants of Nigeria\n, 1908, providing guidance on botanical collecting and labelling. Centre: Correspondence between Kew and the Crown Agents for the Colonies regarding labels for Thomas\u2019 botanical collections. Right: Examples of labels used by Thomas during his 1912-13 tour of Asaba District, Southern Nigeria. (Click image to enlarge)\nEquipped with better knowledge about botanical collecting practices and materials, the specimens and associated information assembled during Thomas\u2019 1912-13 tour focusing on Igbo-speaking communities in the Asaba District (the north-east area of present-day\nDelta State\n) and 1914-15 tour of\nSierra Leone\nwere of much better quality. Thomas continued to send batches to Kew, where they were identified, mounted on cards and accessioned into its\nHerbarium\n\u2013 a vast reference collection of the world\u2019s plant species.\nLeft: Specimen of\nDioscorea smilacifolia\n(Igbo:\nikwolo ji oku\n) collected by Thomas or one of his assistants in Ezi, in present-day Delta State, Nigeria, on 10 February 1913 (RBG\nK001146076\n); Right Excerpt of corresponding page from Thomas\u2019 list of specimens collected on his 1912-13 tour, including vernacular (Igbo) name and uses of specimens. Thomas notes that the root of\nDioscorea smilacifolia\nis yam-like and is eaten at times of famine. (Click image to enlarge)\nDespite gathering knowledge about West African plants and their uses on a more systematic basis, Thomas\u2019 ambition to publish his findings on indigenous botanical knowledge seems not to have come to fruition. In April 1915, however, as Thomas\u2019 anthropological survey of Sierra Leone drew to a close, the authorities at Kew suggested to Thomas that they collaborate on a definitive handbook on the\nFlora of Sierra Leone\n. Envisaged was a book that would appeal to a broader public rather than only botanical experts, and to include many illustrations by John Hutchinson that would make the volume \u2018attractive and valuable\u2019. A copy of Fawcett and Rendle\u2019s\nFlora of Jamaica\n(1910) was sent to Thomas to give him an idea of what was proposed.\nThe letter, probably from David Prain, provides an indication of the significance of the collections assembled by Thomas and his assistants in Sierra Leone: \u2018Thanks to your zeal and perseverance \u2026 I do not think there is anywhere so complete a collection representing the flora of Sierra Leone as there is now at Kew\u2019. The letter continues: \u2018We have had few collectors in Africa who have been so successful as you have been of late in Sierra Leone and I should be very sorry indeed if the opportunity of getting anything really good out of your efforts should be missed\u2019.\nWhile the possibility of the\nFlora of Sierra Leone\nwas being deliberated, another Kew botanist \u2013 Keeper of the Herbarium,\nDr Otto Stapf\n(1857-1933) \u2013 drafted a more modest contribution, which was incorporated into Thomas\u2019\nAnthropological Report on Sierra Leone\n(1916) as a\n\u2018Note on the Botanical Features of Sierra Leone\u2019\n. The\nReport\nalso includes a\nglossary of  46 Temne plant names\n, with scientific determinations \u2013 this was a very modest list, given that Thomas documented some 10,654 specimens in his botanical field books from Sierra Leone.\nLeft: \u2018Note on the Botanical Features of Sierra Leone\u2019 by Otto Stapf published in N. W. Thomas Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone (1916). Right: Otto Stapf in 1924. (Click image to link to the article)\nAfter the First World War, plans for the proposed\nFlora of Sierra Leone\nwere superseded by a geographically more expansive initiative that was to become the\nFlora of West Tropical Africa\n, the first part of which was originally published in 1927 under the editorship of John Hutchinson and John McEwan Dalziel (1872-1948). Correspondence with Thomas from the 1920s survives in the Kew archives, showing that he was consulted from time to time on the Sierra Leonean material while the manuscript was being prepared. The\nFlora of West Tropical Africa\nhas been revised periodically and remains a major reference work.\nAfter his few intense years employed as Government Anthropologist, Thomas fell into professional obscurity. In the late 1920s he moved to a cottage in the\nMalvern Hills\nin Worcestershire. One of the last letters we have found, written by Thomas in August 1928 from his\nWest Malvern\naddress, is to Arthur Hill, who had taken over as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He thanks Hill for sending him a copy of the newly published\nFlora of West Tropical Africa\n, but, in a manner typical of Thomas, then goes on to list typographical errors and misprints relating to his own contributions, including the misprinting of his own initials.\nDespite the professional disappointments of his later life, Thomas continued to be interested in the medicinal properties of West African plants. In the early 1980s, the Canadian anthropologist Richard Slobodin (1915-2005) began research for a biography on Thomas. (He has previously written a biography of Thomas\u2019 contemporary\nW. H. R. Rivers\n.) It is a project Slobodin did not complete, but one of the snippets of information he obtained from Thomas\u2019 surviving daughter, Flora (1910-91), was that her father grew such medicinal plants in his garden.\nReconstructing Thomas\u2019 Sierra Leone itineraries\nAs well as their value to botanical and pharmaceutical science, the plant collections assembled during Thomas\u2019 anthropological surveys provide an important resource for assessing environmental change in Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone. This is a project we hope to pursue with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and colleagues in Nigeria and Sierra Leone in the future. In the meanwhile, it is through the high quality of the documentation of these botanical specimens that we have been able to reconstruct Thomas\u2019 itineraries, particularly during his 1914-15 tour of Sierra Leone.\nExamples of botanical specimen labels used during Thomas\u2019 1914-15 tour of Sierra Leone. They provide details of the specimen number and vernacular name, but also place and date collected, allowing us to reconstruct Thomas\u2019 journeys in Sierra Leone. Note the use of a rubber stamp with Thomas\u2019 signature. (Click image to enlarge)\nIn his botanical field books, Thomas listed the specimen number ranges collected in particular places, along with the dates they were collected. (Click image to enlarge)\nThrough the information on the specimen cards and field books, we have been able to correlate dates and locations, and thereby follow his journey. Furthermore, in preparation for the abandoned\nFlora of Sierra Leone\nproject, Thomas was asked to provide a sketch-map identifying each of the locations from which the specimens were obtained. This allows us to be certain of locations in cases where the spelling of place names has changed or where there are multiple places with the same name.\nThomas\u2019 sketch map showing the locations in Sierra Leone at which herbarium specimens were collected, 1914-15. (RBG) (Click image to enlarge)\nThis was especially useful in the case of Thomas\u2019 Sierra Leone tour, since his work was largely focused in northern and central Sierra Leone. We learn from the botanical specimens, however, that he spent the last three months of the tour travelling in\nMende\n\u2013 and\nSherbro\n-speaking areas of the south. It is likely that he travelled by\nrail\nto the southern towns of\nBo\nand\nKenema\n, and then proceeded by foot/hammock to\nPujehun\n, Tomabum, Talia, Gbangbama, Victoria, Kanga, then back to the railway town of Mano, before ending his tour in\nFreetown\nat the beginning of April 1915. There are few photographs from this part of his journey, possibly because restrictions caused by the First World War meant that he was unable to obtain new glass plate negatives.\nCollecting the world?\nPreliminary work for a study of the archives and collections from Thomas\u2019 anthropological surveys was undertaken by\nRoger Blench\nand Mark Alexander in the 1980s. While, like Slobodin\u2019s biography, this initiative was not completed, Blench and Alexander began to document the whereabouts of the various collections, and this has been invaluable starting point for the work we have been pursuing in the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject.\nIn an article published in\nThe Nigerian Field\nentitled \u2018The Work of N. W. Thomas as Government Anthropologist in Nigeria\u2019 (1995), Blench reports that many of the specimens collected by Thomas (or, as we now know, his assistants) were no longer traceable at Kew. Blench states that many of the Thomas specimens were duplicates already in the collection and that they were exchanged with other herbaria around the world. \u2018Apparently\u2019, he writes, \u2018no record was kept of the destinations of these specimens nor was a record kept of the information recorded on the cards. As a result, much of the data was effectively lost, and many of Thomas\u2019s vernacular names can no longer be tied to specimens\u2019.\nPerhaps as a result of Blench\u2019s inquiries, Kew botanist Humphrey Burkhill conducted a thorough survey of the Thomas specimens at Kew as compared with those listed in Thomas\u2019 field books. In an internal memorandum he reported that only 55% of the Nigerian collections and 36% of the Sierra Leonean collections could be located. In response, Nigel Hepper, another specialist in African plants at Kew, argued somewhat defensively that the problem lay in Thomas\u2019 lack of knowledge of botanical practice of collecting duplicates under the same number, so that the total of 11,415 specimens from Thomas\u2019s surveys represented far fewer different species and included a great many duplicates. Hepper explained that it was indeed standard practice of herbaria to exchange duplicates, and that \u2018if some with different vernaculars were distributed then that was the cost of dealing with such large numbers\u2019.\nIt appears then that the sheer scale of the collections, resulting from Thomas\u2019 remarkable \u2018zeal and perseverance\u2019, undermined their usefulness. The same can be said of other aspects of Thomas\u2019 work and this partly accounts for why, despite the quantity of materials produced, Thomas\u2019 anthropological surveys produced little knowledge that could be practically applied in colonial governance. Remarkable though they were, Thomas\u2019 endeavours speak of the hubris of colonial science and its project of collecting and documenting the world; a project that was destined to fail.\nFurther reading\nBlench, R. (1995) \u2018The work of N. W. Thomas as Government Anthropologist in Nigeria\u2019,\nThe Nigerian Field\n60: 20-28.\nFawcett, W. and Rendle, A. B. (1910)\nFlora of Jamaica\n. London: British Museum.\nHutchinson, J. and Dalziel, J. M. (1927-36)\nFlora of West Tropical Africa\n, 2 vols. London: Crown Agents for the Colonies.\nMacDonald, I., Ovuakporie-Uvo, O. and Ima-Osagie, O. S. (2017) \u2018Indigenous plants used by the Otuo tribe of Owan East Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria\u2019,\nJournal of Medicinal Plants for Economic Development\n1(1): 1-10.\nSlobodin, R. (1997)\nW. H. R. Rivers: Pioneer Anthropologist, Psychiatrist of The Ghost Road\n, 2nd edition. Stroud: Sutton.\nMany thanks to Kiri Ross-Jones, Archivist and Records Manager at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for her assistance while researching this article.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_2690_0_1762516979853_northcote_thomas_flora_of_southern_nigeria_herbarium_specimens_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Northcote_Thomas_Flora_of_Southern_Nigeria_Herbarium_Specimens_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Examples of laid herbarium specimens collected during N. W. Thomas\u2019 anthropological surveys at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (RBGK000412375;K000489471;K000234313)  (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 106108}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2690_1_1762516980397_northcote_thomas_edo_tour_catalogue_of_collections_medicinal_notes_otua_sabongida_re-entanglements.n", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Northcote_Thomas_Edo_tour_catalogue_of_collections_medicinal_notes_Otua_Sabongida_re-entanglements.net_-1024x710.jpg", "raw_caption": "Lists of medicinal plants used at Otua and Sabongida, North Edo. Excerpts from the object catalogue from Thomas\u2019 1909-10 anthropological survey of the Edo-speaking peoples of Nigeria. (MAA Doc.413) (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 710, "file_size_bytes": 148245}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2690_3_1762516980943_northcote_thomas_botanical_collections_igbo_1911-12_determination_list_kew_re-entanglements.net_-102", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Northcote_Thomas_Botanical_Collections_Igbo_1911-12_determination_list_Kew_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Left: Excerpt from \u2018List of plants (in part) collected by Mr N. W. Thomas. Recd.1911-1912\u2019 prepared by John Hutchinson, assistant Tropical Africa section, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (RBG PDL Folio 205) Right: Excerpts from corresponding pages of plant catalogue, including vernacular (Igbo) names of specimens and their uses. (MAA Doc.416) (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 98000}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2690_4_1762516981507_northcote_thomas_flora_of_southern_nigeria_herbarium_specimen_labels_re-entanglements.net_-1024x603.", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Northcote_Thomas_Flora_of_Southern_Nigeria_Herbarium_Specimen_Labels_re-entanglements.net_-1024x603.jpg", "raw_caption": "Left: Page from theRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Additional Series IX, The Useful Plants of Nigeria, 1908, providing guidance on botanical collecting and labelling. Centre: Correspondence between Kew and the Crown Agents for the Colonies regarding labels for Thomas\u2019 botanical collections. Right: Examples of labels used by Thomas during his 1912-13 tour of Asaba District, Southern Nigeria. (Click image to enlarge)", "width": 1024, "height": 603, "file_size_bytes": 104258}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2690_7_1762516982083_northcote_thomas_flora_of_sierra_leone_specimen_labels-1024x324.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Northcote_Thomas_Flora_of_Sierra_Leone_specimen_labels-1024x324.jpg", "raw_caption": "Examples of botanical specimen labels used during Thomas\u2019 1914-15 tour of Sierra Leone. They provide details of the specimen number and vernacular name, but also place and date collected, allowing us to reconstruct Thomas\u2019 journeys in Sierra Leone. Note the use of a rubber stamp with Thomas\u2019 signature. (Click image to enlarge)", "width": 1024, "height": 324, "file_size_bytes": 54933}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2690_9_1762516982642_northcote_thomas_sierra_leone_herbarium_specimen_map_1914-15_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Northcote_Thomas_Sierra_Leone_herbarium_specimen_map_1914-15_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Thomas\u2019 sketch map showing the locations in Sierra Leone at which herbarium specimens were collected, 1914-15. (RBG) (Click image to enlarge)", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 84524}], "tags_scraped": ["Kew", "Otuo", "botanical specimens", "fieldwork", "Richard Slobodin", "medicine", "plant names", "Otto Stapf", "medicinal plants", "fieldwork assistants"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:03.144512", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 2690, "date_published": "2020-10-26T20:44:29"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_2662", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/igbo-conversation/", "title": "A Conversation", "raw_content": "The\nphonograph\nsound recordings made during\nNorthcote Thomas\n\u2018\nanthropological surveys in Nigeria and Sierra Leone\nare like time capsules. Between 1909 and 1915, Thomas and his local assistants made well over\n700 recordings\nof\nsongs\n,\nstories\nand \u2018\nspecimens of language\n\u2018. Many of these have been unheard for over a century.\nThanks to digitization of the\noriginal wax cylinders\nby the\nBritish Library\n, these recordings are now accessible once again. As part of the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject, we have been working with communities and local language/dialect speakers to transcribe and translate as many of the recordings as possible. It is not easy work, partly due to changes in the languages over 100 years and partly due to the poor quality of the wax cylinder recordings.\nWhen we are able to obtain a good transcription and translation, the results are often quite startling. They provide remarkable insights into a moment in time: a moment of colonial intrusion, of which the anthropological survey was, of course, a part.\nRecording No.465 was made during N. W. Thomas\u2019s 1910-11 tour of what the colonial authorities had designated Awka District, in the\nProtectorate of Southern Nigeria\n, corresponding approximately to present-day\nAnambra State\n. The recording appears to have been made in the town of Umuchukwu, also known as\nNdikelionwu\n, in 1911. It is a recording of a conversation between two young men, John, described as \u2018an\nOnitsha\nboy\u2019, and Nwile, \u2018a\nNibo\nboy\u2019. Judging from the conversation, it seems that they have both accompanied the anthropologist on his visit to Umuchukwu, although Nwile seems to know the local chief and acts as an intermediary.\nConversation in Igbo between John, from Onitsha, and Nwile, from Nibo, recorded by Northcote Thomas in Umuchukwu in 1911. (NWT 465; BL C51/2723)\nWe worked with Yvonne Mbanefo and Oba Kosi Nwoba to obtain a transcription and English translation from the Igbo. With the translation in hand, we also discovered that Thomas had actually already published a transcription and translation of the recording in the third part of his\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n, which is devoted to \u2018Proverbs, Narratives, Vocabularies and Grammar\u2019. Usually Thomas noted the record number alongside published transcriptions/translations, but on this occasion he neglected to do so. It was, however, easy to recognize the text once we received the translation. It is interesting to compare the original phonetic rendering and translation with the new one. (We discuss the\northographic conventions\nthat Thomas employed in a\nprevious blog post\n.)\nExcerpt of the transcription and translation of John and Nwile\u2019s conversation, publishing in Northcote Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part III, Proverbs, Narratives, Vocabularies and Grammar\n. (Click on image to enlarge.)\nThe transcription and translation provided by Yvonne Mbanefo and Oba Kosi Nwoba:\nD\u2019any\u1ecb, I noo mma?\nAno m nnoo!\nKedu ka \u1ecbmee?\nA n\u1ecd m nnoo \u1ecdf\u1ee5ma\nI budi onye ebe?\nAb\u1ee5 m onye Nibo\nOo!\nBrother, are you well?\nI am just there\nHow are you?\nI am just fine.\nWhere are you from?\nI am from Nibo\nOh!\nMu na gi na aluko olu na ofu ebe.\n\u1ecc maka no-ofu.\nAny\u1ecb nwa wee bia n\u2019obodo nd\u1ecb a.\nAny\u1ecb bialu \u1ee5m\u1ee5chukwu tata.\nWe work together in the same place\nIt is a good thing\nWe came to this people\u2019s town\nWe came to Umuchukwu today.\nUmuchukwu nd\u1ecb a b\u1ee5 nd\u1ecb ebe?\nFa b\u1ee5 nd\u1ecb ikeri-\u1ecdnw\u1ee5\nNd\u1ecb Ikeri-\u1ecdnw\u1ee5?\nEh!\nThis Umuchukwu is in which part?\nIt is in Ikeri-onwu.\nIkeri-onwu?\nYes!\nKedukwa onye any\u1ecb no be ya?\nAnyi no be Chief a na-akp\u1ecd Kanu.\nO!\nYa na nd\u1ecb be ya niile.\nEsego nwunye ya na foto?\nEsego nwunye ya tata\nYa na onye du?\nYa na nke onye \u1eccnicha\nEzi e?\nEh!\nWho are we even in his house?\nWe are in Chief Kanu\u2019s house\nOh!\nWith his whole family\nHave they taken photograph of his wife?\nThe wife was photographed today\nWith who?\nShe and the person from Onitsha\nTruthfully?\nYes.\nM\u1ee5nwa b\u1ee5 John ka eselu mu na ya na foto tata.\n\u1ecc ya ka m fukwalu.\nOkwu as\n\u1ecb\n!\nMba, afulu m ya, hahaha!\nD\u2019any\u1ecb amuna amu n\u2019ofu!\nI na-asika asi nwoke m.\nNwoke m, \u1ecd b\u1ee5gh\u1ecb asi, afulu m n\u2019anya.\n\u1ecc di mma ebe \u1eca fulu n\u2019anya na okwu adiro ya. Ka any\u1ecb norisizia nu.\nMa g\u1ecb gwakwa nd\u1ecb a na abiama bialu be fa.\nNnukwu ife bialu tata.\nIt is I John, that was photographed with her today.\nThat is what I have seen.\nIt is a lie!\nNo, I saw it, haha!\nBrother don\u2019t laugh like that\nYou are always lying, my man\nMy man, it is not a lie, I saw it.\nIt is ok since you saw it, there is no disputing it. Let us relax.\nBut tell them that they have a visitor.\nA big thing came today\n\u1eca gwago fa na \u1ecd b\u1ee5 nd\u1ecb-oyibo\nAgwalu m fa, si fa na nd\u1ecb-oyibo b\u1ecbal\u1ee5\nKa fa kwadobe ndi be fa niile.\nAb\u1ee5 m onye \u1eccnicha\nNn\u1ecd\u1ecd!\nG\u1ecb nwa onye Nibo.\nUnu ap\u1ee5tachago \u1ee5la?\n\u1ecc d\u1ecb mma.\nNn\u1ecd\u1ecd o!\nKedu ka unu melu?\nAny\u1ecb nocha mma mma.\nHave you told them it is the white people?\nI told them that the white people are here, let them prepare their people.\nI am from Onitsha.\nWelcome!\nYou, from Nibo.\nIt is well.\nWelcome!\nHow are you people doing?\nWe are all fine.\nKene nd\u1ecb a daal\u1ee5 o!\nChief achoo \u1eca kene g\u1ecb, g\u1ecb daal\u1ee5 o!\nSi fa na onye-ocha si fa daalu o!\nOnye-\u1ecdcha kenelu g\u1ecb mma mma o!\nGreet this people!\nChief, he wants to greet you, greetings to you!\nTell them that the white person greets them.\nThe white person greets you well.\nSi fa n\u2019anyi bialu k\u2019anyi fu fa anya o!\nAnyi b\u1ecbal\u1ee5 nkata bunu\nK\u2019anyi wee nolisia o!\nK\u2019anyi n\u1ecdlis\u1ecba ol\u1ecbl\u1ecb k\u2019any\u1ecb naa o!\nHahahaha!\n\u1eccmel\u1ee5 agaa du?\nMma mma ka \u1ecd d\u1ecb.\n\u1ecc d\u1ecb\nmma o, Nkata nkata ka \u1ecd b\u1ee5.\nKa \u1ecd d\u1ecb n\u2019ofu.\nNn\u1ecd\u1ecd o!\nIke agwubago m, ka m naa.\nEh?\nEh!\n\u1ecc\nd\u1ecb\nmma\n, kachifo! Ka \u1ecd d\n\u1ecb\nbaz\n\u1ecb\na!\nK\u2019any\u1ecb nolikwa, ikekwe any\u1ecb ga-afu \u1ecdz\u1ecd.\nNodu nma o!\nNn\u1ecd\u1ecd o!\nKa \u1ecd diba!\n\u1ecc\nd\u1ecb\nmma\n, na-eme ofuma.\nTell them we came to see them.\nWe came to have a chat in your house.\nLet us stay well!\nWhen we are done enjoying our visit, let us go!\nHaha!\nHow are things?\nEverything is fine.\nIt is well, they are all conversations.\nLet it be like that.\nWelcome!\nI am getting tired, let me go.\nOk?\nOk.\nIt is well, goodnight, later!\nLet\u2019s be seeing, we will probably see again.\nStay well!\nLater!\nIt is well, be good.\nThe conversation would, of course, have been staged for the phonograph recorder, perhaps to document the differences in Onitsha and Nibo dialects. But, while the primary purpose of the recording was linguistic, through their exchange, John and Nwile also tell us a great deal about the broader encounter between the anthropologist, the Umuchukwu elite and their own joking relationship. The latter is most evident when listening to the men laughing together.\nFrom this audio recording, we can build up a picture of the visit of the\noyibo\n\u2013 the whiteman \u2013 to Chief Kanu\u2019s compound in Umuchukwu. This entails multiple linguistic mediations between N. W. Thomas and John, John and Nwile, and Nwile and Chief Kanu. We gain insight into the formal greetings exchanged and the communication that the anthropologist has come to see the chief and to talk. We learn that the chief\u2019s wife has been photographed that day, apparently alongside John himself! (The word \u2018\nfoto\n\u2018 has clearly entered the Igbo vocabulary by this time.)\nChief of Umuchukwu, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911. In this and subsequent photographs of the same man, the caption \u2018Chief Jacob Mb[onu]\u2019 is crossed out. If not Mbonu, could this be Chief Kanu, who is mentioned in the conversation? (NWT 2507; RAI 400.15387)\nUnfortunately, the annotations accompanying the photographs that Thomas made in Umuchukwu are vague and confusing, with crossings out and omissions. The \u2018Chief of Umuchukwu\u2019 is, however, identified (though the name \u2018Chief Jacob Mbonu\u2019 is crossed out) \u2013 is this Chief Kanu? The next photograph in the sequence is of a woman with\nmbubu\nscarification marks running down her chest and stomach. Is this one of chief\u2019s wives? (There is no sign of John besides her!) And then there is another photograph of two men dressed in European clothing. They are dressed in a similar manner to Thomas\u2019 assistants and translators elsewhere. Might they just be John and Nwile?\nThe entries in Thomas\u2019s photographic register contain no information about these two photographs taken before and after those of the Chief of Umuchukwu. The unnamed woman in the photograph on the left may be one of the Chief\u2019s wives. Note the\nmbubu\nscarification on her chest and stomach (NWT 2508; RAI 400.15388). The men in the photograph on the right are dressed similarly to other assistants and translators that accompanied Thomas on his travels. Might they be John, from Onitsha, and Nwile, from Nibo, whose conversation Thomas recorded in Umuchukwu? (RAI 2506; RAI 400.15386)\nNorthcote Thomas\u2019s phonograph recordings constitute an important and untapped historical resource. While they were recorded largely for linguistic research purposes, today they provide a unique opportunity for us to hear the voices of those normally assumed to be silenced in the colonial archive. The Indian\npostcolonial studies\nscholar\nGayatri Chakravorty Spivak\nfamously asked \u2018Can the Subaltern Speak?\u2019 \u2013 listening carefully to the colonial anthropologists\u2019 wax cylinder recordings we are in no doubt that they can indeed, and that their voices provide a crucial counter-narrative to dominant historical accounts.\nThank you to Yvonne Mbanefo, Oba Kosi Nwoba and the British Library. If you are an Igbo speaker, do please let us know if you spot any errors in the transcription or translation of the conversation between John and Nwile, or have any alternative interpretations! Please leave a comment here or email us at info@re-entanglements.net.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_2662_1_1762516983220_nwt_igbo_report_vol_iii_48-49_re-entanglements.net_-1024x683.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/NWT_Igbo_Report_Vol_III_48-49_re-entanglements.net_-1024x683.jpg", "raw_caption": "Excerpt of the transcription and translation of John and Nwile\u2019s conversation, publishing in Northcote Thomas\u2019sAnthropological Report on the Ibo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part III, Proverbs, Narratives, Vocabularies and Grammar. (Click on image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 683, "file_size_bytes": 142087}], "tags_scraped": ["Igbo", "mbubu", "Phonograph recording", "colonialism", "Kanu", "Jacob Mbonu", "phonograph", "Umuchukwu", "fieldwork assistants", "archive sound"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:04.322357", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 2662, "date_published": "2020-10-16T09:23:58"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_2636", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/maiden-spirit/", "title": "Conservation notes: Maiden Spirit mask", "raw_content": "Maiden spirit mask collected by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Nigeria, in 1911. (NWT 390;\nMAA Z 13689\n)\n[Re:]Entanglements project conservator,\nCarmen Vida\n, provides insights into some of the conservation techniques used to clean and consolidate a remarkable Igbo maiden spirit mask collected by Northcote Thomas in 1911, and how close examination can tell us more about the mask\u2019s biography both before and after it entered the museum.\nOne of the most visually striking objects that has come to the\nUCL Conservation Lab\nin preparation for the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition at the University of Cambridge\nMuseum of Archaeology and Anthropology\nis an Igbo maiden spirit mask collected by\nNorthcote Thomas\nin\nAgukwu-Nri\n, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911.\nThe maiden spirit (\nagbogho mmuo\n) is one of the most celebrated Igbo masquerade types. Although danced by men, the masquerades \u2013 manifestations of ancestral spirits \u2013 represent ideals of youthful femininity. The carved, wooden masks typically have fine facial features, with thin, straight noses, small mouths and light complexions, often decorated with\nuli\ndesigns or tattoos. They often have elaborate hair-styles, adorned with crests, coiled plaits and combs. They wear tight-fitting, vibrantly coloured and patterned appliqu\u00e9 costumes, which again evoke\nuli\nand other body painting designs. They dance mainly for entertainment, including at the annual\nUde Agbogho\nor \u2018Fame of the Maidens\u2019 festival. Thomas collected two examples of the masks in Agukwu-Nri.\nLeft and centre: Evocations of the colour and movement of\nagbogho mmuo\nin the art of\nBen Enwonwu\n; Right: Maiden spirit masquerade costume photographed by\nG. I. Jones\nin Awka, Nigeria in the 1930s.\nThe mask we have been working with is a particularly fine example. It has a yellow and white face with black tattoos or scarification marks over the eyebrows, down the forehead and on either side of the eyes. Great detail has been paid to the carving of the hairstyle and of a tall, elaborate headdress that comprises a crest, four combs extending upwards and two stands surmounted by birds in between. The crest is made up of a large diamond-shaped section that is flanked by two horns that support two curved sections with upturned bells above. The painted decoration on the mask used red, black, yellow and white pigments. At some point, probably in the mid-20th century, the mask has been secured with copper wires onto a wooden mount.\nMaiden spirit masquerade figures photographed by Northcote Thomas in Awka in 1910-11, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. (Clockwise from top left: NWT 1965 (RAI 400.17808); NWT 1967 (RAI 400.17810); NWT 1977 (RAI 400.17819); NWT 2279 (RAI 400.15914))\nThomas made a number of photographs of\nagbogho mmuo\ndancing at Awka in December 1910 and March 1911, and also photographed the masks he collected in Agukwu-Nri later in 1911. There are no photographs, however, of the masks he collected being performed and we do not know for sure whether they had been used in dances before Thomas acquired them or if he obtained them directly from the artist(s) who made them.\nAlthough Thomas did acquire complete masquerade costumes during his 1909-10 Edo tour, it does not appear that he did so on his 1910-11 Igbo tour. (There is a\ncomplete\nagbogho mmuo\ncostume\non display at the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, but provenance is unknown.) That there were additional costume elements attached to the mask we are focusing on here is, however, evident from some fibres that remain attached to the rows of holes that run around the edges of the mask, especially in the area of the jaw and chin.\nFibres attached to the holes around the edges of the mask provide evidence that it was attached to additional costume elements prior to being collected. Note also the museum label attached to the inside of the mask, recording the location in which it was collected and the Igbo name of the mask recorded by Thomas:\nIsi abogefi\n.\nUnusually, Thomas made quite detailed notes about the mask. He records the name of the type of mask as\nIsi abogefi\n\u2013\nIsi\nmeaning \u2018head\u2019, while\nabogefi\nmay be a dialect variation or erroneous rendering of\nagbogho\n, meaning \u2018girl of marriageable age\u2019. He notes that the carved bird on one side of the head represents a black pigeon (\nnd\u00f2\n), and that on the other side a parrot. The central crest he records as\nisi nkpo umu nwayi\n, a representation of a headdress women wear for dancing. Thomas records the sources of the four pigments: the black (\noji\n) and yellow (\n\u00e8d\u00f2\n) pigments are derived from trees, red (\nufie\n) is from camwood, and white (\nnzu\n) from\nchalk/white clay\n. He goes on to explain that the\nmmuo\ncomes out to dance at the feast of Anuoye during the dry season. Anuoye is a goddess of protection in Nri. He writes that the\nmmuo\nwill only dance for half a day, once a year. He goes on to detail the sacrifices made to her, and how these are later cooked and redistributed by the young men who perform the masquerade.\nConserving\nIsi abogefi\nIn preparation for the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition, the mask required conservation because there were issues with its stability and appearance that needed to be addressed. The initial condition assessment of the mask started telling us part of the history of this object. But it was by contrasting the object\u2019s present condition with that recorded in earlier photographs that the tale of the object\u2019s journey could start being pieced together.\nLeft: Photograph of the\nIsi abogefi\nmaiden spirit mask taken by Northcote Thomas at the time of acquisition in Agukwu Nri (probably against Thomas\u2019s canvas tent). Note the coiled raffia bundle next to the mask, which was possibly placed as a cushion between the mask and the wearer\u2019s head. The mask is propped up on a box file, no doubt used by Thomas for keeping his fieldnotes in order! (NWT 2934b; RAI N.76430). Right: Photograph of the same mask published in G. I. Jones\u2019\nThe Art of Eastern Nigeria\nin 1984.\nComparison with the earliest photograph, that taken by Thomas himself in 1911, allowed us to establish that the mask had already been repaired before it had been collected (see our\nearlier blog post\nabout this) and that Thomas seems to have acquired it without the costume element of which we found traces. Put together, these two facts lend more weight to the likelihood that the mask had seen previous use rather than being especially made for Thomas. Indeed, in the 1911 photograph one can also see a coiled raffia bundle, which was probably placed on top of the wearer\u2019s head as a cushionbefore putting the mask on.\nA later photograph of the mask taken for the anthropologist G. I. Jones, for his book\nThe Art of Eastern Nigeria\n, published in 1984, shows the mask free of some of the damage now visible. Specifically, the losses to the lip, and the breaks and subsequent repairs now visible on the jaw and on the four combs are not apparent in the photograph for Jones\u2019 book. This gives us an approximate point in time after which this particular damage and the subsequent repairs must have happened: post 1984.\nRepairs are particularly clear on the back of the front left comb and on the front and back right combs too, because the adhesive used has aged and darkened. The nature of the breaks and the similarity in the appearance of the adhesive used in the repairs suggests at least one episode of catastrophic damage \u2013 a fall, perhaps? \u2013 rather than gradual deterioration. Having worked on this object I have also experiential knowledge of its instability as the top heavy crest makes it prone to tipping forward.\nLeft: Details of damage on the front of the mask that were not apparent in the c.1984 photograph in G. I. Jones\u2019 book. Right: Detail of the back of the left front comb where the break and aged adhesive can be clearly seen.\nAll of the above has consequences for any future conservation of this mask: as the post-1984 repairs are relatively recent and carried out in the context of the museum, it may be acceptable to remove the darkened adhesive and redo the repairs should this become necessary. We would not consider doing this with the more historical repairs, which may instead be conserved themselves as a vital part of the object\u2019s biography. Similarly, being able to date the more recent repairs to after 1984 may help identifying the adhesive used and the best approach to its removal. The option of redoing the recent repairs was not considered at this stage because the information only became clearer as we worked on the mask, but also because at present the repairs, although disfiguring, are stable and removing them now may cause unnecessary damage.\nThe hands-on conservation of the object started with cleaning. As with other objects collected by Northcote Thomas that we have treated as part of [Re:]Entanglements, there was much surface dirt, with dust and dirt accumulated in the crevices, recesses, and carved details of the mask. Some of this dirt was relatively easy to remove using standard museum vacuum techniques. However, on organic porous materials such as wood, if dust is left for a long time it can end up becoming engrained into the pores and harder to remove, giving the object a grey and dull look. This was definitely the case with the maiden spirit mask. So, first the loose dirt and dust were removed with a museum vacuum and soft brushes. This did not prove sufficient to remove the dull grey film of engrained dirt, and after testing the steadfastness of the various pigments, the mask was carefully swabbed with a solvent to help lift the dirt off its surface. This was quite successful and some of the original sheen of the surface was returned to the object.\nThe treatment then focused on the structural issues that were placing the mask at risk. There were cracks at the base of both the horns that attach the crest to the head. The crack to the front horn, in particular, seemed to go most of the way through and moved when handled. Both cracks were consolidated and secured by injecting a protein-based adhesive into the cracks with a syringe and holding them under tension in the correct position until the adhesive cured.\nVideo showing conservation cleaning and consolidation processes on the maiden spirit mask.\nThe stand which holds the bird on the right was very loose and unstable, and the historical repair there, which we discussed in an\nearlier blog post\n, no longer secured it. The iron metal sheet of the earlier repair also had a rusted surface and small losses to the bottom edge, as well as a nail missing, and even though the corrosion was not active, it was unsightly and was therefore cleaned off slightly. Flexible fills using Japanese tissue paper and a conservation grade adhesive were made under the metal sheet to pack the joint and secure the stand, and then tinted to match the colour of the mask in that area so that they would be largely invisible.\nThe surviving lip fragment was re-adhered and the old wooden mount has been temporarily raised with a layer of Plastazote foam, so as to lift the jaw off the ground and relieve the pressure exerted by the weight of the object on the jaw, which has resulted in cracks in the wood. A new mount will be made for the exhibition display to replace the existing one, which will definitively solve this problem.\nDamage to the upturned bells on the top of the crest was also examined: two of the bells \u2013 the third and the fifth from the front \u2013 display losses. These do not present any risk to the stability of the object and therefore nothing was done other than cleaning. But a close examination of them tells of at least two episodes of damage. On the third bell some of the break edges are darkened and dirty, but there is also a cleaner and therefore relatively more recent break edge.\u00a0 Reference to the photographs showed that some of the damage to the third bell, corresponding to the darkened break edge, was there at the time Thomas photographed the object in 1911 and therefore predates acquisition. Further losses have evidently happened between the time Thomas photographed the mask and the date it was photographed for Jones\u2019 book. The fifth bell also has a small loss to the rim, with a dark break edge suggesting an old break possibly contemporary with the earlier loss on the third bell, though the photographs do not show this area and so nothing can be said with certainty.\nDetails of the damage to the inverted bell decoration along the top of the mask\u2019s crest. Highlighted in red are the darkened break edges, suggesting historical damage that is also evident in Thomas\u2019 1911 photograph; highlighted in yellow are more recent, lighter break edges.\nThroughout the conservation process, the mask gradually revealed more and more of its history, allowing us to speculate more confidently on how Thomas may have acquired it, guiding our conservation decisions, and helping us trace and even roughly date some of the damage episodes it has suffered after entering the collection. But it does not end here. As a result of this conservation treatment there is one more tale the object has started to tell us, and that could open another venue of information into this object\u2019s past.\nLeft and centre: The maiden spirit mask after the conservation treatment has been completed. Right: A maiden spirit mask now in the collection of the Art Institute Chicago, which bears a striking resemblance to that collected by Thomas despite its \u2018encrusted patina\u2019.\nDuring the research carried out on Igbo maiden spirit masks as background for the conservation treatment, a very similar mask was located in the Art Institute in Chicago (Accession No.\n1994.315\n). The mask in Chicago is described in Herbert Cole and Chike Aniakor\u2019s book\nIgbo Arts: Community and Cosmos\nas being covered in an \u2018encrusted patina\u2019 and its polychrome surface may have been lost, but it is nevertheless recognisably similar and uses the same motifs as the mask collected by Thomas, suggesting that it was made by the same artist(s). It also appears to have the remains of the costume element. This discovery may open the door to further research into the provenance and origins of the mask collected by Thomas and the role it may have played in Igbo societies before it entered the collection, and is a clear example of the affordances conservation work offers within and outside its own remit.\nAs noted above, Thomas collected two maiden spirit masks in Agukwu Nri in 1911. The second one was recently included in a virtual \u2018\nMuseum Remix: Unheard\n\u2018 trail across the University of Cambridge\u2019s museums. Senior Curator, Mark Elliot discusses some of the untold/unheard stories associated with the mask in this video.\nThe second maiden spirit mask collected by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri in 1911. (NWT 391;\nMAA Z 13690\n)\nFurther reading\nH. Cole and C. Aniakor (1984)\nIgbo Arts: Community and Cosmos\n. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California.\nB. Hufbauer and B. Reed (2003) \u2018Adamma: A Contemporary Igbo Maiden Spirit\u2019,\nAfrican Arts\n36(3): 56-65 + 94-95.\nG. I. Jones (1984) The Art of Eastern Nigeria. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.\nN. W. Thomas (1913)\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-Speaking peoples of Nigeria, Part I.\nLondon: Harrison & Co.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_2636_3_1762516984402_maiden_spirit_remains_of_costume_attached_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Maiden_spirit_remains_of_costume_attached_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Fibres attached to the holes around the edges of the mask provide evidence that it was attached to additional costume elements prior to being collected. Note also the museum label attached to the inside of the mask, recording the location in which it was collected and the Igbo name of the mask recorded by Thomas:Isi abogefi.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 93601}], "tags_scraped": ["Maiden-spirit", "Igbo", "Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology", "collections", "UCL Conservation", "agbogho mmuo", "Agukwu Nri"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:04.912513", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 2636, "date_published": "2020-10-08T12:47:12"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_2488", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/alusi/", "title": "Collection notes: Ngene alusi figure", "raw_content": "Ngene\nalusi\nfigure, collected by Northcote Thomas in Awgbu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911. Now in the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. (NWT 378; MAA\nZ 14234\n)\nOne of the most impressive objects collected by\nNorthcote Thomas\nduring his 1910-11 anthropological survey of present-day Anambra State, Nigeria is this Ngene\nalusi\nfigure. Thomas appears to have acquired this 1.25m high sculpture in\nAwgbu\n, about 11km south of\nAwka\n.\nThomas wrote a great deal about\nalusi\n(or\nalose\n) in his\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n. According to Thomas this referred to a wide range of deities or spirits, which were subordinate to\nChukwu\n, the supreme being of\nIgbo religion\n. Some, he explained, had personal names such as \u2018Ngene\u2019 or \u2018Ofufe\u2019, whose shrines were often located in large enclosures, sometimes surrounded by highly decorated walls. These shrines were the locus of weekly and annual rituals, sites for oath-taking and sacrifice. These deities are given material form in different ways, including through sculptures such as this Ngene figure.\nIn\nIgbo Arts: Community and Cosmos\n, Herbert Cole and\nChike Aniakor\nnote that in the area around Awka \u2018sculptures of gods and their supporters are typically arranged against a shrine wall often hung with cult apparatus\u2019 (1984: 89). The carvings, they explain, are rarely by the same artist \u2013 over time the figures rot, are eaten by termites or otherwise deteriorate and are replaced as necessary. They are repainted and re-dressed during annual festivals, when the community\u2019s allegiance to the deities is renewed through feasting and sacrifices.\nLeft: Detail of Ngene\nalusi\nfigure showing ichi scarification marks on forehead and white, yellow and red-brown paint pigmentation. Right: [Re:]Entanglements project researchers, George Agbo and Paul Basu, examining the Ngene figure at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology stores. (Photograph by Katrina Dring)\nWhen we first located the Ngene figure in the\nUniversity of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology\nstores, we were struck at how fresh the carving and its paint was. Unlike such figures we have seen\nin situ\n, it did not appear to have accrued the signs that it had been installed in a shrine or used in rituals. We know that Thomas commissioned carvers to make other objects he collected, such as a large number of\nukhurhe\nrattle staffs\nin Benin City, and we wondered if this was the case with Ngene.\nPhotographing Ngene in the field\nThree interesting photographs of Ngene exist from the time that it was collected. During his 1910-11 tour, Thomas began the practice of lining up objects he had collected in front of a cloth backdrop and photographing them prior to shipping them to Cambridge. Numbers are set up alongside each object, and Ngene stands in a row of objects numbered 374 to 388, including two masks, a dance paddle, an iron staff for ozo title holders, two drums, an\nogene\ngong, a rattle, a yam grater, dish, basket, cup and a mat used for carrying the dead. In total, Thomas collected 19 objects in Awgbu. One of Thomas\u2019s assistants can be seen on the left holding the backdrop straight.\nA photograph by Northcote Thomas or one of his assistants documenting collections made in Awgbu prior to being shipped to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge. Note one of Thomas\u2019s assistants holding up the backcloth on the left. The numbers, 374-388, correspond with those in Thomas\u2019 collection catalogue. (NWT 2968; MAA\nP.31227\n)\nThere are two even more intriguing photographs of Ngene in an album held at the National Museum in Lagos. The photographs were made using Thomas\u2019s\nKodak Panoram\ncamera, which had a swivel lens and created a \u2018panoramic\u2019 exposure measuring  7\u2033 x 2\u00bc\u201d on 105 format film rolls. In contrast to the formality of the documentation photo of the objects lined up with their catalogue numbers, these offer a glimpse of humour, even frivolity, behind the scenes.\nPanoramic photographs taken by Northcote Thomas or one of his assistants, captioned \u2018Chief dancing\u2019 in Thomas\u2019 photo register. The Ngene figure and other objects in the formal documentation photograph can be seen in the scene. Note the children sitting on Thomas\u2019s camp chairs, watching the scene, and one of Thomas\u2019 assistants on the left hand of the lower image. (NWT 3995 & 3996)\nIn Thomas\u2019 photo register, the images are captioned \u2018Chief dancing\u2019, and we can see two robed men in bowler hats dancing in front of an audience of young man and children, some lounging on Thomas\u2019 camp chairs. To the left of the photographs is Ngene. It appears that a number of caps have been placed on its head, but they may be placed on top of the iron staff in front. Looking carefully, one can see other objects from collection documentation photograph in the frame, and indeed it appears musicians are playing the drums and rattle that also feature in the object line up. Again, one of Thomas\u2019 assistants can be seen, smiling at the joyful spectacle, to the left of one of the photographs.\nNotes on Ngene\u2019s form\nThe Ngene figure acquired by Thomas in Awgbu shares many formal similarities to other\nalusi\nsculptures from the region, although it is also quite distinctive (it is less naturalistic than many examples). Like many\nalusi\n, it has ichi scarification marks on its forehead and a carved pattern on its chest and torso. It has a prominent umbilical hernia, a small penis, large nipples and carved bracelets and anklets. It is made from a single piece of wood and painted with white, yellow and red-brown pigments.\nFormal comparison of Ngene figure from Awgbu (left) with other\nalusi\nsculptures. The three figures on the right were collected, controversially, by Jacques Kerchache from the area around Awka in the late 1960s during the Nigerian Civil War. They featured in an exhibition\nIgbo: Monumental Sculptures from Nigeria\nin 2010.\nThe hands and feet of\nalusi\nfugures are often not naturalistic. As Herbert Cole and Chike Aniakor note, \u2018One conventionalized feature of these carvings, the palms-up hand position, has meanings which contribute to our understanding of the deities and their cults. Informants report that this shows the open-handedness or generosity of the deities, as well as their willingness to receive sacrifices and other presents. The gesture also means \u201cI have nothing to hide\u201d, suggesting honesty and a \u201cgood face\u201d (1984: 92).\nAs part of the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition, we will be recreating the line up of objects, including the Ngene\nalusi\nfigure, as per Thomas\u2019 documentation photograph above. These objects are being prepared for display at the conservation labs at the\nInstitute of Archaeology, University College London\n. The remainder of this article is written by Bill Mastandrea, a postgraduate conservation student who has been working on the figure.\n[Re:]Connecting across time: Human hands and the conservator\u2019s eye\nby Bill Mastandrea\nAs mentioned in\nprevious blog posts\n, conservation can help to provide a voice to objects which may otherwise have little to no context. Where objects are left voiceless, we run the risk of losing the valuable, humanizing information which surrounds them. It is these intangible facets of object biography that have personally interested me and propelled me to pursue conservation as a career. While the physical materiality of an object is integral, it is arguably its invisible stories which bring us closer both to it and to the people associated with it. Objects are not simply empty remnants of the past, but are living things, full of traces of what they have witnessed, endured, and experienced. While objects reveal different things to different people, the tools of conservation allow us to see particular narratives that others might miss, helping connect people of the present to those in the past.\nAs a post-graduate student in Conservation at UCL, the Museum Affordances / [Re:]Entanglements project has afforded me the great opportunity to investigate and conserve this Ngene\nalusi\nfigure prior to it being exhibited. Here I want to report particularly on discoveries made during the initial stages of the conservation process, including condition checking and visual examination under\nvisible\nand\nultraviolet\n(UV) light. My observations point to a particular episode in the figure\u2019s life history, which will inform my treatment proposal and future work on the object.\nDetails of Ngene\nalusi\nfigure, collected by Northcote Thomas in Awgbu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911. (NWT 378; MAA\nZ 14234\n)\nCondition checking of the figure began routinely, with investigation under visible light. The figure is carved from a single piece of wood and painted with white, yellow, and red-brown pigments and stands 1.24 metres tall. Intricate carving on the face, chest, upper arms, and stomach are interpreted as representative of scarification marks; and the carved rings around the ankles and wrists, bangles. Prominent areas of physical damage are noted on the head of the figure, where a non-terminal crack has formed, likely from fluctuations of temperature and humidity, and the right foot, which has been broken in two. Small flight-holes in the object are evidence of prior insect infestation, made by boring insects after reaching maturity.\nLeft: Photograph of Ngene figure taken probably in the 1930s held by the British Museum, showing the right foot apparently in tact. Right: The figure photographed by George Agbo at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology stores in 2018, showing the broken foot.\nComparison with historic photographs shows that damage to the foot occurred after it had been accessioned into the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology collection. The foot appears to be in tact in a\nphotograph of the figure probably dating to the 1930s\nheld at the British Museum. The crack in the head is already evident in that photograph and, indeed, on close inspection, it can be seen in the field photograph of the figure lined up with other objects. The crack appears, however, to have worsened over time. It is presently unclear when the insect damage took place. Remnant material on the break edge of the foot suggests that someone in the past has attempted to adhere the foot back together.\nIn order to investigate the historic repair to the foot, the figure was observed under UV light. Some materials, including those used in the creation of objects or in their repair/conservation, have characteristic fluorescence, which can help in preliminary material identification. The use of UV is a valuable tool for a conservator trying to ascertain whether a repair was carried out with an historically-used conservation material, or through a more traditional repair practice carried out by the \u2018source community\u2019 itself. When I inspected the repair on the Ngene figure\u2019s foot, the material was crusty and flaky in nature, and barely visible against the colour of the wood under ordinary light. Under UV, however, the material flouresced a pale yellow-white colour.\nTop: Detail of the figures broken right foot, showing sides A and B of the break in visible light. Bottom: Sides A and B of the break under ultraviolet light. Note the crusty, pale yellow-white material under UV.\nThis routine investigation into adhesive material on the figure\u2019s foot under UV light led, however, to the discovery of something unexpected. Hidden in plain sight, but made more obvious by UV light, were a series of hand prints on the back of the left leg and on the back of the head. In visible light, they appear only as a clear, glossy film, while under UV, these hand prints fluoresce strongly, similar in colour to that of the adhesive material used on the foot of the object. What information is there for the conservator to glean from these prints?\nLeft: Back of the head of the figure in visible light (A), showing no clear hand print, and under UV light (B), where finger prints are visible. Right: Back of the right leg of the figure in visible light (A), showing an unknown clear, glossy material, and under UV (B), where the finger prints are more visible.\nAfter discussion with the project conservator, Carmen Vida, and with Kirstie French, the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology\u2019s conservator, it was decided that non-destructive material identification of the adhesive material used to make the hand prints will be conducted. In order to identify adhesive materials, conservators use a number of methods, including\nsolubility tests\n,\nmicrochemical tests\nand what is called\nFourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy\n(FTIR). By identifying the material trace on the broken foot, it will be possibly to establish when and where the repair was likely to have taken place. And, by comparing this with the material of the hand prints, we will be able to ascertain if these were left at the same time as the repair or relate to another episode in the figure\u2019s biography.\nWhile we wait for the tests to be completed, we can only speculate as to who the hand prints belong to: Perhaps the object\u2019s creator, or a member of the community? Perhaps N. W. Thomas himself, or one of his assistants? Perhaps a long-since retired conservator at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology? Other questions arise. Do the prints on the head and leg belong to the same person? Were they created at the same time? Their orientation may tell us more about how they came to be left. Was the figure being carried or set up straight?\nFurther investigation will hopefully provide at least some of the answers to these questions. For now, the hand prints remain an opportunity for personal contemplation. Tactility is an essential aspect of human experience, and one that is experienced by nearly everyone as we navigate through our world. So much of our past has come into being through the hands, as well as minds, of artisans, craftspeople and other specialists. At the very least, these hand prints add to the biography of the Ngene figure, instilling in it yet another story of lived experience with which we can connect.\nReference\nCole, H. M. and C. C. Aniakor. 1984.\nIgbo Arts: Community and Cosmos\n. Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_2488_2_1762516986279_northcote_thomas_collections_awgbu_nwt_2968_maa_p.31227_re-entanglements.net_-1024x770.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Northcote_Thomas_collections_Awgbu_NWT_2968_MAA_P.31227_re-entanglements.net_-1024x770.jpg", "raw_caption": "A photograph by Northcote Thomas or one of his assistants documenting collections made in Awgbu prior to being shipped to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge. Note one of Thomas\u2019s assistants holding up the backcloth on the left. The numbers, 374-388, correspond with those in Thomas\u2019 collection catalogue. (NWT 2968; MAAP.31227)", "width": 1024, "height": 770, "file_size_bytes": 147315}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2488_3_1762516986832_nwt_album_tour_2_3995_and_3996_national_museum_lagos_re-entanglements.net_-1024x778.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NWT_Album_Tour_2_3995_and_3996_National_Museum_Lagos_re-entanglements.net_-1024x778.jpg", "raw_caption": "Panoramic photographs taken by Northcote Thomas or one of his assistants, captioned \u2018Chief dancing\u2019 in Thomas\u2019 photo register. The Ngene figure and other objects in the formal documentation photograph can be seen in the scene. Note the children sitting on Thomas\u2019s camp chairs, watching the scene, and one of Thomas\u2019 assistants on the left hand of the lower image. (NWT 3995 & 3996)", "width": 1024, "height": 778, "file_size_bytes": 160708}], "tags_scraped": ["Igbo", "Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology", "Awgbu", "alusi", "collections", "UCL Conservation", "museum conservation", "photography", "Ngene"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:07.348292", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 2488, "date_published": "2020-07-11T12:55:08"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_2428", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/language/", "title": "Experiments in language", "raw_content": "Linguistic research formed an important part of\nNorthcote Thomas\n\u2018 anthropological surveys in Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Prior to the early 20th century, most research into West African languages had been undertaken by Christian missionaries. In the context of the emerging colonial sciences, an understanding of local languages was not only useful in terms of communication with local populations, but it also served the project of mapping \u2018tribal\u2019 or \u2018ethnic\u2019 groups, their territories and their historical relation with one another.\nThe languages people speak and the tribal or ethnic group names they are given were often used interchangeably. In this respect, Thomas introduced a more nuanced distinction between language and ethnicity. The titles of his published reports therefore refer to the \u2018Edo-speaking\u2019 and \u2018Igbo-speaking\u2019 people of Southern Nigeria, rather than, for instance, \u2018the Edo\u2019 or \u2018the Igbo\u2019. Alas, this recognition that language and ethnicity are quite different entities was not reflected in the subtitle of his\nSierra Leone report\n: \u2018The Timne and Other Tribes\u2019.\nNorthcote Thomas\u2019 own annotated copy of his\nSpecimens of Languages from Southern Nigeria\n(1914). Cambridge University Library, Special Collections.\nCollecting specimens of language\nMethodologically, Thomas\u2019s\nanthropological surveys\nin West Africa between 1909 and 1915 were defined by practices of\ncollecting and documentation\n. Thus, he collected \u2018specimens\u2019 of language in much the same way as he collected \u2018specimens\u2019 of material culture or, indeed, specimens of local botanical species. The use of the term \u2018specimen\u2019 carries an implicit assertion about the \u2018scientific\u2019 status of the anthropological surveys and the knowledge they produced, with its connotations of objectivity, rigour and authority. (Qualities that can, of course, all be contested.)\nPages from one of Northcote Thomas\u2019s linguistic notebooks, comparing dialectical differences in Edo-speaking areas of Nigeria. SOAS Library, Special Collections. (Click image to enlarge.)\nThe process of collecting linguistic specimens included the compilation of word lists, phrases and stories. For this, Thomas enlisted the assistance of\ninterpreters\n. Finding reliable interpreters was a considerable challenge and there is much correspondence on this issue in the Colonial Office archives, especially relating to Thomas\u2019s initial tour as Government Anthropologist in 1909-10. We learn, for example, that Thomas regarded the first interpreter who had been assigned to him \u2013 a schoolteacher named Erumese \u2013 as \u2018reckless and inaccurate\u2019, while he was frustrated that his replacement \u2013 a Corporal Nimahan of the Police Force, who was \u2018thoroughly competent\u2019 \u2013 was obliged to return to his police duties after a period of four months.\nExcerpt from\nAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part II: Linguistics\n, in which Thomas lists the names of the interpreters employed during his 1909-10 tour, including Erumese, Corporal Nimahan, Osidora, Ogbebo, James Smart, George, Oganna and Isuma.\nThomas named these interpreters and acknowledged the extent and importance of their contributions in his\nEdo report\n. Unfortunately, in his subsequent reports, individual assistants are not named, though there is no doubt that their contributions remained vital. The role of interpreters also went beyond providing linguistic assistance. In a letter sent in 1911, during his second tour in what was then Awka District, for instance, Thomas praised his \u2018junior interpreter\u2019, one Alfred Nwile, remarking that he has displayed \u2018great intelligence and skill\u2019 in collecting botanical specimens.\nThe actual \u2018collecting\u2019 of words, phrases and stories, whether by Thomas or his assistants, was done either through direct transcription into text or with the use of a wax cylinder phonograph recorder. In appendices to his Edo Report, Thomas provided guidance notes for colonial officials, including use of the phonograph in linguistic documentation, and advice regarding language transcription. He provided a list of 150 words and phrases for translation to allow for comparison across languages, as well as more detailed questions about language usage. These were effectively the same techniques that Thomas and his assistants used during the four anthropological surveys.\nPages from one of Northcote Thomas\u2019s linguistic notebooks, comparing differences in Igbo dialects. SOAS Library, Special Collections. (Click image to enlarge.)\nRecordings and transcriptions\nThomas wrote up and published the results of the linguistic research from the surveys in various books and articles. These included volumes of his main anthropological reports dedicated to \u2018linguistics\u2019, \u2018vocabularies\u2019, \u2018grammar\u2019, \u2018tones\u2019 and \u2018dictionaries\u2019, as well as separate volumes entitled\nSpecimens of Language from Southern Nigeria\n(1914) and\nSpecimens of Language from Sierra Leone\n(1916), which comprise of pages of tables of words translated into different local languages and dialects. These works were distributed to members of the colonial service, as well as to university libraries. How many people actually read them at the time is unknown \u2013 one suspects not many!\nPages from Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part III\n(1913), illustrating Thomas\u2019s method of phonetic transcription and comparing dialect differences between Onitsha, Awka and Bende Igbo. (Click image to enlarge.)\nDuplicates of the wax cylinder sound recordings were also made available at the\nHorniman Museum\nin South London and the\nPitt Rivers Museum\nin Oxford for scholarly consultation. Again, these seem to have been little used. The recordings have now been digitized by the\nBritish Library\nand we have been working with these throughout the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject. In particular, we have been\ntaking the recordings back to the communities\nin which they were recorded over 110 years ago, and it has been wonderful to witness as people listen to the voices of their ancestors and reconnect with this aural heritage.\nIn many cases, Thomas published transcriptions of the audio recordings, and it is fascinating to reunite these sounds and texts.\nExperimenting with tones\nEdo, Igbo and Temne are all tonal languages, in which lexical or grammatical meaning is altered by the pitch contour in which words are spoken. Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys took place at a time when the science of phonetics was becoming established in universities in Europe. Thomas was a friend of the phonetician\nDaniel Jones\n, who ran the Experimental Phonetics Laboratory at University College London. Jones had developed a method for determining what he termed phonetic \u2018\nintonation curves\n\u2018 using phonograph cylinder recordings. Jones and Thomas worked together applying this technique to document the tonal changes in the specimens of Igbo speech that Thomas and his assistants had recorded during his 1910-11 and 1912-13 tours. According to Jones\u2019 biographers, Beverly Collins and Inger Mees (1999), this was a pioneering piece of research on tone languages.\nDaniel Jones demonstrating the use of the kymograph, an instrument for recording air pressure variations during speech. Experimental Phonetics Laboratory, University College London.\nThomas wrote up the experiment in Part VI of his\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n, providing transcriptions with musical annotations for some of the recordings they worked with. The specimens of Igbo language they worked with include such memorable expressions as \u2018Does the goat frighten the dancer?\u2019, \u2018He took an egg, cried for a cloth, passed the bridge\u2019 and \u2018He put his foot on her waist and caused a big palaver\u2019!\nTop: Pages from Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part VI\n(1914), providing a tonal transcription of phrases recorded in Awka Igbo dialect. (Click image to enlarge.) Bottom: The original wax cylinder recording from which the transcription was made, NWT 505 \u2018Spoken sentences in Igbo\u2019, recorded 1911 (British Library C51/2785). Thomas\u2019s voice can be heard between the Igbo phrases giving the translation in English.\nTop: Pages an article entitled \u2018\nSome Notes on the Tones of the Ibo Language of Nigeria\n\u2018 (originally published in 1914), providing a tonal transcription of vowel sounds recorded in the Asaba Igbo dialect. (Click image to enlarge.) Bottom: The original wax cylinder recording from which the transcription was made, NWT 627a \u2018Asaba vowel sounds\u2019, recorded 1913 (British Library C51/2975). After Thomas\u2019 introductory \u2018ident\u2019, the voice pronouncing the words is probably that of one of Thomas\u2019 assistants, who also provides the English translations.\nOrthographic debates\nIn his guidance for colonial officers, Thomas wrote that \u2018For the collection of Vocabularies or native texts, two things are essential, one is, a certain amount of training of the ear, the other is an adequate system of transcription\u2019. With regard to this system of transcription, he added, \u2018the cardinal principles are, that each sound should have a sign peculiar to itself and that each sign should represent one and only one sound\u2019.\nAt the time of Thomas\u2019s surveys, there were a number of competing phonetic alphabets in use. Thomas used a system based on modifications to Latin script through diacritical marks. This was based on a\nStandard Alphabet\ndevised by\nKarl Richard Lepsius\nfor \u2018reducing unwritten languages and foreign graphic systems to a uniform orthography in European letters\u2019, published in the 1860s and recommended for adoption by the Church Missionary Society.\nExcerpts from Appendix A of Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part I\n(1910), setting out the orthographic system that he uses for different speech sounds. Thomas explained in some detail how it should be used and modified. (Click image to enlarge.)\nIn a review of Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on Sierra Leone\npublished in the\nTimes Literary Supplement\npublished in 1916, the reviewer criticized Thomas\u2019s use of \u2018inverted vowels and coined accents\u2019, which he found confusing and wondered if there were not a more simple system. This provoked a lengthy exchange in the letters pages of the\nTLS\nthat lasted seven months, in which numerous authorities debated various issues concerning phonetic spelling.\nIn Nigeria, the Lepsius system was superseded, first, by the adoption of a \u2018Practical Orthography of African Languages\u2019, developed by the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures in the 1920s, and, subsequently \u2013 in the case of Igbo \u2013 by the \u1eccnw\u1ee5 system in the 1960s. The \u1eccnw\u1ee5 system consists of 28 consonants and 8 vowel sounds.\nThe \u1eccnw\u1ee5 system of orthography widely used in Nigeria today, with equivalent sounds as represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet in square brackets.\nN. W. Thomas, linguist?\nAs may be discerned in the discussion above, Thomas was as much a linguist as he was an anthropologist. In 1914, while he was working in Sierra Leone, he was asked to advise on the introduction of linguistics in the training of new Colonial Service staff. Candidates who passed the examination were entitled to salary supplement. In the National Archives in Sierra Leone we discovered a draft paper Thomas had prepared entitled \u2018Elementary Sketch of Phonetics\u2019, which was evidently intended as a introductory text for teaching purposes.\nHandwritten manuscript of Thomas\u2019s \u2018Elementary Sketch of Phonetics\u2019 in a correspondence file concerned with language training for officers in the Colonial Service, probably drafted in 1914. The manuscript includes annotated excerpts from proofs of Daniel Jones\u2019\nAn Outline of English Phonetics\n(1918). Sierra Leone National Archives. (Click image to enlarge.)\nIn the event, it appears that this text was not adopted, and George Noel-Armfield\u2019s book,\nGeneral Phonetics for Missionaries and Students of Languages\n(1915) was used alongside reprints of the linguistic appendix to Thomas\u2019s earlier Edo report. The latter was used as a guide for candidates who were expected to collect specimens of language from the colonial territories in which they served.\nThomas\u2019s career as a government anthropologist came to an abrupt end in 1915 at end of his Sierra Leonean tour. He did, however, continue to write articles on linguistic themes, including a broader survey of what were then called \u2018\nSudanic languages\n\u2018 (languages of the Sahel belt) published in the\nBulletin\nof the newly established\nSchool of Oriental Studies\nin 1920, and an attempt at reconstructing historical population movements through linguistic analysis in a paper entitled \u2018\nWho were the Manes?\n\u2018 published the same year in the\nJournal of the Royal African Society\n.\nThomas also taught African languages, as an occasional lecturer at the\nImperial Institute\nin London\u2019s South Kensington, as part of the\nTropical African Services Course\n. Candidates were evidently required to collect and transcribe language samples, as evidenced in a letter we discovered from Llewellyn Travers Chubb, sent to Thomas in 1925 from Bende in present-day Abia State.\nLetter from Llewellyn Travers Chubb to Northcote Thomas, 21 February 1925, from Bende, Owerri Province, referring to Thomas\u2019s teaching on the Tropical African Services Course in the autumn of 1924, and enclosing his word list assignment. (Click image to enlarge.)\nNothing of significance?\nWhat are we to make of all this endeavour today? More recent linguists have been quick to dismiss the value of Thomas\u2019s work. Betram Okolo, a linguist based at the University of Benin, Nigeria, argues that \u2018nothing of significance\u2019 was written on Igbo linguistics between 1890 and 1930, and describes Thomas\u2019 efforts as \u2018grossly inadequate\u2019 and \u2018misleading\u2019. However, his remark that Thomas\u2019 work \u2018represents one of the most idle performances offered to the public on the Igbo language\u2019 seems somewhat unfair. Indeed, it seems Okolo was not aware that the records on which Thomas conducted his tonal experiments were also recorded by him and his assistants over six years of fieldwork using primitive equipment in challenging conditions, or just how pioneering were his attempts with Daniel Jones at documenting tonal languages using \u2018scientific\u2019 methods.\nExcerpt from Betram Okolo\u2019s article \u2018\nThe History of Nigerian Linguistics: A Preliminary Survey\n\u2018, published in 1981, in which he dismisses Thomas\u2019s linguistic research, perhaps without fully appreciating its vast scope or pioneering nature.\nWhile we might contest the assertion that Thomas\u2019s linguistic work was an \u2018idle performance\u2019, its entanglement in the colonial project cannot, of course, be denied. Joseph Errington argues that \u2018Colonial linguistics needs to be framed \u2026 as a nexus of technology (literacy), reason, and faith and as a project of multiple conversion: of pagan to Christian, of speech to writing, and of the alien to the comprehensible\u2019 (Errington 2001: 21).\nFurthermore, as Judith Irvine has recently noted, \u2018These early projects contributed to the shape of African linguistics as we inherit it today, and \u2013 as part of the colonial enterprise \u2013 they had effects on the lives of the African languages\u2019 speakers\u2019 (Irvine 2008: 324). This is perhaps most evident in the use of (modified) European scripts to render many of Nigeria\u2019s and Sierra Leone\u2019s languages, and in the use of English as their national languages, such that younger people especially are turning away from their local languages.\nRevisiting Thomas\u2019s linguistic research\nAs part of the [Re:]Entanglements project, we have been collaborating with colleagues in the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages at the\nUniversity of Nigeria, Nsukka\n. In a future article, linguists Gloria Tochukwu Okeke and Ogechukwu Miracle Uzoagba will report on their experimental research on dialect change, comparing Northcote Thomas\u2019s historical sound recordings with recreations of the same texts by present-day speakers of the same dialect. Their fascinating work suggests that the value of Thomas\u2019s recordings may lie in the future rather than in the past.\nDr Gloria Okeke of the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University of Nigeria, introduces her work exploring sound changes in the Awka Igbo dialect using Northcote Thomas\u2019s historical sound recordings.\nSelected references\nCollins, B. and I. M. Mees (1999)\nThe Real Professor Higgins: The Life and Career of Daniel Jones\n. Berlin & New York.\nErrington, J. (2001) \u2018Colonial Linguistics\u2019,\nAnnual Review of Anthropology\n30: 19-39.\nIrvine, J. T. (2008) \u2018Subjected Words: African Linguistics and the Colonial Encounter\u2019,\nLanguage & Communication\n28: 323-343.\nOkolo, B. A. (1981) \u2018The History of Nigerian Linguistics: A Preliminary Survey\u2019,\nKansas Working Papers in Linguistics\n6: 99-125.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_2428_1_1762516987457_northcote_thomas_linguistic_notebook_edo_tour_1909-10_soas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x842.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Northcote_Thomas_linguistic_notebook_Edo_tour_1909-10_SOAS_re-entanglements.net_-1024x842.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from one of Northcote Thomas\u2019s linguistic notebooks, comparing dialectical differences in Edo-speaking areas of Nigeria. SOAS Library, Special Collections. (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 842, "file_size_bytes": 107618}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2428_2_1762516988002_northcote_thomas_interpreters_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Northcote_Thomas_interpreters_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Excerpt fromAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part II: Linguistics, in which Thomas lists the names of the interpreters employed during his 1909-10 tour, including Erumese, Corporal Nimahan, Osidora, Ogbebo, James Smart, George, Oganna and Isuma.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 83238}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2428_3_1762516988574_northcote_thomas_linguistic_notebook_igbo_tour_1910-13_soas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x849.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Northcote_Thomas_linguistic_notebook_Igbo_tour_1910-13_SOAS_re-entanglements.net_-1024x849.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from one of Northcote Thomas\u2019s linguistic notebooks, comparing differences in Igbo dialects. SOAS Library, Special Collections. (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 849, "file_size_bytes": 176561}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2428_4_1762516989135_northcote_thomas_igbo_report_proverbs_narratives_vocabularies_and_grammar_re-entanglements.net_-1024", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Northcote_Thomas_Igbo_Report_Proverbs_Narratives_Vocabularies_and_Grammar_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from Thomas\u2019sAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part III(1913), illustrating Thomas\u2019s method of phonetic transcription and comparing dialect differences between Onitsha, Awka and Bende Igbo. (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 106506}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2428_10_1762516989713_elementary_sketch_of_phonetics_sl_national_archives_re-entanglements.net_-1024x556.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Elementary_Sketch_of_Phonetics_SL_National_Archives_re-entanglements.net_-1024x556.jpg", "raw_caption": "Handwritten manuscript of Thomas\u2019s \u2018Elementary Sketch of Phonetics\u2019 in a correspondence file concerned with language training for officers in the Colonial Service, probably drafted in 1914. The manuscript includes annotated excerpts from proofs of Daniel Jones\u2019An Outline of English Phonetics(1918). Sierra Leone National Archives. (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 556, "file_size_bytes": 94228}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2428_11_1762516990274_travers_chubb_to_northcote_thomas_tas_course_1925_re-entanglements.net_-1024x562.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Travers_Chubb_to_Northcote_Thomas_TAS_course_1925_re-entanglements.net_-1024x562.jpg", "raw_caption": "Letter from Llewellyn Travers Chubb to Northcote Thomas, 21 February 1925, from Bende, Owerri Province, referring to Thomas\u2019s teaching on the Tropical African Services Course in the autumn of 1924, and enclosing his word list assignment. (Click image to enlarge.)", "width": 1024, "height": 562, "file_size_bytes": 77277}], "tags_scraped": ["phonetics", "interpreters", "experiment", "Karl Richard Lepsius", "missionaries", "linguistics", "orthography", "Daniel Jones", "fieldwork assistants", "Corporal Nimahan"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:11.953776", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 2428, "date_published": "2020-07-03T11:01:57"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_2278", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/ukhurhe/", "title": "Ukhurh\u1eb9 \u2013 ancestors, archives, interventions", "raw_content": "A selection of\nukhurh\u1eb9\nancestral staffs collected by Northcote Thomas in the care of the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology. Photograph by George Agbo.\nThe painstaking archival and collections-based research made possible through the\nMuseum Affordances / [Re:]Entanglements\nproject enables us to make novel connections between objects, images, texts and sounds, and opens up new avenues of understanding. Working with the material legacies of\nNorthcote Thomas\n\u2018s anthropological surveys in West Africa provides insight into cultural practices of the past, challenges assumptions about colonial collecting, and presents possibilities for creativity and collaboration in the present.\nWhen we first examined a remarkable assemblage of 39 carved wooden\nukhurh\u1eb9\nstaffs in the Northcote Thomas Collection at the University of Cambridge\u2019s\nMuseum of Archaeology & Anthropology\nin 2018, we were immediately struck by the freshness of their appearance. As far as we know, they have never been on public display and they had the appearance of coming straight from the carver\u2019s workshop \u2013 despite being at least 110 years old.\nBrian Heyer provides a succinct summary of such \u2018rattle-staffs\u2019 in Kathy Curnow\u2019s book\nIyare! Splendor & Tension in Benin\u2019s Palace Theatre\n. He writes,\nWhen an \u1eb8do man dies it is his eldest son\u2019s duty to commission an\nukhurh\u1eb9\nin his honor. He then places it on the family altar as the only essential ritual object there. An\nukhurh\u1eb9\nconsists of a wooden staff divided into segments designed to resemble the\nukhurh\u1eb9-oho\n, a bamboo-like plant that grows wild near Benin City. Each segment represents a single lifespan, and linked they are a visual symbol of ancestry and continuity. Their mass numbers on altars stress the importance of the group over the individual.\nThe top segment of the\nukhurh\u1eb9\nis hollowed by slits, a wooden piece remaining within. This acts as a rattle when the staff is stamped on the ground, a sound said to call the ancestors.\nUkhurh\u1eb9\ntopped by heads are standard for commoners and chiefs. Royal family members\u2019 examples end in hands or hands holding mudfish. Only the Oba\u2019s\nukhurh\u1eb9\ncan be made from brass or ivory, though even most of the royal staffs are usually wooden, made by the members of the Igbesanmwan royal carving guild.\nNorthcote Thomas encountered these\nukhurh\u1eb9\nstaffs during his\n1909-10 anthropological survey of the Edo people of Southern Nigeria\n. They were \u2013 and, indeed, still are \u2013 an important part of the ancestral altars located in chiefly families\u2019 palaces and compounds. Thomas photographed a number of such altars in Benin City itself and in the wider region. In Uzebba, for instance, Thomas noted that\nukhurh\u1eb9\n(which he spelled\nuxure\nor\nuchure\n) were known as\nikuta\n, but fulfilled a similar memorial function \u2013 presencing the ancestors.\nLeft:\nIkuta\nat ancestral shrine in Uzebba, 1909 (NWT 546, RAI 400.15687); Right:\nUkhurh\u1eb9\npropped against the back wall of Chief Ezomo\u2019s ancestral altar, Benin City, 1909 (NWT 160, RAI 400.17962). Photographs by Northcote Thomas, courtesy Royal Anthropological Institute.\nIn his\nAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n, published in 1910, Thomas explains that these staves \u2013 also widely known as rattle-staffs \u2013 represent particular male ancestors. They are placed on the family altar after the death of the family head, once he has transitioned into the status of an ancestor. The\nukhurh\u1eb9\nis a manifestation of the ancestor\u2019s spirit, and the family make sacrifices to the\nukhurh\u1eb9\nto honour and seek the intercession of their departed kin. Over the generations the staffs accumulate, alongside other altar objects such as ivory tusks, memorial heads, bells and\nstone celts\n.\nExcerpt from Northcote Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n(London, 1910), describing the\nuchure\n(\nukhurh\u1eb9\n).\nIn unpublished notes, Thomas describes the practices surround the ukhure in greater detail. He describes, for example,\nChief Ero\n\u2018s yearly sacrifice to his ancestors in which the blood of sacrificed cows, goats and fowl was smeared on the staffs. He describes how the\nukhurh\u1eb9\npropped against the wall at the \u2018shrine of the father\u2019 in\nChief Ezomo\n\u2018s compound were stained dark brown due to these \u2018repeated outpourings of blood\u2019. He also reports that Ero could only give the names of two of the ancestors represented by the staffs, suggesting that the massed staffs come to represent the ancestors in a more collective sense.\nIn addition to the rattle-staffs found on ancestral altars, Thomas also documents the use of larger, more elaborately carved\nukhurh\u1eb9\nof community cults associated with various divinities. In October 1909, Thomas spent several days observing the festival of the Ovia cult in the town of Iyowa, a few miles north of Benin City. He documented the ceremonies, songs and dances in great detail. (This will be the subject of a future article). The\nukhurh\u1eb9\nof Ovia plays a central part in the festival as a manifestation of the deity itself. The figure on the top of the\nukhurh\u1eb9\nhas the same form as the Ovia masquerade, which carries it.\nLeft: Ovia masquerade holding the\nukhurh\u1eb9\n(NWT 1276, MAA P.29433); Middle: boys holding Ovia\nukhurh\u1eb9\nstaffs for Thomas to photographs, note that the carved figure at the top of each staff has the form of the Ovia masquerade (NWT 1253, RAI 400.18358); Right: Cowries are offered to Ovia on the second day of the festival (NWT 1267, RAI 400.18370). Photographs by Northcote Thomas, courtesy Royal Anthropological Institute and University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology.\nPages from Northcote Thomas\u2019s unpublished typescript notes about the Ovia Festival, including description of the use of\nukhurh\u1eb9\n. Click image to enlarge.\nForty-four years after Northcote Thomas documented the Ovia Festival at Iyowa, another anthropologist \u2013 R. E. Bradbury \u2013 made a study of the same festival at Ehor, another village on the northern outskirts of Benin City. Bradbury writes that the\nukhurh\u1eb9\n\u2018are the real symbols of Ovia\u2019; \u2018they are about four and a half feet high, carved with representations of the Ovia masquerades. They, more than anything else, are identified with Ovia herself who is sometimes said to enter them when she is called upon by the priests\u2019.\nLeft: Detail of two of the Ovia\nukhurh\u1eb9\nphotographed by Northcote Thomas in Iyowa (NWT 1253, RAI 400.18358); Right: Detail of Ovia\nukhurh\u1eb9\ncollected by Northcote Thomas in Benin City in 1909 (NWT 296, MAA\nZ 20328\n). The carved figure has the same form as the Ovia masquerade, with its network headdress surmounted with parrot feather plumes, and crossed sticks beaten during the Ovia dances.\nIn\nThe Art of Benin\n, art historian Paula Girschick Ben-Amos explains that the\nukhurh\u1eb9\nof these \u2018hero deities\u2019 are \u2018different from the more commonly seen ancestral staffs, as they are much thicker and have the figure of a priest or other objects specific to the cult as a finial\u2019. \u2018The rattle staff,\u2019 she writes, \u2018is both a means of communication with the spirit world, achieved when the staff is struck upon the ground, and a staff of authority, to be wielded only by properly designated persons\u2019.\nIt is interesting to note that Thomas did not collect any\nukhurh\u1eb9\nthat had actually been used in rituals either on ancestral altars or in cult ceremonies. And this brings us back to our initial impressions of the assemblage of\nukhurh\u1eb9\nwe encountered in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology stores in 2018.\nA selection of\nukhure\nancestral staffs collected by Northcote Thomas in the care of the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nPrior to our examination of the staves we had found an intriguing exchange of letters between Northcote Thomas and\nCharles Hercules Read\n, who, in 1909, was Keeper of\nBritish and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography\nat the\nBritish Museum\n. The letters show that Thomas was under the impression that Read had agreed to acquire the collections he had been gathering during his survey, reimbursing his initial outlay in purchasing them. It is clear, however, that Read was not interested in the kinds of \u2018ethnographical specimens\u2019 that Thomas was collecting. Writing from Benin City in July 1909, Thomas explained, for example, that \u2018I have ordered all the \u201cjujus\u201d of Benin City to be carved, probable cost \u00a325\u2019. Read replied in August that \u2018I am by no means sure that I want these modern things made to order as it were, unless they serve some definite and immediate purpose\u2019.\nCorrespondence between Northcote Thomas and C. H. Read of the British Museum, 14 July 1909 and 20 August 1909. British Museum original correspondence. Click image to enlarge.\nGiven the freshness of the carvings, we suspected that the carved \u2018jujus\u2019 Thomas refers to in this letter were the\nukhurh\u1eb9\nstaffs, each surmounted with a figure representing a different deity or\nebo\n. Confirmation of this came, by chance, a couple of years later, when we found a further reference to the carvings in correspondence between Thomas and the German anthropologist\nBernhard Struck\n, curator at the\nMuseum f\u00fcr V\u00f6lkerkunde\nin\nDresden\n. Thomas and Struck maintained a professional correspondence over many years and, in a 1924 letter sent from his home near Oswestry, Thomas provides detailed corrections and comments on an scholarly article Struck was evidently working on. In a digression, Thomas notes that \u2018There are 30-40\nebo\n; I have commissioned [\nherstellen lassen\n] the\nuxure\nfrom\nEholo nigbesawa\n. They are in Cambridge\u2019.\nExcerpts from a letter from Northcote Thomas to Bernhard Struck, 6 August 1924. Thomas was a fluent German speaker/writer. In the letter Thomas comments on the manuscript of an article Struck is writing; this seems to correspond with Struck\u2019s essay \u2018Chronologie der Benin-Altert\u00fcmer\u2019 [Chronology of Benin Antiquities], but this was published in the journal\nZeitschrift f\u00fcr Ethnologie\nin 1923.\nElsewhere in the same letter, Thomas explains that \u2018Eholo nigbesawa\u2019 means Eholo the woodworker [\nHolzarbeiter\n]. In fact, however, Eholo is the title given to the head of the wood and ivory carvers\u2019 guild, the Igbesanmwan \u2013 and the name/title should be Eholo N\u2019Igbesamwan. It seems, therefore, that Thomas commissioned the\nukhurh\u1eb9\nfrom Eholo N\u2019Igbesamwan and they were either carved by him personally or by other members of the guild. According to the\nHistorical UK inflation rate calculator\n, the estimated cost of \u00a325 corresponds to approximately \u00a32850 today, so this would have been a significant and lucrative commission.\nThe story of how the\nukhurh\u1eb9\nwere obtained is important, not least since it challenges stereotypical assumptions that colonial-era collectors such as Thomas either looted objects from sacred sites or else exploited local craftspeople by paying paltry sums for their work.\nWhereas Read saw little value or purpose in these \u2018modern things made to order\u2019, it appears that, for Thomas, this was an opportunity to assemble what he perceived as a complete set of representations of Edo deities in a traditional form. While many of these deities are associated with identifiable symbols or regalia, such as that of Ovia, Thomas may have been projecting his own assumptions about the distinct visual representation of each\nebo\nwhen he commissioned them to be carved in this way. Perhaps the carvers even encouraged him in this belief! In the labels attached to each\nukhurh\u1eb9\nand in the corresponding catalogue of collections, each is given its name.\nAbove: Pages from the collections catalogue from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 tour, listing the names of the various\nebo\nrepresented on the\nukhurh\u1eb9\nstaffs; Below: Carved figures on the tops of the\nukhurh\u1eb9\ncommissioned by Thomas, corresponding to the list above. Click images to enlarge.\nCarvers still produce\nukhurh\u1eb9\nin Benin City today, and many families still maintain traditional ancestral altars in their compounds.\nUkhurh\u1eb9\nfor sale in carvers\u2019 shops in Benin City today. Left, the shop of William Edosomwan, Igun Street; Right, Emma O. Carving Depot, Igbesanmwan Street. Photographs by Paul Basu.\nChief Ezomo, James Okponmwense, shows us the ancestral shrine at his Palace. None of the\nukhurh\u1eb9\nare of particular antiquity. He explained that most of the shrine objects were sold or stolen in the 1980s. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nAs part of the [Re:]Entanglements project, we commissioned an\nukhurh\u1eb9\nto be made as a memorial to Northcote Thomas himself. We worked with traditional carver Felix Ekhator, who has a workshop on Sokponba Road, Benin City, just opposite the famous Igun Street. Felix\u2019s first calling was as a professional wrestler, but in the late 1970s he followed in his father\u2019s footsteps and focused on woodworking as a career. He made our\nukhurh\u1eb9\nin the traditional way from the wood of a kola tree, which is hard and durable. At its top Felix carved the figure of Northcote Thomas, copying his posture and clothing from a photograph taken on his 1909-10 tour.\nAbove and below: Felix Ekhator working on the Northcote Thomas\nukhurh\u1eb9\nin his workshop off Sokponba Road, Benin City. Photographs by George Agbo.\nFelix Ekhator with the finished Northcote Thomas\nukhurh\u1eb9\n. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nThe finished\nukhurh\u1eb9\nis on display alongside a selection of those commissioned by Thomas 110 years previously in Benin City at the\n[Re:]Entanglements exhibition\nat the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (June 2021 to April 2022). The exhibition uses contemporary artworks, such as Felix Ekhator\u2019s\nukhurh\u1eb9\n, as interventions to disrupt conventional expectations of what an \u2018ethnographic\u2019 or \u2018historical\u2019 display should be, and provoke further questions. Should, for example, we honour Northcote Thomas, the colonial-era anthropologist, as an ancestor? Should we introduce his presence, his agency, alongside the cultural artefacts that he caused to be produced?\nPhotographs of the\nukhurh\u1eb9\ninstallation at the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge. Felix Ekhator\u2019s contemporary\nukhure\ndisrupts our reading of the historical \u2018specimens\u2019 commissioned by Thomas.\nWe gratefully acknowledge a small grant from the Crowther-Beynon Fund that enabled us to commission the new\nukhurh\u1eb9\nfrom Felix Ekhator.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_2278_2_1762516992050_northcote_thomas_description_of_ukhure_edo_report_p.37_re-entanglements.net_-1024x417.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Northcote_Thomas_description_of_ukhure_Edo_Report_p.37_re-entanglements.net_-1024x417.jpg", "raw_caption": "Excerpt from Northcote Thomas\u2019sAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria(London, 1910), describing theuchure(ukhurh\u1eb9).", "width": 1024, "height": 417, "file_size_bytes": 84675}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2278_4_1762516992601_northcote_thomas_typescript_notes_on_ovia_festival_re-entanglements.net_-1024x642.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Northcote_Thomas_typescript_notes_on_Ovia_Festival_re-entanglements.net_-1024x642.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from Northcote Thomas\u2019s unpublished typescript notes about the Ovia Festival, including description of the use ofukhurh\u1eb9. Click image to enlarge.", "width": 1024, "height": 642, "file_size_bytes": 91897}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2278_9_1762516993145_northcote_thomas_excerpt_from_collection_catalogue_ukhure_carvings_re-entanglements.net_-1024x703.jp", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Northcote_Thomas_excerpt_from_collection_catalogue_ukhure_carvings_re-entanglements.net_-1024x703.jpg", "raw_caption": "Above: Pages from the collections catalogue from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 tour, listing the names of the variouseborepresented on theukhurh\u1eb9staffs; Below: Carved figures on the tops of theukhurh\u1eb9commissioned by Thomas, corresponding to the list above. Click images to enlarge.", "width": 1024, "height": 703, "file_size_bytes": 64688}], "tags_scraped": ["collecting", "Chief Ero", "altar", "Benin City", "artistic intervention", "Chief Ezomo", "C. H. Read", "ancestors", "Bernhard Struck", "British Museum"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:13.655221", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 2278, "date_published": "2020-06-05T10:39:54"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_2069", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/stone-axes/", "title": "Sacred stone axes on Benin altars", "raw_content": "Detail of ancestral shrine at Chief Ezomo\u2019s palace, Benin City, showing stone axe head. Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1909. NWT 160, RAI 400.17962.\nDuring his anthropological survey of the\nEdo-speaking people\nof Nigeria in 1909-10,\nNorthcote Thomas\nspent several months working in\nBenin City\nitself. His photographs of the City\u2019s\nprominent chiefs\n, its architecture, shrines and markets provide an important record of the capital of the Benin Empire just 12 years after its fall at the hands of the\nBritish Punitive Expedition\n. Although accounts of the sacking of Benin City in 1897 suggest that little was left of Benin\u2019s centuries-old civilization, it is clear from Thomas\u2019s photographs that much escaped destruction and not everything was looted.\nAncestral shrine at Chief Ezomo\u2019s palace, Benin City. Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1909. NWT 160, RAI 400.17962.\nThomas documented a number of Benin shrines in considerable detail. His photographs of the ancestral altar at\nChief Ezomo\n\u2018s palace, for example, shows many of the classic Benin shrine objects such as rattle staffs (\nukhurh\u1eb9\n), memorial heads (\nuhunmwun\n) and altar bells (\neroro\n). Of these ritual objects, Thomas seems to have been particularly intrigued by the presence of polished stone axes or celts in these assemblages.\nClose up of stone axe head from the ancestral shrine at Chief Ezomo\u2019s palace, Benin City. Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1909. Note that the axe head has been propped up against Thomas\u2019s pith helmet to take the photograph. NWT 157, RAI 400.17960.\nThomas\u2019s\nanthropological reports\nand other publications contain no information about these stone axes. Indeed, it is important to note that the vast majority of Thomas\u2019s fieldwork findings remained unpublished. In a letter written in 1923 to his friend and colleague\nBernhard Struck\n, Curator of the\nMuseum f\u00fcr V\u00f6lkerkunde in Dresden\n, he notes that he published only 10 per cent of his material from his Edo tour \u2013 that deemed to be of relevance to members of the colonial service. Among the fragments of unpublished fieldnotes and manuscripts that survive, however, there are a few pages in which he discusses the celts.\nUnpublished handwritten manuscript notes on \u2018stone implements\u2019 from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 Edo tour. The hand-writing on these pages is not Thomas\u2019s \u2013 possibly that of an assistant or his wife. University of Cambridge Library.\nThomas writes that \u2018Aro [i.e. Chief Ero] told me that they were used with Osun [a deity] or put in the ancestral shrines to represent their fathers, and were also used in foretelling\u2019. They could also be used as objects to swear by or curse: \u2018Chief Ine of Edo said that when they have to reprove a wife or child or anyone, they take a stone implement and lick it and curse them. If a man is before them whom they wish to curse, they take a stone and an\nuxure\n[\nukhurh\u1eb9\n]. They knock the\nuxure\non the ground, lick the stone and blow the spittle over the man and wish that he may not prosper\u2019.\nUnpublished handwritten manuscript notes on \u2018stone implements\u2019 from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 Edo tour. The hand-writing on these pages is Thomas\u2019s. University of Cambridge Library.\nIt was not only in Benin City that Thomas encountered these stone implements. He also records examples in Irrua, Okpe, Otua and other locations in what is today\nEdo State\n. At Okpe he was shown a stone called \u2018\nesax evalalox umu\n\u2018 [?] that was said to have fallen from the sky. Elsewhere he was told that \u2018a stone axe is a \u201csteward\u201d of lightning\u2019, and in Otua he explains that they are placed in the Osun shrine, and if they are given palm oil (as a sacrifice), then lightning will not strike the house.\nThe association between these axe heads and lightning is widespread, not only throughout West Africa, but also in Europe and elsewhere, where they are regarded as \u2018thunderbolts\u2019 or \u2018\nthunderstones\n\u2018 \u2013 weapons wielded by gods of thunder, hurled to earth, and not of human manufacture. In 1903,\nHenry Balfour\n, Curator of the\nPitt Rivers Museum\nin Oxford, had written about such \u2018\u201dThunderbolt\u201d Celts from Benin\u2019 in the anthropological journal\nMan\n, which was then edited by Thomas. In a later article in\nFolklore\n, in which he surveyed the phenomenon of thunderbolts throughout the world,  Balfour also discussed a number of small bronze pendants in the Pitt Rivers Museum collection made in the form of miniature stone axes, which had also been acquired in Benin City\nLeft: excerpt and figures from Henry Balfour\u2019s article \u2018Concerning Thunderbolts\u2019, originally read to the Folklore Society in 1929. Here Balfour describes and illustrates the miniature bronze reproductions of stone axes from Benin in the Pitt Rivers Museum collection. Right: a more recent photograph of one of these bronze pendants (Figure 11 in the 1929 article),\nPRM 1909.61.1\n.\nIn addition to the examples he photographed at Chief Ezomo\u2019s palace, Thomas also photographed an assemblage of stone axes from an ancestral shrine at Chief Ogiame\u2019s palace in Benin City, and another set at a shrine dedicated to the deity Oxwahe at Eviakoi, in the north-west outskirts of Benin City. Thomas also appears to have collected a number of examples, including one evidently dug up during forestry operations, although we have been unable to trace any of them during our research at the\nUniversity of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology\nstores.\nStone axe heads from an ancestral shrine at Chief Ogiame\u2019s palace, Benin City. Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1909. Clockwise from top left: NWT 80, RAI 400.17889; NWT 83, RAI 400.17893; NWT 82, RAI 400.17893; NWT 81b, RAI 400.17891.\nOxwahe shrine, Eviakoi, Benin City. Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1909. In addition to the stone celts placed on the altar, the assemblage in the recess includes lozenge-shaped  shaped blocks of kaolin clay/chalk (\norhue\n), also a ritual substance. On the envelope in which the negative was stored, Thomas has written \u2018Face of Ochwaihe [Oxwahe]\u2019. NWT 1206. RAI 400.18311.\nStone axe heads/implements from the Oxwahe shrine, Eviakoi, Benin City. Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1909. Clockwise from top left: NWT 1208, RAI 400.18313; NWT 1209, RAI 400.18313; NWT 1210b, RAI 400.18316; NWT 1210, RAI 400.18315.\nIt was not until\nGraham Connah\n\u2018s\nPolished Stone Axes in Benin\n, published in Nigeria in 1964, that a more substantial study of these stones became available. A British archaeologist, Connah had been appointed by the Federal Department of Antiquities to conduct a programme of archaeological excavation in Benin City in 1961. Connah was interested in these prehistoric stone axes since they represented the earliest evidence of \u2018human industry\u2019 in the region. During his research, Connah was able to consult authorities such as the well-known historian and curator of the Benin Museum,\nChief Jacob Egharevba\n, as well as the Oba of Benin,\nAkenzua II\n, himself.\nFront cover and illustration from Graham Connah\u2019s\nPolished Stone Axes in Benin\npublication. The photograph (top right) is a detail of a brass altar group thought to depict Oba Ohen at the Agwe festival, holding a stone axe head in his left hand. The line drawing is of an axe head obtained from Chief Osuabor of Benin City. Both were/are in the collection of the National Museum, Benin.\nConnah provided a review of the existing, though scant, literature on the celts and drew attention to the depiction of such axes in some of the famous Benin bronze artworks. With Egharevba, he also acquired over 20 examples for the Benin Museum, the close examination of which formed the focus of his publication. It is evident that Connah had no knowledge of Northcote Thomas\u2019s unpublished photographs and notes, which would have otherwise made an important contribution to his study.\nPlate 5 from Graham Connah\u2019s\nPolished Stone Axes in Benin\n. \u2018Group of polished stone axes etc. on Oba Akenzua II\u2019s shrine to Eweka II. (Note matchbox positioned for scale.)\nIn the present context, perhaps the most interesting section of Connah\u2019s publication is that on \u2018Bini beliefs about stone axes\u2019. Connah notes that the Bini call the axes\nughavan\n, a contraction of\nughamwan\n(axe) prefixed to\navan\n(thunder), and meaning \u2018thunder-axe\u2019 or \u2018thunderbolt\u2019. In the early 1960s they were evidently not uncommonly found on household shrines throughout Benin City, and Connah states that they could be seen on Oba Akenzua II\u2019s shrines to his predecessors,\nEweka II\n,\nOveramwen\nand Adolo. In historical bronzes, obas are sometimes depicted holding an\nughavan\nin their left hand. Here, its function is \u2018to increase the potency of a cursing or blessing\u2019.\nTwo 18th-century altar groups depicting obas holding thunder-axes in their left hands. Left: Oba Akenzua I (ascended throne c. 1711-15); right: Oba Ewuakpe (ascended throne c.1685-1700), both in the collection of the Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin. Reproduced from\nBenin Kings and Rituals\nexhibition catalogue, ed. Barbara Plankensteiner.\nConnah further notes that there was no realisation in Benin that these prehistoric stone tools had a functional origin. \u2018To the Bini\u2019, he writes, \u2018they are \u201cthunderbolts\u201d, and \u201cthunderbolts\u201d they remain. Any suggestion that they could be stone tools made at a time before the availability of iron in West Africa is met by polite misbelief\u2019. He also doubts that they have been made in more recent centuries for \u2018cult purposes\u2019, having recorded stories about how they were found during farming or embedded in trees that have been struck by lightning.\nIn her recent book,\nIyare! Splendor and Tension in Benin\u2019s Palace Theatre\n, Kathy Curnow provides a succinct summary of these fascinating objects:\nPrehistoric stone axe heads antedate metal tools. Easily damaged, they were tossed away and replaced, and readily turn up today when land is farmed. In Benin, as in many other parts of the world, they are not always recognized as man-made objects. Instead, they are considered thunderstones (\nughavan\n), the product of lightning strikes. The Edo believe Ogiuwu, the god of death, hurls them to the ground as manifestations of his power and anger. The Oba likewise has the right to kill, and gripped thunderstones or celts to magnify his curses. Still kept on altars, they call the ancestors into service as witnesses and supporters.\nReferences\nBalfour, H. 1903. \u2018\u201dThunderbolt\u201d Celts from Benin\u2019,\nMan\n, vol.3, pp.182-3.\nBalfour, H. 1929. \u2018Concerning Thunderbolts\u2019,\nFolklore\n, vol.40, pp.37-49, 168-173.\nConnah, G. 1964.\nPolished Stone Axes in Benin\n. Nigerian National Press.\nCurnow, K. 2016.\nIyare! Splendor and Tension in Benin\u2019s Palace Theatre\n. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.\nPlankensteiner, B. (ed.) 2007.\nBenin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria\n. Snoeck Publishers, Ghent.\nAll Northcote Thomas photographs reproduced here have been scanned from the glass plate negatives in the collection of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and are reproduced courtesy of the Institute.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_2069_3_1762516993768_northcote_thomas_edo_manuscript_stone_celts_1_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Northcote_Thomas_Edo_manuscript_stone_celts_1_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg", "raw_caption": "Unpublished handwritten manuscript notes on \u2018stone implements\u2019 from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 Edo tour. The hand-writing on these pages is not Thomas\u2019s \u2013 possibly that of an assistant or his wife. University of Cambridge Library.", "width": 1024, "height": 660, "file_size_bytes": 81244}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_2069_4_1762516994338_northcote_thomas_edo_manuscript_stone_celts_2_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Northcote_Thomas_Edo_manuscript_stone_celts_2_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg", "raw_caption": "Unpublished handwritten manuscript notes on \u2018stone implements\u2019 from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 Edo tour. The hand-writing on these pages is Thomas\u2019s. University of Cambridge Library.", "width": 1024, "height": 660, "file_size_bytes": 61583}], "tags_scraped": ["Chief Ero", "altar", "Graham Connah", "Benin City", "Chief Ezomo", "Ogiame", "celt", "Jacob Egharevba", "Edo", "Bernhard Struck"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:14.852702", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 2069, "date_published": "2020-04-29T11:31:46"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1987", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/nigerian-folktales/", "title": "Traditional Nigerian Folktales", "raw_content": "Pages from Northcote Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria; Part IV: Proverbs, Stories, Tones in Ibo\n(London, 1914). Click\nhere\nto open in a new browser window.\nIn the early 20th century, the disciplines of anthropology and folklore studies were very close. Prior to his appointment as Government Anthropologist in 1909,\nNorthcote Thomas\nwas a member of the Councils of both the\nRoyal Anthropological Institute\nand the\nFolklore Society\n. Folklorists, in particular, documented traditional stories and songs, and Thomas had edited a number of such collections.\nDuring his\nanthropological surveys in Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone\n, Thomas recorded many stories on wax cylinder phonographs. He transcribed and published many of these in his\nAnthropological Reports\nand in articles in the journal\nMan\n. Other than regarding these as specimens of \u2018native texts\u2019 (though, of course, they were not \u2018texts\u2019 but oral traditions), he provided little explanation or commentary. Given that his surveys were intended to be of practical value to the colonial governments that were funding them, neither did he attempt to explain the utility of collecting the stories from a governmental perspective. As with so many aspects of Thomas\u2019s surveys, while the value of the research at the time was unclear, the significance of the recordings as historical documents is now considerable.\nThe recordings are, however, challenging to listen to and the transcriptions and translations Thomas provided have many errors and inconsistencies. The potential for future research is immense. To illustrate this the [Re:]Entanglements project has worked with Yvonne Mbanefo of the Igbo Studies Initiative and Ugonna Umeike of the Department of Fine and Applied Art, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to bring some of the stories to life. Yvonne has rendered some of the stories into contemporary Standard Igbo, re-recorded and translated them, while Ugonna has illustrated the stories, drawing upon Northcote Thomas\u2019s photographs for visual reference. Here is one of the stories Thomas recorded in\nAsaba\nin 1913\u2026\nAkuko onye isi, onye ngwuro, ogbenye na Eze\n(The Story of the Blind Man, the Cripple, the Poor Man, the Thief and the King)\nAbove: Ugonna Umeike\u2019s illustration of the story; below: some of Northcote Thomas\u2019s photographs used as visual references informing the illustration.\nNorthcote Thomas\u2019s original 1913 recording of the story. NWT 613. (British Library C51/2930.)\nRe-recording of the story in Standard Igbo. Transcription/translation by Yvonne Mbanefo; voiced by Oba Kosi Nwoba.\nOtu nwoke onye isi n\u1ecd n\u2019obodo \u1ecd maara \u1ecdfuma\noge oke \u1ee5gan\u1ecb dakwasara ya.\nA blind man was in a town that he knew very well when a great famine befell him.\n\u1ecc gara na be Eze obodo ah\u1ee5, wee y\u1ecd\u1ecd ya nri.\nHe went to the king of that town, and asked him for food.\nEze nyere ya ji na an\u1ee5, \u1ecd wee were obi a\u1e45\u1ee5r\u1ecb p\u1ee5\u1ecd.\nThe king gave him yams and meat, and he walked away rejoicing.\nMana tupuu \u1ecd p\u1ee5\u1ecd, Eze nyere ya nd\u1ee5m\u1ecdd\u1ee5, gwa ya ka \u1ecd ghara \u1ecbgwa onye \u1ecdb\u1ee5la na e nyere ya nri.\nBut before he went the king advised him not to tell anyone that he was given the food items.\n\u1ecc p\u1ee5wara, wee h\u1ee5 onye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd\nb\u1ee5 onye oke ag\u1ee5\u1ee5 ji,\nHe walked\u00a0 away and\u00a0 met the cripple who was very hungry\nWee gwa ya ka \u1ecd gaa na nke Eze ka \u1ecd nata ya ihe oriri.\nAnd\u00a0he told\u00a0him to go to the king to receive things to eat from him.\nOnye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd gakwuuru Eze wee y\u1ecd\u1ecd ya nri.\nThe cripple went to the king and asked him for food.\nEze j\u1ee5r\u1ee5 ya onye gwara ya na \u1ecd nwere nri.\nThe king asked him who told him he had food.\nO kwuru na \u1ecd b\u1ee5 onye isi gwara ya.\nHe said it was the blind man that told him.\nEze weere ji na an\u1ee5 nye ya, ka o si nye onye isi.\nThe king took yams and meat and gave to him as he gave to the blind man.\n\u1ecc nyekwara ya otu nd\u1ee5m\u1ecdd\u1ee5 ah\u1ee5.\nHe gave him the same advice.\nOzugbo nje, onye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd wee jiri nway\u1ecd\u1ecd wee laa.\nImmediately the cripple went quietly.\n\u1ecc gat\u1ee5r\u1ee5 n\u2019\u1ee5z\u1ecd, wee h\u1ee5 ogbenye, malite kwuwe n\u2019olu ike\nHe went a little way, then met a poor man and began saying in a loud voice,\n\u201cGakwuru Eze maka oke nke g\u1ecb; \u1ecd na-eyere nd\u1ecb nwere nsogbu.\u201d\n\u201cGo to the king for your share; he is aiding the helpless.\u201d\nOgbenye gakwuuru Eze wee y\u1ecd\u1ecd ya oke nke ya.\nThe poor man went to the king and at once asked for his own share.\nEze j\u1ee5r\u1ee5 ya onye gwara ya na \u1ecd na-enye nd\u1ecb mmad\u1ee5 nri.\nThe king asked him who told him he was giving food to people.\nO kwuru na \u1ecd b\u1ee5 onye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd.\nHe said it was the cripple.\nEze nyere ya ihe ka o s\u1ecb nye\nOnye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd, wee gwakwa ya ihe \u1ecd gwara ya (onye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd).\nThe king gave to him as he gave to the cripple, and told him the same word he told him (the cripple).\nOgbenye p\u1ee5wara, wee h\u1ee5 onye ohi.\nThe poor\u00a0man went\u00a0away and\u00a0saw\u00a0a\u00a0thief.\nOnye ohi y\u1ecdr\u1ecd ya gwa ya ebe \u1ecd nwetara ji na an\u1ee5 mana ogbenye ekwegh\u1ecb\u1ecb.\nThe thief begged him to tell him where he got\u00a0yams and\u00a0meat\u00a0but the poor man refused.\nOnye ohi gakwuuru Eze ka \u1ecd y\u1ecd\u1ecd ya nri.\nThe\u00a0thief went to the king to ask for food.\nEze j\u1ee5r\u1ee5 ya onye \u1ecd h\u1ee5r\u1ee5 n\u2019\u1ee5z\u1ecd.\nThe king asked him whom he met on the road.\n\u1ecc gwara ya na \u1ecd b\u1ee5 onye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd.\nHe said it was the cripple.\nEze j\u1ee5r\u1ee5 ya ma \u1ecd nwere ihe \u1ecd gwara ya, \u1ecd wee s\u1ecb mba.\nThe king asked him whether he told him anything and he said no.\n\u1ecc gwara ya gaa n\u2019\u1ee5l\u1ecd onye isi na onye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd, zuo ihe ha nwere.\nHe said go to the house of the blind man and cripple and steal what they have.\nEze gwakwara ya hap\u1ee5 ogbenye, ka a ghara ikpe ya n\u2019aka Eze.\nThe king told him to leave the poor man alone so that he does not get reported to the king.\nOnye ohi zuuru ihe onye isi, ma onye isi ah\u1ee5gh\u1ecb ya, zuo ihe onye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd ma onye ngw\u1ee5r\u1ecd enweghi ike iso ya.\nThe thief robbed the blind man who didn\u2019t see him, he robbed the cripple who couldn\u2019t chase after him.\n\u1ecc b\u1ee5r\u1ee5 na o zuuru ihe ogbenye, Ogbenye ga- ekpe ya n\u2019aka Eze.\nIf he had robbed the poor man, the poor man would have reported him to the king.\nMany thanks Yvonne, Kosi and Ugonna for bringing this story to life for us!", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1987_0_1762516994964_excerpt_from_northcote_thomas_anthropological_report_igbo_proverbs_stories_tones_re-entanglements.ne", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Excerpt_from_Northcote_Thomas_Anthropological_Report_Igbo_Proverbs_Stories_Tones_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from Northcote Thomas\u2019sAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria; Part IV: Proverbs, Stories, Tones in Ibo(London, 1914). Clickhereto open in a new browser window.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 127404}], "tags_scraped": ["Igbo", "Phonograph recording", "folktale", "Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria", "stories", "Asaba"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:16.672584", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1987, "date_published": "2020-03-27T15:30:44"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1832", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/conservation/", "title": "Giving objects a voice: conservation and the N. W. Thomas collection", "raw_content": "UCL students conducting an inspection of objects from the N. W. Thomas collection at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology prior to their transfer to the UCL Conservation Lab. Photograph: George Agbo.\nAmong the many collaborations involved in the [Re:]Entanglements project is a partnership with the\nMuseum Conservation programme\nat UCL\u2019s Institute of Archaeology. Under the supervision of Drs\nDean Sully\nand\nCarmen Vida\n, students on the graduate programme have been working on a selection of objects collected by\nNorthcote Thomas\nduring his anthropological surveys of Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Project coordinator, Carmen Vida, introduces some of the contributions of conservation in this the first in a series of posts from the UCL Conservation team.\nStarting in February 2019, as part of the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject, a selection of objects belonging to the\nN. W. Thomas Collection\nat the University of Cambridge\nMuseum of Archaeology and Anthropology\n(MAA) have come to UCL\u2019s\nInstitute of Archaeology\nfor conservation. The project is allowing us to interact with the collection in new ways and to approach, explore and elicit some of the past and present meanings of the archive Thomas put together. As a result, in many cases the objects in the stores are being studied for the first time and the cobwebs are being dusted off, sometimes quite literally.\nConservation\nhas a particular role in the [Re:]Entanglements project: not only does it ensure that the objects are stable enough to be used by anyone interacting with them, but as a distinct form of engagement, it provides intimate knowledge of the objects and can shed light on their make-up and their biography. Due to the lack of contextualising documentary evidence, museum objects often appear to be \u2018mute\u2019. But even where there is documentary evidence, the histories and narratives that have reached us provide one side \u2013 often\nsomeone\u2019s\nside \u2013 of the story. Conservation can help provide a\nvoice\nto the objects themselves, which may sometimes corroborate, but at other times question, the established histories associated with the objects. In doing so, conservation affords present day audiences the possibility to re-engage with the objects, whilst exploring the way in which the archive came to be both from past and contemporary perspectives.\nDetailed documentation is essential in conservation practice. Here a student annotates photographs of a\nmask collected in Ibillo\nin present-day Edo State, Nigeria prior to conservation treatment. Photograph: George Agbo.\nBy the time the project is finished more than 40 objects will have been worked on at the Institute of Archaeology\u2019s conservation lab and at the MAA. The objects being treated vary in type and size, and are but a small part of the N. W. Thomas Collection, which includes over 3,000 objects. Some will form part of the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition due to open in Cambridge in April 2021, whilst others are being conserved because, after over a century of existence, they have become unstable even when packaged away in a museum store. The work is being carried out both by professional conservators and students, and is allowing these students to develop their skills and further their training, another affordance of the project. We are also providing running some workshops for the\nArt Assassins\n, the youth forum of the South London Gallery, which is another collaboration within the [Re:]Entanglements project.\nA fish trap collected by N. W. Thomas in Awgbu in present-day Anambra State, Nigeria undergoing reconstruction in the UCL Conservation Lab. Made from strips of bamboo, tied with plant fibres, this fragile trap was little more than a pile of sticks prior to conservation. NWT (2) 2, MAA\nZ 13941\n. Photograph: Paul Basu.\nThere is a whole array of tools and techniques that\nwe use in conservation to better understand the objects and inform our\ntreatments. Documentation is essential, starting with any existing historical\ninformation to which we can correlate the object itself: documents,\nphotographs, previous museum information in the form of labels or markings on\nthe objects. Labels are interesting things: sometimes informative, sometimes\ndeceptive and indicative of misidentification at some stage. Our conservation\nwork on the N. W. Thomas Collection includes the preservation of labels and\nmuseum numbers marked on the object, as they have by now become part of it and\nof its history.\nDocumentation of labels associated with the fish trap being conserved.\nVisual analysis of the objects can be extremely\nrevealing for a trained eye. We use microscopes to examine the surface of the\nobjects, looking for evidence of damage and instability, but also for clues as\nto the history of the object: manufacture materials and techniques, damage and/or\nrepairs (whether before or after collection), evidence of rituals or of use are\nall things we will be looking for in our work. All these tell stories and give\nthe object a new voice. Some of the objects treated so far exhibit extensive\npest damage, and microscopy has helped us find evidence of the pests\nthemselves, which will be later used by expert entomologists to identify the\nspecies and give us a good idea of where the damage might have occurred. The\ninsect damage in some of the objects reflects their places of origin in West\nAfrica (termites) as well as their later history (wood boring insects that can\nbe found in the UK).\nHorned mask, described by Thomas as\nofulu mpi\n, collected in Awgbu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria in 1911. Conservators use microscopes to inspect the insect damage: top-right: insect carcass; bottom-right: insect eggs. These will be sent to an entomologist for identification. NWT (2) 375,\nMAA Z 14231.1\n.\nBut conservators do not rely on visual inspection\nalone and we are trained to use most of our senses as part of our work, not\njust our eyes and hands. Smell, for instance, can help us identify fungal\ninfestation, or certain materials used in the past. And by listening to the\nsound when we very gently tap a surface, we can ascertain the extent to which\nit may be hollow under the surface as a result of pest activity. One sense we\nare definitely not encouraged to use is taste! \u2013 not least because of the toxic\nmaterials earlier conservators may have used to treat objects.\nOther techniques we use help us to identify materials whether original or introduced by repairs done in the past.\nUltraviolet fluorescence\n, for instance, can reveal the presence of modern adhesives and materials in objects. Chemical tests can help identify binders and pigments used in their decoration. Elemental analysis with portable technology such as p-XRF (portable\nX ray fluorescence\n, which detects inorganic elements such as metals and minerals) can help us identify not just what the objects are made of, but also, for instance, if they were treated with pest treatments no longer used such as arsenic or mercury salts. And we can use\nFourier-transform infrared spectroscopy\n(FTIR) to identify organic compounds. In this way we were able to establish, for instance, that a white deposit on one of the masks (Z 13728) was paraffin wax. This identification helped us both clean it safely by using the right solvents, but also to speculate that the mask may have received some treatment, possibly soon after arrival at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge. Paraffin wax was often used as a filler and protective coating treatment for wooden objects from the end of the 19th century and into the first half of the 20th century. In this case, our findings support documentary evidence from the museum\u2019s\nAnnual Reports\nin the years shortly after acquisition that the objects were cleaned, mended and restored.\nMask described by Thomas a\nonye kulie\ncollected in Nibo, present day Anambra State, Nigeria in 1911. Using FTIR techniques, conservators were able to identify the white deposit evident on parts of the mask as paraffin wax, likely to have been used to treat the mask at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology soon after it was accessioned. NWT (2) 428,\nMAA Z 13728\n.\nExcerpt from the Annual Report of the University of Cambridge Antiquarian Committee, 1914. The report notes that much of the museum assistant\u2019s time \u2018has been devoted to cleaning, mending and restoring\u2019 objects collected by Thomas, many of which had been damaged in transit from Nigeria. The report also notes that Thomas himself spent a week at the museum \u2018classifying and labelling his collections\u2019. This would have been during the period of leave between his third and fourth tours.\nOur work so far has also allowed us to interrogate and qualify some of the other knowledge resulting from the [Re:]Entanglements project\u2019s\ncollections-based research\n. Thomas\u2019s correspondence, for instance, indicates that \u2013 in stark contrast to the current practice in his time \u2013 he commissioned some of the objects he collected to be made or else bought them at markets. One of the objects conserved at UCL in 2019 is an Igbo maiden spirit mask. The initial visual examination of the mask identified a number of historical repairs, including an iron sheet stabilising one of the bird figure on the proper right of the headdress, an iron staple across a crack on the proper left side of the headdress, and a plant fibre tie on the same area as the staple but further down. In the case of the iron staple and the fibre ties, they are covered with the same pigment used on the rest of the mask, suggesting they are original repairs. Checking the current condition against Thomas\u2019s field photographs showed that the iron sheet repair securing the bird was already there when the mask was photographed by Thomas, presumably at the time of acquisition. These repairs could both be indicative of use prior to collection, in which case the mask would had had a previous life and not been simply commissioned by Thomas, or else be repairs carried out during the process of manufacture, not an uncommon occurrence. Currently we have not been able to resolve the matter of previous use in relation to this object, but nevertheless this conservation work has raised the question, allowing us to continue looking for evidence of previous use in other objects. That is one of the research questions we will be looking to find evidence for when treating other objects.\nMaiden spirit mask described by Thomas as\nisi abogefi\ncollected in either Agukwu-Nri or Nibo, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911. Thomas also photographed the mask in the field (top right), revealing that the repair to one of the bird decorations was made prior to acquisition. A close examination of the the iron staple and fibre tie used to repair a split on the proper left of the mask shows that they are covered in the same pigment used on the rest of the mask, suggesting that the repair was done during the making of the mask. NWT (2) 390, MAA\nZ 13689\n.\nTo date, nine objects have received treatment, and\nconservation of the remaining objects is underway. In this and subsequent\nconservation-themed blogs we will be sharing some of the stories that are\ncoming to light as a result of the conservation work.\nAs\nnoted above, many of the objects undergoing conservation and being discussed in this series of posts will be exhibited at the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology due to open in April 2021.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1832_3_1762516996855_conservation_4_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Conservation_4_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg", "raw_caption": "Documentation of labels associated with the fish trap being conserved.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "file_size_bytes": 80993}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_1832_6_1762516997421_conservation_9_re-entanglements.net_-1024x308.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Conservation_9_re-entanglements.net_-1024x308.jpg", "raw_caption": "Excerpt from the Annual Report of the University of Cambridge Antiquarian Committee, 1914. The report notes that much of the museum assistant\u2019s time \u2018has been devoted to cleaning, mending and restoring\u2019 objects collected by Thomas, many of which had been damaged in transit from Nigeria. The report also notes that Thomas himself spent a week at the museum \u2018classifying and labelling his collections\u2019. This would have been during the period of leave between his third and fourth tours.", "width": 1024, "height": 308, "file_size_bytes": 70612}], "tags_scraped": ["Maiden-spirit", "N. W. Thomas", "collections", "UCL Conservation", "museum conservation", "objects", "mask"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:17.927476", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1832, "date_published": "2020-01-24T13:07:18"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1756", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/kingbatankeh/", "title": "Fieldnotes: Chief Suri Kandeh\u2019s kingbatankeh", "raw_content": "Paramount Chief Kandeh Sori Kakanday III of Samaya, pictured with Northcote Thomas\u2019s photograph of his ancestor Chief Alimami Suri Kandeh. Both wear the\nkingbatankeh\nas part of the regalia of office. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nDuring our fieldwork retracing the journeys made by Northcote Thomas during his anthropological surveys in Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone, it is a real privilege when we are able to identify the descendants of people that Thomas photographed. Photographs of individuals taken in the context of a colonial project are set free from the archive and become transformed into something magical, able to bring people face-to-face with their ancestors for the first time. People often remark with wonder how, after over a hundred years, through the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject, the photographs have made their way back to the communities where they were taken.\nIt is equally remarkable when working with the\nartefact collections\nassembled by Thomas to identify\nobjects that Thomas photographed in the field\n, and know these are the very same objects \u2013 they provide such a tangible link with the past.\nWhen we visited Samaya, in\nTambakha chiefdom\n, Sierra Leone, the power of photography and material culture to transport us in time and space was brought together. When Northcote Thomas visited Samaya in 1914, he made a number of photographs of Chief Almami Suri Kandeh. Suri Kandeh was a powerful paramount chief, reputed to have had 75 wives! The present paramount chief, Kandeh Sori Kakanday III, is a direct descendant of Suri Kandeh and was overjoyed to see the photograph of his illustrious ancestor.\nLeft:  Chief Alimami Suri Kandeh and elders (NWT 5189; MAA P.32937); Right: detail of  Chief Alimami Suri Kandeh (NWT 5195; MAA P.32946). Photographed by Northcote Thomas in Samaya, 1914. Note the\nkingbatankeh\n, with its suspension mount.\nThomas photographed Chief Suri Kandeh wearing his regalia of office, including a silver medal known locally as the\nkingbatankeh\n\u2013 the \u2018king\u2019s chain\u2019. We were thrilled to hear that the medal still formed part of the paramount chief\u2019s regalia. The\nkingbatankeh\nis not normally seen other than on special occasions, and it is normally only worn by a paramount chief once he has passed through\nkantha\n, a period of ritual seclusion, traditionally part of a chief\u2019s coronation in northern Sierra Leone. Due to the exceptional circumstances of our visit, however, a ceremony was performed and we were able to see the\nkingbatankeh\nand photograph Kandeh Sori Kakanday III wearing it, even though he had yet to pass through\nkantha\n.\nThe\nkingbatankeh\nworn by Chief Alimami Suri Kandeh when photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1914. Note the suspension mount. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nActually, there are two\nkingbatankeh\nin Samaya, and this is something of a mystery. Thomas\u2019s photographs of Chief Suri Kandeh show him wearing a medal with a suspension mount by which it is attached to a chain. According to an article in\nSierra Leone Studies\nwritten by\nRobert de Zouche Hall\n, Governor of Sierra Leone between 1952 and 1956, this silver medal had been given to Samaya\u2019s chief by Governor Sir Frederic Cardew in the late 1890s. This was around the time of the anti-colonial\nHut Tax War\nin Northern Sierra Leone, suggesting that Samaya had been loyal to the British during the uprising. The medal, of a type struck in 1883, is still in the possession of the chiefdom, and bears the head of\nQueen Victoria\n.\nWe do not know the exact year that Suri Kandeh was crowned as paramount chief, so it is uncertain whether it was he himself who was awarded the medal by Cardew or his predecessor in office, Kandeh Satanlai. We do know, however, that Chief Suri Kandeh was held in high esteem by the British colonial authorities. In a colonial intelligence report on Sierra Leone\u2019s protectorate chiefs, dating to 1912, it is stated that Alimami Suri \u2018rules his country very well, and is highly respected by his subjects. A strict Mohomedan, and a true friend to the Government\u2019.\nAlimami Suri \u2013 \u2018the best chief in the District\u2019. Excerpt from \u2018Information Regarding Protectorate Chiefs, 1912\u2019, report held by the Sierra Leone National Archives.\nThe second\nkingbatankeh\nin Samaya is larger, does not have a suspension mount, bears the head of King George III and is dated 1814. These medals were known to have been distributed to \u2018friendly chiefs\u2019 in Sierra Leone in the 1820s and 30s. \u2018Friendly chiefs\u2019 were those who were willing to sign treaties and align their interests with the British. Such treaty-making  exploited enmities between local polities and was an insidious form of colonial expansion, eventually giving rise to the declaration of Sierra Leone as a British protectorate in 1896. The circumstances and date at which this larger medal came to Samaya are, however, not known to us.\nThe second, earlier\nkingbatankeh\nin Samaya, with the head of George III. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nIn his 1959\nSierra Leone Studies\narticle, Hall notes that one of the 1814 medals was in the possession of Paramount Chief Bai Samura of\nSanda Loko chiefdom\n. According to Hall\u2019s source (a colonial district officer), the medal was presented to Samura Renjia, a Loko chief based at Kamalo. Northcote Thomas\u2019s tour took him to Kamalo in Sanda Loko after Samaya, and although Thomas made a photograph of the reigning paramount chief \u2013 also named Samura \u2013 this unfortunately appears to have been lost. When we visited Kamalo, we were, however, shown a photograph of Paramount Chief Samura Bangura, who reigned between 1942 and 1972, by his grandson Simeon F Bangura.\nPhotograph of  Paramount Chief Samura Bangura of Sanda Loko chiefdom, who reigned between 1942 and 1972, wearing the\nkingdollar\n, with the bust of George III. Courtesy of Simeon F Bangura.\nThis photograph shows his grandfather wearing what is known in Kamalo as the\nkingdollar\n\u2013 the medal with\nGeorge III\n\u2019s head clearly visible. This was also part of the chiefly regalia. Interestingly, even though the medal is known as the king\u2019s dollar, the story is that it was presented by Queen Victoria. It might be noted that a treaty was signed between Sanda Loko and the British government in 1837, the year that Victoria came to the throne \u2013 it was on such occasions that the medals were presented (indeed, they are sometimes called \u2018treaty medals\u2019). It is not known what happened to the\nkingdollar\n.\nThese medals have an interesting history. As Hall notes, the 1814 medal was originally struck as a reward to North American Indian Chiefs who had supported Britain during the so-called\nWar of 1812\nwith the United States of America. Similar medals had been used as \u2018tokens of friendship\u2019 since the eighteenth century, often on the signing of treaties \u2013 a practice sometimes referred to as \u2018peace medal diplomacy\u2019.\nBefore being introduced in West Africa, the practice of gifting medals to native chiefs was employed in Britain\u2019s North American colonies. Chiefs fighting alongside the British in the War of 1812 were awarded the same medal as that shown above with the head of George III and dated 1814. Left:\nTecumseh\n(1768-1813), a Native American Shawnee chief who formed an alliance with the British during the War of 1812, painted version of a pencil sketch by Pierre Le Dru c.1808. Right: Shon-ka-ki-he-ga, Horse Chief, Grand Pawnees Head Chief, painted by George Catlin, 1832.\nThe practice of presenting medals to \u2018friendly chiefs\u2019 was subsequently introduced in West Africa. Hall discusses the various issues of medals used in Sierra Leone, including the two types we encountered in Samaya. Other types can be found on display at the\nSierra Leone National Museum\n, including a much poorer quality pewter version of the 1814 medal introduced by\nGovernor Arthur Kennedy\nin 1853. These were evidently of such inferior quality that chiefs were ashamed to wear them.\nPewter version of the 1814 issue medal introduced in Sierra Leone in 1853. An 1882 memorandum records that chiefs stopped wearing them because of being mocked by traders. This rare example is in the collection of the Sierra Leone National Museum. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nWhen\nGovernor Arthur Havelock\nrevived the practice of medal giving in the 1880s (a time of extensive British colonial expansion and treaty-making in Sierra Leone), it was with the new, high quality, solid silver issue bearing the head of Queen Victoria \u2013 just like the one that Chief Suri Kandeh wears around his neck in Northcote Thomas\u2019s photographs.\nDownload Robert de Zouche Hall\u2019s article \u2018Nineteeth Century Chiefs Medals\u2019, originally published in\nSierra Leone Studies\nin 1959.\nDownload", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1756_3_1762516998680_sierra_leone_archives_information_regarding_protectorate_chiefs_1912-1024x435.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Sierra_Leone_Archives_Information_Regarding_Protectorate_Chiefs_1912-1024x435.jpg", "raw_caption": "Alimami Suri \u2013 \u2018the best chief in the District\u2019. Excerpt from \u2018Information Regarding Protectorate Chiefs, 1912\u2019, report held by the Sierra Leone National Archives.", "width": 1024, "height": 435, "file_size_bytes": 69392}], "tags_scraped": ["Limba", "medals", "regalia", "Sierra Leone", "chiefs", "Susu", "Kamalo", "Samaya"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:19.191456", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1756, "date_published": "2019-11-25T21:23:55"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1637", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/onyeso/", "title": "It is I who come, Onyeso \u2026", "raw_content": "N. W. Thomas photographs of Onyeso of Agukwu Nri, pictured with oton, ofo and goat skin bag. NWT 2563 and 2564; RAI 400.15415 and 400.15416.\nThere is a wealth of cultural and historical knowledge locked away in the\nsound recordings\nthat\nNorthcote Thomas\nmade during his anthropological surveys of Nigeria and Sierra Leone in the early twentieth century. Recorded on\nwax cylinders\nusing a\nphonograph\nand without the benefit of a microphone, these sound archives are, however, some of the most challenging materials to work with. The audio signal is often weak, and the levels of noise very high.\nWorking with Yvonne Mbanefo of the\nIgbo Studies Initiative\nand thanks to a small grant from the\nBritish Library\n, which cares for Thomas\u2019s wax cylinder recordings today, we have begun to transcribe, translate and re-record some of the the audio tracks. We have also been revisiting some of the transcriptions and translations that Thomas published in his Anthropological Reports. The original  transcriptions and translations have proven to be invaluable in re-engaging with the recordings, but they can also be quite inaccurate.\nDuring his\n1910-11 tour\nof what was then Awka District (corresponding more or less to present-day\nAnambra State\n, Nigeria), Thomas spent a considerable amount of time at Agukwu Nri.\nNri\nwas an extremely important town in\nIgboland\n, the seat of the \u2018highest ritual political title\u2019, the Eze Nri. The reigning\nEze Nri\nat the time of Thomas\u2019s visits was Obalike. During the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject, we have had the privilege of presenting Eze Nri Obalike\u2019s grandson with a hitherto unknown photographic portrait of his grandfather made by Thomas.\n\u2018Chief Onyeso and family\u2019, photographed by N. W. Thomas, Agukwu Nri, 1911. NWT 2236. RAI 400.15837.\nAnother important figure in Nri at the time of Thomas\u2019s anthropological survey was Chief Onyeso. Onyeso was the son of the previous Eze Nri, Enweleana, and had served as regent during the interregnum between the reigns of Enweleana and Obalike. Whereas the Eze Nri was a spiritual leader, it appears that Onyeso remained a powerful \u2018secular\u2019 leader. As well as photographing him and his family, Thomas recorded a speech by Onyeso. In this case, the original recording seems not to have survived, but there is a transcription and translation of the speech in Part III of Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n; a volume devoted to \u2018Proverbs, Narratives, Vocabularies and Grammar\u2019.\nPages from N. W. Thomas,\nAnthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n, Part III: Proverbs, Narratives, Vocabularies and Grammar, pp.92-3 featuring transcription of  speech by Onyeso.\nRe-recording of Onyeso\u2019s speech translated into standard Central Igbo by Yvonne Mbanefo and read by Oba Kosi Nwoba.\nBelow is a rendering of the text of Onyeso\u2019s speech in standard Central Igbo together with a revised English translation, both provided by Yvonne Mbanefo.\n\u1ecckwa m\u1ee5 na ab\u1ecba, Onyeso, nwa Ezenri,\nIt is I who come, Onyeso, son of Ezenri\nNna m b\u1ee5 Eze. Egburu m ichi n\u2019epugh\u1ecb eze\nMy Father was the King, I got Ichi marks before I got teeth\nN\u2019izu iri na an\u1ecd, nwa eze na-enwe eze,\nAt fourteen weeks the son of the King has teeth,\nmana \u1ecd b\u1ee5r\u1ee5 na \u1ecd nwegh\u1ecb ichi,\nBut it happened that he didn\u2019t have ichi marks.\nEze p\u1ee5ta, ma ichi ad\u1ecbgh\u1ecb\u1ecb, anagh\u1ecb ekwe, aga etufu ya.\nbut if the teeth come out without the marks, it is forbidden, they throw him away.\nObodo \u1ecdb\u1ee5la mere mkp\u1ecdt\u1ee5.\nAll the towns made noise.\nMana nwa eze, gaa n\u2019obodo ah\u1ee5,\nBut the son of the king, went to the town.\nWee s\u1ecb, emena ihe \u1ecdj\u1ecd\u1ecd, e buna agha , an\u1ee5na \u1ecdg\u1ee5\nand said, \u2018Don\u2019t do bad things, don\u2019t start wars, don\u2019t fight\u2019.\n\u1ecc ihe a ka nwa Eze na-eme.\nThat is what the son of the King does.\nAny\u1ecb na-eyi akp\u1ee5kp\u1ecd ag\u1ee5\nWe are the wearers of leopard skins\nIfe siri ike n\u2019obodo.\nThings are hard in the town.\nAny\u1ecb b\u1ee5 \u1ee5m\u1ee5 eze. Any\u1ecb ga-eje dozie ya.\nWe are the children of the King.\n\u1eccb\u1ecba ka G\u1ecd\u1ecdment\u1ecb j\u1ecb b\u1ecba kp\u1ecdl\u1ee5 ndi Igbo niile.\nThe Government was visiting and took all the Igbo people.\nAny\u1ecb wee s\u1ecb nd\u1ecb Igbo niile na ife any\u1ecb na-eme, ka ala d\u1ecbr\u1ecb any\u1ecb mma.\nWe are then saying that all Igbo that what we do, to make the land good.\nAny\u1ecb b\u1ee5 Nri, Isi ala Igbo niile.\nWe are Nri people, head of the entire Igbo land.\nAny\u1ecb b\u1ee5 isi \u1ecdb\u1ecdd\u1ecd niile, mmad\u1ee5 niile .\nWe are the head of all the towns, and all the people.\nOge \u1ee5wa G\u1ecd\u1ecdment\u1ecb b\u1ecbara , any\u1ecb wee lee, obodo mebie.\nWhen the Government came, we looked, and the town got spoiled.\nPrince Ikenna Onyesoh, the current Regent of Nri, looking at Northcote Thomas\u2019s photographs of his great-grandfather, Onyeso, Agukwu Nri, 2018. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nOnyeso\u2019s speech is remarkable for many reasons. In this text, we can hear the voice of one of Thomas\u2019s prominent interlocutors \u2013 a known, named individual, who Thomas also photographed. It is the voice of a confident, defiant member of an aristocracy, highly critical of the British colonial government, which has usurped the authority of traditional rulers, and undermined the status of the royal town of Nri. Onyeso asserts the primacy of the Nri people as the \u2018head of the entire Igbo land\u2019, a ritual and political status discussed at length by the Nigerian anthropologist M. Angulu Onwuejeogwu in his book\nAn Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony\n(1981).\nOnyeso also provides first hand details about some of rituals around his office and the political functions of the\nnwa eze\n, the son of the king. He refers, for example, to the traditional practice of infanticide. A newborn child is not supposed to have teeth, and if it does this was traditionally considered an abomination, resulting in the child being left to die in the forest. Similarly, a baby who cut his upper teeth first was also considered an abomination. Onyeso states that the sons of kings cut their teeth early, but that it is important for them first to have the ichi facial scarification marks made \u2013 if they haven\u2019t received the\nichi\nmarks, the child, he says, will be thrown away. Onyeso proudly states that he received the ichi marks as a baby before his teeth came through.\nOnyeso also explains that the\nnwa eze\nacts as a peace-maker, travelling to towns, quelling disturbances and quarrels, advising towns under the Nri hegemony to keep the peace. This was an important role for Onyeso since the Eze Nri himself was traditionally prohibited from travelling outside of Nri after his coronation. As Onwuejeogwu argues, the Eze Nri \u2018ruled but was never seen by the people of his hegemony\u2019. The sacred status of the Eze Nri was undermined by the British colonial authorities; part of the destruction of the traditional order to which Onyeso alludes in his speech.\nAnd what of the Government Anthropologist? Thomas\u2019s position seems to have been ambiguous. On the one hand, he was surely associated with the forces of colonialism that were destroying the Nri hegemony. On the other hand, however, he contradicted colonial officials and sent despatches to the Colonial Office arguing that the ritual authority of the Eze Nri should be respected. He also documented the voices and words of people like Onyeso, representing the experiences of colonisation from the perspective of the colonised in his official\nReports\n. One wonders how many people, even to this day, have actually read Onyeso\u2019s speech or recognized how subversive an act it was of Thomas to include such anti-colonial sentiments in publications funded by the colonial government and distributed to colonial administrators.\nMany thanks to Yvonne Mbanefo,  Oba Kosi Nwoba, Janet Topp Fargion and British Library Sounds for supporting our research on Northcote Thomas\u2019s sound recordings.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1637_2_1762516999300_onyeso_speech_n_w_thomas_anthropological_report_igbo_part_3_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Onyeso_speech_N_W_Thomas_Anthropological_Report_Igbo_Part_3_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from N. W. Thomas,Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part III: Proverbs, Narratives, Vocabularies and Grammar, pp.92-3 featuring transcription of  speech by Onyeso.", "width": 750, "height": 618, "file_size_bytes": 422285}], "tags_scraped": ["Igbo", "Phonograph recording", "phonograph", "Onyeso", "Agukwu Nri"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:20.470409", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1637, "date_published": "2019-11-05T20:15:21"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1596", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/omu-of-okpanam/", "title": "Omu and the red cap controversy in Okpanam", "raw_content": "The Omu of Okpanam, photographed by Northcote Thomas in September 1912. NWT 4107 and 4108 (MAA P.32118 and P.32119)\nOver the last ten months, as part of our fieldwork for the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject, we have been conducting research with 17 communities in present-day\nAnambra\nand\nDelta\nstates in Nigeria. We have been revisiting locations that formed part of\nNorthcote Thomas\u2019s itineraries\nduring his 1910-11 and 1912-13 anthropological surveys of Igbo-speaking peoples, equipped with copies of Thomas\u2019s\nphotographs, phonograph recordings and images of artefact collections\n.\nDuring our\nconversations and interviews with community members\n, and through setting up informal \u2018pop-up\u2019 exhibitions in these locations, Thomas\u2019s photographs have elicited a wide spectrum of reactions, ranging from rejection and indifference to excitement, emotional connection, inquisitiveness, contestation and much more. In particular, we have been struck by how local people use their mobile phones to re-photograph the prints of Thomas\u2019s photographs that we bring with us when visiting a community and how quickly these new\ndigital copies circulate on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media to extended family and community networks internationally\n.\nSometimes\na single photograph can provoke especially strong responses, often because it\ntouches on a \u2018raw nerve\u2019 or intervenes in contemporary issues, reminding us how\nhistory matters in the present. Thomas\u2019s photograph no.4108 is one such case.\nNWT 4108. Northcote Thomas\u2019s photograph of the Omu of Okpanam, 1912. Scanned from glass plate negative. (RAI 400.38268)\nPhotograph no.4108 is a portrait of a woman with white marks around her eyes and on her forehead created with\nnzu\n(kaolin chalk). Around her neck she wears an assortment of necklaces made from various beads and shells. On her head is a cap that has a band with a series of small triangular blades and feathers sticking out of it. According to the brief note in Thomas\u2019s photo register, the subject of the photograph is the \u2018Omu\u2019 of\nOkpanam\n, in present-day Delta State, Nigeria.\nExcerpt from Northcote Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part IV, Law and Custom of the Ibo of the Asaba District, S. Nigeria\n, p.189.\nIn volume four of his\nAnthropological Report on Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n, Thomas gives some explanation of the role of the Omu in various communities in\nAnioma\n\u2013 the territory of the Igbo-speaking population West of the Niger River, which was the focus of Thomas\u2019s 1912-13 tour. According to\nReport\n, Omu is the \u2018market queen\u2019, who presides over the market and serves the shrine in it. She enforces order, collects dues and controls the prices of goods for sale. In some places, Thomas records that the market cannot begin until the Omu arrives, and that she may fine the women of her town for non-attendance and forbid them to go to more distant markets instead of attending that in their own town. At Okpanam, Thomas tells us that the Omu sent her stool to the market as a sign for it to begin.\nNorthcote Thomas made around\n30 photographs in Okpanam\n, many recording the title-taking ceremony of\nObi Mgbeze\nthat was happening when he visited in September 1912. However, during our fieldwork in Okpanam, it was the photograph of the Omu that consistently attracted most attention and elicited the most comment.\nPhoto elicitation fieldwork in Okpanam. Left: great grandchildren of Obi Mgbeze re-photographing Thomas\u2019s photographs of their great-grandfather\u2019s Obi title-taking ceremony; middle: the present-day Omu of Okpanam, HRM Obi Martha Dunkwu, examining Northcote Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report\nand photographs; right: community members discussing Thomas controversial 1912 photograph of the Omu of Okpanam during the 2019 Iwaji (New Yam Festival). Photographs by George Agbo.\nAs Thomas\u2019 photograph of the Omu was viewed and re-photographed, the recurring comment it produced was:\nOkwa ha si na Omu adi ekpu okpu ododo\n? (\u2018Why do people argue that the Omu does not wear a red cap?\u2019) The comment indexes an ongoing contestation about the right to wear the red cap in the community.\nThe\nokpu ododo\nor red cap of the present-day Omu of Okpanam. Photograph by George Agbo.\nDuring colonial times in Igbo-speaking areas of Nigeria, the red cap became part of the regalia of office for senior title holders, including the so-called \u2018Red Cap Chiefs\u2019 or warrant chiefs. More recently, concern has been expressed that this symbol of authority is being worn by those who have no right to wear it.\nArticle from the\nPremium Times\ndiscussing the appropriation of the red cap by those who are not entitled to wear it.\nIn Okpanam the issue of the\nokpu ododo\nor red cap has become\nentangled in local political disputes. Traditionally, Okpanam\u2019s community was\nheaded by the Diokpa-Isi, the eldest man in the community. As the\nadministrative demands on the Diokpa-Isi grew, and considering his old age, members\nof Okpanam community at home and in the diaspora agreed to institute the new post\nof Ugoani. The process, which began in 2004 and was approved by Delta State\ngovernment in 2009, was followed by the election of Dr Michael Mbanefo Ogbolu\nas Ugoani in May 2010. Following the performance of the associated rite in\n2011, he was given staff of office by the government. The Ugoani was intended\nto act as the representative of the Diokpa-Isi and Izu Ani (General Assembly), but\nremain answerable to them. Over the past few years, however the Ugoani and his council\nhave assumed greater power, such that the Ugoani has come to be recognized as\nthe modern political head of Okpanam by the State, while the Diokpa-Isi, Izu\nAni, Obi titled men and Omu have become regarded as \u2018traditional\u2019 roles. This\nhas led to tensions and the red cap has become a symbol of the squabble.\nArticle from\nThe Nigerian Voice\nreporting on the Ugoani and Ugoani-in-Council position on the Omu\u2019s entitlement to wear the red cap.\nAgainst the custom of the community, which stipulates that only Obi title holders and the Omu (whose status is equivalent to that of an Obi) are eligible to wear the red cap, the Ugoani and his cabinet members began to incorporate the red cap into their regalia, even though they do not hold the Obi title. The Obis then sued the Ugoani and his council, demanding that they stop wearing the red cap. As the contestations escalated, both sides issued statements and counter-statements in the Nigerian press and in various online forums. Responses of the Ugoani and Ugoani-in-Council were reported in\nThe Nigerian Voice\n, for example, stating that the Omu is only a chief (albeit a \u2018respected and revered one\u2019), not of equivalent status as an Obi, and is therefore not entitled to wear the red cap either.\nThese statements were refuted strongly by Obi title holders in Okpanam, who drew attention to the ancient institution of the Omu compared to the recent establishment of the Ugoani role. In a lengthy post to the\nAnioma Trust Facebook page\n, Obi Nwaokobia was reported as stating that the \u2018Ugoani has no authority to make a statement on Omu Okpanam\u2019. Obi Nwaokobia further explained that \u2018the institution of Omu has existed [since] the founding of Okpanam\u2019 and that she is \u2018the Traditional Mother of the community and she enjoys all the rights and privileges of a Royal Mother\u2019. When an Omu dies, like Obis, she is buried in a sitting position, and in Okpanam, the Omu is more than a chief but in the same rank as Obis.\nWhen we came to Okpanam, we were not aware of the\ncontestation around the Omu\u2019s status or her right to wear the red cap. When we\nlearnt of the controversy, however, it was not surprising to find that the\nThomas\u2019s photograph of the Omu in 1912 elicited such a powerful response.\nAlthough the photographs are monochrome, the style of the hat with its band and\nfeathers is clear. Here was irrefutable evidence that the Omu traditionally wore\nthe red cap.\nImages uploaded to the\nOkpanam Indigene Facebook page\njuxtaposing Northcote Thomas\u2019s photograph of the Omu of Okpanam, taking in 1912, and a portrait photograph of the present-day Omu, HRM Obi Martha Dunkwu. The post has elicited much comment.\nFor many, the \u2018red cap controversy\u2019 has been settled by an archival image. Photographs of Thomas\u2019s photograph soon began circulating on social media after our visit, bringing it to the attention of the international Anioma community. At the\n\u2018Okpanam Indigene\u2019 Facebook page\n, for example, Emma Agala juxtaposed Thomas\u2019s 1912 photograph with that of the current Omu, HRM Obi Martha Dunkwu, and included a long extract from Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report\non the role of the Omu. The extensive research of the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject itself was cited as confirming its authenticity. Among the 59 comments to the post, Martha Dunkwu herself remarks: \u2018You are right. The red cap is there, the feather, the beads, the Akwa Ocha. Did you notice that the Aziza [that] the male Obis use is on her red cap? It\u2019s wonderful that the British in 1912 recorded Omu-ship in Okpanam\u2019.\nNo doubt the debates will continue in Okpanam, but the\nincident demonstrates how the ethnographic archive may intervene in\ncontemporary events in ways that we have not anticipated. Our fieldwork\nfollowing Northcote Thomas\u2019s itineraries in West Africa can present many\nchallenges, but the story of Omu and her red cap reminds us of the importance\nof bringing back this archive to the communities whose histories it documents.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1596_2_1762517000571_excerpt_thomas_anthropological_report_p.189_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Excerpt_Thomas_Anthropological_Report_p.189_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Excerpt from Northcote Thomas\u2019sAnthropological Report on Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part IV, Law and Custom of the Ibo of the Asaba District, S. Nigeria, p.189.", "width": 680, "height": 568, "file_size_bytes": 353303}], "tags_scraped": ["Anioma", "Red Cap", "contestation", "Igbo", "Delta State", "Okpanam", "Omu", "Facebook"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:21.085439", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1596, "date_published": "2019-10-14T12:12:31"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1573", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/colonial-indexicality/", "title": "Colonial Indexicality", "raw_content": "Four of Kelani Abass\u2019s \u2018stamping history\u2019 works, which form part of his\nColonial Indexicality\nseries, for the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nexhibition at the National Museum, Lagos.\nOn 21 September 2019, the\n[Re:]Entanglements: Contemporary Art & Colonial Archives\nexhibition opened at the\nNational Museum, Lagos\n. The opening event was attended by an estimated 300 people, including many from Nigeria\u2019s vibrant arts scene. Following on from our successful exhibition in\nBenin City\n, this collaboration between the [\nRe:]Entanglements project\n, the National Museum, and the Lagos-based artist Kelani Abass continues our exploration of artistic engagements with the archival traces of Northcote Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys.\nScenes from the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nexhibition opening, National Museum, Lagos, 21 September 2019. Photographs by Paul Basu and Nnaemezie Asogwa.\nUnlike the Benin exhibition, this initiative focused specifically on the photograph albums from Thomas\u2019s three Nigerian surveys, which we have discovered in the National Museum library and archive collections. Indeed, these albums, dating from 1909 to 1913, appear to be the only substantial archival traces of Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys to have survived in Nigeria. The initiative is also different insofar as it features the work of a single artist rather than a collective.\nPages from one of the photograph albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 survey of Edo-speaking peoples. Note the index panel at the bottom right of each page. National Museum, Lagos.\nOver the course of a year, Kelani Abass has produced two series of works for the exhibition under the common title of\nColonial Indexicality\n. These both employ techniques developed in earlier works by Abass, including his\nCalendar\nand\nStamping History\nseries, first exhibited at exhibitions at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos in 2013 and 2016 respectively. In both of these series, Abass explored a more personal history through sifting through the archives of his parents\u2019 printing business in Abeokuta, incorporating both the technologies of hand-operated letter-press printing and the accumulated materials \u2013 photographs, leaflets, design motifs \u2013 deposited at the press by customers. The\nColonial Indexicality\nseries produced for the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nexhibition connects this family history with a broader cultural history as refracted through Northcote Thomas\u2019s colonial anthropological lens.\nIndexicality in its most literal sense. Northcote Thomas took over 8,000 photographs during his four anthropological surveys. Each was individually numbered and entered in a pre-numbered photograph register book. We know that negative No.649 is of a boy named Ike, and that this was one of 122 photographs Thomas made in Okpe.\nThe pervasiveness of numbering systems and indexes are, of course, characteristics of all archives, and the archives of Thomas\u2019s anthropological tours are no exception. Thomas numbered each of his photographic negatives, for example, and he made notes about each negative in a series of pre-numbered photographic register books. Most literally, the negative number acts as an index in relation to corresponding prints, but also indexes other information, for instance, the identity of the person photographed, where the photograph was taken, and places the particular photograph in relation to a sequence. We know, for example, that Thomas\u2019s negative number 649 is of a boy named Ike, and is one of a series of 122 photographs that Thomas made in Okpe in present-day Edo North in 1909. There is a further note in the corresponding photographic register \u2013 \u2018meas.\u2019 \u2013 short-hand for \u2018measurement\u2019, recording that Thomas also recorded Ike\u2019s anthropometric measurements, indexing how this young man entered other forms of colonial scientific calculation.\nIt is no surprise, then, that the theme of numbers and numbering emerges prominently in Abass\u2019s artistic responses to the albums in the National Museum. Indeed, each work in the\nColonial Indexicality\nseries bears a simple number as its title \u2013 the number of the particular photograph the work itself indexes.\nInstallation view. Room 1 of the\n[Re:]Entanglements: Contemporary Art & Colonial Archives\nexhibition, National Museum, Lagos. Note the juxtaposition of Thomas\u2019s original photograph albums, the large-scale digital prints and Kelani Abass\u2019s paintings. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nThe principle of indexicality is also evident in the very grammar of the exhibition. In the first room of the exhibition, we brought three elements into relation: examples of the original photograph albums from Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 Edo tour; enlarged digital prints of a selection of pages from these albums; and a series of 12 mixed media paintings by Abass that respond to the particular qualities of these albums.\nA page from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 Edo album alongside one of Kelani Abass\u2019s\nColonial Indexicality\npaintings (No.256). The index panel on the album page provides the inspiration for Abass\u2019s background, while Thomas\u2019s neg.256 (top left) is the source for the foreground figures.\nThe pages of the Edo albums are arranged in a uniform manner, with five photographs in a grid with a paper index panel cut to the same size as the prints and pasted in the grid. For each of the 55\u00d768 cm paintings, created in acrylic and oil on canvas, mounted onto board, Abass reproduces these index panels as his backgrounds. He captures the \u2018texture\u2019 of the yellowed parchment-like paper panels, complete with Thomas\u2019s handwriting and various other ticks, annotations and crossings-out that have been added in different coloured inks. He then selects one of the photographs from the same album page, which he paints in tones which evoke the photographic originals. The number of the photograph is used as a title for the work, which is also inset into the painting either using letterpress types or components of a numbering machine.\nSix of Kelani Abass\u2019s\nColonial Indexicality\nportraits, clockwise from top left, No.130, No.237A, No.239, No.248, No.245 and No.243. Acrylic, oil on canvas mounted on board with either letterpress type or numbering machine inserts.\nIn the second room of the exhibition, the juxtaposition of original archives, digital prints and Abass\u2019s contemporary artworks continues. Additional themes of disintegration and dissolution are invoked here, pointing to the fragility of the archive and the impermanence of memory. In one 105\u00d7127 cm digital print of an album page from Thomas\u2019s 1912-13 tour of Igbo-speaking peoples, for example, the faces in Thomas\u2019s\nphysical type photographs\nhave faded to little more than ghostly impressions. Indeed, one objective of the exhibition was to draw attention to the urgent need for better storage and conservation of the National Museum\u2019s important archival collections.\nInstallation view. Room 2 of the\nexhibition. Enlarged, ghost-like images from the Northcote Thomas albums are juxtaposed with addition examples of the historical albums themselves and with the second part of Kelani Abass\u2019s\nColonial Indexicality\nseries. This room also featured enlarged digital prints of some of Thomas\u2019s remarkable panoramic photoagraphs. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nBroken pages from one of the albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1910-11 tour of Igbo-speaking peoples. Some of the albums in the National Museum are in extremely poor condition and in urgent need of conservation.\nAbass refers to the second series of works in\nColonial Indexicality\nas a continuation of a \u2018performative oeuvre\u2019 that \u2018calls attention to the interplay of manual and mechanical processes involved in the production of printed works, photographs and drawings\u2019. This work comprises of five interlinked 126\u00d790 cm \u2018drawings\u2019 of Northcote Thomas photographs, which have been laboriously made using a hand numbering machine.\nKelani Abass\u2019s hand numbering machines. He used such stamping machines as a child in his parents\u2019 printing company, now he uses them as a medium for his performative art practice.\nThe use of the numbering machine as a medium again relates to Abass\u2019s family history and childhood memories. After a day at school, Abass and his siblings would help out in their parents\u2019 print shop, using these automatic numberers to stamp sequences of numbers in newly printed invoice books and other stationery. In relation to the [Re:]Entanglements project, Abass was struck by the sequential printed numbers evident in the stationery used by Northcote Thomas. Indeed, to create these \u2018stamping history\u2019 drawings he used stamping machines with a similar font style to the numbers used in Thomas\u2019s photographic registers.\nJuxtaposing Northcote Thomas\u2019s photograph no.1639 (top left) with Kelani Abass\u2019s Colonial Indexicality No.1639 (top right). Below are details of the work, showing how the image is made up of multiple stamped numbers.\nThe numbers that Abass stamps in these works are not arbitrary either. They index both the specific photographs from the Thomas archives that Abass reproduces, but also act as a form of accountancy, allowing Abass to quantify his artistic labour and reflecting the labour entailed in producing the anthropological archive in the first place. Thus, Abass\u2019s first impression in this work was the number 1155, corresponding with Thomas\u2019s negative number 1155. After each impression, the number on the stamping machine increases by a digit to 1156, then 1157 and so on. At the end of the process of creating these five works, the final number stamped was 85,867. Thus Abass is able to quantify the work as representing 84,710 acts of stamping \u2013 this Abass conceptualises as a process of \u2018stamping history\u2019, and of \u2018making or marking time\u2019.\nThe grid-like layout of these five \u2018drawings\u2019 echoes the layout of the photographs in Thomas\u2019s albums, but also speaks to the fragmentary nature of the archive \u2013 an assemblage of parts that must be assembled together in order to make sense. The actual archive is rarely so complete, and the bigger picture is often based on as much conjecture as it is evidence.\nLeft: Plate XIV from Northcote Thomas\u2019s Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part 1. Right: Enlarged detail of the same photograph showing the halftone printing technique.\nIt is, of course, only when one stands back from Abass\u2019s large-scale stamped drawings that the picture, quoted from Thomas\u2019s archive, becomes clear. Up close, one sees a mess of over-lapping stamped numbers. Seen from a distance, however, the individual numbers from which the pictures are made disappear and the eye perceives the pattern. It is the same principle as\nhalftone printing\n\u2013 the technique used to print Thomas\u2019s photographic plates in his published reports (a set of which also resides in the National Museum library). Indeed, the same principle applies to Thomas\u2019s original photographic negatives and our digital scans of them today, in which the coating of  granular light-sensitive crystals is translated, imperfectly, into pixels. Switching to a metaphorical register, Abass\u2019s work reminds us that what we perceive in the colonial archive depends on where we stand, as well as how close we look.\nVideo documentation of the\n[Re:]Entanglements: Contemporary Art & Colonial Archives\nexhibition, National Museum, Lagos.\n[\nRe:]Entanglements: Contemporary Art & Colonial Archives\nis open at the National Museum, Lagos until 27 October 2019. Do go along if you can and let us know what you think!\nRead\nMolara Wood\n\u2018s review of the\nColonial Indexicality\nexhibition in\nThe Lagos Review\n.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1573_2_1762517001147_national_museum_lagos_tour_1_album_re-entanglements.net_-1.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/National_Museum_Lagos_Tour_1_album_re-entanglements.net_-1.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from one of the photograph albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 survey of Edo-speaking peoples. Note the index panel at the bottom right of each page. National Museum, Lagos.", "width": 680, "height": 289, "file_size_bytes": 188960}], "tags_scraped": ["numbering", "Kelani Abass", "art", "artistic intervention", "colonialism", "photography", "archives", "collaboration", "National Museum Lagos"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:21.664197", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1573, "date_published": "2019-10-08T17:28:43"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1527", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/nigerian-string-games/", "title": "Nigerian String Games", "raw_content": "A page from one of the albums from N. W. Thomas\u2019s second and third tours showing some of Thomas\u2019s photographs of string figures and their names. (UK National Archives)\nIn the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, anthropologists were fascinated by the seeming ubiquity of the popular pastime of \u2018\nstring games\n\u2018 \u2013 the making of \u2018string figures\u2019 or \u2018cat\u2019s cradles\u2019. As the pioneering British anthropologist,\nAlfred Cort Haddon\nwrote in 1906,\nIn Ethnology, nothing is too insignificant to receive attention \u2026 To the casual observer few amusements offer, at first sight, a less promising field for research than does the simple cat\u2019s-cradle of our childhood; and, indeed, it is only when the comparative method is applied to it that we begin to discover that it, too, has a place in the culture history of man.\nHaddon encountered the game during his 1888 visit to the islands of the\nTorres Straits\n(the channel between northern Australia and New Guinea). He observed that the Torres Strait string figures were much more elaborate than those he recalled from his childhood in England.  He also noted that they were  more often made by a single \u2018player\u2019, rather than two \u2013 and by no means was the game restricted to children. He collected examples of completed figures, which he subsequently donated to the\nBritish Museum\n.\nString figure mounted on board collected by A. C. Haddon in the Western Torres Strait islands in 1888, representing the crayfish (kaiar). Donated to the British Museum in 1889. (British Museum\nOc,89+.207\n)\nHaddon continued to document string games when he returned to the Torres Straits in 1898 as leader of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition. With\nW. H. R. Rivers\n, he formalised a \u2018method for recording string figures\u2019 and published this in the anthropological journal\nMan\nin 1902. Rivers and Haddon stressed the need to document the various stages of making each figure, rather than merely photographing, drawing or even collecting the finished figures. They proposed a nomenclature for describing the various steps and actions involved in making string figures, and this has been adopted by many subsequent researchers.\nPages from Caroline Furness Jayne\u2019s 1906 book,\nString Figures: A Study of Cat\u2019s-Cradle in Many Lands\n, showing the method for recording string games. Haddon wrote an \u2018ethnological introduction\u2019 to the volume.\nDuring his 1910-11 anthropological survey in Southern Nigeria, which focused on the Igbo-speaking people of what was then Awka District (more or less present-day Anambra State),\nNorthcote Thomas\ntook two series of photographs of string games. He recorded ten string figures in Agukwu Nri and three in Ebenebe. These are among the earliest photographs of African string figures. Thomas did not write about string games in his reports or other publications, and no field-notes survive from this tour, so we do not know if he documented the games according to Rivers and Haddon\u2019s methodology, or whether he simply took photographs of the finished figures.\nPhilip Noble, who co-founded the\nInternational String Figure Association\nin 1978, has made a study of Thomas\u2019s photographs of Nigerian string figures. In an article \u2018Some Nigerian String Figures\u2019 published in the\nBulletin of the International String Figure Association\nin 2013, Noble reconstructs the methods by which the figures were made. The article is republished, with kind permission of Philip Noble and the Bulletin\u2019s editor, at the end of this blog. Philip Noble has also very kindly created a series of short videos for\n[Re:]Entanglements\nin which he demonstrates how each of the figures was made.\nThomas recorded the Igbo name for each of the figures. These would have been recorded in the local Igbo dialects, and Thomas\u2019s phonetic spelling of Igbo words is idiosyncratic. In the following sections, we include Thomas\u2019s English translation of the names, his rendering of the Igbo names, and also a translation of the names from English into standard Central Igbo, courtesy of Yvonne Mbanefo. Northcote Thomas records the Igbo word for string games generically as\nakpukba\n\u2013\n\u1ecckp\u1ee5kpa\nsimply means \u2018to make or create something by hand\u2019. Igbo-speaking friends and correspondents have told us of other words for string games:\nIkpo ubo\n(\u2018to play strings\u2019),\nGadas\n,\nAt\u1ee5mankasa\n. Some of these may refer to particular figures rather than the game more generically. As always, we welcome any feedback on these string games and their names \u2013 please leave a comment.\n1. Trap to catch thief\nN. W. Thomas:\nEta nanwani ori;\nCentral Igbo:\n\u1eccnya onye ori\n\u2018Trap to catch thief\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2836; RAI 400.16249)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nThis is figure is known throughout West Africa, and often has the same name. In most locations a second player inserts a hand or finger into the lower trapezoid. When the first player releases his thumb loops and extends the figure, the second player is caught in a noose.\n2. Basket spirits use to carry person\nN. W. Thomas:\nOkba mwo ji ebu mwadu\n; Central Igbo:\nNkata mm\u1ee5\u1ecd ji ebu mmad\u1ee5\n\u2018Basket spirits use to carry person\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2836; RAI 400.16250)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nThis figure is also known in Congo, Sudan and Equatorial Guinea. In Nigeria the design represents a palanquin (sedan chair) for transporting a chief. In its most primitive form a palanquin consists of a basket suspended between two parallel poles. The inclusion of the word \u2018spirits\u2019 in the title may refer to an ancient custom, recorded by P. A. Talbot, in which a large palanquin borne on the shoulders of six men, was used to transport a \u2018spirit\u2019 during a funeral ceremony.\n3. Big piece of yam\nN. W. Thomas:\nIbeji okotoko\n; Central Igbo:\nNnukwu ibe ji\n\u2018Big piece of yam\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2838a; RAI 400.16252)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nIdentical or closely related figures are known throughout Africa. Nigerian yams belong to the genus\nDioscorea\n. Prior to cooking, yams are peeled and cut into cubes, which are represented by diamonds in the corresponding string figure.\n(See video below.)\n4. Child of monkey eats and tears its tail\nN. W. Thomas:\nNwenwelie ora odo; Central Igbo: Nwa enwe rie \u1ecd d\u1ecdkaa \u1ecdd\u1ee5\n\u2018Child of monkey eats and tears its tail\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2838; RAI 400.16251)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nThe construction is similar to a figure called \u2018A Pair of Scissors\u2019, published by Kathleen Haddon and Hilda Treleaven in\nThe Nigerian Field\nin 1936, and another called \u2018Aeroplane\u2019 recorded by George Cansdale in Ghana.\n5. Corpse and cloth\nN. W. Thomas:\nOzu nakwa\n; Central Igbo:\nOzu na akwa\n\u2018Corpse and cloth\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2840; RAI 400.16253)\n6. Big belly of old woman\nN. W. Thomas:\nOkulu agadin waiyi\n; Central Igbo:\nNnukwu af\u1ecd agadi nwaany\u1ecb\n\u2018Big belly of old woman\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2840a; RAI 400.16254)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nThis figure is identical to No. 19 in George Cansdale\u2019s collection, \u2018Ghana String Figures\u2019, published in\nThe Nigerian Field\nin 1993, which has the name \u2018When this animal went to fetch water, the sun came down\u2019. In the Nigerian counterpart the loose hanging loop represents the sagging belly of an old woman.\n7. Bull with long horn\nN. W. Thomas:\nOkefi mpi agi liga\n; Central Igbo:\nOkeehi ogologo mpi\n\u2018Bull with long horn\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2842a; RAI 400.16256)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nThe design represents a bull\u2019s triangular face and his two horns. This figure is the same as one called \u2018Bat\u2019 published by Kathleen Haddon and Hilda Treleaven in\nThe Nigerian Field\nin 1936. It was also recorded by the geologist, John Parkinson, in Yoruba-speaking areas of Southern Nigeria and published in 1906, also named \u2018a bat\u2019.\nExcerpt from John Parkinson\u2019s article, \u2018Yoruba String Figures\u2019, published in the\nJournal of the Anthropological Institute\nin 1906, with figure of the \u2018bat\u2019 string figure.\n8. Net for load\nN. W. Thomas:\nOzo anele\n; Central Igbo:\nUbu ibu\n\u2018Net for load\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2842; RAI 400.16255)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nThis figure is widely distributed in Africa, where it often represents a \u2018net\u2019. It is the same as one called \u2018A Bridge\u2019 published by Kathleen Haddon and Hilda Treleaven in\nThe Nigerian Field\nin 1936.\n9. Mask for \u2018juju\u2019\nN. W. Thomas:\nOga\n; Central Igbo:\nIhu mmanw\u1ee5 \u1ecdgw\u1ee5\n\u2018Mask for \u201cJuju\u201d\u2018 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2844a; RAI 400.16258)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nThe figure is widely distributed in Africa. It is the same as that published by John Parkinson in 1906 under the name \u2018Moving Figure\u2019.\n10. Fowl\u2019s anus\nN. W. Thomas:\nUbwadiye\n; Central Igbo:\nIke \u1ecdk\u1ee5k\u1ecd\n\u2018Fowl\u2019s anus\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu  Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2844; RAI 400.16257)\n11. Rope on back\nN. W. Thomas:\nBokulei\n; Central Igbo:\n\u1ee4d\u1ecd n\u2019az\u1ee5\n\u2018Rope on back\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu  Nri, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 2846; RAI 400.16259)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nThe central string represents a rope, presumably on the back of a person who is face down. The figure is identical to that published by Kathleen Haddon and Hilda Treleaven in\nThe Nigerian Field\nin 1936 under the name \u2018Dead Man Lying on a Bed\u2019.\n12. Trap\nN. W. Thomas:\nIbudu\n; Central Igbo:\n\u1eccnya\n\u2018Trap\u2019 string figure, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Ebenebe, Southern Nigeria, 1911. (NWT 3499; RAI 400.20057)\nPhilip Noble notes:\nThis figure is the same as \u2018Bongo Skin\u2019 and \u2018Buffalo Skin (Pegged Out)\u2019 respectively published by George Cansdale in 1993 and C. L. T. Griffith in 1925, both recorded in Ghana/Gold Coast.\nIt would be interesting to find out if such string games are still played in Agukwu Nri and Ebenebe, and, if so, whether these figures and names are still known. We will try to investigate this in our\nfieldwork\n.\nWritten instructions for recreating each of the string figures photographed by Thomas can be found in Philip Noble\u2019s full article \u2018Some Nigerian String Figures\u2019, which can be downloaded from the link below.\n(\nPlease note that there are some discrepancies between the names of string figures used in this blog and those in Philip Noble\u2019s article. I have used the captions of the photographs in Thomas\u2019s albums as the most reliable guide, but, since some of the photographs share the same negative number, it is possible that Thomas got these muddled up himself!)\nMany thanks to Philip Noble and Mark Sherman for permission to draw upon and republish Philip\u2019s article, to Philip for producing the excellent demonstration videos, and to Yvonne Mbanefo, Emeka Maduewesi and Ayodeji Ayimoro for their help with Igbo names for string games.\nPhilip Noble, 2013, \u2018Some Nigerian String Figures\u2019, Bulletin of the International String Figure Association, Vol. 20, pp.39-63.\nDownload", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1527_0_1762517001763_northcote_thomas_igbo_photograph_album_vol_3_string_games.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Northcote_Thomas_Igbo_photograph_album_vol_3_string_games.jpg", "raw_caption": "A page from one of the albums from N. W. Thomas\u2019s second and third tours showing some of Thomas\u2019s photographs of string figures and their names. (UK National Archives)", "width": 680, "height": 575, "file_size_bytes": 436450}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_1527_2_1762517002313_jaynes_string_figures_1906_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Jaynes_String_Figures_1906_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from Caroline Furness Jayne\u2019s 1906 book,String Figures: A Study of Cat\u2019s-Cradle in Many Lands, showing the method for recording string games. Haddon wrote an \u2018ethnological introduction\u2019 to the volume.", "width": 680, "height": 534, "file_size_bytes": 260961}], "tags_scraped": ["Philip Noble", "Rivers", "Haddon", "N. W. Thomas", "anthropology", "games", "string figures", "string games"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:22.843670", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1527, "date_published": "2019-09-04T15:48:13"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1459", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/kelani-abass-exhibition/", "title": "Kelani Abass [Re:]Entanglements exhibition", "raw_content": "We are delighted to announce the next\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject exhibition, which will be taking place at the\nNational Museum, Lagos\n, between 21 September and 27 October 2019.\nThe exhibition is the outcome of a collaboration between the [Re:]Entanglements project, the Lagos-based artist Kelani Abass, and the National Museum, Lagos. The exhibition features a series of new contemporary artworks by Kelani Abass, which respond to archival holdings in the National Museum of Northcote Thomas\nphotograph albums\n. This will be the first exhibition at the National Museum that focuses on the Museum\u2019s archival collections, and that brings together contemporary art and colonial archives.\nThe photograph albums were originally deposited at the Colonial Secretariat in Lagos at the time of Northcote Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys. They are the only substantial part of the Thomas collections that remains in Nigeria. At the beginning of the [Re:]Entanglements project, we believed these to be duplicates of photograph albums that are held in the UK\u2019s National Archives (originally kept in the Colonial Office Library in London) and at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. When we tracked the albums down, however, we discovered that the albums from Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 tour in Edo-speaking areas of Nigeria were actually very different from the albums in the UK, not least in the layout of the photographs on the pages and inclusion of additional descriptions on each page.\nA page from one of the albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 anthropological survey of Edo-speaking peoples of Southern Nigeria in the archival collections of the National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria.\nThe exhibition will include displays of the original albums, and juxtaposes Kelani Abass\u2019s new works, produced on various media, with large scale digital prints of pages from the albums. Abass has created two series of works for the exhibition under the title\nColonial Indexicality\n. First, is a series of 12 works produced using acrylic, oil on canvas and letterpress type, which explores the archival textures of the albums from Thomas\u2019s Edo tour. The paintings reproduce the yellowed paper panels on the album pages, including texts in various coloured inks and pencils, some in Thomas\u2019s own hand. On each canvas Abass has painted one of the photographs from the corresponding album page, capturing the aging of the photographic images in the subtle tones of his paint. Inset in each panel, letterpress type blocks with the corresponding number of the photographic image is set.\nThree of Kelani Abass\u2019s works in his\nColonial Indexicality\nseries, which will feature in the\n[Re:]Entanglements: Contemporary Art & Colonial Archives\nexhibition.\nA second series of works forms a large-scale intersecting collage reproducing five of Thomas\u2019s photographs. Remarkably, these are \u2018painted\u2019 using a hand automatic number stamping machine. Like dots in halftone photographic printing, from a distance the photographic image can be seen, but as one approaches, the integrity of the image breaks down to its component \u2018dots\u2019, which in this case are each unique numbers. This speaks powerfully to seemingly obsessive use of numbers used by Thomas to index not only the photographs he made during his anthropological surveys, but also his sound recordings, artefact collections, botanical specimens and indeed every page of fieldnotes. This gives rise to the title of Abass\u2019s work for the project,\nColonial Indexicality\n.\nDetails of one of Kelani Abass\u2019s \u2018stamping history\u2019 works for the\nColonial Indexicality\nseries. Large scale reproductions of photographs from Northcote Thomas\u2019s albums are created using a handheld numbering stamp (see close up on the right).\nThe \u2018dissolution\u2019 of the photographic archive so powerfully evoked in Abass\u2019s works, is reflected too in the large scale digital prints of Thomas\u2019s original albums. As such the exhibition is also a reflection on the precarious state of the archive itself \u2013 especially in West African institutions. The condition of the albums is extremely poor as a result of the environmental conditions in which they have been stored and pest damage. They, along with many other collections in West African museums and archives, are in urgent need of conservation care if they are to survive. This can be seen, for example, in the way in which the photographs in some of the albums have faded \u2013 in some cases, they have become almost invisible. As well as drawing attention to the precarity of the archive, this speaks eloquently to fading of memory \u2013 something that we have been very aware of during fieldwork in Nigeria and Sierra Leone.\nFading photographs, fading memories. A page from one of the albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1912-13 anthropological survey of Igbo-speaking peoples of Southern Nigeria in the archival collections of the National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria.\nIt has been especially rewarding working with Abass on this collaboration, since the themes of the [Re:]Entanglements project link closely with themes that he has been exploring in other work over a number of years (see, for instance, this\ninterview with Kelani Abass\n). We were introduced to the work Abass produced for his solo exhibitions\nIf I Could Save Time\nand\n\u00c0s\u00eck\u00f2: Evoking Personal Narratives and Collective History\nat the\nCentre for Contemporary Art\n(CCA), Lagos, and we are especially grateful to Iheanyi Onwuegbucha, curator at CCA, for working with us on the curation of the exhibition at the National Museum. We are also very grateful to Mrs Omotayo Adeboye, Curator of the National Museum, and Mr Taye Pedro, Librarian and Archivist at the National Museum, for providing access to the collections and hosting the exhibition. Without their support the exhibition would not be possible.\n[Re:]Entanglements: Contemporary Art & Colonial Archives\nis on at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos between 21 September and 27 October 2019. See our next\nblog about the exhibition\n, including video documentation of its installation and opening event.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1459_0_1762517002902_national_museum_lagos_album_7_1386-1388_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/National_Museum_Lagos_Album_7_1386-1388_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "A page from one of the albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1909-10 anthropological survey of Edo-speaking peoples of Southern Nigeria in the archival collections of the National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria.", "width": 680, "height": 557, "file_size_bytes": 341728}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_1459_3_1762517003488_national_museum_lagos_album_14_4674-4682_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/National_Museum_Lagos_Album_14_4674-4682_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Fading photographs, fading memories. A page from one of the albums from Northcote Thomas\u2019s 1912-13 anthropological survey of Igbo-speaking peoples of Southern Nigeria in the archival collections of the National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria.", "width": 575, "height": 680, "file_size_bytes": 247285}], "tags_scraped": ["Kelani Abass", "art", "photography", "archival turn", "archives", "memory", "National Museum Lagos"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:23.990196", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1459, "date_published": "2019-08-11T13:01:47"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1427", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/photographing-thomas-collections/", "title": "110 years of photographing N. W. Thomas collections", "raw_content": "Five photographs, spanning a century, of the same\nagbazi\nmask collected by Northcote Thomas in Fugar, North Edo in 1909 (NWT (1) 2654; MAA\nZ 12287 A\n).\nAs part of the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject we have sought to\ndocument the material culture collections\nassembled by\nNorthcote Thomas\nduring his anthropological surveys in Nigeria and Sierra Leone as thoroughly as possible. An important aspect of this has been to photograph the collections at the University of Cambridge\nMuseum of Archaeology and Anthropology\nstores, and then to use the photographs during our fieldwork activities in which we have been revisiting the communities from which they were originally sourced.\nLeft: George Agbo, postdoctoral researcher on the [Re:]Entanglements project, photographing\nIsi abogefi\nmask collected by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu in 1911 (NWT (2) 390, MAA\nZ 13689\n); right: community members in Nise, Anambra State, Nigeria, discussing photographs of objects collected by Thomas in the town during fieldwork (photograph by George Agbo).\nAs we have been pursuing this research, we have encountered various other photographs of the Northcote Thomas collections. Indeed, we have discovered that some objects in the collections have been photographed many times since they were collected \u2013 starting in 1909 with Northcote Thomas\u2019s own field photographs. In this article, we bring some of these photographs together as a kind of visual history of the photographic documentation of the collections.\nThe relationship between photography, ethnographic objects and ethnographic display has been the subject of much academic discussion. The manner in which objects have been photographed has shaped how such objects have been perceived, often within a strong Western\nmodernist aesthetic\n, constituting them as \u2018art objects\u2019.\nWalker Evans\n\u2018 photographic documentation of African masks and sculptures displayed at the \u2018\nAfrican Negro Art\n\u2018 exhibition at the\nMuseum of Modern Art\n, New York in 1935 is a famous case and has been the subject of an exhibition and catalogue in its own right \u2013\nPerfect Documents\n. As well as lighting and framing, a key part of this aesthetic is the separation of an object from its context, accentuating the object\u2019s formal qualities, while disembedding it from the cultural context that often gives an object its original meaning and significance. This practice was evident in Northcote Thomas\u2019s own use of a blank photographic background sheet, and it is there, too, in our own photographic documentation of the objects. It has been difficult to escape these dominant photographic tropes, although we have also tried to experiment with other approaches in our\ncreative collaborations\nwith local artists.\n[Re:]Entanglements team members, Katrina Dring and Paul Basu, setting up the photographic background paper at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology stores. (Photograph by George Agbo.)\nNorthcote Thomas, 1909-15\nNorthcote Thomas made extensive use of photography during his anthropological surveys as we have discussed in many other project\nblog posts\n. While much of his photographic documentation was focused on\npeople\nand their cultural practices, he also devoted considerable energy to photographing local\nmaterial culture\n, including everyday utensils, tools and technologies, as well as \u2018decorative art\u2019 and objects associated with ceremonies, rituals and \u2018secret societies\u2019. Much of this material culture was photographed\nin situ\nin its cultural as well as physical context. Very occasionally it appears that Thomas acquired objects that he had first photographed in their original context, such as this\nikenga\n-like figure that Thomas collected in Fugar in the north of present-day Edo State, Nigeria.\nIkenga-like figure identified by Northcote Thomas as\nAkosi\n, collected in Fugar, Northern Edo, 1909. (Photograph by N. W. Thomas, NWT 1095, MAA P.29204; Object NWT (1) 2659, MAA\nZ 12293\n.)\nIn addition to photographing objects\nin situ\n, Thomas also photographed objects isolated from their cultural context. This is evident, for example, in these photographs of masks collected by Thomas during his first and second tours respectively. Thomas photographed many masquerade performances, showing how masks were just a part of a much more elaborate performative display that included full costumes, music, dance, other ceremonial objects and audience interaction. On occasion, he was able to collect entire masquerade costumes, but, as with other collectors, he also collected head pieces alone. While we do not know the circumstances in which he collected these for sure, we do know that at least some of the objects he collected were specially commissioned from artists \u2013 this may have been the case with these masks from Fugar and Agukwu. Note the physical arrangement of the masks from Fugar on the left, and the use of backdrop and a book as an improvised mount in the photograph on the right.\nLeft: Twin masks described by Thomas as\nIbonodike\n, collected in Fugar, present-day Edo State, in 1909. (Photograph by N. W. Thomas, NWT 1088, RAI 400.17528; Objects NWT (1) 2602a & 2602b, MAA\nZ 12252 A\n&\nZ 12252 B\n.) Right: Mask described by Thomas as\nIsi abogefi\ncollected in Agukwu, present-day Anambra State, in 1911. (Photograph by N. W. Thomas, NWT 2934b, MAA N.78430; Object NWT (2) 390, MAA\nZ 13689\n.)\nDuring Thomas\u2019s second tour, which focused on the Igbo-speaking peoples of what was then Awka District (present-day Anambra State, Nigeria), Thomas started lining up the objects he had collected to photograph them prior to having them shipped to the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (then known as the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology). This example shows a series of items with Thomas\u2019s original object numbers (352 to 372), collected in Awgbu and Enugu Ukwu. One can get a good sense of Thomas\u2019s photographic backcloth here, supported on bamboo canes, which were in turn supported by two assistants, whose hands can be seen on either side! These photographs have been extremely useful in identifying Thomas\u2019s collections in the Museum\u2019s stores today, since many objects have since become separated from their labels. We have not, however, been able to locate all these objects.\nArray of objects collected by Thomas in 1911 in Awgbu and Enugu Ukwu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. (Photograph by N. W. Thomas, NMT 2934, MAA N.78429.)\nArts of West Africa\n, 1935\nTo date, the earliest photographs we have discovered of Thomas collections after they had entered the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Cambridge were published in 1935, 20 years after Thomas returned from his final tour. These are two photographs of the same\nAule\nmask collected by Thomas in Agenebode, North Edo, in 1909. They were published in a book entitled\nArts of West Africa\n, which was commissioned by the UK\u2019s Colonial Office following the recommendation of its Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies. In the acknowledgements it is stated that the book\u2019s plates were produced by the \u2018expert photographers\u2019 of the Empire Marketing Board, under the supervision of\nJohn Grierson\n, pioneer of the British\nDocumentary Film Movement\n. It is also noted that \u2018the British Museum afforded special facilities for the photography of [the] objects\u2019, including those lent by other museums. It is likely, therefore, that the\nAule\nmask was sent to the British Museum to be photographed.\nPlates XX and XXI in\nArts of West Africa\n(1935).\nAule\nmask collected by N. W. Thomas in Agenebode in 1909 (NWT (1) 2722, MAA\nZ 11910\n).\nIt is interesting that the editors of the book considered it worthwhile to illustrate the mask with two different views (it is the only example in the book). In the description of the mask in the text, reference is made to photographs taken by Thomas of Igbo hair designs similar to those carved on the mask published in\nPeoples of All Nations\nin c.1920. The photographs show how lighting and camera angle can be used to dramatize the appearance of the mask.\nBritish Museum, dates unknown\nWe have recently chanced upon a series of photographs of Northcote Thomas collections in the\nBritish Museum\n. Only one of these had a catalogue note mentioning the name of Thomas, but we were able to identify others and the British Museum catalogue will be updated accordingly. It is not clear whether the photographs were all taken at the same time, or if they were photographed at the British Museum or supplied to the Museum by Cambridge. Nor do we have any information about the year in which they were taken. It is possible that they were also photographed for the\nArts of West Africa\nbook, but not included \u2013 we don\u2019t know.\nBelow we provide three examples, juxtaposed with our own photographs of the same objects. These highlight another value of historical photographs of objects, insofar as we are able to compare them with the objects as we encounter them today. The first photograph is of the same\nAule\nmask collected by Thomas in Agenebode and published in\nArts of West Africa\n. As can be seen in the recent photograph on the right, the mask has been fitted onto a wooden display mount. These mounts are also evident in some of the Len Morley photographs taken in the late 1940s. This mount is not present in the British Museum photograph of the same mask on the left, suggesting that the photograph was indeed taken earlier \u2013 perhaps in the 1930s.\nAule\nmask collected by N. W. Thomas in Agenebode in 1909 (NWT (1) 2722, MAA\nZ 11910\n). Left: photograph in British Museum collection, date unknown (BM\nAf,B62.18\n); right: photograph taken by George Agbo for [Re:]Entanglements project, 2019.\nComparing historical and contemporary photographs also allows us to gather information about the changing condition of objects. The foot of this\nngene\nshrine figure\nfrom Awgbu, for example, has clearly been damaged since the British Museum photograph on the left was made. Actually, during our collections-based research, we have located the missing part of the foot and this figure will be repaired prior to being displayed at the\n[Re:]Entanglements project exhibition\nat the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, in 2021-22.\nNgene\nshrine figure collected by N. W. Thomas in Awgbu in 1911 (NWT (2) 378, MAA\nZ 14234.1-2\n). Left: photograph in British Museum collection, date unknown (BM\nAf,B62.11\n); right: photograph taken by George Agbo for [Re:]Entanglements project, 2019.\nIn the example below, we can see that a piece of patterned cloth was originally attached to the mask when it was collected and has subsequently been lost. In fact, on closer inspection, we see that this is the same\nObo\nmask collected in Fugar that Morley photographed (see below). The negative of Morley\u2019s photograph has been printed back to front, such that the large crack that appears on the left side of the helmet can be see on the opposite side. The fact that the mask is attached to a wooden mount in Morley\u2019s photograph of 1949, but is no longer attached to the cloth, also suggests that the British Museum photographs are earlier. Today, both the cloth and the wooden mount are missing.\nObo\nmask collected by N. W. Thomas in Fugar, 1909 (NWT (1) 2662, MAA\nZ 12297\n). Left:  photograph in British Museum collection, date unknown (BM\nAf,B62.16\n); right: photograph taken by George Agbo for [Re:]Entanglements project, 2019.\nLen Morley, 1949-51\nIn 1947, a faculty photographer was appointed to work in the Anthropology and Archaeology sections of Cambridge University, including at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology \u2013 his name was Len Morley. He continued working at the Museum until 1974. To date we have been able to identify around 15 objects from the Thomas collections photographed by Morley between 1949 and 1951. The objects are taken against a plain background and include a small scale. Two of the masks in the examples below have been fitted with wooden mounts similar to that discussed above, giving an indication of how they would have been exhibited in the Museum at the time.\nThree examples of Len Morley\u2019s mid-20th-century photographic documentation of masks collected by Northcote Thomas in North Edo in 1909-10. From left to right:\nOgbodu\n, collected in Agenebode (NWT (1) 2729, MAA\nZ 11917.1\n),\nAmababa\n, collected in Irrua (NWT (1) 2566a, MAA\nZ 12816\n),\nObo\n, collected in Fugar (NWT (1) 2662, MAA\nZ 12297\n).\nSome masks are difficult to photograph without expensive purpose-designed mounts due to their shape and weight-distribution. In one remarkable photograph taken by Len Morley, we can see how he addressed this problem by getting an assistant, or perhaps a member of the Museum\u2019s curatorial staff, to wear the mask. The area around the mask has then been painted out on the print making it suitable for publication purposes.\nMoji\nmask, collected by Northcote Thomas in Afikpo, present-day Ebonyi State, Nigeria in 1912-13, photographed by Len Morley in 1951. (NWT (3) 50, MAA\nZ 13585\n.)\nAfrican art publications, 1960s-80s\nA number of objects from the Northcote Thomas collections have featured as plates in more recent popular reference works on African art. In\nAfrican Sculpture\nby\nWilliam Fagg\nand Margaret Plass, first published in 1964, the authors use explicitly European art historical vocabularies to discuss African objects. At the time the book was published, Fagg was Deputy Keeper of Ethnography at the British Museum. Margaret and Webster Plass were American collectors of African art; Margaret donated their collection to the British Museum after her husband Webster\u2019s death in 1952.\nFagg and Plass use the example of a mask Thomas identifies as\nagbazi\n, which was collected in Fugar in 1909 to illustrate what they refer to as an \u2018African Gothic\u2019 style (\u2018the strong tendency towards a \u2018\nGothic\n\u2018 verticality in African woodcarving\u2019, p.101). The mask, which also appears in the photographs at the top of this post, appears to have been photographed lying on the floor of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge.\nFront cover and p.101 of William Fagg and Margaret Plass, African Sculpture, first published in 1964. The photograph on p.101 is an\nagbazi\nmask collected by Thomas in Fugar in 1909 (NWT (1) 2654; MAA\nZ 12287 A\n).\nLike William Fagg,\nFrank Willett\nwas a leading Africanist anthropologist and archaeologist. Having spent a number of years working in the antiquities department in Nigeria in the 1950s, at the time he published his classic survey of African art in 1971 he was Professor of African Art and Archaeology at Northwestern University in the USA.\nAfrican Art\nhas remained in print ever since, and was revised in 2002. Willett used a photograph of a carved wooden figure Thomas collected in Sabongida, in the so-called Ora country, north of Benin City in his introductory chapter, discussing the development of the study of African art.\nWillett refers to the \u2018cubist qualities\u2019 reflected in the artistic traditions of the Edo-speaking peoples. He also notes how little known these artistic traditions are when compared to the \u2018better known art of the Benin court\u2019. Thomas\u2019s label and catalogue entry describe the figure merely as a doll. A piece of string is tied around its neck, attached to which are two cowrie shells.\nFront cover and p.31 of the revised edition of Frank Willett,\nAfrican Art\n, the original edition of which was first published in 1971. The figure on p.31 is described by Thomas merely as a doll, collected in Sabongida Ora in 1909 (NWT (1) 2164; MAA\nZ 13449\n).\nA photograph of the\nIsi abogefi\nmask\ncollected by Thomas in Agukwu, discussed above, was published by G. I. Jones in his monograph,\nThe Art of Eastern Nigeria\n, published in 1984.\nGwilym Iwan Jones\nwas a colonial administrator in Igbo-speaking Eastern Nigeria between 1926 and 1946. During his time in the Colonial Service he undertook anthropological training at Oxford. In 1946, he left the Colonial Service and became a lecturer in anthropology at the University of Cambridge, specializing in Igbo art. Jones made extensive collections himself, now in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and he was also an expert photographer \u2013 his\nphotographs of Igbo masquerade performances\nare especially well-known. In the 1930s and 40s, he worked in many of the same areas that Thomas visited during his second and third tours (1910-13), and he makes frequent reference to Thomas\u2019s collections in the book.\nJones uses the mask as a particularly fine example of a \u2018maiden spirit\u2019 helmet mask. The marked-up, camera-ready artwork used in the production of Jones\u2019 book can be found in the archives of the  Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, among Jones\u2019 papers.\nIsi abogefi\nmask collected by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911 (NWT (2) 390, MAA\nZ 13689\n). Left: camera-ready artwork of Figure 46 (MAA archives); right: Figure 46 of G. I. Jones,\nThe Art of Eastern Nigeria\n.\nJean Borgatti, 1969\nIn 1969, the art historian Jean Borgatti conducted the first comprehensive research on Northcote Thomas\u2019s collections, focusing on the material he collected in North Edo sixty years previously. This research would form an important part of Borgatti\u2019s MA dissertation, \u2018The Northern Edo of Southern Nigeria: An Art Historical Geography of Akoko-Edo, Ivbiosakon, Etsako and Ishan\u2019, submitted to the University of California, Los Angeles in 1971. Her decision to concentrate on this area was a response to William Fagg\u2019s observation that \u2018the arts of the Northern Edo and Ishan have remained \u201ca universe \u2026 practically unknown to the outside world, but which is extremely rich in new forms\u201d\u2018 (Borgatti 1971: 2). Building on her MA work, she would go on to conduct PhD research in the same region and, indeed, devote much of her career to studying the arts and masquerade of North Edo (see, for example, her\nguest blogs\nfor the [Re:]Entanglements project).\nBorgatti made extensive use of photography in her research on the Thomas collections at the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, using formal analysis to categorize the artworks according to a series of \u2018style provinces\u2019. She focused especially on carved figures and mask types. As well as presenting the photographs in the appendix of her MA thesis, she used these in her PhD fieldwork, during which she would rephotograph many of the same masquerade types, providing a remarkable analysis of how they have changed and developed over several decades.\nExamples of Jean Borgatti\u2019s contact sheets of her photographic documentation of N. W. Thomas\u2019s North Edo collections in 1969.\nRoger Blench and Mark Alexander, 1983-90\nPrior to the [Re:]Entanglements project, the most sustained attempt to document Northcote Thomas\u2019s collections was carried out by Roger Blench and Mark Alexander in the 1980s. Blench and Alexander were graduate students in the Anthropology Department at Cambridge. Together they set about cataloguing Thomas\u2019s papers, sound recordings, photographs and material culture collections across various institutions. Blench presented an overview of the results of this survey in an article, \u2018The Work of N. W. Thomas as Government Anthropologist in Nigeria\u2019, published in\nThe Nigerian Field\nin 1995. They also published a bibliography of Thomas\u2019s written works, while Alexander used Thomas as one of a number of case studies in his MPhil dissertation, \u2018Colonialism and the Political Context of Collection: A Case Study of Nigerian Collections in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology\u2019, submitted in 1982.\nAs part of this work, Blench and Alexander created a computerized database of the Thomas collections and photographs in Cambridge, and photographed as many of the objects as they could locate. Blench notes that many seemed to be missing. In the early 1990s, Blench and Alexander pursued other interests and passed on their catalogue and photographs to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Their photographs are pinned to the reverse of the Thomas object index cards in the Museum\u2019s original card index catalogue system. While we have made many discoveries since, Blench and Alexander\u2019s work with Thomas\u2019s collections may certainly be regarded as laying the foundations of the [Re:]Entanglements project.\nExamples of Roger Blench and Mark Alexander\u2019s photographs of Thomas collections pinned to the reverse of MAA index cards. Anticlockwise from top right:  guitar (NWT (4) 132, MAA\nZ 14553\n), charm (NWT (4) 130, MAA\nZ 14551\n) and powder horn (NWT (4) 100, MAA\nZ 14527\n), all collected from Yalunka-speaking areas of Sierra Leone (probably Musaia); charm (NWT (4) 74, MAA\nZ 14502\n), collected from Sendugu, Sierra Leone.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1427_10_1762517004096_len_morley_photographs_of_northcote_thomas_masks_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Len_Morley_photographs_of_Northcote_Thomas_masks_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Three examples of Len Morley\u2019s mid-20th-century photographic documentation of masks collected by Northcote Thomas in North Edo in 1909-10. From left to right:Ogbodu, collected in Agenebode (NWT (1) 2729, MAAZ 11917.1),Amababa, collected in Irrua (NWT (1) 2566a, MAAZ 12816),Obo, collected in Fugar (NWT (1) 2662, MAAZ 12297).", "width": 680, "height": 303, "file_size_bytes": 117140}], "tags_scraped": ["Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology", "museums", "collections", "photography", "sculpture", "mask"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:24.609367", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1427, "date_published": "2019-08-09T21:18:03"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_1107", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/protection-from-witchcraft/", "title": "Fieldnotes: protection from witchcraft", "raw_content": "\u2018Charms\u2019 collected by Northcote Thomas in Sierra Leone, 1914-15. Clockwise from top left: Sacrifice to keep children well (MAA\nZ 14477\n); Charm to protect kola tree (MAA\nZ 14479\n); Charm (MAA\nZ 14499\n); Charm for kola tree (MAA\nZ 14502\n).\nSometimes the most potent objects are not the most visually striking. This is true of the various \u2018sacrifices\u2019 and \u2018charms\u2019 that\nNorthcote Thomas\ncollected in Sierra Leone in 1914-15, and now held by the\nUniversity of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology\n. They take many forms \u2013 cloth covered bundles, a few sticks tied together, crumbling packages \u2013 yet they are also some of the most powerful objects in the Thomas collections. They have the power to protect people and their property from malevolent forces, including witchcraft, which might bring sickness, crop failure or other calamities.\n\u2018Sacrifice\u2019 in house in Kamalo to protect from evil and bring good sleep. Photographed by N. W. Thomas in 1914. (MAA  P.33089)\nWitchcraft and the various means to protect oneself from it appear to have been of particular interest to Thomas during his tour of mainly Temne-, Soso-, Koranko- and Limba-speaking communities in northern Sierra Leone. He devoted a number of chapters of his\nAnthropological Report on Sierra Leone\nto the topic and related matters. This reflects the centrality of the issue to the communities he worked with.\nHe evidently struggled to make sense of the numerous rites, ceremonies, sacrifices, amulets and charms that were employed by different communities to protect themselves from malevolent forces. This no doubt reflects the anthropologist\u2019s desire to make distinctions between and classify the practices and objects he encountered. Thus, in Chapter 7 of his\nReport\n, Thomas discusses various rituals, sacrifices and magical things under categories of \u2018satka\u2019, \u2018wanka\u2019 and \u2018kanta\u2019, and yet in his descriptions the distinction between these is often blurred and confusing.\nPages from N. W. Thomas\u2019s\nAnthropological Report on Sierra Leone\n, including a table in which Thomas attempts to produce a typology of\nwanka\n.\nThe \u2018belief\u2019 in witchcraft is still\nvery much part of life in Sierra Leone and it is not unusual to see protective\namulets, charms and other devices, especially in rural areas. The need to\nprotect oneself from malevolent forces (the invisible \u2018bullets\u2019 of a \u2018witchgun\u2019,\nfor example) is strongly felt and local herbalists or ritual specialists\nperform important roles in their communities. Although these charms are often\nconstructed from ordinary things (basketwork, calabashes, eggs, stones, fishing\nnets), these have been ritually transformed. Thomas concluded that the objects\nwere often selected because of their mimetic properties \u2013 a fragment of old\nfishing net thus becomes a ritual trap, for instance.\n\u2018Sacrifice against fire\u2019, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Fundembia (?), 1914. NWT 5735; MAA P.33428.\nSatka\nare often set up outside people\u2019s houses. They typically take the form of long poles, on top of which are suspended various things \u2013 sometimes a white or red cloth, sometimes a small fan or basket, sometimes a small bell. Thomas observed these too: \u2018Chief among mimetic rites\u2019, he wrote, \u2018may be mentioned the custom of hanging up a fan which swings in the breeze and is believed to be efficacious in blowing away evil influences\u2019 (Thomas 1916: 53). We were given a similar explanation at the village of Katumpeh, on the road between Kamalo and Kamakwie. Mr Abraham Dumbuya explained that his previous house was damaged by strong winds, so he had this\nsatka\nmade. Now when evil comes with the wind, it sees the\nsatka\nand jumps over the house, leaving it unharmed. Instead, the\nsatka\nwelcomes in good luck. Another man in the same village explained that when his\nsatka\nswings in the breeze, it will invite good luck to the household.\nSatka\noutside house in Katumpeh, on the road between Kamalo and Kamakwie. Photographs by Paul Basu.\nWhen we brought copies of Northcote Thomas\u2019s photographs of Mamaka to show the present-day community, we asked about the various\nwanka\nhe had photographed. One type, in particular, was instantly recognized. Thomas describes this as a type of \u2018sacrifice\u2019 \u2018put at the entrance to a farm \u2026 to keep away witches, bad\nkrifi\n[spirits], and evil-disposed persons and influences\u2019 (Thomas 1916: 53).\n\u2018Sacrifice at entrance to farm\u2019, photographed by Northcote Thomas in Mamaka in 1914.  NWT 5863; MAA P.33523.\nIn Mamaka, we were later introduced to Mohammed Kamara, a herbalist or\nomen\n, who agreed to let us film him making such a charm, which he described as a\nkantha\n. He explained that farmers would approach him to make the\nkantha\n. It would be set up at the entrance to a farm at the time of hoeing the soil, before planting. The\nkantha\ncan be re-used from year to year, but a new ceremony must be performed each year. The kantha includes a raw egg wrapped first in a red cloth, then covered in a piece of old fishing net. These have previously been transformed into powerful things using herbs or medicines. These are placed in a basketry receptacle that has been woven into long strips of cane. The receptacle is then covered in another piece of red cloth and another piece of old fishing net, which is bound in place. Just like the example photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1914, this is then suspended on two poles and set up at the entrance of a farm. At key points in the making of the\nkantha\n, Mohammed spoke words that \u2018activated\u2019 the charm. The egg, he explained, was like a bomb \u2013 if a witch passed by, it would explode. The fishing net was a ritual trap.\nDocumentation film of Mohammed Kamara, herbalist, making a kantha charm to protect farm from witchcraft.\nMohammed learnt the skills of a herbalist from his father, Pa Almamy Kamara, who had, in turn, learnt the art from his mother, Yanna Kanray. He explained that not everyone has the power to make such charms and cure diseases. One must be gifted with \u2018four eyes\u2019 \u2013 that is, the ability to engage with the spirit realm. We asked how much a farmer might pay him for a kantha and he explained that it depended on how much he was able to pay. We asked that the\nkantha\nMohammed made for us be given to a poor farmer who could not afford to pay. We hope that it will protect his farm from harm and bring a good harvest!\nThe finished\nkantha\nthat Mohammed Kamara made for us in Mamaka. Photograph by Paul Basu.\nSierra Leonean charms on display in the \u2018Potent Things\u2019 installation at the [Re:]Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times exhibition, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, June 2021 to April 2022.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_1107_2_1762517012476_n_w_thomas_anthropological_report_on_sierra_leone_wanka_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/N_W_Thomas_Anthropological_Report_on_Sierra_Leone_wanka_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Pages from N. W. Thomas\u2019sAnthropological Report on Sierra Leone, including a table in which Thomas attempts to produce a typology ofwanka.", "width": 1000, "height": 780, "file_size_bytes": 465594}], "tags_scraped": ["Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone", "witchcraft", "satka", "charm", "kanta", "Sierra Leone", "wanka", "Mamaka", "ritual"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:32.986049", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 1107, "date_published": "2019-03-21T12:52:21"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_912", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/otuo-wrestling-festival/", "title": "Otuo wrestling festival, July 1909", "raw_content": "Excerpt from N. W. Thomas\u2019s typed-up notes describing Otuo\u2019s \u2018Ukpesoda\u2019 wrestling festival, 12-13 July 1909.\nThe first phase of the [Re:]Entanglements project has been focusing on researching the archives and collections assembled during Northcote Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys in Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone. After the surveys, the collections were dispersed and they are now scattered across many institutions, including the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Royal Anthropological Institute, the British Library Sound Archive, the UK National Archives, and National Museum, Lagos. One of the exciting aspects of this research is to reassemble the disassembled documents, photographs, sound recordings and artefacts relating to a particular event that N. W. Thomas documented.\nHere, for example, we bring together photographs, sound recordings and an object that can be associated with an account of a wrestling festival that Thomas attended on 12-13 July 1909 in the North Edo town of Otuo (spelled Otua by Thomas). This written account was found in a bundle of typed up notes from his first tour, perhaps fragments of an early draft of his\nAnthropological Report on the Edo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria\n.\nAt Otua I witnessed a wrestling festival called Ukpesoda, said to have been ordered by Osa.\nAt 8.30 in the morning the road to the market but not the market itself was swept by boys who had not yet joined otu\n[an age-set]\n; then they plucked leaves from any tree on the road & headed by two boys carrying brooms marched through the town & back to the square.\nUninitiated children sweeping the road to the market before the start of the festival, Otuo. NWT 817b, RAI 400.17082.\nIn the afternoon a sacrifice was offered to the ground, euelekpa, by four of the king\u2019s company, while the other chiefs looked on. The main share in the ceremony was borne by Eidevri (A) & Omorigie (B). A said: I salute the whole town; now is the time for our feast; B replied: the whole town thanks you.\nA said: The king gets more fufu than others. The king replied: I thank you for seeing that it is all right. The fufu was provided by the king & three chiefs.\nDistributing sacrificed fufu and meat to the king and chiefs on the first day of the festival, Otuo. NWT 816f, RAI 400.17075.\nA & B then washed their hands & stood on either side of the stone of sacrifice. B brought water & put the dish on the ground; A washed his hands over the stone; B brought fufu & handed it to A & then put soup & four pieces of meat in the fufu dish. A put it on the ground close to the stone & they repeated this operation four times, once for each set of fufu. Then A & B stood aside, saying: We have finished, come & eat.\nThen small boys lined up some ten yards away, rushed in, seized the fufu & took it away from the square to eat.\nOn their return A & B began to divide the fufu for the different companies. A cut the fufu horizontally, leaving some in the bottom of the calabash for the chief who provided it & putting the other slices on leaves on the ground. Then he took a knife & cut the fufu on the leaf & B gave to each company. The head took it & summoned the others. The people who are not yet in a company also get a portion, which is handed to the firstcomer after the order is given.\nThe meat was then cut up; the four chiefs got a piece each & A took the remainder home; it was divided on the following day.\nThe sacrifice over, the women began to dance & sing for joy; two performed to the song of the others; then all raised their hands & shouted.\nWomen singing on the first day of the festival, Otuo. NWT 816l, RAI 400.17080.\nhttp://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Otua_womens_song_July_13_1909_NWT_0169_re-entanglements.net_.mp3\n\u2018Otua women\u2019s song, July 13th 1909\u2019. NWT 169, BL C51/2449.\nOn the following morning three drummers appeared on the square at 7.30 AM with three kinds of drums called alukpe, ozi & adoka.\nDrummers playing on the second day of the festival, Otuo. NWT 817a, RAI 400.17081.\nhttp://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Otua_drum_NWT_0156_re-entanglements.net_.mp3\nDrumming recorded by N. W. Thomas in Otuo, July 1909. NWT 156, BL C51/2268.\nAs soon as the people collected the wrestling began. Men hopped round the circle as a challenge & the victor hopped around afterwards.\nWrestling scenes during the second day of the festival, Otuo. NWT 818c2, RAI 400.17084; NWT 818c3, RAI 400.17085; NWT 818c4, RAI 400.17086.\nAnyone familiar with Chinua Achebe\u2019s\nThings Fall Apart\nwill recall the significance of wrestling in southern Nigerian society. We might imagine the scene in Otuo as being not unlike that evoked by Achebe:\nThe drummers took up their sticks again and the air shivered and grew tense like a tightened bow \u2026 The wrestlers were now almost still in each other\u2019s grip. The muscles on their arms and their thighs and on their backs stood out and twitched. It looked like an equal match. The two judges were already moving forward to separate them when Ikezue, now desperate, went down quickly on one knee in an attempt to fling his man backwards over his head. It was a sad miscalculation. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora, Okafo raised his right leg and swung it over his rival\u2019s head. The crowd burst into a thunderous roar. Okafo was swept off his feet by his supporters and carried home shoulder-high. They sang his praise and the young women clapped their hands.\nSince the N. W. Thomas collections are in different physical locations, it is only through digital technology that we can bring them together in one space, reuniting sound, image and object. Bringing together these materials seems simple enough, but actually involves painstaking archival and collections-based research. Each institution has accessioned these materials using its own numbering system, and it has been necessary to reunite them using Thomas\u2019s own original numbering systems, relying on the scratched numbers on the edges of photographic negatives, Thomas\u2019s spoken ident at the beginning of sound tracks, and associating Thomas\u2019s collection numbers with his object catalogues. This is further complicated by the fact that there is no straight-forward documentation of Thomas\u2019s itineraries, recording what he did where, and what he collected, photographed and recorded.\n\u2018Alukpe\u2019 drum collected by N. W. Thomas in Otuo in 1909. If this is not the actual drum in the photographs of the wrestling festival, it is very similar. NWT 2048, MAA Z 13384.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_912_0_1762517013752_otua_wrestling_festival_nwt_edo_ms_13_pp_13-14_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Otua_wrestling_festival_NWT_Edo_ms_13_pp_13-14_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Excerpt from N. W. Thomas\u2019s typed-up notes describing Otuo\u2019s \u2018Ukpesoda\u2019 wrestling festival, 12-13 July 1909.", "width": 680, "height": 432, "file_size_bytes": 228105}], "tags_scraped": ["drumming", "Otuo", "wrestling", "sacrifice"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:34.266432", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 912, "date_published": "2018-09-23T21:06:44"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_853", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/object-oriented-perspective/", "title": "Meeting themselves again. An object-oriented perspective?", "raw_content": "Maiden spirit mask, recorded by Northcote Thomas as \u2018Isi abogefi\u2019, collected in either Agukwu-Nri or Nibo in present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1910-11. Thomas noted that this spirit (manwu) would dance each dry season at the feast of Anuoye. (MAA Z 13689; Photograph by N. W. Thomas MAA N.78430.)\nIn an essay, \u2018The buzz of displacement\u2019, in the book\nThe Inbetweenness of Things\n(Bloomsbury, 2017),\nSandra Dudley\ndraws upon the concept of an object-oriented ontology and conducts a thought-experiment to imagine how museum objects themselves might experience senses of displacement and liminality. Dudley considers the perspective of a\ncarved wooden bee\nthat once adorned the throne of\nKing Thibaw\nin the\nMandalay Palace\nin Burma, which has been caught in the liminal space of the\nPitt Rivers Museum\ncollection in Oxford since 1889. For the bee, the museum may be regarded as a liminal space where it is isolated from the contexts which originally animated it; the object yearns for reincorporation into that lost social and material world from which it is exiled. On the other hand, however, the museum is a space in which possibilities for incorporation into new social worlds abound as the bee forms relationships with other people and things. Dudley mentions, for example, the intimate relationship formed between the bee and a contemporary wood carver who was inspired by the bee to create a replica.\nEthnographic museum objects may be said to be displaced both spatially and temporally. As we have been\nrediscovering the collections\nof artefacts that\nNorthcote Thomas\nassembled during his anthropological surveys in Nigeria and Sierra Leone, we have also been experiencing this sense of the objects\u2019 dislocation, but also the possibilities for reconnection in the present. The idea of reconnection and re-entanglement with the ethnographic archive is, of course, at the heart of the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject. However, we have been struck especially by the temporal reconnections brought about in our approach to collections-based research in the museum store too \u2013 especially through our use of Thomas\u2019s original field photographs.\nShrine vessel, recorded by Northcote Thomas simply as \u2018Pot for Olokun\u2019, collected in Benin City in 1909. Such \u2018akh olukun\u2019 were made by women from river clay, symbolic of the cycle of life and the worlds of earth and water, human spirit. (MAA Z 12112; Photograph by N. W. Thomas MAA P.29327.)\nThomas did not systematically photograph all the objects he collected prior to dispatching them to what was then the\nUniversity of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology\n. In fact, only a small percentage of the collection was photographed either in the field or at the Museum at the time. Those photographs of \u2018specimens of native manufacture\u2019 that Thomas did take in West Africa are therefore especially valuable, and have been one of the starting points for us as we have been exploring the collections in stores. In most cases, it is only through painstaking archival research and detective work that we have been able to locate these objects today. But how thrilling when one is able to identify such objects and reunite them with their historical photographic portraits!\n[Re:]Entanglements team member, Katrina Dring, updating the Museum record of the Olokun shrine vessel, comparing the Northcote Thomas\u2019s field photograph of the pot with the object today. The vessel has evidently been badly damaged at some point in its biography and has been repaired.\nFrom the objects\u2019 point of view, we wonder what the experience of being brought \u2018face-to-face\u2019 with themselves in this way must be like? Seeing their younger selves, as it were, from nearly 110 years ago, when they had newly been brought into being through the skills of artists and craftspeople in the areas in which N. W. Thomas was working. The exchange of gazes between historic photograph and object presences other times, places and people, most particularly the very moment in time when, in West Africa, Thomas clicked the shutter on his Videx camera, capturing the reflected light from these objects in the emulsion of his glass plate negatives, which we, in turn, have pored over and digitized, and used in our quest to discover those same objects in the anonymous wooden crates in which they are now housed in Cambridge. The museum affords such possibilities for presencing these temporal and spatial journeys. And this, we hope, will be just the beginning of these journeys and possibilities as we invite others to reconnect with the collections and the histories they are entangled in, both virtually, through the internet, and when we physically travel back to the locations where the objects were made with copies of Thomas\u2019s historical photographs and the photographs we are now taking.\nRecreating Thomas\u2019s field photograph of two masks, labelled as \u2018Ibonodike\u2019 and \u2018Wonodike\u2019, collected in Fugar, in present-day Edo State, in 1909. (MAA Z 12252; Photograph by N. W. Thomas RAI 400.17528.) Thomas collected a large number of masks in Fugar; it seems likely that he commissioned a carver to produce various types of mask typical of the area.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_853_3_1762517014361_mma_12252_nwt_2602_nwt_photo_1088_460x680_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MMA_12252_NWT_2602_NWT_photo_1088_460x680_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Recreating Thomas\u2019s field photograph of two masks, labelled as \u2018Ibonodike\u2019 and \u2018Wonodike\u2019, collected in Fugar, in present-day Edo State, in 1909. (MAA Z 12252; Photograph by N. W. Thomas RAI 400.17528.) Thomas collected a large number of masks in Fugar; it seems likely that he commissioned a carver to produce various types of mask typical of the area.", "width": 460, "height": 680, "file_size_bytes": 251319}], "tags_scraped": ["Maiden-spirit", "Olukun", "mask"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:34.863437", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 853, "date_published": "2018-08-03T11:25:02"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_772", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/rediscovering-northcote-thomas-collections/", "title": "Rediscovering Northcote Thomas\u2019s artefact collections", "raw_content": "Detailed documentation photographs of a basket (nkata) collected by Northcote Thomas in Awgbu in present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Note the various different accession numbers recorded on the label. MAA Z 13945.\nOver the coming months, we shall be exploring the artefact collections assembled by\nNorthcote Thomas\nduring his anthropological survey work in Nigeria and Sierra Leone between 1909 and 1915. The collection of \u2018ethnological specimens\u2019 was very much a part of anthropological fieldwork in the early twentieth century, and part of a broader project of \u2018salvaging\u2019 what was perceived to be the last vestiges of \u2018primitive society\u2019 before they were made extinct by the incursion of colonial \u2018civilization\u2019. Thomas had written about the need for making such collections long before he conducted any fieldwork himself and, in 1909, he echoed his earlier sentiments when justifying his collecting activities to the Colonial Office: \u2018I regard the making of these collections as important. \u2026 The opportunities which I have may not recur, every year European goods are ousting native products more & more\u2019.\nJudging from correspondence with\nC. H. Read\nand\nT. A. Joyce\nat the\nBritish Museum\n, it appears that Thomas purchased most of the objects he collected at markets or else commissioned them to be made. This is in stark contrast with the looting of antiquities and treasures that accompanied colonial campaigns, such as the notorious\nPunitive Expedition\nto Benin City in 1897. Thomas initially anticipated that the collections would be acquired by the British Museum. However, Read, who was then Keeper of Ethnological Collections, declined the collections from his 1909-10 tour, partly due to a misunderstanding about funds available, partly because Thomas insisted that the collection be kept together in its entirety, but partly also because many of the objects were indeed made especially for Thomas. As Read wrote, \u2018I am by no means sure that I want these modern things made to order as it were\u2019. Today, paradoxically, Thomas\u2019s collecting methods would be considered highly ethical.\nDuring his 1910-11 tour in what was then Awka District, Southern Nigeria, Thomas photographed his collections prior to dispatching them to the Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology in Cambridge. As part of our collections-based research, we are identifying these objects in the museum stores. The numbers correspond to Thomas object numbers 338 to 350. MAA P.31169.\nThomas subsequently offered the collection to the University of Cambridge\u2019s\nMuseum of Archaeology and Ethnology\n. A draft letter by the museum\u2019s curator,\nAnatole von H\u00fcgel\n, to the University\u2019s Antiquarian Committee, which was responsible for the museum, survives in which he recommends acquiring the collection. Von H\u00fcgel notes that there are some \u20182500 objects, now lying in forty cases at the Colonial Office\u2019, and \u2018Mr Thomas is very anxious that the collection shall be kept together and is prepared to hand it over to our Museum at cost price\u2019. He adds that \u2018Mr Thomas procured what he believes to be the last examples of genuine native workmanship in many villages\u2019. The sum of \u00a3100 was raised from one of the Museum\u2019s regular patrons,\nProfessor Anthony Bevan\nof Trinity College Cambridge, and the collection was duly acquired.\nDraft letter from Anatole von Hugel to the Cambridge University Antiquarian Society, proposing the acquisition of Northcote Thomas collection in 1910. MAA archives.\nHaving acquired the collection he assembled during his first tour in Edo-speaking areas of Southern Nigeria, Thomas was then given a grant by the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology \u2018for collecting purposes\u2019 during his subsequent tours among Igbo-speaking communities (1910-11, 1912-13), and it appears that Thomas donated the collections he assembled in Sierra Leone (1914-15). Together the \u2018Thomas Collection\u2019, as it was known, provided a comprehensive representation of \u2018native manufactures\u2019 of Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The size of the collection was such that the gallery in which they were stored at the Museum was assigned as a dedicated \u2018African room\u2019.\nDocumenting and caring for a collection of this scale also presented challenges, especially since a large number of the objects had been damaged in transit from West Africa to Britain. The Museum\u2019s Annual Reports in the years following the initial acquisition often mention the work of \u2018cleaning, mending and restoring\u2019 the objects; while Thomas himself assisted in the work of classifying and labelling the collections. Indeed, the work of accessioning, cataloguing and documenting the collection has continued sporadically over the decades. This work was carried out by individuals who went on to become established figures in the study of African Art, including\nG. I. Jones\nin the late 1940s and Malcolm Mcleod in the early 1970s. In the late 1980s, a project was led by Cambridge students, Roger Blench and Mark Alexander, to re-examine the collections, and today, of course, we are engaging with them again in the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject.\n[Re:]Entanglements team members (Katrina Dring, George Agbo and Paul Basu) working with the Thomas collections in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology stores in Cambridge.\nDespite this occasional attention, the collections have rarely been seen. Today, only a handful of the objects are on display in the Museum\u2019s permanent galleries. Through the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject, for the first time we will be taking photographs of the collections back to the places from which they were collected. Thomas\u2019s documentation of the collections is relatively limited, and we have much to learn about them. We are also interested in how the descendants of those who made or used these objects perceive them today. What craft skills and continuities in design and materials exists in these places now? And what inspiration might these collections provide for contemporary artists and craftspeople in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and beyond? Our intention is to commission new works and to display this newly-commissioned work alongside Thomas\u2019s historical collections in our [Re:]Entanglements exhibition that will be staged in 2020.\nA page from the catalogue of Northcote Thomas\u2019s collection from his first tour, 1909-10. Historical museum documentation has a palimpsest-like quality as different people have added notes and queries over the decades. Collections-based research is like archaeological excavation, as one deciphers the layers of knowledge and ordering systems that have accumulated.\nThomas photographed some of the objects he collected \u2018in the field\u2019, prior to having them packed in crates and shipped to Britain. Our starting point as we work through the collections is to identify and locate these same objects in the Museum stores, to photograph them in detail, and to enhance the Museum\u2019s catalogue record of each. You can follow our progress by joining the project\u2019s\nFacebook Group\n, and, indeed, you can make your own discoveries by searching the MAA\u2019s\nonline catalogue\n.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_772_0_1762517014914_northcote_thomas_collections_based_research_nwt_0006_maa_z_13945_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Northcote_Thomas_collections_based_research_NWT_0006_MAA_Z_13945_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Detailed documentation photographs of a basket (nkata) collected by Northcote Thomas in Awgbu in present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Note the various different accession numbers recorded on the label. MAA Z 13945.", "width": 680, "height": 454, "file_size_bytes": 349909}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_772_2_1762517015475_letter_from_von_hugel_concerning_northcote_thomas_collection_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Letter_from_von_Hugel_concerning_Northcote_Thomas_collection_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Draft letter from Anatole von Hugel to the Cambridge University Antiquarian Society, proposing the acquisition of Northcote Thomas collection in 1910. MAA archives.", "width": 680, "height": 861, "file_size_bytes": 601422}, {"file_name": "re-entanglements_772_4_1762517016049_northcote_thomas_collections_catalogue_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "http://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Northcote_Thomas_collections_catalogue_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "A page from the catalogue of Northcote Thomas\u2019s collection from his first tour, 1909-10. Historical museum documentation has a palimpsest-like quality as different people have added notes and queries over the decades. Collections-based research is like archaeological excavation, as one deciphers the layers of knowledge and ordering systems that have accumulated.", "width": 680, "height": 521, "file_size_bytes": 250120}], "tags_scraped": ["Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology", "collections", "fieldwork", "C. H. Read", "British Museum"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:36.551070", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 772, "date_published": "2018-07-25T15:49:42"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_712", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/anthropologists-use-of-panoramic-photography/", "title": "Panoramic photography and photographic excess", "raw_content": "Panoramic photograph made by N. W. Thomas using the Kodak No.1 Panoram camera, Nigeria, 1910-13. Print from the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, P.39431.\nNorthcote Thomas\nused a number of different cameras during his four anthropological surveys in West Africa between 1909 and 1915. During his first tour, in Edo-speaking areas of Nigeria, his equipment list included a Hunter & Sands Tropical camera and a Goerz camera. On his three subsequent tours, in Igbo-speaking areas of Nigeria and in Sierra Leone, however, his photographic kit included three cameras: an Adams Videx camera, a Stereoscopic camera, and a Kodak Panoram camera. The majority of Thomas\u2019s photographs were taken on quarter plate glass negatives on the Videx, but it is clear that Thomas experimented with both stereoscopic photography, also using quarter plates, and panoramic shots using the Kodak Panoram, which used 105 format roll film.\nThrough the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject, we have been systematically digitising all of N. W. Thomas\u2019s photographic negatives and prints with our partners at the\nRoyal Anthropological Institute\nand\nUniversity of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology\n. Until recently, we believed that only Thomas\u2019s quarter plate glass negatives and corresponding prints had survived. However, we were excited to discover quite a number of his panoramic prints in the collections in the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology. On a recent research visit to the\nNational Museum in Lagos\n, Nigeria, we were also delighted to find a number of these panoramic prints mounted in one of the photograph albums produced during Thomas\u2019s surveys.\nPage of panoramic photographs from one of the albums produced during N. W. Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys in Southern Nigeria. Originally deposited in the Colonial Secretariat in Lagos, the albums are now in the care of the National Museum, Lagos.\nThe Kodak No.1 Panoram camera, which Thomas used, was manufactured between 1900 and 1926. The camera had a swinging lens, which took 3.5 x 12 inch exposures across a 112 degree arc on 105 film stock. An advertisement of the time asserts that \u2018The pictures taken by these instruments have a breadth and beauty not attainable with the ordinary camera. The wide scope of view makes the Panoram excellent for taking landscapes, as it can cover a wide area without the distortion incident to the use of wide angle lenses\u2019. There is an excellent article on the Kodak No.1 Panoram at\nMike Eckman Dot Com\n.\nKodak No.1 Panoram camera. The picture on the right shows a close-up of the Panoram\u2019s \u2018swing lens\u2019, which turned 120 degrees when the shutter was released.\nThe more we explore Northcote Thomas\u2019s fieldwork photography, the more we learn how innovative he was for the time. For example, during his 1910-11 tour in what was then Awka District, he experimented with using two cameras simultaneously to photograph a scene from different angles. This technique would, of course, become an important technique in cinematography. (The earliest known example of a two-camera set up in cinema was the 1911 Russian film\nDefence of Sevastopol\n.) In the example here, we can see that Thomas and his assistants simultaneously photographed what is described as the Ogugu ceremony at\nAgulu\n, south of Awka, using both the Adams Videx and Kodak Panoram cameras.\nOgugu ceremony, Agulu, Southern Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1910-11 onto quarter plate glass negative using the Adams Videx camera. Print from the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, P.30566 (NWT 2170).\nIn the resultant sequences of photographs there is a further intrigue, which speaks of the \u2018excess\u2019 of the photographic image, and particularly the\nperipheral presences\nthat creep into the frame without the photographer\u2019s awareness. Of over 7,000 photographs in the archive, there are perhaps only three or four that intentionally show something of the process of Thomas\u2019s anthropological survey work. It is only through this photographic excess that we catch glimpses of the endeavor.\nTo date, then, the only photographs we have seen in which we glimpse Northcote Thomas\nbehind\nthe camera are the reverse shots of the Ogugu ceremony at Agulu taken by one of his assistants on the Kodak Panoram. In the background of the panoramic shot we see Thomas stood behind the tripod mopping his brow together with three of his assistants and items of his kit strewn around. A rare insight into the anthropologist-photographer at work.\nOgugu ceremony, Agulu, Southern Nigeria. \u2018Reverse angle\u2019, photographed by one of Thomas\u2019s assistants in 1910-11 using the Kodak Panoram camera. Note Thomas, behind the camera tripod, and assistants caught in the background (see detail). Print from the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, P.39450.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_712_1_1762517016606_northcote_thomas_photograph_album_national_museum_lagos_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Northcote_Thomas_photograph_album_National_Museum_Lagos_re-entanglements.net_.jpg", "raw_caption": "Page of panoramic photographs from one of the albums produced during N. W. Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys in Southern Nigeria. Originally deposited in the Colonial Secretariat in Lagos, the albums are now in the care of the National Museum, Lagos.", "width": 680, "height": 517, "file_size_bytes": 365741}], "tags_scraped": ["fieldwork assistants", "Agulu", "National Museum Lagos", "panoramic photography"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:37.114152", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 712, "date_published": "2018-07-06T21:09:13"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_528", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/fire-brigade-benin-city-january-1909/", "title": "\u2018Fire Brigade\u2019, Benin City, January 1909", "raw_content": "Photography played an important part of N. W. Thomas\u2019s work as Government Anthropologist in Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone. During the 55 months between 1909 and 1915 that he spent conducting fieldwork, Thomas took approximately 7,000 photographs on quarter plate glass negatives. Although these photographs were made as part of an anthropological survey, today they form a remarkable historical record of the localities in which he worked.\nThe first surviving photograph from Thomas\u2019s anthropological surveys, made soon after he arrived in Southern Nigeria in January 1909, shows a chain of three men passing pots of water between them to put out a house fire in Benin City. Thomas captions the photograph \u2018fire brigade\u2019 in his photographic register. It is one of a sequence of shots of a house fire and its aftermath.\nThomas individually numbered each of his photographs and subsequently categorized them under geographical and thematic headings, such as Topography, Houses, Daily Life, Decorative Art, Technology, Ceremonies and so forth. He also kept a photographic register, in which he \u2013 or an assistant \u2013 made a brief note about each photograph as they were taken.\nExcerpt from the\nReport of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1912\n. This shows a report of the Association\u2019s Committee on Anthropological Photographs, including a catalogue of the photographs from N. W. Thomas\u2019s first tour, classified by location and theme.\nOver the course of the\n[Re:]Entanglements\nproject we will be researching this unique photographic archive alongside Thomas\u2019s sound recordings and artefact collections and will regularly post about our discoveries. Please share these posts and add any comments you may have.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_528_0_1762517017855_report_of_the_british_association_1912-13_pp.275-276_1067x842_reentanglements.net_-1024x808.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Report_of_the_British_Association_1912-13_pp.275-276_1067x842_reentanglements.net_-1024x808.jpg", "raw_caption": "Excerpt from theReport of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1912. This shows a report of the Association\u2019s Committee on Anthropological Photographs, including a catalogue of the photographs from N. W. Thomas\u2019s first tour, classified by location and theme.", "width": 1024, "height": 808, "file_size_bytes": 176119}], "tags_scraped": ["N. W. Thomas", "Benin City", "photography"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:38.356408", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 528, "date_published": "2018-01-15T14:12:16"}}
+{"id": "re-entanglements_507", "source_name": "Re-entanglements", "source_type": "secondary", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/government-anthropologist-sets-sail-lagos/", "title": "A Government Anthropologist sets sail for Lagos", "raw_content": "On this day, January 9th, in 1909, the Government Anthropologist, N. W. Thomas, set sail on the\nS. S. Burutu\nfrom Liverpool. Travelling on this\nElder Dempster & Co.\nsteam ship, he was bound for Lagos and his first experience of anthropological fieldwork in West Africa.\nIt was a more a matter of chance than design that N. W. Thomas\u2019s became the first Government Anthropologist to be appointed by the British Colonial Office. A few years earlier, in 1905, the Chief Magistrate of the Gambia, A. D. Russell, had proposed distributing a questionnaire to colonial administrators in Britain\u2019s West African territories in order to collect information about the \u2018customary laws\u2019 of local populations. It was thought that this information would be useful for those colonial officials who were responsible for \u2018administering justice\u2019 in the context of indirect rule. The proposal was adopted and over the following couple of years a large amount of material amassed at the Colonial Office.\nExcerpt from one of the reports compiled by colonial officers on West African customs and laws reviewed by N. W. Thomas. These pages are concerned with \u2018tribal marks\u2019 in the Central Province of Southern Nigeria. RAI Manuscripts & Archives.\nAt the same time, the academic discipline of anthropology was fast establishing itself in Britain. The first qualification in the subject was, for example, introduced at Oxford in\n1906\n, and a first generation of professional anthropologists had been lobbying government for the establishment of an\nImperial Bureau of Anthropology\nmodelled on that already existing in the USA. In 1908, when the Colonial Office began considering publication of the information about customary laws in West Africa, it was decided that the job of editing the material should be entrusted to an anthropologist. On the recommendation of\nE. B. Tylor\n, N. W. Thomas was approached to take on this task.\nThomas\u2019s review of the questionnaire material was, however, damning. He reported that the quality of the information gathered was extremely variable, and found fault both in the design of the questionnaire and in the methods used in gathering the data. Such research, he argued, needed to be undertaken by an expert \u2018familiar with modern anthropological methods\u2019 rather than by colonial administrators \u2013 adding that, if so desired, he would be prepared to take on such a task. Thomas\u2019s report shook the confidence of officials in the Colonial Office, and they took Thomas\u2019s recommendations seriously. Following further consultation with senior anthropologists, including\nJ. G. Frazer\nand\nC. H. Read\n, Thomas was duly engaged to carry out \u2018an investigation of an experimental character into native law, custom, &c.\u2019 in West Africa.\nOf the governors of Britain\u2019s West African territories, it was\nSir Walter Egerton\n, Governor of the\nColony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria\n, who was most receptive to the idea of supporting the initiative to engage a professional anthropologist. It was thus agreed that the first \u2018experimental\u2019 anthropological survey should take place in Southern Nigeria. If the survey proved successful, it was agreed that the initiative would be extended, perhaps to other territories. It was important to note that Thomas was given little direct instruction either from the Colonial Office or colonial government in Southern Nigeria. Rather than focusing narrowly on specific problems or issues, Thomas embarked on a general ethnographic survey, following the guidance set out in the methodological handbook,\nNotes and Queries in Anthropolog\ny\n.\nIt is likely that Thomas chose Southern Nigeria\u2019s Central Province as the focus of his initial tour due to his acquaintance with\nR. E. Dennett\nand H. N. Thompson, respectively the Deputy Conservator and Conservator of Forests in Southern Nigeria, who were ordinarily based in Benin City, the provincial headquarters. The companionship of Dennett and Thompson would, no doubt, have eased Thomas\u2019s entry into what were, for him, the unknown worlds of both West Africa and the Colonial Service. Indeed, when his appointment was confirmed, Thomas requested that his departure for Southern Nigeria might be delayed until January 1909, so that he might travel out with Thompson, who had been on leave in England. The passenger list on the S. S. Burutu thus lists both N. W. Thomas and H. N. Thompson among its first class customers.\nPassenger List of the S. S. Burutu, departing from Liverpool, 9th January 1909. Highlighted are the names of H. N. Thompson and N. W. Thomas, both bound for Lagos.\nFurther details about N. W. Thomas\u2019s biography and career can be found in the article \u2018\nN. W. Thomas and colonial anthropology in British West Africa: reappraising a cautionary tale\n\u2019,\nJournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute\n22: 84-107.", "documents": [{"file_name": "re-entanglements_507_0_1762517018402_report_on_central_province_southern_nigeria_tribal_marks_rai_c.1908_re-entanglements-1024x539.jpg", "original_url": "https://re-entanglements.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Report_on_Central_Province_Southern_Nigeria_tribal_marks_RAI_c.1908_re-entanglements-1024x539.jpg", "raw_caption": "Excerpt from one of the reports compiled by colonial officers on West African customs and laws reviewed by N. W. Thomas. These pages are concerned with \u2018tribal marks\u2019 in the Central Province of Southern Nigeria. RAI Manuscripts & Archives.", "width": 1024, "height": 539, "file_size_bytes": 94621}], "tags_scraped": ["Southern Nigeria", "Colonial Office", "scarification", "N. W. Thomas", "Notes and Queries on Anthropology", "Benin City", "S. S. Burutu"], "license_info": "Copyright \u00a9 2025 [Re:]Entanglements", "timestamp_scraped": "2025-11-07T12:03:38.905751", "source_specific_metadata": {"source_id": "re-entanglements", "wp_post_id": 507, "date_published": "2018-01-09T11:36:05"}}
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1107_2_1762517012476_n_w_thomas_anthropological_report_on_sierra_leone_wanka_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1107_2_1762517012476_n_w_thomas_anthropological_report_on_sierra_leone_wanka_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..eb40e60ea6c65a6f66410659f9e3f52ea777d2c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1107_2_1762517012476_n_w_thomas_anthropological_report_on_sierra_leone_wanka_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:b71c6a711e8e460885553df3933a736cf75318b6ee636e66b96f07b654ebd9ef
+size 465594
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1427_10_1762517004096_len_morley_photographs_of_northcote_thomas_masks_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1427_10_1762517004096_len_morley_photographs_of_northcote_thomas_masks_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..09a1cc9b9ebe5cdba866db2a0e7d89122d94ff73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1427_10_1762517004096_len_morley_photographs_of_northcote_thomas_masks_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:917de7018023415b688bd4118125df264e86b4716bf61d3c851bf4b88a6f9134
+size 117140
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1459_0_1762517002902_national_museum_lagos_album_7_1386-1388_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1459_0_1762517002902_national_museum_lagos_album_7_1386-1388_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f89fab998f2070393710cc5947bf85b8e39cb043
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1459_0_1762517002902_national_museum_lagos_album_7_1386-1388_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:f7cfe593c178184bb58e37dba4ddee4dfded5c0dbc21d7f5b4ff5578cd820cb2
+size 341728
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1459_3_1762517003488_national_museum_lagos_album_14_4674-4682_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1459_3_1762517003488_national_museum_lagos_album_14_4674-4682_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f461ca593b2d50e205857313d8fc5dbc927af2de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1459_3_1762517003488_national_museum_lagos_album_14_4674-4682_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:2a5d5d853f07a9fd816eb33af506966a15f8001b50829ed5de5607446bc8223f
+size 247285
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1527_0_1762517001763_northcote_thomas_igbo_photograph_album_vol_3_string_games.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1527_0_1762517001763_northcote_thomas_igbo_photograph_album_vol_3_string_games.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..037f14b5535b8bed93353e9a08310481df15fa39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1527_0_1762517001763_northcote_thomas_igbo_photograph_album_vol_3_string_games.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:01003506b761299dac2e316cacd78003eea27a181d08b885fce93159b45368ad
+size 436450
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1527_2_1762517002313_jaynes_string_figures_1906_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1527_2_1762517002313_jaynes_string_figures_1906_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..558e75a91c5b10af24bdb0e79021bf555ecc3024
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1527_2_1762517002313_jaynes_string_figures_1906_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:40a9a25adfb08eb95ccd3c970dc468d71d7913a629a7eecb7cf4e33c593be5e4
+size 260961
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1573_2_1762517001147_national_museum_lagos_tour_1_album_re-entanglements.net_-1.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1573_2_1762517001147_national_museum_lagos_tour_1_album_re-entanglements.net_-1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1b14a0efe7e572ee0952b01cd572fea7c4d63001
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1573_2_1762517001147_national_museum_lagos_tour_1_album_re-entanglements.net_-1.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:425909b4993c7e9ec645687f3ce2e53679aa6d94fc9ccf5a6f82ab6e664d6141
+size 188960
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1596_2_1762517000571_excerpt_thomas_anthropological_report_p.189_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1596_2_1762517000571_excerpt_thomas_anthropological_report_p.189_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4c9644bdbb7e8cf9058de816dedfcfe4d5283f7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1596_2_1762517000571_excerpt_thomas_anthropological_report_p.189_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:250525bc9e078fed6bf0aef686f51bc173596a504904d592acd6fe8198ef6222
+size 353303
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1637_2_1762516999300_onyeso_speech_n_w_thomas_anthropological_report_igbo_part_3_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1637_2_1762516999300_onyeso_speech_n_w_thomas_anthropological_report_igbo_part_3_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..00888233ec6eba3354b98da665dcedc2e01d9939
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1637_2_1762516999300_onyeso_speech_n_w_thomas_anthropological_report_igbo_part_3_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:041eca5b3988c7b039d220fe674a35cf66fe153e3b8f2d710f9041470c343f8b
+size 422285
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1756_3_1762516998680_sierra_leone_archives_information_regarding_protectorate_chiefs_1912-1024x435.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1756_3_1762516998680_sierra_leone_archives_information_regarding_protectorate_chiefs_1912-1024x435.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9e6be4067384c88de936a1b262cdd95bfaf8e83e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1756_3_1762516998680_sierra_leone_archives_information_regarding_protectorate_chiefs_1912-1024x435.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:c8ddd2dd71b37914da9427d52e54f285fadb540df1ae5c4f387070b37844b91e
+size 69392
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1832_3_1762516996855_conservation_4_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1832_3_1762516996855_conservation_4_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bb870d5096f1d5caba615ac70ece55bf8d51a137
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1832_3_1762516996855_conservation_4_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:da7713f1902b7b851c43238216db1aa4d2583672ea4da6ec5fe6e4619cf3b950
+size 80993
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1832_6_1762516997421_conservation_9_re-entanglements.net_-1024x308.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_1832_6_1762516997421_conservation_9_re-entanglements.net_-1024x308.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6703fa868e65bcb42ffaf0c87e3ed4e7ea78d7b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1832_6_1762516997421_conservation_9_re-entanglements.net_-1024x308.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:11c0d9625b79bef681698923a89a1db6c10568017ecdb0ddf2709daffee80579
+size 70612
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_1987_0_1762516994964_excerpt_from_northcote_thomas_anthropological_report_igbo_proverbs_stories_tones_re-entanglements.ne b/documents/re-entanglements_1987_0_1762516994964_excerpt_from_northcote_thomas_anthropological_report_igbo_proverbs_stories_tones_re-entanglements.ne
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b5cdbcfe49ddb722411b9609dcf5117099a07cde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_1987_0_1762516994964_excerpt_from_northcote_thomas_anthropological_report_igbo_proverbs_stories_tones_re-entanglements.ne
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:65637551edb27cd2e2f0a6d6fc549591c279ac4509eda90724747dda00fed71b
+size 127404
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2069_3_1762516993768_northcote_thomas_edo_manuscript_stone_celts_1_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2069_3_1762516993768_northcote_thomas_edo_manuscript_stone_celts_1_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..fbe4f5b00e03da276900beaba76cd3007282787a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2069_3_1762516993768_northcote_thomas_edo_manuscript_stone_celts_1_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:cfbfa74190f49be4ba5004e66cb82d0626e5c4014a6e68c26f87da5ed432b8ae
+size 81244
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2069_4_1762516994338_northcote_thomas_edo_manuscript_stone_celts_2_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2069_4_1762516994338_northcote_thomas_edo_manuscript_stone_celts_2_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..71f86abcd6902a8d5752e604ae30dce0f14f4976
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2069_4_1762516994338_northcote_thomas_edo_manuscript_stone_celts_2_re-entanglements.net_-1024x660.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:20490c663339c041a27b8b7bbe4080cc4c6162edb3cf9956b40053dbe10e4867
+size 61583
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2278_2_1762516992050_northcote_thomas_description_of_ukhure_edo_report_p.37_re-entanglements.net_-1024x417.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2278_2_1762516992050_northcote_thomas_description_of_ukhure_edo_report_p.37_re-entanglements.net_-1024x417.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..17f39801e05679751ed39734244dadc4ef6604a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2278_2_1762516992050_northcote_thomas_description_of_ukhure_edo_report_p.37_re-entanglements.net_-1024x417.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:50212acb4ec49003bc93ef38efd9e6501f37e9e319ae3b903e9f6c6f4a221037
+size 84675
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2278_4_1762516992601_northcote_thomas_typescript_notes_on_ovia_festival_re-entanglements.net_-1024x642.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2278_4_1762516992601_northcote_thomas_typescript_notes_on_ovia_festival_re-entanglements.net_-1024x642.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6558f244ccf2fede8abec8500b6b3bd873be54b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2278_4_1762516992601_northcote_thomas_typescript_notes_on_ovia_festival_re-entanglements.net_-1024x642.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:f351c3ff815cf5f33622123b7a64936c576947ef77d3414c9624bf01b0df5548
+size 91897
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2278_9_1762516993145_northcote_thomas_excerpt_from_collection_catalogue_ukhure_carvings_re-entanglements.net_-1024x703.jp b/documents/re-entanglements_2278_9_1762516993145_northcote_thomas_excerpt_from_collection_catalogue_ukhure_carvings_re-entanglements.net_-1024x703.jp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..555e60e6ba604242654425415ae0aec107cf699c
Binary files /dev/null and b/documents/re-entanglements_2278_9_1762516993145_northcote_thomas_excerpt_from_collection_catalogue_ukhure_carvings_re-entanglements.net_-1024x703.jp differ
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2428_10_1762516989713_elementary_sketch_of_phonetics_sl_national_archives_re-entanglements.net_-1024x556.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_10_1762516989713_elementary_sketch_of_phonetics_sl_national_archives_re-entanglements.net_-1024x556.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9c6208c87c2e1ca9914a4bb896120d3411684a89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_10_1762516989713_elementary_sketch_of_phonetics_sl_national_archives_re-entanglements.net_-1024x556.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:d82220dfcb78a6c5dde8ad5bd2d2ab2b0913272b8c305e00f5e38e18ea22650f
+size 94228
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2428_11_1762516990274_travers_chubb_to_northcote_thomas_tas_course_1925_re-entanglements.net_-1024x562.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_11_1762516990274_travers_chubb_to_northcote_thomas_tas_course_1925_re-entanglements.net_-1024x562.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..db498ac1ee81455038abbb6beded0ad9b6d2980d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_11_1762516990274_travers_chubb_to_northcote_thomas_tas_course_1925_re-entanglements.net_-1024x562.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:2515695e77af200ac0f91bd84572c88fa2e78046a2701986776115c18ac4a433
+size 77277
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2428_1_1762516987457_northcote_thomas_linguistic_notebook_edo_tour_1909-10_soas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x842.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_1_1762516987457_northcote_thomas_linguistic_notebook_edo_tour_1909-10_soas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x842.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c23a3eb9e1d4636783b5a50c656b2d7c17b13c19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_1_1762516987457_northcote_thomas_linguistic_notebook_edo_tour_1909-10_soas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x842.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:08b46e7c89e63a13028f92fa6d34778c7208555cdda502a4c59fee78fa184000
+size 107618
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2428_2_1762516988002_northcote_thomas_interpreters_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_2_1762516988002_northcote_thomas_interpreters_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6339a67930e945652b4f0e1f5dc7f020e1829cad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_2_1762516988002_northcote_thomas_interpreters_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:6ad31befb8627c57087ceb647a3bbc758f9abdfc6011c0c38ef44bcb1ac8ace5
+size 83238
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2428_3_1762516988574_northcote_thomas_linguistic_notebook_igbo_tour_1910-13_soas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x849.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_3_1762516988574_northcote_thomas_linguistic_notebook_igbo_tour_1910-13_soas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x849.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bee60b33eb0ccfb6573ff63b97095c869209aaae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_3_1762516988574_northcote_thomas_linguistic_notebook_igbo_tour_1910-13_soas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x849.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:8ebb2180bba457ac68ee9d0c01f04c457079418f9ace5242fc44362b9ec3282a
+size 176561
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2428_4_1762516989135_northcote_thomas_igbo_report_proverbs_narratives_vocabularies_and_grammar_re-entanglements.net_-1024 b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_4_1762516989135_northcote_thomas_igbo_report_proverbs_narratives_vocabularies_and_grammar_re-entanglements.net_-1024
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..66e188a953eafd103defdff920941c12998e1a47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2428_4_1762516989135_northcote_thomas_igbo_report_proverbs_narratives_vocabularies_and_grammar_re-entanglements.net_-1024
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:c9832579702d736ed37d0cac7752af123a11140c5cda477e8b80322f8844fc2f
+size 106506
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2488_2_1762516986279_northcote_thomas_collections_awgbu_nwt_2968_maa_p.31227_re-entanglements.net_-1024x770.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2488_2_1762516986279_northcote_thomas_collections_awgbu_nwt_2968_maa_p.31227_re-entanglements.net_-1024x770.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..922ab52396c816073f23c0725803e0d9a8ff3b1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2488_2_1762516986279_northcote_thomas_collections_awgbu_nwt_2968_maa_p.31227_re-entanglements.net_-1024x770.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:b234eaae56adf92733260151436548f94096382db8e7df5c94e496b4f823d509
+size 147315
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2488_3_1762516986832_nwt_album_tour_2_3995_and_3996_national_museum_lagos_re-entanglements.net_-1024x778.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2488_3_1762516986832_nwt_album_tour_2_3995_and_3996_national_museum_lagos_re-entanglements.net_-1024x778.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..91a28e3014c49d9b55c8c05bba10fd6831564e1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2488_3_1762516986832_nwt_album_tour_2_3995_and_3996_national_museum_lagos_re-entanglements.net_-1024x778.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:4a1b48d0aec6ac82d6517c8264bb79104b7000d3e4b1450b429774a48a72d58f
+size 160708
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2636_3_1762516984402_maiden_spirit_remains_of_costume_attached_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2636_3_1762516984402_maiden_spirit_remains_of_costume_attached_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..88870170b5cdd1cda4cc56ded54bcf8f63c20d75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2636_3_1762516984402_maiden_spirit_remains_of_costume_attached_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:38ff7c973d63489086d1409a6ba0d545d5da5cfe715b08badaf05f5e2903aab9
+size 93601
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2662_1_1762516983220_nwt_igbo_report_vol_iii_48-49_re-entanglements.net_-1024x683.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2662_1_1762516983220_nwt_igbo_report_vol_iii_48-49_re-entanglements.net_-1024x683.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..604e159390f439b29a2e591e428d23eefe4e7dbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2662_1_1762516983220_nwt_igbo_report_vol_iii_48-49_re-entanglements.net_-1024x683.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:8da5fbb106a7317d69549ddf27485789f6740d0006cac5da9760666548767651
+size 142087
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2690_0_1762516979853_northcote_thomas_flora_of_southern_nigeria_herbarium_specimens_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_0_1762516979853_northcote_thomas_flora_of_southern_nigeria_herbarium_specimens_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..7c855fa761d61c5dae294fb4908166034bd6465e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_0_1762516979853_northcote_thomas_flora_of_southern_nigeria_herbarium_specimens_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:fc5c3455d1a383393dd4b86b658239c7120f567b74b0de11d3945e4d08a8e1ba
+size 106108
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2690_1_1762516980397_northcote_thomas_edo_tour_catalogue_of_collections_medicinal_notes_otua_sabongida_re-entanglements.n b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_1_1762516980397_northcote_thomas_edo_tour_catalogue_of_collections_medicinal_notes_otua_sabongida_re-entanglements.n
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e04f5b808ce2b6eec3c03740259ca303a953b365
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_1_1762516980397_northcote_thomas_edo_tour_catalogue_of_collections_medicinal_notes_otua_sabongida_re-entanglements.n
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:b34df379b871e802018c0355ba40dd339596c9b9dca7a98eb9ea9b30ddc4416d
+size 148245
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2690_3_1762516980943_northcote_thomas_botanical_collections_igbo_1911-12_determination_list_kew_re-entanglements.net_-102 b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_3_1762516980943_northcote_thomas_botanical_collections_igbo_1911-12_determination_list_kew_re-entanglements.net_-102
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cb721ec97274ebbe32f8bb2a929eae51d7fdad16
Binary files /dev/null and b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_3_1762516980943_northcote_thomas_botanical_collections_igbo_1911-12_determination_list_kew_re-entanglements.net_-102 differ
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2690_4_1762516981507_northcote_thomas_flora_of_southern_nigeria_herbarium_specimen_labels_re-entanglements.net_-1024x603. b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_4_1762516981507_northcote_thomas_flora_of_southern_nigeria_herbarium_specimen_labels_re-entanglements.net_-1024x603.
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..549f65ebb3e2d07858315eafcc9732a32ed7fff8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_4_1762516981507_northcote_thomas_flora_of_southern_nigeria_herbarium_specimen_labels_re-entanglements.net_-1024x603.
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:83c71f6b6a3b98f23f3d1da5fba1110039f9e076729b1b1961440ef06490fb8b
+size 104258
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2690_7_1762516982083_northcote_thomas_flora_of_sierra_leone_specimen_labels-1024x324.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_7_1762516982083_northcote_thomas_flora_of_sierra_leone_specimen_labels-1024x324.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..5c88142f70b71c9386d2e6e167c70ae599b5beef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_7_1762516982083_northcote_thomas_flora_of_sierra_leone_specimen_labels-1024x324.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:4dc72f0b6a96d56aacdcecb48189ee46bf025d29588226e39178413a87a37acf
+size 54933
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_2690_9_1762516982642_northcote_thomas_sierra_leone_herbarium_specimen_map_1914-15_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_9_1762516982642_northcote_thomas_sierra_leone_herbarium_specimen_map_1914-15_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c0180f1f26837ec7bf39a662a58b0327ca9b921b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_2690_9_1762516982642_northcote_thomas_sierra_leone_herbarium_specimen_map_1914-15_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:081de4ff0e0eaa66cde62211349a0b2662246754dcb245f31838b4f0ef58c560
+size 84524
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3003_1_1762516974371_northcote_thomas_collection_labels_maa_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3003_1_1762516974371_northcote_thomas_collection_labels_maa_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..be24815cfae0555da07e3a7c15477a8a637a8c15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3003_1_1762516974371_northcote_thomas_collection_labels_maa_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:3b7c0380bdba6bd063c0b10cecb0dd49e03e23b23277f8633e33382ab33e7270
+size 77915
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3003_2_1762516974949_susu_necklace_and_labels_collected_by_northcote_thomas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3003_2_1762516974949_susu_necklace_and_labels_collected_by_northcote_thomas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..5042ac61edc8be7a00741d91c0d487bad5f4455a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3003_2_1762516974949_susu_necklace_and_labels_collected_by_northcote_thomas_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:2b474620cb6b2c1e868cfbda4683ae14d44008ede8df87a01f3d9e5b76703887
+size 90191
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3003_3_1762516975498_university_of_cambridge_annual_report_antiquarian_committee_1914_p5_re-entanglements.net_-1024x219.j b/documents/re-entanglements_3003_3_1762516975498_university_of_cambridge_annual_report_antiquarian_committee_1914_p5_re-entanglements.net_-1024x219.j
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ff1100a36f6eef61e861b96e3bd5d9c3115b05c4
Binary files /dev/null and b/documents/re-entanglements_3003_3_1762516975498_university_of_cambridge_annual_report_antiquarian_committee_1914_p5_re-entanglements.net_-1024x219.j differ
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3003_4_1762516976060_museum_of_archaeology_and_anthropology_northcote_thomas_collection_labels-1024x576.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3003_4_1762516976060_museum_of_archaeology_and_anthropology_northcote_thomas_collection_labels-1024x576.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..74b5844af32ab840e00f7080f58e483d4f549404
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3003_4_1762516976060_museum_of_archaeology_and_anthropology_northcote_thomas_collection_labels-1024x576.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:7c611b0f4863b8c62b762dbc569fde4210df7ecd65816142f15d7e668b435ef0
+size 91027
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3079_0_1762516972577_northcote_thomas_physical_type_photographs_in_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x641.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3079_0_1762516972577_northcote_thomas_physical_type_photographs_in_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x641.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c6d1493e15fbce94be7070f8e0a1078569d2c3ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3079_0_1762516972577_northcote_thomas_physical_type_photographs_in_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x641.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:364a522a6412d71b0c341cce3ccffbddbad0e03535df3c39ef02fad68c5b8b35
+size 88823
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3079_19_1762516973148_northcote_thomas_to_fiddian_regarding_john_osagbo_1910-1024x702.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3079_19_1762516973148_northcote_thomas_to_fiddian_regarding_john_osagbo_1910-1024x702.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6403eaf86578979395d4b46655e13bf15d85db79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3079_19_1762516973148_northcote_thomas_to_fiddian_regarding_john_osagbo_1910-1024x702.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:540a15929e576512428e78057f6fb1d5daa998614909a35dbbb37121fa18d68c
+size 85471
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3189_1_1762516971430_northcote_thomas_questionnaire_on_dolls_man_proof_1906_re-entanglements.net_-1024x710.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3189_1_1762516971430_northcote_thomas_questionnaire_on_dolls_man_proof_1906_re-entanglements.net_-1024x710.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d1fdef54039a9f60b628bb2a8a20cf08b774250a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3189_1_1762516971430_northcote_thomas_questionnaire_on_dolls_man_proof_1906_re-entanglements.net_-1024x710.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:83db971461ce884b5ce057b8a826647330089d2871d943adda70d68f79867a96
+size 103936
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3189_2_1762516971997_n_w_thomas_lecture_on_dolls_to_royal_anthropological_institute_oldman_letter_re-entanglements.net_-1 b/documents/re-entanglements_3189_2_1762516971997_n_w_thomas_lecture_on_dolls_to_royal_anthropological_institute_oldman_letter_re-entanglements.net_-1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6a6e117bdf5f6dcdfa69cf20f59fc97a8db59d1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3189_2_1762516971997_n_w_thomas_lecture_on_dolls_to_royal_anthropological_institute_oldman_letter_re-entanglements.net_-1
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:e035392369ca31940dbd3d9d1af973b7301c2b45aed7e04bebd588d596bf104d
+size 103290
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3286_10_1762516970817_momo_samura_northcote_thomas_5247_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_10_1762516970817_momo_samura_northcote_thomas_5247_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..49ae91e1febea645b9127fd6b8272e96746778f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_10_1762516970817_momo_samura_northcote_thomas_5247_re-entanglements.net_-1024x576.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:b69d84a94377cbc4c51e08f1b16e47a994c799c89ee98ac1404deec2f91b75d3
+size 54784
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3286_1_1762516967884_descriptive_characters_notes_and_queries_on_anthropology_1899_re-entanglements.net_-1024x659.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_1_1762516967884_descriptive_characters_notes_and_queries_on_anthropology_1899_re-entanglements.net_-1024x659.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..55b9866a1eed78f4ee3c26aaa2614ca6948bb104
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_1_1762516967884_descriptive_characters_notes_and_queries_on_anthropology_1899_re-entanglements.net_-1024x659.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:c61f9d01ac588ff5f3f43a98139d543e07403b462821f8b85d261ff15632f84f
+size 151394
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3286_4_1762516968520_physical_type_portraits_northcote_thomas_photograph_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x601.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_4_1762516968520_physical_type_portraits_northcote_thomas_photograph_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x601.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e6ebf22fd5786f01f128ecbb5ebf8d7eb54d6082
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_4_1762516968520_physical_type_portraits_northcote_thomas_photograph_album_re-entanglements.net_-1024x601.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:320fdcde67b23bb4bdc078e4904acf3e41534fa4f21dd14855a7a78a440afa1c
+size 81876
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3286_5_1762516969096_nwt_album_photograph_categories_table_re-entanglements.net_-1024x879.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_5_1762516969096_nwt_album_photograph_categories_table_re-entanglements.net_-1024x879.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..92ec5267262cc26f3d318099bd566b2c6af587fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_5_1762516969096_nwt_album_photograph_categories_table_re-entanglements.net_-1024x879.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:6c71cd294e09babc78082546c9ffc1bc4199fa44b90dc4acb252279cd4dd230d
+size 156078
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3286_6_1762516969669_northcote_thomas_agewonu_physical_type_photograph_benin_city_1909_re-entanglements.net_-1024x698.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_6_1762516969669_northcote_thomas_agewonu_physical_type_photograph_benin_city_1909_re-entanglements.net_-1024x698.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..dfb69cf152016a5e403ec214c84549d4e597fbe4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_6_1762516969669_northcote_thomas_agewonu_physical_type_photograph_benin_city_1909_re-entanglements.net_-1024x698.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:5b650b4b37c1d3cb340c308549e887f91b40b7118f003195d06c67d8a1f8573a
+size 98116
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_3286_7_1762516970239_northcote_thomas_edo_report_1910_appendix_c_photographic_and_phonographic_records_re-entanglements.n b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_7_1762516970239_northcote_thomas_edo_report_1910_appendix_c_photographic_and_phonographic_records_re-entanglements.n
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..370f5f2fe102dd6ff0868d6c5b117dd80ef10240
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_3286_7_1762516970239_northcote_thomas_edo_report_1910_appendix_c_photographic_and_phonographic_records_re-entanglements.n
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:de3cb8a95e5c774e8bb3ec58e91c49ae35908649c9d710fe7dd0b0ae2a1d8b47
+size 191148
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_507_0_1762517018402_report_on_central_province_southern_nigeria_tribal_marks_rai_c.1908_re-entanglements-1024x539.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_507_0_1762517018402_report_on_central_province_southern_nigeria_tribal_marks_rai_c.1908_re-entanglements-1024x539.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..fd889217c06501edde3bf200bdf547924cebf124
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_507_0_1762517018402_report_on_central_province_southern_nigeria_tribal_marks_rai_c.1908_re-entanglements-1024x539.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:745d88058eeb3ecebe1dc7efe4e98559b1aaaf188cf65c64778aa699dfaababb
+size 94621
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_528_0_1762517017855_report_of_the_british_association_1912-13_pp.275-276_1067x842_reentanglements.net_-1024x808.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_528_0_1762517017855_report_of_the_british_association_1912-13_pp.275-276_1067x842_reentanglements.net_-1024x808.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..73706c7a74c459974fde7039bbb47e26ad5eedec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_528_0_1762517017855_report_of_the_british_association_1912-13_pp.275-276_1067x842_reentanglements.net_-1024x808.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:a15143f34910a54162164280f88c7cd4899b083eb05de40a72bead9c93715a1d
+size 176119
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_712_1_1762517016606_northcote_thomas_photograph_album_national_museum_lagos_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_712_1_1762517016606_northcote_thomas_photograph_album_national_museum_lagos_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a2b22d58d87e01b81c7649a5fb778ee9d34773b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_712_1_1762517016606_northcote_thomas_photograph_album_national_museum_lagos_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:666aeafc18dac6e413ab33729a9b269a079e95d820518cc7909b333116a12e4b
+size 365741
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_772_0_1762517014914_northcote_thomas_collections_based_research_nwt_0006_maa_z_13945_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_772_0_1762517014914_northcote_thomas_collections_based_research_nwt_0006_maa_z_13945_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e75da87cbccd2a8ead497cfb848c4708a0d48133
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_772_0_1762517014914_northcote_thomas_collections_based_research_nwt_0006_maa_z_13945_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:87021584c95e5af19080813f89f76b6daa596359f55fe8001d0b2832e0a4eeb8
+size 349909
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_772_2_1762517015475_letter_from_von_hugel_concerning_northcote_thomas_collection_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_772_2_1762517015475_letter_from_von_hugel_concerning_northcote_thomas_collection_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3b1b06f29bc77bdc295c6b6d2e9077d475fee987
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_772_2_1762517015475_letter_from_von_hugel_concerning_northcote_thomas_collection_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:539bd58bf9394fd233a350a55f3e1e45d108a4fd5a5a7d678d900ed078d8ff8a
+size 601422
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_772_4_1762517016049_northcote_thomas_collections_catalogue_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_772_4_1762517016049_northcote_thomas_collections_catalogue_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0a45c6825c55c54c2fcb99bf5100bd8a17ef8711
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_772_4_1762517016049_northcote_thomas_collections_catalogue_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:481bb2db1904a04f41068eecf8121ce00895dc18a9c7561e9b7bc923cad1c367
+size 250120
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_853_3_1762517014361_mma_12252_nwt_2602_nwt_photo_1088_460x680_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_853_3_1762517014361_mma_12252_nwt_2602_nwt_photo_1088_460x680_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..774c0c4f9bf5f0480cbc11b6b553cec733047f23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_853_3_1762517014361_mma_12252_nwt_2602_nwt_photo_1088_460x680_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:e66d9a7e028cd7da18235b1e332de2d49a99f46a2d0ae183500cfe72328a4fb4
+size 251319
diff --git a/documents/re-entanglements_912_0_1762517013752_otua_wrestling_festival_nwt_edo_ms_13_pp_13-14_re-entanglements.net_.jpg b/documents/re-entanglements_912_0_1762517013752_otua_wrestling_festival_nwt_edo_ms_13_pp_13-14_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..78d1cf4fbfc31dc863dbfe79e60fdf7a7a5b7c18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documents/re-entanglements_912_0_1762517013752_otua_wrestling_festival_nwt_edo_ms_13_pp_13-14_re-entanglements.net_.jpg
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:458e128e5494b77782e12dcf05b7c7a0dd82fd855863197c60b78b212296702c
+size 228105