This series consists of Landes's field research and her subject files on various research topics. These include her research on Brazil; the Ojibwa and Chippewa; Potawatomi; and groups, especially minorities, in multilingual states with particular focus on French-speakers of Quebec, Basques of Spain and the United States, Boers and Blacks of South Africa, the several socio-linguistic groups of Switzerland, and Acadians (Cajuns) of Louisiana. Some of the materials in this series were produced for Landes's work for the Fair Employment Practices Commission, a federal government agency during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a similar private organization which immediately succeeded the FEPA; Gunnar Myrdal's research into the plight of African Americans; Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead's program Research in Contemporary Culture; and the American Jewish Commission. This series also contains her Fulbright-funded research on British race relations. In addition, there is a small amount of material that reflects Landes's interests from an anthropological perspective in such subjects as Americans of Latin American descent, education, aging, and literature. Furthermore, there is material concerning certain scholars with whom Landes had especially close relations, including Herbert Baldus, Ruth Benedict, Edison Carneiro, Elmer S. Imes, Charles S. Johnson, and Robert E. Park.
Landes's field notebooks are in a separate subseries at the beginning of the series and cover her research in Brazil, Louisiana, New York, California, Spain, South Africa, and Switzerland. These are generally in the form of diaries. As indicated in her correspondence with Ralph S. Solecki and other individuals at Columbia University during the 1980s, Landes had lost track of her early notebooks on her field work with the Ojibwa/Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Dakota; she apparently never located them. Some of her notebooks from Brazil also appear to be missing. Relatively little of the material in these notebooks was published by Landes. A folder of notes in the form of diary entries is included in this subseries. Some of the notebooks appear to have been annotated by Landes at a much later period than when the notes were originally taken, likely done when preparing her papers for deposit at the National Anthropological Archives.
The rest of the series is organized by research topic and is comprised mostly of "printed and processed materials." It is unclear whether this was a phrase used by Landes or the original archivist who processed this collection. In general, printed and processed materials consist of reprints, photocopies of articles, newsletters, reports, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings that Landes collected on certain research topics. At the end of the series are materials relating to the funding of her research, as well as a review of a grant application submitted by James Clifton.
Some of the materials in this series may have been for courses she taught, particularly materials in Subseries 2.11: Culture and personality/women. "Culture and personality" was a broad term used by Landes; she marked some materials "C&P" to indicate the area of interest. These materials probably relate to courses she taught in culture and personality. She also included some materials concerning homosexuality under this term. Materials not marked "C&P" by Landes have been filed here because they relate to the other, clearly marked materials. An example is items concerning women. It should be kept in mind, however, that Landes also taught courses that focused mainly on women, and some material filed here probably relates to those courses rather than courses on culture and personality.
In addition to Landes's notebooks, materials of particular interest in this series are Maggie Wilson's Ojibwa stories, as recorded by her daughter Janet for Landes, and notes and early drafts of her manuscript based on her experiences at Fisk University. A more complete draft of the manuscript can be found in Series 3. Writings.
See Series 3: Writings and Series 6: Graphic Materials for other materials relating to Landes's research.
Arrangement:
Suberies 2: Research Materials is arranged into the following 23 subseries: (2.1) Notebooks; (2.2) Acadians of Louisiana; (2.3) Africa; (2.4) Aging; (2.5) American Indians (general); (2.6) Anthropology; (2.7) Basques; (2.8) Bilingualism and biculturalism; (2.9) Brazil; (2.10) British race relations; (2.11) Culture and personality/women; (2.12) Education; (2.13) Fisk University and African Americans; (2.14) Judaism and other religions; (2.15) Literature; (2.16) Ojibwa/Chippewa; (2.17) Potawatomi; (2.18) Quebec/Canada; (2.19)South Africa; (2.20) Spain; (2.21) Spanish-speaking Americans; (2.22) Switzerland; (2.23) Research grants
Collection Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.
