Salmon Ruins (or Salmon Ruin) was Irwin-Williams' largest excavation, performed at the request of the San Juan County Museum Association. It was funded by grants from the Four Corners Regional Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, and other sources. The site is a large Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) complex and serves as a link between the cultures of Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde.
Subseries Restrictions:
Materials containing social security numbers (unless the number belongs to someone known to be deceased), references, and student grades have been restricted for eighty years from the date of their creation.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Cynthia Irwin-Williams papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the American Women's History Initiative.
The papers of Henry Varnum Poor measure 12.9 linear feet and date from 1873-2001, with the bulk from the period 1904-1970. Correspondence, writings, artwork, printed material and photographs document Poor's work as a painter, muralist, ceramic artist and potter, architect, designer, writer, war artist, educator and a co-founder of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Also found is extensive information about the design and construction of Crow House, his home in New City, New York, commissions for other architectural projects, and his personal life.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Henry Varnum Poor measure 12.9 linear feet and date from 1873-2001, with the bulk from the period 1904-1970. Correspondence, writings, artwork, printed material and photographs document Poor's work as a painter, muralist, ceramic artist and potter, architect, designer, writer, war artist, educator and a co-founder of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Also found is extensive information about the design and construction of Crow House, his home in New City, New York, commissions for other architectural projects, and his personal life.
Henry Varnum Poor's correspondence documents his personal, family, and professional life. Correspondents include family and friends, among them George Biddle, Charles Burchfield, John Ciardi, Marion V. Dorn (who became his second wife), Philip Evergood, Lewis Mumford, John Steinbeck, David Smith, and Mrs. John Work (Alice) Garrett. Among other correspondents are galleries, museums, schools, organizations, fans, former students, and acquaintances from his military service and travels. Family correspondence consists of Henry's letters to his parents, letters to his parents written by his wife, and letters among other family members.
Among the writings by Henry Varnum Poor are manuscripts of his two published books, An Artist Sees Alaska and A Book of Pottery: From Mud to Immortality. as well as the text of "Painting is Being Talked to Death," published in the first issue of Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions, April 1953, and manuscripts of other articles. There are also film scripts, two journals, notes and notebooks, lists, speeches, and writings by others, including M. R. ("Muktuk") Marston's account of Poor rescuing an Eskimo, and Bessie Breuer Poor's recollections of The Montross Gallery.
Subject files include those on the Advisory Committee on Art, American Designers' Gallery, Inc., William Benton, Harold Dickson, Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions Sales, and War Posters. There are numerous administrative files for the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
Artwork by Henry Varnum Poor consists mainly of loose drawings and sketches and 45 sketchbooks of studies for paintings, murals, and pottery. There is work done in France, 1918-1919, and while working as a war correspondent in Alaska in 1943. There are commissioned illustrations and some intended for his monograph, A Book of Pottery: From Mud to Immortality. Also found are a small number of watercolors and prints. Work by other artists consist of Anne Poor's drawings of her father's hands used for the Lincoln figure in The Land Grant Frescoes and interior views of Crow House by Ernest Watson.
Documentation of Poor's architectural projects consists of drawings and prints relating to houses designed and built for Jules Billing, MacDonald Deming, John Houseman, Burgess Meredith, Isabel Padro, and Elizabeth S. Sargent. Also found is similar material for the new studio Poor built in 1957 on the grounds of Crow House.
Miscellaneous records include family memorabilia and two motion picture films, Painting a True Fresco, and The Land Grant Murals at Pennsylvania State College.
Printed material includes articles about or mentioning Poor, some of his pottery reference books, family history, a catalog of kilns, and the program of a 1949 Pennsylvania State College theater production titled Poor Mr. Varnum. Exhibition catalogs and announcements survive for some of Poor's shows; catalogs of other artists' shows include one for Theodore Czebotar containing an introductory statement by Henry Varnum Poor. Also found is a copy of The Army at War: A Graphic Record by American Artists, for which Poor served as an advisor. There are reproductions of illustrations for An Artist Sees Alaska and Ethan Frome, and two Associated American Artists greeting cards reproducing work by Poor.
Photographs are of Henry Varnum Poor's architectural work, artwork, people, places, and miscellaneous subjects. This series also contains negatives, slides, and transparencies. Images of architectural work include exterior and interior views of many projects; Poor's home, Crow House, predominates. Photographs of artwork by Poor are of drawings, fresco and ceramic tile murals, paintings, pottery and ceramic art. People appearing in photographs include Henry Varnum Poor, family members, friends, clients, juries, students, and various groups. Among the individuals portrayed are Milton Caniff, Marcel Duchamp, Wharton Esherick, M. R. ("Muktuk") Marston, and Burgess Meredith. Among the family members are Bessie Breuer Poor, Marion Dorn Poor, Anne Poor, Eva Poor, Josephine Graham Poor, Josephine Lydia Poor, Peter Poor, and unidentified relatives. Photographs of places include many illustrating village life in Alaska that were taken by Poor during World War II. Other places recorded are French and California landscapes, and family homes in Kansas. Miscellaneous subjects are exhibition installation views, scenes of Kentucky farms, and a photograph of Poor's notes on glazes.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1919-1987 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1, OV 18)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1873-1985 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1944-1974 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)
Series 4: Subject Files, 1928-1975 (0.8 linear feet; Box 3, OV 23)
Series 5: Artwork, circa 1890s-circa 1961 (3.5 linear feet; Boxes 4-6, 9-10, OV 19-22)
Series 6: Architectural Projects, circa 1940-1966 (0.7 linear feet; Box 6, OV 24-26, RD 14-17)
Series 7: Miscellaneous Records, 1882-1967 (Boxes 6, 11, FC 30-31; 0.5 linear ft.)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1881-2001 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 6-7, 11, OV 27-29)
Series 9: Photographs, 1893-1984 (2.3 linear feet; Boxes 7-8, 12-13)
Biographical Note:
Henry Varnum Poor (1888-1970), best known as a potter, ceramic artist, and a co-founder of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, was also an architect, painter, muralist, designer, educator, and writer who lived and worked in New City, New York.
A native of Chapman, Kansas, Henry Varnum Poor moved with his family to Kansas City when his grain merchant father became a member of the Kansas Board of Trade. From a young age he showed artistic talent and spent as much time as possible - including school hours - drawing. When a school supervisor suggested that Henry leave school to study at the Art Institute of Chicago, the family disagreed. Instead, he enrolled in the Kansas City Manual Training High School where he delighted in learning skills such as carpentry, forge work, and mechanical drawing. In 1905, he moved with his older brother and sister to Palo Alto, California and completed high school there. Because Poor was expected to join the family business, he enrolled at Stanford University as an economics major, but much to his father's disappointment and displeasure, soon left the economics department and became an art major.
Immediately after graduation in 1910, Poor and his major professor at Stanford, Arthur B. Clark, took a summer bicycling tour to look at art in London, France, Italy, and Holland. As Poor had saved enough money to remain in London after the summer was over, he enrolled in the Slade School of Art and also studied under Walter Sickert at the London County Council Night School. After seeing an exhibition of Post-Impressionism at the Grafton Galleries in London, Poor was so impressed that he went to Paris and enrolled in the Académie Julian. While in Paris, Poor met Clifford Addams, a former apprentice of Whistler; soon he was working in Addams' studio learning Whistler's palette and techniques.
In the fall of 1911, Poor returned to Stanford University's art department on a one-year teaching assignment. During that academic year, his first one-man show was held at the university's Old Studio gallery. He married Lena Wiltz and moved back to Kansas to manage the family farm and prepare for another exhibition. Their daughter, Josephine Lydia Poor, was born the following year. Poor returned to Stanford in September 1913 as assistant professor of graphic arts, remaining until the department closed three years later. During this period, Poor began to exhibit more frequently in group shows in other areas of the country, and had his first solo exhibition at a commercial gallery (Helgesen Gallery, San Francisco). In 1916, Poor joined the faculty of the San Francisco Art Association. He and his wife separated in 1917 and were divorced the following year. Poor began sharing his San Francisco studio with Marion Dorn.
During World War I, Poor was drafted into the U. S. Army, and in 1918 went to France with the 115th Regiment of Engineers. He spent his spare time drawing; soon officers were commissioning portraits, and Poor was appointed the regimental artist. He also served as an interpreter for his company. Discharged from the Army in early 1919, Poor spent the spring painting in Paris. He then returned to San Francisco and married Marion Dorn.
Once Poor realized that earning a living as a painter would be extremely difficult in California, he and his new wife moved to New York in the autumn of 1919. They were looking for a place to live when influential book and art dealer Mary Mowbray-Clarke of the Sunwise Turn Bookshop in Manhattan suggested New City in Rockland County, New York as good place for artists. In January of 1920, the Poors purchased property on South Mountain Road in New City. The skills he acquired at the Kansas City Manual Training High School were of immediate use as Poor designed and constructed "Crow House" with the assistance of a local teenager. Influenced by the farmhouses he had seen in France, it was made of local sandstone and featured steep gables, rough plaster, chestnut beams and floors, and incorporated many hand-crafted details. Poor designed and built most of their furniture, too. Before the end of the year, he and Marion were able to move into the house, though it remained a work in progress for many years. Additions were constructed. Over time, gardens were designed and planted, and outbuildings - a kiln and pottery, work room, garage, and new studio - appeared on the property.
In 1925, two years after his divorce from Marion Dorn, Poor married Bessie Freedman Breuer (1893-1975), an editor, short story writer, and novelist. Soon after, he adopted her young daughter, Anne (1918-2002), an artist who served as his assistant on many important mural commissions. Their son, Peter (b. 1926) became a television producer. Crow House remained in the family until its sale in 2006. In order to prevent its demolition, Crow House was then purchased by the neighboring town of Ramapo, New York in 2007.
Between 1935 and 1966 Poor designed and oversaw construction of a number of houses, several of them situated not far from Crow House on South Mountain Road. Poor's designs, noted for their simplicity, featured modern materials and incorporated his ceramic tiles. Among his important commissions were houses for Maxwell Anderson, Jules Billig, Milton Caniff, MacDonald Deming, and John Houseman.
Poor's first exhibition of paintings in New York City was at Kevorkian Galleries in 1920, and sales were so disappointing that he turned his attention to ceramics. His first pottery show, held at Bel Maison Gallery in Wanamaker's department store in 1921, was very successful. He quickly developed a wide reputation, participated in shows throughout the country, and won awards. He was a founder of the short-lived American Designers' Gallery, and the tile bathroom he showed at the group's first exposition was critically acclaimed. Poor was represented by Montross Gallery as both a painter and potter. When Montross Gallery closed upon its owner's death in 1932, Poor moved to the Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery.
Even though Poor's pottery and ceramic work was in the forefront, he continued to paint. His work was acquired by a number of museums, and the Limited Editions Club commissioned him to illustrate their republications of Ethan Frome, The Scarlet Letter, and The Call of the Wild.
Poor's first work in true fresco was shown in a 1932 mural exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Between 1935 and 1949 he was commissioned to produce several murals in fresco for Section of Fine Arts projects at the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior, The Land Grant Frescoes at Pennsylvania State College, and a mural for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Ceramic tile mural commissions included: the Klingenstein Pavilion, Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City; Travelers Insurance Co., Boston; the Fresno Post Office, California; and Hillson Memorial Gallery, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, Mass.
As a member of the War Artists' Unit, Poor was a "war correspondent" with the rank of major in World War II, and for several months in 1943 was stationed in Alaska. An Artist Sees Alaska, drawing on Poor's observations and experiences, was published in 1945. A Book of Pottery: From Mud to Immortality, his second book, was published in 1958. It remains a standard text on the subject. While on the faculty of Columbia University in the 1950s, Poor and other artists opposed to the growing influence of Abstract Expressionism formed the Reality Group with Poor the head of its editorial committee. Their magazine, Reality: A Journal of Artists' Opinions, first appeared in 1953 featuring "Painting is Being Talked to Death" by Poor as its lead article. Two more issues were published in 1954 and 1955.
Along with Willard Cummings, Sidney Simon, and Charles Cuttler, in 1946 Henry Varnum Poor helped to establish the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine. He served as its first president. Poor and his daughter, Anne, were active members of the Board of Trustees and were instructors for many years. The summer of 1961 was Henry Varnum Poor's last as a full-time teacher, though he continued to spend summers at Skowhegan.
Henry Varnum Poor exhibited widely and received many awards, among them prizes at the Carnegie Institute, Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Architectural League of New York. Poor was appointed to the United States Commission of Fine Arts by President Roosevelt in 1941 and served a five year term. He was elected a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1943. The National Academy of Design named him an Associate Artist in 1954 and an Academician in 1963. He became a trustee of the American Craftsman's Council in 1956. The work of Henry Vernum Poor is represented in the permanent collections of many American museums including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Addison Gallery of American Art, and Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts.
Henry Varnum Poor died at home in New City, New York, December 8, 1970.
Related Material:
An oral history interview with Henry Varnum Poor was conducted by Harlan Phillips for the Archives of American Art in 1964.
Provenance:
Gift of Henry Varnum Poor's son, Peter V. Poor, in 2007. A smaller portion was loaned to the Archives in 1973 by Anne Poor for microfilming and returned to the lender; this material was included in the 2007 gift.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information. Use of audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of Aleš Hrdlička, curator in the Division of Physical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, United States National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, offer considerable insight into the development of physical anthropology in the first half of this century. The papers include honors bestowed on Hrdlička, autobiographical notes, correspondence with many of the leading anthropologists of the day, anthropometric and osteometric measurements and observations (forming most of the collection), extensive photographs of Hrdlička's field work, manuscripts, research materials, and "My Journeys" (essentially a diary Hrdlička kept of his field work). In addition, there is material of a personal nature. The papers date from 1875 to 1966, but the bulk of the materials date from 1903 to 1943, the time of Hrdlička's career at the USNM.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is comprised of both professional and personal materials. The professional material includes honors bestowed on Hrdlička, autobiographical notes, correspondence with many of the leading anthropologists of the day, anthropometric and osteometric measurements and observations (forming most of the collection), extensive photographs of Hrdlička's field work, manuscripts, research materials, and "My Journeys" (essentially a diary Hrdlička kept of his field work). The personal material primarily consists of correspondence with his first wife (Marie Dieudonnée Strickler) and other family members, but there are also financial records. The papers date from 1875 to 1966, but the bulk of the materials date from 1903 to 1943, the time of Hrdlička's career at the United States National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Hrdlička investigated all major questions confronting physical anthropologists of his day (the fossil record of early humans, the arrival of humans in the Americas, human variation, evolution, and eugenics) and made valuable contributions in all these areas. Hrdlička's interests in the establishment of physical anthropology as a distinct and important field, the welfare of the Czech people, early hominids, and variation within the human species are all documented in the collection as are the services he performed for various United States government agencies. He pursued field studies in many different parts of the world, but there are relatively few field notes as such among his papers. There is instead the edited journal "My Journeys," photographs, and physical anthropological forms. There is also relatively little material on his administrative involvement in the USNM. There is no material from Hrdlička's time at the Pathological Institution of the New York State Hospitals; after he resigned, fire destroyed the anthropological records Hrdlička collected as a member of the staff. There are materials in the collection which contradict, or at least complicate, many long-held criticisms of Hrdlička, particularly claims that he was racist and opposed feminist ideas. The collection contains materials of interest to genetic research, including anthropometric measurements, hair clippings and fingerprints.
There are a few items in the collection which are dated earlier than the collection's date span. These are publication dates, and the folders containing the items have been dated accordingly, but they have not affected the dates of the series or collection. There are also a few items which are dated after Hrdlička's death. These dates reflect the fact that the collection was added to by the Department of Physical Anthropology after Hrdlička's death and have been taken into account when formulating dates for the series and collection.
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:
This collection is arranged in 37 series:
(1) Miscellaneous Personal Papers, 1875-1940
(2) Early Personal Correspondence, 1883-1919
(3) Correspondence, 1885-1953
(4) News Clippings and Printed Matter, 1893-1953
(5) Financial Papers, 1910-1943
(6) Journeys to the Southwestern United States and Mexican Indians, 1898-1919
(7) Journeys to the Dakota, Chippewa, Kickapoo, and Shawnee, 1916-1917
(11) Journey to Egypt, Europe, and Russia, 1908-1909
(12) Journey to South America, 1910, 1910-1912
(13) Journey to the Far East, 1920, 1900-1930
(14) Journey to Australia, Java, India, South Africa, and Europe, 1924-1925
(15) Anthropometric Measurements of Indians Taken at the United States National Museum, 1904-1905, most undated
(16) Bone Studies, 1893-1929, most undated
(17) Old Americans, 1914-1930
(18) Children Who Run on All Fours, 1928-1936
(19) Early Man Studies, 1906-1930
(20) European Ethnic History, 1908-1938
(21) Miscellaneous Research Notes, 1887-1930
(22) Manuscripts of Writings, 1901-1944, most undated
(23) Writings by Other Authors, 1877-1942
(24) Anthropometry, undated
(25) "From My Journeys", 1898-1938
(26) -- American Journal of Physical Anthropology -- , 1918-1931
(27) American Association of Physical Anthropologists, 1924-1931
(28) International Congress of Americanists, 1900-1928
(29) Institute of Population, 1942
(30) Department of Anthropology, 1914-1943
(31) Lecture Notes, 1920-1932
(32) Maps and Charts, 1900-1932
(33) Miscellany, 1895-1954
(34) Index Cards, 1899-1948
(35) Bibliographic Index, undated
(36) Physical Anthropology Folios, undated
(37) Photographs, 1887-1944
Biographical Note:
Aleš Hrdlička was born in Bohemia in 1869 and came to America when he was thirteen. As a young man, he was trained in medicine at New York's Eclectic Medical College and the New York Homeopathic Medical College, receiving degrees from each. His first professional work was as a private practitioner, but he gave that up in 1894 when he joined the staff of the New York State Hospital for the Insane at Middletown. There, in addition to other duties, he began studies of the physical characteristics of inmates. This set in motion developments that would eventually lead him to become one of the world's most prominent anthropologists who has sometimes been referred to as "the founder of physical anthropology in America."
In 1896, in preparation for a research appointment with the Department of Anthropology in the Pathological Institute of the New York State Hospitals, Hrdlička went to Paris and studied with Leon Manouvrier. After his return to America, he worked for a short period with the Pathological Institute and came into contact with G.S. Huntington of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Hrdlička arranged and studied Huntington's large collection of skeletal material, thus gaining knowledge of a well-documented collection representing largely normal persons of European ancestry. He came to the attention of Frederic Ward Putnam, of the American Museum of Natural History, who arranged for his first anthropological field studies.
It was thus that Hrdlička became a member of the Hyde Expeditions to the American Southwest and northern Mexico. In 1898, he traveled to Mexico with Carl Lumholtz to study the Tarahumaras, Huichols, and neighboring tribes. In subsequent years, he returned to Mexico and the Southwest alone and studied physical characteristics and medical conditions of several American Indian tribes. With this experience and examinations of the Trenton and Lansing skeletal material for Putnam, Hrdlička came fully into the world of anthropology. In 1903, he was appointed head of the newly formed Division of Physical Anthropology in the United States National Museum.
While in his position at the Smithsonian, Hrdlička returned to the Southwest for studies of Pima and Apache children in 1905 and, in the following year, traveled to Florida to examine allegedly ancient remains of man. In 1908, he worked among a number of Indian tribes, including the Menominee, Oglala Dakota, Quinailt, Hupa, and Mohave, in a study of tuberculosis among them. In 1909, he traveled to Egypt with an expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in order to study living Egyptians and to examine remains of Egypt's past population. The following year took him to Argentina, Peru, and Mexico. In the first of these, he again examined allegedly ancient remains of man. In Peru, he made a large collection of skeletal material near Trujillo, at Pachamac, and in the Chicama Valley.
From 1912-1914, Hrdlicka undertook a physical anthropological exhibit for the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego and, for this, traveled to eastern Siberia, Mongolia, Peru, and Florida. He also examined fossil remains of man in Europe and directed field work of other anthropologists in South and East Africa, St. Lawrence Island in Alaska, the Philippines, eastern Siberia, and the Ukraine. In 1915, for the Department of Justice, he assessed the racial makeup of Chippewas on the Leech Lake and White Earth reservations in Minnesota and also studied Dakota Indians. In 1917, his field work was directed toward white American families with longtime residence in the United States. In 1918, he carried out a survey of ancient sites in eastern Florida for the Bureau of American Ethnology. In 1920, he traveled to Hawaii, Japan, Korea, and Manchuria in connection with an appointment to lecture at the Peking Union Medical College. As director of the American School for Prehistoric Studies in France, he again studied fossil remains of man in Europe in 1922 and 1923. In 1925, he carried out work in India, Ceylon, Java, Australia, South Africa, and Europe. In 1927, he was again in Europe to deliver the Huxley Memorial Lecture before the Royal Anthropological Society in Great Britain. Between 1929 and 1938, he traveled frequently to Alaska to carry on an anthropological survey. In 1939, he traveled to Russia and Siberia.
Beginning with much of the skeletal collection of the Army Medical Museum, which had been transferred to the Smithsonian in 1898 before he was appointed there, Hrdlička amassed a bone collection that included, among many other specimens, the Huntington collection, casts of fossil remains of man, and a large and diverse North American collection. He also gathered a large collection of human brains. Over three hundred publications resulted from his study of this material, his field work, and his study of specimens in other museums. In addition, he was involved in many other activities. For United States government agencies, he provided services ranging from examinations of human remains for law enforcement officials to providing information and opinions concerning national origins and traits that were needed to interpret laws and form foreign policy. During World War II, he also advised government officials on policies to be pursued with certain national groups following the war.
In 1918, Hrdlička founded the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and remained its editor until 1942. In 1928, he was the major force behind the organization of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and served as its president from 1928 to 1932. He was also president of the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1907, the American Anthroplogical Association from 1925 to 1927, and the Washington Academy of Sciences from 1928 to 1929. He was chairman of Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1918 and secretary of the Committee on Anthropology of the National Research Council in 1917. From the 1920s to the 1940s Hrdlicka was a member of the American Eugenics Society and prepared exhibits for various eugenics congresses. In addition, Hrdlička was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Sciences. He represented the Smithsonian at several international gatherings of scholars, including meetings of the International Congress of Americanists.
Chronology
1869 March 29 -- Alois Ferdinand Hrdlička (Aleš Hrdlička) born in Humpolec, Bohemia
1882 September -- Emigrated to New York City
1888 -- While stricken with typhoid, met M. Rosenbleuth, a physician who arranged for Hrdlička to enroll at the Eclectic Medical College of New York City
1892 -- Enrolled in the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital Published first article, "Scheme of Examination (Medical)," Publications of the Eclectic Medical College Graduated first in his class from the Eclectic Medical College
1894 -- Graduated first from his class from the Homeopathic Medical College Became research intern at the State Homeopathic Hospital for the Insane in Middletown, New York, where he began his studies in physical anthropology Passed state board examination (allopathic)
1895 -- Joined staff of the Pathological Institute of the New York State Hospitals as associate in anthropology
1896 -- Studied anthropology under Leon Manouvrier in Paris
1896 August 6 -- Married Marie Stickler (Dieudonnée)
1898 March-July(?) -- Accompanied Carl Lumholtz on his expedition to northern Mexico, sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), and visited the Tarahumara, Huichol, and Tepecan Indians
1899 Spring -- Resigned from the Pathological Institute to take charge of physical and medical anthropological research on the Hyde Expeditions of the AMNH to the southwestern United States
1899 August -- Hyde expedition for the AMNH to Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, to excavate the site of Pueblo Bonito and to conduct somatological surveys among the Indians; visited Grand Gulch caves in southern Utah; included visits to the Navahos and southern Utes
1900 -- Hyde expedition for the AMNH to New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Colorado to conduct somatological surveys among the Indians; included visits to the Apaches, Yumas, and Pueblo Indians
1902 January-September -- Hyde expeditions for AMNH to southwestern Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Mexico to conduct somatological surveys; included visits to the Tepecanos, Papagos, Opatas, Pimas, Yaquis, Mayos, Huichols, Otomis, Tepehuanes, Maricopas, Yumas, Yavapais, Paiutes, Walapais, and Havasupais
1902 October-December -- Hyde expedition for the AMNH to Mexico for Hrdlička to complete his somatological investigations; included visits to the Tepehuanes, Coras, Huichols, "Nahuas," "Aztecs," and Tarascans
1903 May 1 -- Became assistant curator in charge of the new Division of Physical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, at the United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution
1905 -- Expedition under the auspices of the Bureau of American Ethnology to Arizona and New Mexico to complete the observations on the tribes of this region; Hrdlička especially studied Apache and Pima Indian children
1906 February -- Expedition to western Florida to investigate remains of alleged ancient man
1907 -- President of the Anthropological Society of Washington
1908 -- Expedition to Indian schools and reservations in Wisconsin, Washington, California, Arizona, and South Dakota to study tuberculosis for a report to the International Congress of Tuberculosis
1908 December - 1909 May -- Traveled to Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Bohemia, Russia, Poland, and Germany to examine human skeletal remains from an excavation in Egypt by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and to study peoples of the Near East
1910 March 28 -- Promoted to curator in the Division of Physical Anthropology
1910 April-September -- Attended the 17th International Congress of Americanists in Buenos Aires and Mexico City Traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Panama
1912 -- Planned and directed seven expeditions for the physical anthropology exhibit at the Panama-California Exposition held at San Diego in 1915; expeditions included Hrdlička to Siberia and Mongolia and later to Peru; Riley D. Moore to St. Lawrence Island, Alaska; Philip Newton to the Philippine Islands; Vojtech Suk to Africa; Stanislaw Poniatowski to eastern Siberia; Kazimir Stolyhwo to the Birusa caves in Siberia and to the Ukraine; and Jindřich Matiegka to Bohemia
1912 May-Summer -- Traveled to London to attend 18th International Congress of Americanists Traveled to Siberia and Mongolia for the Panama-California Exposition
1912 September -- Traveled to Geneva for the 14th International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archaeology
1913 January-April -- Expedition to Peru as part the effort for the Panama-California Exposition
1914 November 18 - 1915 January 18 -- Attended Panama-California Exposition
1915 May -- Research for the Department of Justice at the White Earth and Leech Lake reservations in Minnesota to determine non-Indian mixture among Chippewas
1915 December -- Served as General Secretary for the 19th International Congress of Americanists held in Washington
1916 Fall -- Traveled to Florida to examine remains of supposed ancient man
1917 March-July -- Served as Secretary on the Committee on Anthropology of the National Research Council
1917 Summer -- "Old American" research at Yale University, Harvard University, and the University of Virginia and in Tennessee
1917 August -- Sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, traveled to Oklahoma to visit the Shawnee Agency in eastern Oklahoma and the Kickapoo Indians in McCloud to search for adequate samples of pure blood Indians
1918 -- Elected to the American Philosophical Society Served as Chairman of Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Founded the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and became its long-time editor Surveyed prehistoric sites on the southwest coast of Florida
1918 October 8 -- Death of his wife Marie
1920 -- Anthropometry published by the Wistar Institute Elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain
1920 Summer -- Married Mina (Vilemina) Mansfield
1920 January-May -- Visited Japan, Korea, Manchuria, northern China, Mongolia, and Hawaii Lectured at Peking Union Medical College in China
1920 Fall -- Visited Minnesota Chippewa (at the White Earth Reservation?) to help the Department of Justice setter the question of mixed and pure bloods among the Chippewa
1921 -- Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
1922 -- Visited Spain, France, Germany, Moravia, and England Awarded honorary Sc.D. degree from the University of Prague Chairman of the American delegation to the 20th International Congress of Americanists in Rio de Janiero
1923 -- Served three and one-half months as Director of the American School in France for Prehistoric Studies Visited England, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Croatia, and Italy
1925 -- The Old Americans published by Williams and Wilkins Co.
1925 March-October -- Traveled to Australia, Java, India, South Africa, and Europe on a trip sponsored by the Buffalo [New York] Society of Natural Science to obtain cranial measurements of Australian aborigines and Tasmanians, to investigate the Rhodesian Man site in South Africa, to survey the field of early man, and to collect data to support his hypothesis about the peopling of the Earth
1925-1926 -- President of the American Anthropological Association
1926 -- Awarded honorary Sc.D. degree from University of Brno and D.Nat.Sc. degree from Brunn University
1926 May-September -- First fieldwork in Alaska: reconnaissance down the Yukon River to its mouth, around the Bering Sea and through the Bering Strait along the Alaskan coast to Point Barrow
1927 -- Received Huxley Memorial Medal and gave Huxley Lecture on "the Neanderthal Phase of Man" before the Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain
1928 -- Helped found the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA)
1928-1929 -- President of the Washington Academy of Sciences
1928-1932 -- Served as first president of the AAPA
1929 -- Fieldwork in Alaska: surveyed the Yukon River from Tanana to its mouth, to St. Lawrence and the Diomede Islands, to Cape Prince of Wales, up to Point Barrow and back to Unalaska Awarded honorary Sc.D. degree from Charles University, Prague
1930 -- Published The Skeletal Remains of Early Man, Vol. 83 Smithsonian Miscellaneous collections Published "Anthropological Survey in Alaska," Forty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 21-374
1930 Summer -- Fieldwork in Alaska: surveyed the Kuskokwim River from Bethel down river to Apogak and up river to Stony River
1931 -- Children Who Run on All Fours published by McGraw-Hill Book Co.
1931 Summer -- Fieldwork in Alaska: excavated at Our (Jones) point site, trial excavations at Chief's Point and other sites, and a survey of Kodiak Island
1932 -- Kober Foundation lecturer of Georgetown University
1932 Summer -- Fieldwork in Alaska: excavated at Our (Jones) Point site, trial excavations at Chief's Point and other sites, and a survey of Kodiak Island
1934 Summer -- Fieldwork in Alaska: excavated at Our (Jones) Point site and surveyed Cooks Inlet sites and the mainland opposite the Our Point site
1935 Summer -- Fieldwork in Alaska: excavated at Our (Jones) Point site
1936 Summer -- Fieldwork in Alaska: excavated at Our (Jones) Point site and surveyed the Dutch Harbor caves, some of the Aleutian Islands, and the mummy cave on Kagamil Island
1937 Summer -- Fieldwork in Alaska: surveyed the Aleutian Islands and Commander Islands
1938 Summer -- Fieldwork in Alaska: surveyed the Aleutian Islands, Dutch Harbor caves, and Commander Islands
1939 April 4 -- Testimonial dinner given by the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in honor of his 70th birthday
1939 April-June -- Recuperated in London hospital after suffering a coronary occlusion
1942 March 31 -- Retired from curatorship at United States National Museum, becoming an associate in anthropology
1942 December -- Resigned as editor of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology
1943 -- Alaska Diary published by Cattell Press
1943 September 5 -- Died of heart attack
1944 -- Anthropology of Kodiak Island published by Wistar Institute
1945 -- The Aleutian and Commander Islands and Their Inhabitants published by Wistar Institute
1969 -- Tenth Anthropological Congress of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences dedicated to Hrdlička in the 100th anniversary year of his birth
Selected Bibliography
1908 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. Physiological and Medical Observations Among the Indians of Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. Bulletin 34, Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1908.
1912 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. Early Man in South America. Bulletin 52, Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1912.
1919 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. Physical Anthropology: Its Scope and Aims. Philadelphia: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, 1919.
1920 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. Anthropometry. Philadelphia: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, 1920.
1925 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. The Old Americans. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins Co., 1925.
1930 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. The Skeletal Remains of Early Man. Vol. 83, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. City of Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1930. Hrdlička, Aleš. Anthropological Survey in Alaska. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1930.
1931 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. Children Who Run on All Fours, and Other Animal-like Behaviors in the Human Child. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1931.
1943 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. Alaska Diary, 1926-1931. Lancaster, PA: The Jacques Cattell Press, 1943.
1944 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. Anthropology of Kodiak Island. Philadelphia: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, 1944.
1945 -- Hrdlička, Aleš. The Aleutian and Commander Islands and Their Inhabitants. Philadelphia: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, 1945.
Related Materials:
Additional material in the National Anthropological Archives relating to Aleš Hrdlička can be found in the papers of William Louis Abbott, Henry Bascom Collins, Herbert William Krieger, and Frank Spencer; records of the American Anthropological Association, Bureau of American Ethnology, Department of Anthropology of the United States National Museum (National Museum of Natural History), Science Service, Anthropological Society of Washington, and the United States Army Medical Museum (anatomical section, records relating to specimens transferred to the Smithsonian Institution); and glass negatives of Indians collected by the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution illustrations.
Additional related photographs can be found in Photo Lot 8, Division of Physical Anthropology collection; Photo Lot 9, Photographs of Indians for the Panama-California Exposition, San Diego; Photo Lot 24, Bureau of American Ethnology, United States National Museum photographs of American Indians; Photo Lot 70, Department of Anthropology portrait file; Photo Lot 78, Miscellaneous negatives; Photo Lot 97, Division of Ethnology collection ("USNM" Collection); Photo Lot 73-26B, Aleš Hrdlička photographs relating to the Panama-California Exhibition; Photo Lot 73-26G, Miscellany; Photo Lot 77-48, Group portraits of International Congress; Photo Lot 79-38, Division of World Archeology collection; Photo Lot 83-41, Division of Physical Anthropology collection of photographs of human bones; and Photo Lot 92-46, Anthropology lantern slides.
Related films can be found in the Human Studies Film Archive under the accession numbers HSFA 1982.2.1, 1982.2.2, 1986.12.1, and 2015.13.1.
Hrdlička's extensive collection of reprints is maintained in the Division of Physical Anthropology.
Frank Spencer's doctoral dissertation "Aleš Hrdlička, M.D., 1869-1943: A Chronicle of the Life and Work of an American Physical Anthropologist" (1979) is the only book length biography of Hrdlička. The Frank Spencer papers, 1836-1999, are available at the NAA and contain original correspondence between Hrdlička and his first wife, Marie Strickler; his childhood report card from 1869; copies of family photos obtained from Lucy Miller, Hrdlička's niece; and an audio recording of Hrdlička speaking at Wistar Institute.
Further material may be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
The University of Alaska Anchorage holds diaries relating to Hrdlička's Expeditions to Alaska in 1936, 1937, and 1938 in the Alan G. May papers. The finding aid for this collection is avialable online at https://archives.consortiumlibrary.org/collections/specialcollections/hmc-0690/ and a trascription of May's diaries from the expeditions is available online at https://scholarworks.alaska.edu/handle/11122/11850
Provenance:
Hrdlička bequeathed his papers to the Smithsonian Institution. The Division of Physical Anthropology maintained them until they were deposited in the National Anthropological Archives in the 1960s. Some papers have come into the collection since then, most recently in 2018. These new accretions came to the collection through Donald Ortner, David Hunt, T. Dale Stewart, the Department of Anthropology, and the University of Alaska.
Restrictions:
Access to the Aleš Hrdlička papers requires an appointment.
Aleš Hrdlička papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The Repatriation Office, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, provided funds for the arrangement and description of the Aleš Hrdlička papers
Woman's Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Search this
Container:
Box 7, Folder 3
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1976-1980
Collection Citation:
Woman's Building records, 1970-1992. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and Joyce F. Menschel, Vital Projects Fund, Inc.
Woman's Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Search this
Container:
Box 10, Folder 13
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1980-1981
Collection Citation:
Woman's Building records, 1970-1992. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation. Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by The Walton Family Foundation and Joyce F. Menschel, Vital Projects Fund, Inc.
Includes most Siouan languages, exclusive of Eastern and Ohio Valley Siouan.
Collection Restrictions:
The James O. Dorsey Papers are open for research. Access to the James O. Dorsey Papers requires an appointment
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 4800 James O. Dorsey papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Creation of this finding aid was funded through support from the Arcadia Fund.
Digitization and preparation of additional materials for online access has been funded also by the National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Approximately 65 pages original notes; approximately 80 pages and 1 kinship chart in schedule of John Wesley Powell's Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages 1880. Includes 1 page (page 248) in schedule of John Wesley Powell's Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages listing 7 words and 2 phrases in Upper Umpqua (Umpqua Valley), an Athapascan dialect. Information from Spencer Scott and Mrs William Smith (mother of Spencer Scott).
Collection Restrictions:
The James O. Dorsey Papers are open for research. Access to the James O. Dorsey Papers requires an appointment
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 4800 James O. Dorsey papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Creation of this finding aid was funded through support from the Arcadia Fund.
Digitization and preparation of additional materials for online access has been funded also by the National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Consists of 24 pages original notes; 41 pages in schedule of John Wesley Powell's Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages 1880. Information from Evans Bill (Munkiyeau), High, Rogue River John, and John Punzie.
Collection Restrictions:
The James O. Dorsey Papers are open for research. Access to the James O. Dorsey Papers requires an appointment
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 4800 James O. Dorsey papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Creation of this finding aid was funded through support from the Arcadia Fund.
Digitization and preparation of additional materials for online access has been funded also by the National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
The collection is stored off-site. Advanced notice must be given to view the collection.
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1904-2005
bulk 1915-1996
Scope and Contents:
These records document the activities of the American Anthropological Association from 1904 through 2007 (although the majority of the files only date to 1996), with informational content regarding its constitution and by-laws, constitutional changes and ballot voting, dating back to its creation in 1902. The majority of the records consist of correspondence and memoranda, both originals and carbon copies, typed and handwritten. Also included are telegrams, postcards, notes, lists, reports, newspaper clippings, publications, newsletters, articles, receipts, meeting minutes and agendas, programs, expense accounts, budget material, planning schedules and other documents relating to the business of the Association, as well as tape recordings of various AAA program sessions, tape recordings and video tapes regarding interviews and other material pertaining to the Tasaday, tape recordings regarding ethics cases, tape recording for classroom material for the Anthropology Curriculum Study Project, and mainframe computer tapes, computer discs, and printouts regarding the Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology. There are photographs, mostly documenting some of the sessions and attendees at the annual conference in Mexico, 1959, photographs and slides used for special AAA Newsletter themes (under Publication Department files in series 4), and a photograph of Roy Rappaport.
The most extensive documentation including all of the presidential papers, date from 1947, when the newly created Executive Board (established by constitutional changes in 1946) received funds from the Carnegie Corporation of New York City to establish a secretariat headed by an executive secretary (later, executive director). With the creation of the latter office, files were more systematically transferred to and maintained by the organization. With the permanent move of the executive secretary to Washington, DC, in 1959, the records of the organization became more expansive.
Though this guide documents the records in great detail, not all items of information, whether by name, subject, or geographical location has been noted. In addition to locating information through the "find" feature, researchers should search throughout the list of file folders that come within the time frame of inquiry and review those folders that may hold additional information.
Researchers should be cognizant of the fact that there will be accretions to the records of the American Anthropological Association as tranfers are made to the National Anthropological Archives. Documentation about the accretions may reside in separate guides.
American Anthropological Association Organizational Name Index
AAA committees, task forces, and commissions that are well documented include: Administrative Advisory Committee; AIDS Task Force; Anthropology and Archaeological Research in Latin America (including laws and requirements for conducting research in Latin American countries written in Spanish and Portuguese); Anthropology as a Profession; Anthropology Curriculum Study Project; Anthropology Research Services; Archives Committee; Franz Boas Memorial Committee; Committee on Anthropological Research in Museums; Committee on Science in the Promotion of Human Welfare; Committee to Study Research and Ethics (1965-1967), including interviews of anthropologists conducting research in foreign countries and regional areas; Committee on Ethics; Committee on International Cooperation; Committee on Scientific Research; Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology and Committee to Study the Academic Employment of Women in Anthropology; Committee Point IV Manual; Committee for the Recovery of Archaeological Remains; Committee on Scientific Communications; Commission on Lesbian and Gay Issues in Anthropology; Committee on International Cooperation; Congressional Fellowship Program; Environment Task Force; Involuntary Resettlement Task Force; Lurie Commission; Program in Anthropology and Education and Special Teacher Improvement Programs; Program of Visiting Anthropologists; Publication Policy Committee; Task Force on Poverty and Homelessness; and Task Force on Teaching Anthropology.
American Anthropological Association Cases, Issues and Projects of Concern and/or Undertaken by the Association
Franz Boas issue; status of anthropology in the United States government; Alfred Metraux and Argentine indigenous population; Vietnam; reorganization; establishment of a secretariat, executive secretary and executive director; Aswan Dam and sites in "Ancient Nubia"; CIA and anthropological research; Derek Freeman and Margaret Mead controversy; El Paso Natural Gas Company archaeological salvage program; establishment of the Alfred Vincent Kidder award; anthropology and the Graduate Record Examination; anthropology and the military; Baltimore Neighborhood Project; Camelot Project; Bureau of American Ethnology; career pamphlets on anthropology; civil liberties; employment in anthropology; Exxon-Valdez litigation; guides to anthropology departments in the United States; Hollywood "ten"; human rights; Richard G. Morgan (Ohio State Museum) case; move of the secretariat to Washington, DC, and subsequent move of AAA headquarters in DC and Virginia; Navajo/Hopi land dispute; professional freedom; race and intelligence; Peruvian research; resolutions on professional and scientific freedom; River Basin surveys; register of anthropologists; River Valley Archaeology Program; scientific freedom; selected writings from American Anthropologist for special publication; Simon Fraser University (dismissal of faculty members); Morris Swadish (City College of New York) affair; Tasaday issue; Thailand research; University of California loyalty oath and dismissal of 21 faculty members; Viking Fund Medal award; David Webster case (assassination of Webster); and Yanomami (Yonomamo) Indians and human rights violations.
American Anthropological Association Sections, other Anthropology Associations, and Additional Organizations that are well Documented
American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Association of Physical Anthropologists; American Association of University Professors; American Council on Education; American Council of Learned Societies; American Ethnological Society; American Sociological Society; Anthropological Association of Hawaii; Anthropological Society of Washington; Asia Foundation; Carnegie Foundation of New York; Carroll Reece House Congressional Committee to investigate tax exempt foundations; Central States Anthropology Society; Council for Old World Archaeology; Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Division of Anthropology and Psychology, Educational Resources in Anthropology; Indian Land Claims Committee; Indian Service Program; International Congress of Americanists; International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences; International Council of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences; International Directory of Anthropologists; International Society for Psychedelic Anthropology; National Academy of Sciences; National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel; National Institute of Mental Health; National Park Service (environmental research and applied anthropology); National Research Council; National Science Foundation; Program in Ethnographic Film; Smith, Kline and French Laboratories; Social Science Research Council; Society for American Archaeology; Society for the Anthropology of Visual Communications; Society for Applied Anthropology; Society for the History of Anthropology; Society for Medical Anthropology and Group for Medical Anthropology; Society for Psychological Anthropology; Southwestern Anthropological Society; Wenner-Gren Foundation; Western States Branch of AAA; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; Yukon Island Research Reservation.
American Anthropological Association Officers and other Individuals who are Documented or who have Important Correspondence
Aberle, David F.; Adams, Richard; Aginsky, Ethel G; Beals, Ralph Leon; Barnett, Homer Garner; Barr, William; Benedict, Ruth; Bennett, Wendell C.; Berreman, Gerald D. Boas, Franz; Boggs, Stephen T.; Bohannon, Laura; Bohannon, Paul J.; Brew, John Otis; Brumfiel, Elizabeth Margarethe; Byers, Douglas; Carstens, Peter; Casagrande, Joseph; Cault, Allen D.; Chagnon, Napoleon A.; Chapple, Eliot Dismore; Cole, Fay-Cooper; Collier, Donald; Collier, Malcolm; Collier, Malcolm Carr; Conklin, Harold C.; Cooper, John M.; Cornman, John M.; Dobzhansky, Theodosius; Douglass, Andrew Elliott (award for); Du Bois, Cora; Eddy, Elizabeth M.; Eggan, Frederick; Ehrich, Robert W.; Eiseley, Loren C.; Emery, Emil Ernest; Farabee, William Curtis; Fenton, William N.; Flannery, Regina; Forman, Sylvia Helen; Foster, George M.; Frantz, Charles; Freeman, Derek (Freeman-Mead controversy); Friedl, Ernestine; Gearing, Frederick O.; Gifford, Edward W.; Gillin, John P.; Goddard, Pliny E.; Godfrey, Jr., William S.; Godfrey, Richard; Goldschmidt, Walter; Goodenough, Ward H.; Hallowell, Alfred Irving; Haury, Emil Walter; Headland, Thomas N.; Helm, June; Henderson, Eric (use of field notes in Navajo/Hopi land dispute); Hendricks, Glenn L.; Herskovits, Melville, J.; Hill, Willard Williams; Hoebel, E. Adamson; Hoijer, Harry; Howells, William W.; Hsu, Francis K.; Hurwitch, Jan; Hymes, Dell H.; Jenness, Diamond; Jennings, Jesse D.; Jensen, Arthur P.; Johnson, Frederick; Judd, Neil M.; Keesing, Felix M.; Kidder, Alfred Vincent.; Kidder, Alfred V. II; Kluckhorn, Clyde; Knight, Jr., Vic (misuse of AAA name to collect artifacts); Kroeber, Alfred Louis; Laguna, Frederica de; Leakey, L. S. B. (1959 visit to United States); Lehman, Edward J.; Lessa, William A.; Lewis, Oscar (problem with Children of Sanchez); Linton, Ralph; Lowie, Robert H.; Lurie, Nancy Oestreich; MacCurdy, George Grant; Manners, Robert A.; Marshall, Donald S.; Maruyama, Magorah; Mason, J. Alden; Mead, Margaret; Meggers, Betty J.; Mendelbaum, David; Merwin, B. W.; Modiano, Nancy; Moorhead, Evelyn; Moorhead, Warren K.; Moran, Emilio F.; Moses, Yolanda T.; Murdock, George P.; Murra, John Victor; Nader, Laura; Noon, John A.; Nusbaum, Jesse L.; Olmsted, David; Opler, Morris Edward; Osgood, Cornelius B.; Parsons, Elsie Clews; Rappaport, Roy Abraham; Reining, Conrad C.; Roberts, Jr., Frank H. H.; Rouse, (Benjamin) Irving; Sapir, Edward; Schneider, David; Setzler, Frank Mary; Shapiro, Harry L.; Spicer, Edward H.; Spier, Leslie; Spindler, George; Spoehr, Alexander; Sterud, Eugene L.; Steward, Julian H.; Stocking, George; Stout, David B.; Strong, William Duncan; Swanton, John Reed; Tax, Sol; Textor, Robert B.; Tozzer, Alfred M.; Underhill, Ruth M.; Voegelin, Carl F.; Voegelin, Erminie Wheeler; Vogt, Evon Z.; Wallace, Anthony F. C.; Wagley, Charles; Wallach, Irving A.; Ward, Lauriston; Washburn, Sherwood Larned; Weidman, Hazel H.; Weitzer, Bella; Weltfish, Gene; White, Leslie A.; Wissler, Clark; Woodbury, Nathalie, F. S.; Woodbury, Richard B.
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.
Historical Note:
American Anthropological Association Development and Creation of a Secretariat
Most of early American anthropology focused on indigenous Native Americans and can be traced back to 1784 when Thomas Jefferson carried out stratigraphic excavations of the Indian mounds on his land in Virginia. Jefferson's interest continued and was strongly reflected when as President he instructed Meriwether Lewis (Corps of Discovery Expedition also known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806) to record the names of the nations he encountered along with their numbers, languages, traditions, laws and customs.
Local ethnological and anthropological associations were later established, such as the American Ethnological Society (AES), founded in New York, 1842, and the Anthropological Society of Washington (ASW), created in Washington, DC, 1879. Anthropology as a national science was recognized in 1882, when the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) created a Section (H) for Anthropology. By 1896, the community of anthropologists began informal discussions regarding the establishment of a national organization. These discussions were held among members of the AES and the ASW, while informal talks (sanctioned by the AAAS) were held by Section H members on establishing a national group. At the Section H meeting a decision was reached between those members who wanted a national organization and those who were concerned about diverting attention and support away from the AAAS. With formal approval by the AAAS, Section members of the Association began holding their own winter meetings, separate from the AAAS annual conference, which continued through 1901-1902.
With national leadership coming from the Anthropological Society of Washington and the American Ethnological Society, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) was formed and incorporated in Washington, DC, in 1902. Two major compromises were reached. The Anthropological Society of Washington discontinued publishing the American Anthropologist and surrendered the journal name. The new journal would be called the American Anthropologist, New Series, and would be edited by representatives of all anthropological sections in the United States and Canada. This journal began publication in January 1899. The second agreement concerned whether the national organization should be opened to anyone interested in anthropology (W. J. McGee) or should only constitute professional anthropologists (Franz Boas). The matter was settled when it was decided that membership would be opened to anyone, but that control of the organization would reside in the hands of a council composed of professional members, only.
The AAA was designed to promote the science of anthropology, stimulate and coordinate efforts of American anthropologists, support local and other societies devoted to anthropology, publish and encourage publications regarding anthropology, and conduct and support research. In a revised constitution approved by the Association in December 1902, research support was dropped. The AAA grew by assisting in the development of regional associations, authorizing the creation of a Central States Branch (1921) and the Pacific Division (1929), and increasing its affiliation with existing local organizations such as the Philadelphia Anthropological Society in 1935.
Around the close of World War II, a water-shed event occurred in the development of the Association's administration that stongly supported its ability to maintain historical and administrative records in a more permanent and cohesive fashion. Starting with the May 1945 meeting of the Society for American Archaeology held at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC, and continuing through the year, several groups of concerned anthropologists began discussing the need to find a way to provide greater support for its professional members. These anthropologists also discussed what they felt was a failure on the part of the American Anthropological Association to maximize its usefulness for the members and carry out specific projects that were desired. They questioned whether the causes were due to a lack of effective operational means. Meetings were held during the summer at the National Research Council (NRC) and again, later in the year, in Washington, DC. Additional anthropologists met at other meetings and a proposal was drafted to create an organization that represented professional anthropologists. Correspondence between Ralph L. Beals, Julian H. Steward, Margaret Mead, Theodore D. McCowan, Homer C. Barnett, Luther S. Cressman, Frank M. Setzler, and William Duncan Strong voiced a need for a new anthropological association, one that represented all areas of anthropology, supported post-war anthropological projects, coordinated activities between anthropologists and the federal government, cooperated with the various councils where anthropologists had representation, developed teaching standards in anthropology, and created employment standards for anthropologists. They drafted a constitution for such an organization. Others within this circle of correspondents wanted to reorganize the AAA.
The leadership of the AAA responded to the call for reform. During the annual meeting held on December 28, 1945, attendees voted to appoint a Committee of Nine (later called the Reorganizing Committee) to ascertain the views of the professional members of the AAA, affiliated societies and local groups, regarding proposals to reorganize the AAA, establish a secretariat, and to find additional ways to further professional interests. The Committee's findings and recommendations were to be issued to the entire profession within two months before the 1946 annual meeting. Julian H. Steward was appointed chairman.
To meet the needs of those anthropologists who wanted a greater professional organization, the AAA adopted a new constitution at the winter meeting of 1946. Two classes of membership, members and fellows, were created. Anyone was eligible to become a member, but without voting privileges. To become a fellow (voting member), one had to meet certain requirements, which included a degree in anthropology, a publication(s) in the field of anthropology, or a doctorate in an allied field and being actively engaged in anthropology. An Executive Council was created. Only fellows could vote for Council members, elect officers, and vote on other business matters. The Association's Council was the final authority. From its membership were elected the president, vice-president (later, president-elect), and an Executive Board (replacing the Executive Committee). The Board voted on the selection of fellows. While the Council met once a year at the annual meeting, the Board was given the authority to meet whenever it deemed necessary. The Board received its own operating budget. It was given broad powers to act quickly and authoritatively, so that issues and actions required by the profession would be reviewed and voted upon in a timely fashion. The Board could create and disband task forces and appoint a secretary and treasurer. It could not amend the constitution and by-laws.
While the revised constitution made the organization more supportive of and controlled by professional anthropologists and created a more dynamic executive branch, the Council also approved 14 major topics recommended by the Committee on Reorganization. Within those broad topics, the Council asked the Executive Board to study 35 objectives and activities. As for a permanent secretariat, the Council felt that while it could serve the profession it was unrelated to the immediate needs of the organization; that financing it should not be a problem faced for the present time and "should not prejudice the proposals concerning organization."
President Clyde Kluckhorn and the Executive Board realized that they would not be able to evaluate all the proposals and or begin the activities approved by Council, regardless of its members' individual goodwill. The AAA urgently needed an executive secretary. At the request of the Board, Kluckhorn wrote Charles Dollard at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, asking for funds to hire an executive secretary full-time for the first year and half-time for two more years, and for a salaried full-time typist-clerk for twenty-nine months. Their work and responsibilities would include the re-integration of the sub-sciences of anthropology and increasing the strategic value of anthropology as a discipline where the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences met. If the grant was awarded the Executive Board's choice for the position would be Erminie Voegelin. Kluckhorn then enumerated some of the recommendations voted by Council. Not wanting to take any chances, Kluckhorn wrote a personal letter to his friend Dollard that same day. On June 12, 1947, Dollard notified Kluckhorn that the officers of the Corporation took a very "sympathetic" view of the Association and agreed to commit the requested funds. A formal follow-up letter from the secretary would confirm the action. The funds were to be used from August 1, 1947 until December 31, 1949. When the grant was concluded, funds were committed by the AAA for a part-time executive secretary, with limited staff, until 1959, when the position once again became full-time.
From 1947 until 1959, the executive secretariat received support from the local institution where the position resided: Indiana University (Bloomington), Phillips Academy, and Beloit College. In 1959, the executive secretariat moved to Washington, DC, which became the permanent home for the Association. There, the position was funded full-time. The offices were first located at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, without cost. When the AAA lost its quarters in 1967 to the expanding needs of its host, the Association moved its offices to a permanent structure on New Hampshire Avenue. In 1993, the AAA moved to Arlington, Virginia.
American Anthropological Association: History of its Archives and an Archives for the Papers of Anthropologists
Beginning with the creation of an executive secretariat, the AAA became interested in trying to retrieve as much of its early history as possible. Calls went out from the executive secretary and president for the transfer of task force material and papers of past presidents. In addition, from 1957 through 1972, the organization officially began looking at the need to provide support for unpublished anthropological records, repositories to house them, and the question of what do with its own accumulation of records.
On April 24, 1957, the Executive Board delegated the president to appoint a committee to collaborate on the preservation of primary records. This interest appears to have come from the AAA's membership in the Committee of Primary Records, which was established in the Division of Anthropology and Psychology located within the NRC of the National Academy of Sciences. Sol Tax was appointed chairman of the Special Committee on the Preservation of Primary Records. The Committee met in Chicago, February 17-18, 1958, drafted a tentative report, and sent it to a few selected fellows for comment and suggestions. The fellows approved the recommendations and the Committee issued the draft as a final report. One recommendation was that the AAA should publish an international directory of primary sources, to continue serially with the assumption that it would report on institutional holdings and perhaps major personal collections. The Executive Board approved the report on April 25, 1958 and had it forwarded to the NRC for its consideration with an informal note that a tentative editor for the publication had been selected. At the following Board meeting, the Committee was terminated.
Formal discussions regarding the topic of what to do with research material created by anthropologists was again taken up by the Board in 1962. At the Board's next meeting, May 13-14, 1963, the Publication Policy Committee reported on the first day that its mission was to publish research findings from the conclusion of the work until the dissemination of the information. The following day Board member Joseph Casagrande reported that the issues he was concerned with, the location and preservation of field notes, papers, and other documents, were "intimately" related to the recommendations made by the Publication Policy Committee. He wanted to pursue the problem with a small committee through conversations with the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). The Board agreed and suggested that Margaret Blaker, archivist at the Bureau of American Ethnology [the BAE later merged with the Department of Anthropology and the BAE archives became the National Anthropological Archives], be contacted as a good resource person. At the November 1963 Board meeting, Casagrande reported that he was planning to form an ad hoc group after an initial discussion with the SSRC, which would meet once or twice to formulate a proposal to the Council.
Within the body of the AAA's records there appears to be no continuity between the various initiatives undertaken regarding what to do with primary source material of anthropologists as well as the Association's own records. At the November 1966 Board meeting, editor Ward Goodenough proposed publishing Anthropological Documents to make available anthropological research data so it could be used by fellow scientists. During the meeting of the Board in May 1967, its members discussed the possibility of forming another committee on archives. Executive Secretary Charles Frantz stated that he had written to several members to see if they would be interested in forming a committee to inventory and perhaps centralize documents about the Association and individual anthropologists. Several responded enthusiastically and it was suggested that the American Philosophical Society might fund such a committee. The Board endorsed the recommendation and asked that Frantz continue his correspondence with interested persons.
Franz resigned from the AAA around August 1968 and Conrad C. Reining became secretary later that year (he was eventually given the title executive secretary). In October 1968, the Executive Board formed an Archives Committee. Its mission was to develop policy and procedures for the conservation and use of documents of value to the profession. Reining served as the acting chair. By November 1968, Reining reported to the Board that he had formed a committee. He found that the archives in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution adequate for the purposes proposed in a resolution that would be brought before the Council meeting. Later that month the Council adopted a resolution urging anthropologists to consider the NAA as the repository for their field notes, reports and professional papers if no other arrangements had been made for preservation of such materials.
The question before Council was whether the National Anthropological Archives should be considered the repository of choice for anthropologists, if no other arrangements were made with other archival programs. Before Council made its decision there was some concern about the selection of the NAA. At one point during the discussion, Reining considered the Library of Congress. Informal and formal discussions were held with Smithsonian staff and members of the Department of Anthropology. Saul Riesenberg, chairman of the Department of Anthropology, was sent a copy of the draft resolution and was asked if his office was prepared to undertake the task involved. The draft resolution, he wrote, had been discussed and agreed upon, and expansion of the Department's Archives was being contemplated.
The Committee on Archives, now chaired by Sturtevant, met in May 1969 at the Department of Anthropology in the National Museum of Natural History. One major outcome of the meeting was the decision that all files of the Association, prior to 1959, would be transferred to the NAA as long as they would be accessible to the AAA and could be reclaimed with the proviso that the Archives be allowed to microfilm any files reclaimed. Reining would provide an inventory of the contents of the Association's files; and Sturtevant would draft a recommendation to the Board on management and preservation of official or copies of records of current and future officers, and draft a letter for Cora Du Bois requesting ex-presidents contribute their papers still in their possession.
During the following month Secretary Conrad C. Reining transferred 12 feet of records stored in file drawers, along with a content list, to the NAA archivist Margaret C. Blaker. Before she would accession them, Blaker requested a formal ruling by the Board transferring the records to the NAA. She provided suggested points to Reining for the Board to consider in a resolution at the New Orleans annual meeting later in the year. It was not approved. Instead, the Board wanted to know why it was considering Blaker's recommendations and not their own. They were more concerned about having their own personal remarks placed on record and having them quoted than approving the recommendations.
In February 1970, Stocking wrote Reining that files dating from 1917 to 1957 had been sent to the NAA. The Board was supposed to have developed a transfer form for a lawyer to review, which was then to be forwarded to Pilling to send on for comment by an archivist he knew at his university. Stocking wanted to know where the matter stood. There was no response. On July 19, 1971, Charles Wagley (AAA president) wrote Stocking that the Executive Board voted at its May 1971 meeting to discharge the Archives Committee. The new AAA executive secretary, Edward J. Lehman, wrote Stocking in August that the Committee, as well as several others, were dismissed due to a deficit in funds, and, because of that, the Finance Committee had recommended that committees which had not been active be dismissed.
The Board did not take up a resolution regarding its records at the San Diego meeting in 1970, nor the following year in New York City. Blaker updated her recommendations to be considered for a resolution in October 1971. Those recommendations were basically what the Board wrote in its resolution in May 1972, establishing the NAA as the permanent repository for its records. The deposit was permanent and was not to be withdrawn under any circumstances unless the AAA established its own archives. The action was concluded after Blaker retired.
With the 1972 resolution, the American Anthropological Association officially concluded its long historical discussion regarding its recognition of the importance of anthropologists maintaining their materials, the importance of its own records, and the availability and value of the National Anthropological Archives to the anthropology community.
Related Materials:
There are over twenty-five collections in the National Anthropological Archives and Human Studies Film Archives that document various aspects of the American Anthropological Association. Researchers should work with the reference archivist in finding this material. NAA also houses the records of the following AAA sections:
American Ethnological Society
Association for Feminist Anthropology
Central States Anthropological Society
Council for Museum Anthropology
Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges
Society for Cultural Anthropology
Society for Humanistic Anthropology
Society for Medical Anthropology
Society for Visual Anthropology
NAA is also the repository for the following anthropological societies whose activities are documented in the records of AAA:
Society for American Archaeology
Society for Applied Anthropology
Below is a selected list of collections, not housed at NAA, documenting individuals who played a prominent role in the activities of AAA:
Homer Garner Papers, 1937-1986, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon
Ruth Benedict Papers, 1905-1948, Archives and Special Collections, Vassar College
Alfred Irving Hallowell Papers, American Mss. Coll. 26, Philosophical Society
E. Adamson Hoebel Papers, 1925-1993, Mss. Coll. 43, American Philosophical Society
Dell H. Hymes Papers, 1947-1992, American Philosophical Society
Frederick Johnson Papers, 1948-1968, Special Collections, University of California at Los Angeles
Alfred Louis Kroeber papers, 1869-1972, Bancroft Library
John Alden Mason Papers, 1904-1967, MSS.B.M384, American Philosophical Society
Morris Edward Opler Papers, #14-25-3238, Division of Rare Books and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Libraries
Elsie Clews Parsons papers, 1880-1980, Mss. Ms.Coll. 29, American Philosophical Society
Provenance:
Records were transferred from the American Anthropological Association to the National Anthropological Archives. The three last subseries of presidential papers (series 1) were donated directly from the creator or their heirs to NAA.
Restrictions:
At the 71st meeting of the Executive Board, May 1972, the Board adopted the motion authorizing transfer of the American Anthropological Association archives to the National Anthropological Archives. By definition all records created by elected and appointed offices, or committee members of AAA, while acting in an official capacity were records of the Association. No records less than five years old were to be deposited, and no records less than ten years old were open for scholarly use, except by Association officers, or when otherwise stated. All records would be open to use after 50 years from date of creation. The American Anthropological Association gave literary property rights to the public. Researchers will need to review restrictions that may apply to presidential papers.
All Exxon-Valdez folders located in series 4, subseries 4, "Committee on Ethics," are closed until further notification from the State of Alaska, Department of Law.
Access to the American Anthropological Association records requires an appointment.
Edmund Snow Carpenter (1922-2011) was an archaeologist and visual anthropologist who worked extensively with the indigenous peoples of the Canadian Arctic as well as Papua New Guinea. With his colleague and close collaborator Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), he laid the groundwork for modern media theory. Carpenter is also known for his work as an ethnographic filmmaker and as a collector of Paleo-Eskimo art. The Papers of Edmund Carpenter, circa 1938-2011, document the research interests and projects undertaken by Carpenter in the fields of cultural anthropology, ethnographic filmmaking, media theory, archaeology, and indigenous art.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Edmund Carpenter, 1940-2011, document the research interests and projects undertaken by Carpenter in the fields of cultural anthropology, ethnographic filmmaking, media theory, archaeology, and indigenous art. Specific research projects and interests documented are: his 1950s fieldwork among the Aivilik Inuit in the Canadian Arctic as well as his studies into Inuit concepts of space, time, and geography; his partnership and collaboration with media theorist Marshall McLuhan and his ethnographic studies of Papua New Guinean tribal communities; his early-career archaeological digs at Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) burial mounds in Sugar Run, Pennsylvania, as well as later archaeological interest in Arctic peoples, Siberia, and the Norwegian artifact dubbed the "Norse Penny"; his reflections on the disciplines of anthropology and media studies; his editing and completion of the work of art historian Carl Schuster at the Museum der Kulturen (Museum of Ethnology) in Basel, Switzerland; his editing of The Story of Comock the Eskimo, as told to Robert Flaherty; and his museum exhibitions compiled on the topics of surrealist and tribal art. The collection also documents Carpenter's correspondence with fellow scholars, ethnographers, filmmakers, and colleagues; his published writings; and elements of his personal life, such as obituaries and personal photographs.
Materials in this collection include artifact and burial records; correspondence; drawings and illustrations; essays; interviews and oral histories; inventories and catalogues; manuscripts and drafts, and fragments of drafts; maps; memoranda and meeting minutes; notes, notebooks, and data analysis; obituaries and memorials; photographic prints, slides, and negatives, including personal photographs and portraits; proposals and plans for museum exhibits; reports; resumes and bibliographies; reviews; and sound recordings on CD-Rs and audio cassettes. Additional materials include books and book chapters; journal copies and journal excerpts; magazine, newspaper, and article clippings and excerpts; museum and gallery catalogues, brochures, and guides; pamphlets; and reprints. A portion of the material collected here consist of consolidated research into specific topics, gathered from archival repositories, museums, correspondence, and published works. This material consists of research reprints and archival reference photocopies and photographic prints from various repositories.
Items worthy of special mention in this collection include: annotated draft chapters from Marshall McLuhan's seminal work on media theory, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (Series 2); a 1957 letter from e. e. cummings to Carpenter, written in verse (Series 3); an undated thank-you note addressed to "Sadie" from Helen Keller (Series 3); and a transcript of an interview of Carpenter by his former student, Harald Prins (Series 2).
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into the following 6 series:
Series 1. Fieldwork and drafts, 1940-2011 (bulk 1940-1959)
Series 2. Research and project files, 1940-2011
Series 3. Correspondence, circa 1938-2011
Series 4. Publications and lectures, circa 1942-circa 2006
Series 5. Personal, 1942-2011
Series 6. Writings by others, 1960-2009, undated
Biographical Note:
Edmund Snow Carpenter (1922-2011) was an archaeologist and visual anthropologist who worked extensively with the indigenous peoples of the Canadian Arctic and Papua New Guinea. With his colleague and close collaborator Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), he laid the groundwork for modern media theory. Carpenter is also known for his work as an ethnographic filmmaker and as a collector of Paleo-Eskimo art.
Born in 1922 in Rochester, New York, Edmund (nicknamed "Ted") Carpenter served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II before receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950 under Frank Speck for work on Iroquoian prehistoric archaeology. Carpenter began teaching at the University of Toronto in 1948 while simultaneously working as a programmer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). In the 1950s, he undertook fieldwork in the Canadian Arctic among the Aivilik (an Inuit Igloolik subgroup). This fieldwork resulted in several publications in the field of cultural anthropology, including Time/Space Concepts of the Aivilik (1955), Anerca (1959), and Eskimo (1959, republished as Eskimo Realities in 1973).
Also in the 1950s, Carpenter began a working relationship with media theorist Marshall McLuhan. Together, they received a Ford Foundation grant (1953-1955) for an interdisciplinary media research project into the impact of mass communications and mass media on culture change. Carpenter and McLuhan's partnership resulted in the Seminar on Culture and Communication (1953-1959) and the journal series Explorations. In 1957, Carpenter was the founding chair in the interdisciplinary program "Anthropology and Art" at San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge). There, he collaborated with Bess Lomax Hawes and other colleagues in the production of several ethnographic films, including Georgia Sea Island Singers about Gullah (or Geechee) songs and dances. During this period, Carpenter worked with McLuhan on the latter's seminal book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964). The article published as "Fashion is Language" in Harper's Bazaar under McLuhan's name (1968) was actually written by Carpenter. It was later published in book form under Carpenter's name, with the title They Became What They Beheld (1970).
In 1969, Carpenter took a research professorship at the University of Papua and New Guinea sponsored by the government of Australia. Alongside photographer Adelaide De Menil (whom he would later marry), he applied many of the ideas about media literacy and culture change to indigenous communities of Papua New Guinea. These activities led to developments in the field of media ecology, as well as the publication of Carpenter's best-known work, Oh, What a Blow the Phantom Gave Me! (1976).
Carpenter taught intermittently at various universities throughout his career, including Fordham University, the University of California-Santa Cruz, Adelphi University, Harvard University's Center for Visual Anthropology, the New School for Social Research, and New York University. He spent eight years associated with the Museum of Ethnology in Basel, Switzerland (1973-1981), editing art historian Carl Schuster's research.
In addition to his teaching and research, Carpenter, with his wife Adelaide De Menil, collected tribal art, eventually amassing the largest private collection of Paleo-Eskimo art in the United States. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Carpenter curated various exhibitions on art and visual culture, including the Menil Collection's Witness to a Surrealist Vision and the Musée du Quai Branly's Upside Down (later reconstructed at the Menil Collection). In later years, Carpenter resumed his archaeological interest in Arctic peoples, researching and collaborating on the Zhokhov Island Mesolithic site in the Russian Arctic with Russian scientists from the Institute for the History of Material Culture and archaeologists from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.
Carpenter died on July 1, 2011 at his home in New York.
Grimes, William. "Edmund Carpenter, Archaeologist and Anthropologist, Dies at 88." The New York Times. 2011 July 7. https://www.nytimes.com
Prins, Harald E. L. and John Bishop. "Edmund Carpenter: Explorations in Media and Anthropology." Visual Anthropology Review 17:2 (Fall-Winter 2001-2002): 110-140.
Chronology
1922 September 2 -- Born in Rochester, New York
circa 1940-1941 -- Archaeological field work, Sugar Run mounds, Pennsylvania
1942-1946 -- Served in the United States Marine Corps
1948-1957 -- Anthropology Department, University of Toronto
circa 1950 -- Began work for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
1950 -- Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania (Anthropology)
1950s -- Fieldwork among the Aivilik Inuit
1953-1959 -- Ran the Seminar on Culture and Communication with Marshall McLuhan
1957-1967 -- "Anthropology and Art" program at San Fernando Valley State College (California State University, Northridge)
1967-1968 -- Schweitzer Chair, Fordham University (with Marshall McLuhan)
1968-1969 -- Carnegie Chair in Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz
1969-1970 -- Research Professor, University of Papua and New Guinea
1973-1981 -- Associated with the Museum of Ethnology in Basel, Switzerland for Carl Schuster papers project
circa 1989-2005 -- Collaboration regarding Zhokov Island archaeological site
2011 July 1 -- Died in East Hampton, New York
Separated Materials:
Film and video recordings are retained by the Human Studies Film Archives (HSFA) as the Edmund Carpenter-Adelaide de Menil Collection (HSFA 2004-04).
Provenance:
The Edmund Snow Carpenter papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives in 2017 by Adelaide de Menil on behalf of the Rock Foundation.
Restrictions:
The Edmund Snow Carpenter papers are open for research.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Digital media in the collection is restricted for preservation reasons.
Access to the Edmund Snow Carpenter papers requires an appointment.
The papers of muralist, painter, and teacher Barry Faulkner measure 2.82 linear feet and date from circa 1858-1973. Faulkner's career; his relationships with family, friends, and fellow-artists; and his thoughts on art and artists are documented in biographical materials, correspondence, writings, sketchbooks, five diaries, two photograph albums and photographs, and one scrapbook. Correspondents include family members, Witter Bynner, Ann and Eric Gugler, Leon Kroll, Isabel Manship, James Johnson Sweeney, Maxfield Parrish and others. An unprocessed addition to the collection dating 1942 includes a one page letter mounted on board from Maxfield Parrish to Barry Faulkner.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of muralist, painter, and teacher Barry Faulkner measure 2.82 linear feet and date from circa 1858-1973. Faulkner's career; his relationships with family, friends, and fellow-artists; and his thoughts on art and artists are documented in biographical materials, correspondence, writings, sketchbooks, five diaries, photograph albums and photographs, and one scrapbook. An unprocessed addition to the collection dating 1942 includes a one page letter mounted on board from Maxfield Parrish to Barry Faulkner.
Biographical materials include biographical sketches, awards, and records documenting Faulkner's military service. Also found are a list of medications, a list of Faulkner's writings, party guest lists, an address book, a calendar, and materials related to the posthumous publication of Sketches From an Artist's Life. Of special interest are oversized architectural drawings by Eric Gugler for Faulkner's Keene, New Hampshire house.
Correspondence includes letters from Faulkner's friends, family, fellow artists, and art organizations and institutions. Faulkner's correspondence with his parents document his 1900-1901 trip to Italy with the Thayer family. Of special interest is his correspondence with writer Witter Bynner about Faulkner's daily life in New Hampshire, his travels through Europe, his artistic practice and career, Bynner's writings, his opinions on artistic and literary works, and his service in World War One. Many of the letters to Bynner include sketches by Faulkner of Abbott Handerson Thayer, Rockwell Kent, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Homer Saint-Gaudens, George de Forest Brush, Kahlil Gibran, and Mark Twain. Additional correspondents include sculptor Frances Grimes, architect Eric Gugler, painter Leon Kroll, and museum director James Johnson Sweeney.
Faulkner's writings are about art, artists, and the New Hampshire art community. Found are essays on Gifford Beal, George de Forest Brush, James Earle Fraser, Harriet Hosmer, Paul Manship, Charles Adams Platt, Hiram Powers, Edward Willis Redfield, Joseph Lindon Smith, Mary Lawrence Tonetti, Mark Twain, Lawrence Grant White, and Mahonri Young. Other writings discuss Faulkner's mural commissions, various aspects of New Hampshire history, and the history of the Dublin and Cornish art colonies whose inhabitants included George de Forest Brush, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Abbott Handerson Thayer. Of special interest is a manuscript for Faulkner's posthumously published memoir Sketches From an Artist's Life, and an unpublished manuscript titled A Neighborhood of Artists about the history and culture of the Connecticut River Valley.
Four sketchbooks by Faulkner contain drawings of landscapes, city scenes, architecture, people, nature, and studies of artwork by others. Also found are two loose sketches.
Five diaries document Faulkner's 1922-1924 trip through Europe, Africa, and Asia including stops in France, Italy, Egypt, and Turkey. Diaries record Faulkner's thoughts on architecture, tourist sites, and travel amenities. Found is one diary from 1956 that discusses social events, the Saint-Gaudens Memorial, the MacDowell Colony of artists, and various artists including Gifford Beal, Maxfield Parrish, Paul Manship, and Eric Gugler.
The bulk of printed material consists of clippings which document published writings by Faulkner, obituaries and published rememberances of Faulkner, local events in Keene, New Hampshire, and reproductions of Faulkner's artwork. Also found are exhibition catalogs of other artists, an announcement of Faulklner's death from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a publication illustrated with reproductions of Faulkner's murals for the National Archives.
Photographs include formal and informal images of Faulkner throughout his life, and photographs of his family and friends, his studio, and reproductions of his artwork. Also included are two photograph albums, one of which contains photographs of Faulkner during his youth and one that contains photographs primarily from the 1930s of Faulkner's Keene, New Hampshire house, himself, and his friends and family.
The collection also includes a scrapbook prepared for Faulkner's seventieth birthday containing photographs, cards, telegrams, and placecards with hand drawn illustrations which show the "taste and characteristics" of Faulkner.
Series 2: Correspondence, 1900-1973 (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, 1912-1966 (Boxes 1-2; 1.0 linear foot)
Series 4: Sketchbooks and Sketches, circa 1910s-1930s (Boxes 2-3; 8 folders)
Series 5: Diaries, 1922-1956 (Box 2; 6 folders)
Series 6: Printed Materials, circa 1858-1966 (Boxes 2-3; 8 folders)
Series 7: Photographs, 1892-1960s (Boxes 2-3; 15 folders)
Series 8: Scrapbook, 1951 (Box 3; 2 folders)
Biographical Note:
Francis Barrett Faulkner was born on July 12, 1881 in Keene, New Hampshire. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and went on to study at Harvard College. Around this same time, Faulkner began an apprenticeship with his cousin and painter Abbott Handerson Thayer and painter George de Forest Brush. He also met sculptors James Earle Fraser and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, both of whom became Faulkner's lifelong friends.
In 1901, Faulkner traveled to Italy for the first time with Thayer and his family. He returned to New York in 1902 and studied at the Art Students League and Chase School. He also completed illustration work for Century magazine.
In 1907, Faulkner won the Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome. shortly thereafter, he left to study in Italy for three years, studying with George de Forest Brush and befriending sculptor Paul Manship. Upon his return in 1910, he started working on his first mural, commissioned by the wife of railroad executive E.H. Harriman. Having found his niche, Faulkner continued taking mural commissions until his career was interrupted by World War I and his service in the camouflage section of the army. Shortly after the war, he completed a mural for the marine headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.
Between 1923-1924, Faulkner worked in collaboration with Eric Gugler and Paul Manship to create the American Academy in Rome war memorial. Also following the war, Faulkner completed murals for the Eastman School of Music in 1922, the Rockefeller Center in 1932, and the National Archives in 1936. That same year, Faulkner bought and refurbished a house named "The Bounty" in Keene, New Hampshire, and built a studio nearby. In 1930, he was elected as a trustee of the American Academy in Rome.
During the 1940s, Faulkner created murals for numerous public buildings and sites around New Hampshire including the Senate Chambers in Concord, the Elliot Community Hospital, Keene National Bank, and the Cheshire County Savings Bank in Keene. During his final decades, Faulkner wrote an unpublished manuscript on the history of art in the Connecticut River Valley entitled A Neighborhood of Artists, and his posthumously published memoirs, Sketches of an Artist's Life. Faulkner died in 1966, in Keene, New Hampshire.
Related Material:
Found in the Nancy Douglas Bowditch papers at the Archives of American Art is correspondence, photographs, and printed materials related to Barry Faulkner. The Library of Congress, Manuscript Division also holds a small collection of Barry Faulkner's papers. Additional correspondence from Faulkner is found in the papers of Witter Bynner at the University of New Mexico and at Harvard University.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Francis Faulkner, Barry Faulkner's nephew, in 1974. An addition to the collection was donated by Jocelyn Faulkner Bolle in 2014.
Restrictions:
The bulk of this collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The Hales Bar Dam was built on the Tennessee River to improve river navigation and produce hydroelectric power. Construction work on the dam, which took place from 1905 to 1913, faced engineering challenges and leaks due to the broken and creviced limestone beneath the dam. The collection spans 1905-1968 and includes papers, reports, drawings and photographs related to the construction of the dam, as well as documents related to its maintenance in the decades following its completion.
Scope and Contents:
The collection includes papers, reports, drawings and photographs related to the construction of the Hales Bar Dam, as well as documents related to maintenance on the dam in the decades following its completion.
Series 1, Historical Background, 1905-1968, includes papers, reports and publications related to the construction of the dam and its maintenance. Construction engineers Jacobs and Davies Inc. produced an undated reportDescription of Hales Bar Dam, that discusses the history of the project, its design, construction methods, a contractor's account of work, materials used, transportation, organization, camp, liability insurance, and closure of the dam; copies of the 1905 grant and contract with the Chattanooga and Tennessee River Power Company for construction; reports on leakage problems after construction completed, Report on the Present Status of the Work of Sealing the Crevices and Stopping the Flow of the Water Under the Hales Bar Dam (George W. Christians, 1919), Leakage Under Hales Bar Dam (Consulting engineer John R. Freeman, 1921); a Tennessee Valley Authority report Geology of Hales Bar Dam (Assistant Geologist John W. Frink, 1944) including the geology of the river, choice of the dam site, geology of the site, construction and treatment of leaks; published articles fromThe Engineering Record, Engineering News, Civil Engineering, and TVA publications discussing construction, hydroelectric power, leakage problems and maintenance work.
Series 2, Drawings, 1912-1966, contains ten blueprint drawings by Jacobs and Davies Inc. detailing cross-sections of the dam, its foundation, caisson, and other proposed construction methods, 1912-1913; microfilm of original construction drawings on twenty-two engineering drawing aperture cards depicting powerhouse details and foundation conditions. Some of the drawings were done by E. W. Clark and Company Management Corporation and were photographed for microfilm purposes from 1962 to 1966.
Series 3, Photographs, 1910-1940, consists of two scrapbooks of exterior and interior views of the dam during and after construction, as well as the lock, the power station, the dam during a flood, geology, caissons, and workers.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into three series.
Series 1, Historical background, 1905-1968
Series 2, Drawings, 1912-1966
Series 3, Photographs, 1910-1940
Biographical / Historical:
The Hales Bar Dam was proposed as a permanent solution to improve navigation of the mountainous section of the Tennessee River. Hydroelectric power was an additional benefit of the dam's construction. Congress approved the project in 1904, and the Chattanooga and Tennessee River Power Company began construction in 1905 and finished in 1913. Building plans included a cyclopean concrete masonry dam, lock, spillway, power house, and transformer house.
The dam was built on broken and creviced limestone that made its construction challenging. Engineers used caissons to aid construction. After completion, leakage became a problem and in the 1920s, efforts were made to pump asphalt into the crevices to seal the leaks. This method was mostly successful, but the dam continued to have maintenance problems. The Tennessee Valley Authority acquired the dam in 1939 and ultimately decided to replace the dam rather than continue repairs. The Nickajack Dam was completed a few miles downstream in 1967, using two generators and parts of the switchyard from the Hales Bar Dam. By 1968, the Hales Bar Dam had been dismantled. The Hales Bar Dam powerhouse is one of the few surviving structures of the project. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008 and is used by the Hales Bar Marina as a boathouse.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1969.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
MS 1122 Report on the forestry, elevation, rainfall, and drainage of the Colorado Valley, together with an apercu of its principal inhabitants, the Mahhaos Indians
The papers of painter and muralist Gifford Beal measure 7.7 linear feet and date from 1889 to 2001. The bulk of the collection consists of artwork, in addition to correspondence, writings, printed matter, including one scrapbook, pictorial subject files, photographs, and two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art. Artwork is primarily in the form of sketches and seventy-eight sketchbooks in a wide variety of media. Among the loose sketches are twenty-eight oil paintings on wood board or panel, and fourteen large pastel drawings on canvas depicting dancing figures in a romantic style. Artwork by other artists in the collection include prints by Arthur B. Davies, Rockwell Kent, and Denys Wortman.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter and muralist Gifford Beal measure 7.7 linear feet and date from 1889 to 2001. The bulk of the collection consists of artwork, in addition to correspondence, writings, printed matter, including one scrapbook, pictorial subject files, photographs, and two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art. Artwork is primarily in the form of sketches and seventy-eight sketchbooks in a wide variety of media. Among the loose sketches are twenty-eight oil paintings on wood board or panel, and fourteen large pastel drawings on canvas depicting dancing figures in a romantic style. Artwork by other artists in the collection include prints by Arthur B. Davies, Rockwell Kent, and Denys Wortman.
Biographical materials include membership certificates, a marriage certificate, and a travel journal kept by Beal's wife, Maud Ramsdell Beal, on their honeymoon. Personal correspondence consists primarily of love letters between Beal and Maud Ramsdell Beal. Three folders of professional correspondence contain letters from Joseph Pennell (1925); Federal Art Project staff from the Treasury Department including Ed Rowan, Edward Bruce, and Forbes Watson (1938); Walker Hancock (1951); and a series of letters signed "Hyde," from Crow Island, Massachusetts, which may have been written by Edward Hyde Cox (1953-1954).
Also found among the papers are printed materials such as exhibition catalogs, clippings, and reproductions of artwork, both loose and in a scrapbook from the 1920s; subject files containing clippings, photographs, and other pictorial references to common subjects of Beal's artwork; a few personal photographs; and photographs of works of art. Notes and writings are found among Beal's sketchbooks, including one long autobiographical essay which may have been for a lecture, a few diary entries from 1942, and extensive notes on the color, form, and lighting of his sketching subjects. In addition to a scrapbook relating to Beal exhibitions, there are also two scrapbooks containing photographs of works of art.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1900-1909, 1942, 1953 (0.2 linear feet; Boxes 1 and 5, OV 10)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1906-1954 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Printed Materials, 1900-2001 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 1, 5, OVs 11, 16)
Series 4: Subject Files, 1889-1953 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, OV 10-12)
Series 5: Photographs, 1908-1950 (0.2 linear feet; Box 2, OV 10)
Series 6: Artwork, 1900-1951 (3.3 linear feet; Boxes 2-9; OV 10, 13-20 and rolled documents 21 and 22)
Series 7: Scrapbook, circa 1919-circa 1951 (1.1 linear ft; Boxes 7, 23)
Biographical Note:
Painter and muralist Gifford Beal was born in New York City in 1879, the youngest of six children. Beal began his art training at 13, when he accompanied his older brother, Reynolds Beal, to the Shinnecock School of Art for classes with William Merritt Chase. Gifford Beal continued to study with Chase for ten years at Shinnecock, the Tenth Street Studio building in New York City, and the New York School of Art. Beal attended college at Princeton University from 1896 to 1900, and from 1901 to 1903 he also took classes at the Art Students League with George Bridgman and Frank Vincent DuMond. In 1908, Beal married Maud Ramsdell of Newburgh, New York, where the Beal family also had an estate. They had two sons, William (b. 1914) and Gifford, Jr. (b. 1917).
Beal received all of his training in the United States at a time when European art training was the norm among his peers. Beal's earliest subject matter was taken from the familiar worlds of New York City and the Hudson River Valley, where he frequently spent his summers. Later work would depict other summer homes, including Provincetown, Rockport, and Gloucester, Massachusetts. Throughout his career he explored a variety of styles in his approach to these and other representational subjects such as garden parties, the circus, Central Park scenes, and coastal scenes in the Northeast and the Caribbean.
Beal exhibited at the National Academy of Design's annual exhibition almost continuously from 1901 to 1956, was a member of the Academy from 1914, and won at least seven awards given by the Academy over the course of his career. He won his first award in 1903 from the Worcester Art Museum. He exhibited regularly in major annual exhibitions and world expositions, including the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915, where he won a gold medal.
Gifford and Reynolds Beal exhibited in a two-man show in 1907 at Clausen Galleries, and the two brothers were both eventually represented by Kraushaar Galleries, where Gifford Beal had his first one-man show in 1920. Beal served as president of the Art Students League from 1916 until 1930, the longest term of any president, and taught there in 1931 and 1932.
Beal was commissioned by the Section on Painting and Sculpture of the Works Progress Administration to paint ten murals for the Allentown, Pennsylvania post office in the late 1930s. The Allentown murals depicted American revolutionaries hiding the liberty bell at Allentown. In 1941, he completed two murals in the Department of the Interior building in Washington, DC: North Country, and Tropical Country, and he painted seven panels at Princeton University in 1943 depicting the life of the nineteenth-century engineer Joseph Henry. He was awarded an honorary Masters degree by Princeton in 1947.
Retrospective exhibitions were held at the Century Club, San Francisco Museum, Des Moines Art Center, and Butler Institute in the early 1950s. Upon his death in 1956, a memorial exhibition was held at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, where Beal became a member in 1943.
Provenance:
Papers were donated to the Archives by Gifford Beal's descendants in three separate accessions. Beal's sons, William and Gifford R. Beal, Jr., donated sketches and sketchbooks in 1992 and 1993. Richard and Lewis Goff, Margaret Beal Alexander, and Telka Beal donated additional sketches, sketchbooks, and materials from Beal's studio in 2000 through the Cape Ann Savings Bank, facilitated by Kraushaar Galleries.
Margaret Beal Alexander, Beal's granddaughter, also donated personal papers of her grandparents via Kraushaar Galleries in 2000. Additional sketchbooks and a poster illustrated by Beal were donated by Beal's Estate via Kraushaar Galleries in 2007. Two scrapbooks of photographs of works of art were donated by Beal's Estate via Kraushaar Galleries in 2015.
Restrictions:
The bulk of the collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Use of material not digitized requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
This collection includes photographic prints made or collected by Wilfred G. Tidmarsh as a Christian Missionary in Ecuador between 1939 and 1942. Indigenous communities photographed include the Shuar/Achuar, Tsáchila (Colorado), Runa (Otavaleño/Otavalo) and Záparo (Zaparo) communities.
Scope and Contents:
This collection includes 48 photographic prints, likely made by Wilfred George Tidmarsh, while he was a missionary in Ecuador beginning in 1939. Two of the 48 photographs were sent to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in 1942, the other 46 were sent a year later in 1943. The photographs were made among four different indigenous community groups including the Shuar/Achuar, Tsáchila (Colorado), Runa (Otavaleño/Otavalo) and Záparo (Zaparo) communities. Many of the photographs include images of community members in traditional clothing, school groups, houses, and views of daily activities such as fishing and weaving.
Photographs in the Shuar/Achuar community (previously known as the Jivaro) were made along the Rio Upano and in Chupianza in the Morona-Santiago Province, as well as near the Rio Misahualli (Dos Rios) in the Napo Province. Photographs in the Tsáchila (Colorado) community were made in Santo Domingo de los Colorados in the Pinchincha Province. Photographs in the Záparo (Zaparo) community were also made in the Rio Misahualli valley in the Napo Province, as well as near Rio Arajuno. Photographs of the Runa (Otavaleño/Otavalo) community were made in Agato in the Imbabura Province. As of 2023, none of the community members in the photographs have been identified.
Catalog numbers include P15365-P15366, P16036-P16080.
Biographical / Historical:
Wilfred George Tidmarsh was born in England in 1904 to George Herbert Tidmarsh and Constance Octavia Graham. Brought up in Suffolk, he graduated in geology at London University and taught at Worcester College for the Blind before training as a doctor at the Missionary School of Medicine in London in 1937. He set off for Ecuador in January 1939 under the auspices of the Christian Brethren. In 1947, Tidmarsh married Gwendolyn Louise Kretzel while in Quito, Ecuador and together they ran the Shandia mission station, among other mission stations and churches for the Christian Missions in Many Lands. Tidmarsh retired in the late 1970s and died in California in 1986.
Provenance:
Gift of Wilfred G. Tidmarsh in 1942 (P15365-P15366) and 1943 (P16036-P16080).
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives 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).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, 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. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Wilfred George Tidmarsh photographs from Ecuador, image #, NMAI.AC.218; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
