Photograph of a market somewhere in northern Ethiopia showing what appears to be stacks of shemma cloth being sold at a stall. Shemma cloth is a hand woven material ubiquitous in Ethiopia, but particularly in northern Ethiopia. Lorna R. Marsden purchased an example of a shemma cloth designed for special occasions during her travels which she later donated to the Museum of Anthropology in 2016. This image shows its typical and everyday use in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Ethiopia as a body and head wrap, wrap skirt and shawl.
Photograph of a street scene with cars, people on camels and pedestrians in what appears to be the outskirts of a city or village somewhere in northern Ethiopia.
Photograph of a group of three people, some of whom are wearing garments produced in Mekele, Ethiopia. These kind of thick-clothed garments were not worn by Ethiopians, but largely by westerners working and living there, or purchased as souvenirs. Garments like these were made by Ethiopians as part of the USAID economic initiative in Ethiopia in 1971-1975, which directed traditional Ethiopian skills towards revenue-producing activities.
Photograph of a street plaza in a city somewhere in northern Ethiopia, with parked cars, pedestrians, and a cyclist. Photograph also shows some building façades.
Photograph of the excavation site of what was then thought to be the tomb of the Queen of Sheba in Aksum, Ethiopia. Lorna R. Marsden purchased several paintings on cardboard from roadside sellers near the excavation site, which were later donated to the Museum of Anthropology in 2016.
Photograph of Mrs. Lyle Ran, manager of the Abreha Castle Hotel in Mekele, Ethiopia. Mrs. Ran is wearing a shemma cloth in the style of a sari. Shemma cloth is a hand woven material ubiquitous in Ethiopia, but particularly in northern Ethiopia. Lorna R. Marsden purchased an example of a shemma cloth designed for special occasions during her travels which she later donated to the Museum of Anthropology in 2016, but this image shows its typical and everyday use by women in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a wrap for head and bodies.
Photograph of the daily market in Lalibela, Ethiopia near a group of rock-hewn churches where small items are exchanged and sold, mostly food items. The photograph provides context for an ornate, velvet priest's umbrella acquired by Marsden in Ethiopia and later donated to the Museum of Anthropology in that the image shows the everyday use of black umbrellas as a shield from the sun.
Photograph of people buying and selling food and goods in a market in northern Ethiopia. Many of the people are wearing shemma cloth, a hand woven material ubiquitous in Ethiopia, but particularly in northern Ethiopia. Marsden purchased an example of a shemma cloth designed for special occasions during her travels which she later donated to the Museum of Anthropology in 2016. This image shows its typical and everyday use in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Ethiopia as a body and head wrap, wrap skirt and shawl.
Photograph of two men on a hill somewhere in northern Ethiopia. The man on the right is wearing shemma cloth, a hand woven material ubiquitous in Ethiopia, but particularly in northern Ethiopia. Lorna R. Marsden purchased an example of a shemma cloth designed for special occasions during her travels which she later donated to the Museum of Anthropology in 2016, but this image shows its typical and everyday use by men and boys in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Ethiopia as wrap skirts and as shawls.