Leonard and Nansi Glick are cultural anthropologists who conducted research among the Gimi peoples of Eastern Highlands Papua New Guinea as well as on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. The collection contains field notes, writings, drawings, photographs, sound recordings, and other material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers document Leonard and Nansi Glick's early anthropological research and later professional activities. The bulk of the collection relates to the Glick's fieldwork among the Gimi in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea and includes typed and handwritten field notes, drafts of papers, photographs, drawings, index cards with botanical information, and sound recordings, as well as one reel of 8mm film. A copy of Glick's dissertation, based on this research, is also included.
The Glick's Saint Lucia research is documented in field notes, reports, and photographs. Professional activities are documented to a small degree with syllabi for courses taught, notes and newsclippings, and writings.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series: 1. Papua New Guinea research, 2. St. Lucia research, and 3. Other professional papers.
Biographical Note:
Leonard Glick was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1929 and grew up in the house of a dedicated pediatrician who encouraged him to become a physician. Following a pre-medical focus in college, he began medical studies at age 19 and became an M.D. at age 23. Early in his medical career, however, Glick came to realize that he was more interested in social science, particularly anthropology and related fields. At age 27 he enrolled as a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1959 Glick married Nansi Swayze, a graduate student in anthropology at Bryn Mawr College. Though she did not pursue a career in academia, Nansi was a major contributor to Len's research, in data collection and analysis. In 1960 the two undertook ethnographic research among the Gimi, a community in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea. While focusing on Gimi medical beliefs and practices, Glick aimed for comprehensive understanding of Gimi culture and society. His dissertation, "Foundations of a Primitive Medical System: The Gimi of the New Guinea Highlands," was accepted in 1963.
Glick taught for one year at Bryn Mawr College as instructor, and in 1965 joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison as assistant and then associate professor. In 1967 he was invited to participate in a Rockefeller Foundation-sponsored project analyzing the economic effects of bilharzia (schistosomiasis) on the Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia. Nansi and Leonard collected a great deal of data on the culture, history, politics, and medical status of St. Lucians, however their work contradicted some basic assumptions of the economists in charge of the study, and was omitted from their final publication.
In 1972 Glick joined the faculty at Hampshire College as full professor of anthropology. He remained at Hampshire College for the rest of his career, retiring in 2002. The many topics Glick taught included history of anthropology; human behavioral evolution; island peoples: Pacific and Caribbean; ethnographic film; ethnicity and ethnic conflict; anthropology of religion, and European Jewish history in anthropological perspective.
In 2018, Nansi and Leonard published a book on their time in Papua New Guinea, Among the Gimi: Fieldwork as Personal Experience that reflects on their time in the field.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Leonard and Nansi Glick in 2022.
Restrictions:
The Leonard and Nansi Glick papers are open for research. Access to the collection requires an appointment.
