M0005520: Ceremony associated with pregnancy / M0005521: "Rite of war magic", Melanesia

Date:: 4 August 1938

Reference:: WT/D/1/20/1/45/33

Part of:: Wellcome Trust Corporate Archive

Archives and manuscripts
Online

Collection contents

Wellcome Trust Corporate ArchiveWT
- Direct activitiesWT/D
  - Library and MuseumWT/D/1
    - Images from the photographic libraryWT/D/1/20
      - Photographic library: "M" seriesWT/D/1/20/1
        "M" series glass plate negatives: M0005488-M0005589WT/D/1/20/1/45
        M0005520: Ceremony associated with pregnancy / M0005521: "Rite of war magic", MelanesiaWT/D/1/20/1/45/33

Available online

Contains: 2 images

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In copyright

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Credit

M0005520: Ceremony associated with pregnancy / M0005521: "Rite of war magic", Melanesia. In copyright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Also known as

Previous title, replaced November 2021: Rite of war-magic, Western Pacific

Previous title, replaced November 2021: A magical spell associated with pregnancy

Description

Two photographs reproduced in Malinowski, Bronislaw: Argonauts of the western Pacific : an account of native enterprise and adventure in the archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea, London : G. Routledge & sons, 1922. The first shows a group of women bent over a special garment to be worn by a pregnant woman. A copy of the book illustration was acquired by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and accessioned in 1938 (accession number PHO 10793). The second shows three people crouched on the ground, one with a board under his chin. It has the caption "A rite of war magic".

Publication/Creation

4 August 1938

Physical description

2 photographs on 1 plate glass plate negative; 12 x 16.5 cm

Related material

Wellcome Collection holds the publication depicted in the glass plate negative

Notes

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2021.

Terms of use

Please consult the digitised version as this item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.