Merl LaVoy photograph collection, 1930-1932

The Merl LaVoy photograph colleciton consists of 125 images, mostly from a 1930 expedition to the remote Prayer Rock District on the Navajo Reservation in Northeast Arizona. The Prayer Rock expedition was an archaeological foray sponsored by Charles Bernheimer into some lesser known canyons around the Lukachukai Mountains. Earl Morris, John Wetherill, Charles Bernheimer, Zeke Johnson, Clarence Rogers, Glen Owens, John Hanley and others collected, took photographs, and documented their findings in the area. The photos show expedition members in ruins, the pack train, a few artifacts including a huge basket, and many ruin structures. Another portion of the photos focuses on the Native Americans in the area, with many close-ups of Puebloan potters, Navajo weavers, children, and sheepherders. Also included are scenes from Zion National Park's tunnel (probably at its official opening in 1930), reenactment scenes or a movie set with many covered pioneer wagons, men with telescopes, and a Keystone view of a diver mid-air at the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs. Some of the images were probably taken at the Zuni Pueblo.

World traveler and adventurer/photographer Merl LaVoy took the photographs (Mostly 5" x 7") which include eight Keystone View Company published stereographs.