There are a wealth of Densmore materials at the SI. The National Anthropological Archives has archival collections http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/ (you can search them on SIRIS http://siris-archives.si.edu/ ) , the Department of Anthropology has artifact collections http://anthropology.si.edu/cm/index.htm (you can put Densmore's name in as collector or donor in the detailed search screen in the department's online database http://collections.nmnh.si.edu/anth/pages/nmnh/anth/DtlQuery.php ), and she is well represented in the Smithsonian Libraries collections. Densmore publications in the Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin series like Teton Sioux Music, or Chippewa Music, are still consulted today.

Interesting post Effie, and I just wanted to add some clarification about this image, which is indeed a fascinating moment in the intersecting histories of sound, language, anthropology, the Smithsonian and Native North Americans. First and foremost this image was not taken in 1800s, but was taken in Washington, D.C. in March 1916. Also not mentioned in your post is that the image in question was taken by Harris and Ewing (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/209_hande.html), a studio active in DC which took many notable portraits (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevystew/1478021475/). As the caption on SIRIS tells us the image is of Densmore and 'Mountain Chief [Ninastoko], Chief of Montana Blackfeet.' 'Mountain Chief [Ninastoko] lived from 1848-1942, and had a very involved engagement with Americans. For a snap shot of his life see (http://www.aaanativearts.com/article472.html). Most interestingly this photograph is not of Densmore recording the Blackfeet language or songs, but rather is of Mountain Chief 'Listening to Song Being Played On Phonograph and Interpreting It in Sign Language to Frances Densmore, Ethnologist MAR 1916' (SIRIS caption: HERE). What we have then is an image that is clearly staged and thus a performance for the photographers. It is therefore not a photograph of 'field recording' but a much more dynamic image of a range of activities and involvement that embodied what members of the Bureau of American Ethnology did. As such it indexes, notions about what anthropologists did and do, the mutual collaboration that informs (however ideally this practice), Densmore's commitment to recording and transcribing a range of Blackfeet linguistic (and thus cultural) material, Mountain Chief's engagement to help preserve and document aspects of his culture, and is a intriguing moment in his own journey through the settler-colonial experience in North America, etc. So while I agree that this is fascinating image, I believe it is so for different reasons then you articulate. Joshua A. Bell Curator of Globalization Anthropology, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution