Item 56 - Letter from John Parkinson to J. G. Frazer

1 item + 11 photographic prints

30 Lensfield Road, Cambridge - Encloses photographs and notes on the natives of the Efik and Ekoi tribes of the Calabar District in Southern Nigeria. Three photographs, labeled A1-A3, are of miniature houses containing figures representing deities; five photographs labeled B1-B5 depict 'medicine' from the Ekoi country; photograph B6 is captioned 'Egbo House etc. Abong'; photograph B7 is captioned 'Yam stack at Atakpa, near Uyoongo, Wrn side Oban Hills, Calabar District, Sth Nigeria' and dated Dec. 1904, and B8 is 'The Eighu ulu, Ibusa' [or Eighu ulo, Ibusa, a group of male dancers dressed as spirits] from Niger.

Each photograph is captioned and contains information on the shutter speed and aperture of the camera, and the light conditions; and many carry information on the film used: either Kodak or Sandell; 3 photographs carry notes that the photograph is over-exposed or 'about right'.

Envelope docketed in Frazer's hand, 'J. Parkinson, Photographs & notes (West Africa), bush-soul, secret societies &c.'

6 photographs (B1-B6) published in Parkinson's 'A Note on the Efik and Ekoi Tribes of the Eastern Province of Southern Nigeria', 'Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institue of Great Britain and Ireland', Vol. 37 (Jul.-Dec., 1907), pp. 261-267; the Eighu ulo (B8) was published in 'Note on the Asaba People (Ibos) of the Niger' in the same journal Vol. 36 (Jul.-Dec. 1906), pp. 312-324.