Series 5: Jim Thorpe and His Legacy (1912-1984) includes documents, photographic prints and negatives regarding Jim Thorpe and the work by the Thorpe family to restore Jim's Olympic record and keep his legacy alive. There are a small amount of materials from Jim Life including photographs of Jim Thorpe at the 1912 Olympics. There are also materials, photographs and clippings, on Jim Thorpe's death and funeral in 1953. The majority of the materials in the series are from the 1960s through the early 1980s which includes—various newspaper clippings and articles on Jim Thorpe's life; the 1967 Jim Thorpe portrait unveiling in Oklahoma City; documentation on "Project Jim Thorpe" run by the Carlisle Jaycees; the Jim Thorpe House dedication ceremony; and an album of photographs from the Olympic Committee medal presentation ceremony in 1983. There are also research notes that Grace wrote and gathered for speeches regarding her father. Among these notes are letters between Jim (some also written by Patricia Askew) and Grace from 1951. The materials are arranged chronologically.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited users to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changed, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Grace F. Thorpe Collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
