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Obder W. Heffer
Araucanian women weaving, Chile
1890 (ca)
Albumen print
8.4 x 10.8 in (213 mm x 275 mm).
Paul Frecker
LL/12150
Paul Frecker provides the following comments:
"The Araucanian Indians are an indigenous people of South America who occupied most of central Chile at the time of the Spanish conquest. An agricultural people living in small settlements, they are classified into three main cultural subdivisions, the Huilliche, the Picunche, and the Mapuche, the last being the largest group. Currently all Araucanians call themselves Mapuche. Two Araucanian languages are still spoken, of which Mapudungun is the most common. It is also known as Mapudungu, Araucano and Mapuche. It has about 440,000 speakers, with about 400,000 in Chile and another 40,000 in Argentina. About 200,000 people use the language regularly."
A pencilled inscription in a period hand on the back of the print reads Interior de una chasa [sic] tejenda [Interior of a weaver's house].
Additional comment from Daniel Buck (November 1, 2006)
This photograph is by Obder W. Heffer Bisset (Saint John, Canada 1860 -- Santiago, Chile 1945)
It is included in: "Fotografos en Chile Durante el Siglo XIX" by Hernan Rodriguez Villegas (2001) p. 112
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