This collection is comprised of the professional papers of Joel M. Halpern and, to a lesser extent, the papers of Barbara Kerewsky-Halpern. Both their collaborations and individual work are represented here. Materials include their correspondence, published and unpublished writings, research materials, photographs, grant applications, consultant work, teaching files, their files as students, and writings by colleagues.
The bulk of the research files pertain to Halpern's Orašac demography project. Also present are notes and photographs from his field research in the Balkans during the 1950s and 1960s. The collection also reflects his research interests in the Inuit of Alaska and Canada. There is little original material, however, documenting his fieldwork in Laos. Additional materials of interest in the collection include a transcript of an interview Halpern conducted with Conrad Arensberg as well as his notes and syllabi from courses taught by a number of prominent anthropologists, such as Conrad Arensberg, Morton Fried, Alfred Kroeber, and Margaret Mead. The collection also contains a set of prints of Shinnecock Indians that Halpern obtained from Red Thunder Cloud.
Among Kerewsky-Halpern's files are notes from her research on South Slav immigrants in Ontario, her research on oral tradition among peasant communities in Southeastern Europe, as well as her involvement in multiple sclerosis organizations and the Feldenkrais Method.
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 As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today.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 organized into 10 series: 1) Correspondence, 1950s-2003; 2) Research, 1953-1996; 3) Writings, 1948-2007; 4) Professional Activities, 1951-1990s; 5) Student Files, 1946-1955, 1968-1979; 6) Teaching Files, 1947-1992; 7) Personal and Biographical Files, 1948-2002; 8) Writings by Others, 1950s-1990s; 9) Photographs, 1942, 1953-1970, 1978, 1997, undated; 10) University of Massachusetts, 1968-1992
Biographical Note: Barbara Kerewsky-Halpern:
Barbara Kerewsky-Halpern was born on December 23, 1931 in Mt. Vernon, New York. Her mother, Rose S. Kerewsky, had worked with physical anthropologist Stanley Garn and coauthored a number of papers on dentition. Kerewsky-Halpern attended Barnard College, where she received a B.A. in Geology and Geography in 1953. She later obtained her M.A. in Linguistics (1974) and Ph.D. in Anthropology (1979) at University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Kerewsky-Halpern married Joel M. Halpern in 1952. In the following year she accompanied him to the field in Orašac, Serbia and assisted him in his research. She was also the illustrator and cartographer for Halpern's monograph A Serbian Village. Over the span of her career, she frequently collaborated with her husband on research projects and coauthored a number of articles. Like her husband, her research focused on peasant communities, specifically on oral traditions and the ethnography of communication. In 1974, she also studied South Slav communities in Ontario.
When she was 44, Kerewsky-Halpern became incapacitated due to multiple sclerosis. Through self-rehabilitation, she was able to regain full motion, but the experience continued to influence her life. Her research interests expanded to include medical anthropology, cross-cultural perspectives on disability, and the anthropology of movement. She also became active in multiple sclerosis associations and became a licensed instructor in the Feldenkrais Method in 1983.
Kerewsky-Halpern and Halpern divorced in 2010.
Sources consulted
[Articles about Barbara K. Halpern], Series 9. Personal, Joel Martin Halpern and Barbara Kerewsky-Halpern Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Barbara K. Halpern curriculum vitae, Series 9. Personal, Joel Martin Halpern and Barbara Kerewsky-Halpern Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Clifford, Joyce and Jeremy Smith. 2010. Finding Aid to Joel Martin Halpern Papers, 1939-2009 (Bulk: 1948-2008). http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/ead/mufs001.pdf (accessed December 3, 2012).
Halpern, Joel. 2003. Interview with Joel Halpern [regarding fieldwork in Serbia] conducted by Mirjana Prošić-Dvornić. Emeritus Faculty Author Gallery. Paper 60. http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1059&context=emeritus_sw (accessed December 3, 2012).
Halpern, Joel. August 2007. Curriculum Vitae. http://works.bepress.com/joel_halpern/cv.pdf (accessed July 6, 2012).
Biographical Note: Joel M. Halpern:
Joel Martin Halpern was born on April 8, 1929 in New York City. He attended University of Michigan, where he obtained his B.A. in History in 1950. He had initially intended to major in chemistry but realized that he wanted to pursue a more "adventurous" field that would allow him to travel. While an undergraduate student, he published articles based on his ethnographic, geological, and archaeological research in Alaska, Canada, and Swedish Lapland.
Halpern decided to continue his studies at Columbia University, where he earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1956. Conrad Arensberg was his faculty advisor, while Margaret Mead was on his doctoral committee. Halpern was greatly influenced by Philip E. Mosely, the first director of Columbia University's Institute for Russian Studies. Through Mosely, he met the prominent Serbian ethnologist Milenko Filipović, who also served as his mentor. It was due to Filipovíc that Halpern chose to focus his research on a Serbian village for his dissertation.
In 1953, Halpern and his former wife, Barbara Kerewskey-Halpern, conducted ethnographic field research in Orašac, a village in the Sumadija district of central Serbia, at the time part of former Yugoslavia. This research resulted in Halpern's dissertation, Social and Cultural Change in a Serbian Village, for which he was awarded the Ainsley Award from Columbia University. The dissertation was later edited and published as A Serbian Village (1958). Halpern and his wife would return to Orašac numerous times throughout their career. The documentary The Halperns in Orašac, which aired in Yugoslavia in 1986, focuses on the couple's research in Orašac from 1953 to 1986.
In addition to Serbia, Halpern conducted research in Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, and Slovenia. A prolific writer, he published and presented a number of papers on peasant communities, historical demography, kinship, and social change in the Balkans. He also co-edited Among the People: Native Yugoslav Ethnography, Selected Writings of Milenko S. Filipovic (1982) and authored and edited works on and by Jozef Obrebski, the pioneering ethnographer of the Balkans, whose papers Halpern helped deposit at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Halpern also published extensively on Laos. He was one of the first American anthropologists to conduct research in the Southeast Asian country. After receiving his doctorate, he had worked on Area Handbook for Laos (1958) as a Research Associate for the Human Relations Area Files office in Washington, DC (1956). When he accepted a position as a Junior Foreign Service Officer (Foreign Service Reserve) with the Community Development Division of the U.S. International Cooperation Administration, he was stationed in Laos in 1957-1958. In 1959 he returned to the country under the sponsorship of Rand Corporation to study the Lao elite. He returned once again in 1969 as chair of the Mekong Seminar of the Southeast Asia Development Advisor Group to study the socio-economic impact of hydro-electrical dams constructed on the Mekong River.
In his later years, Halpern conducted research on the Inuit in Arviat (formerly known as Eskimo Point) and Frobisher Bay in Canada and immigrant populations in the United States. He was particularly interested in Southeast Asian immigrant communities in New England. He co-edited with Lucy Nguyen Far East Comes Near, a compilation of autobiographical essays by his Southeast Asian refugee students at University of Massachusetts. He also studied Jewish ethnic communities in Western Massachusetts and the urban history of the Bronx.
Halpern taught at UCLA (1958-1963) and Brandeis (1963-1965) before joining the Anthropology faculty at University of Massachusetts Amherst (1967-1996). He was also a visiting professor at Albert Ludwigs-Universitat and Arnold Bergstrasser Institute in Frieberg (1970-1971) and University of Graz (Spring 1993, Spring 1994). In addition, he was a National Academy of Sciences Senior Exchange Scientist at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1975) and Serbian Academy of Sciences (1975, 1978).
1929 -- Born April 8, New York, New York
1950 -- Receives B.A. in History from University of Michigan
1952 -- Marries Barbara Kerewsky
1953-1954 -- Conducts fieldwork in Orašac, Serbia for first time
1956 -- Earns Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University
1957-1958 -- Stationed in Laos as a Junior Foreign Service Officer with the Community Development Division of the U.S. International Cooperation Administration
1958-1963 -- Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at University of California, Los Angeles
1959 -- Returns to Laos to conduct research on the Lao elite under sponsorship from Rand Corporation
1963-1965 -- Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Brandeis University
1964 -- Director of Brandeis University Summer Field Program in Bosnia
1967 -- Joins Department of Anthropology faculty at University of Massachusetts, Amherst
1970-1971 -- Visiting Professor, Albert Ludwigs-Universitat and Arnold Bergstrasser Institute, Freiburg, Federal Republic of Germany
1976, 1979 -- Research on Jewish Ethnic Communities in Western Massachusetts
1996 -- Retires from University of Massachusetts
2010 -- Divorce from Barbara Kerewsky-Halpern finalized
Related Materials:
The Smithsonian Institution holds additional materials relating to Joel M. Halpern and Barbara Kerewsky-Halpern. Their correspondence can be found in the Conrad M. Arensberg papers at the National Anthropological Archives. Halpern also donated films and video to the Human Studies Film Archives and a collection of Eskimo dolls (Accession # 409953) to the Anthropology Collections division.
The bulk of Joel M. Halpern's papers are at the Special Collections and University Archives of University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The following is a list of other repositories that hold his papers and photographs:
Joel Martin Halpern Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Joel Martin Halpern Papers, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Joel M. Halpern Papers, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University Library
Joel Martin Halpern Photograph Collection, Jones Library (Amherst, MA Public Library)
Joel Martin Halpern Southeast Europe Collection, University of Alberta Libraries
Joel Martin Halpern Balkan Archive, University of Bradford
Joel Halpern Collection, University of Graz
Joel M. Halpern Laotian Slide Collection, Department of Special Collections
, University of Wisconsin, Madison
The Halpern, Joel Papers, General/Multiethnic Collection, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Joel Halpern in multiple installments from the 1980s to 2006.
Restrictions:
All except Series 9. Photographs is stored off-site. Advance notice must be given to view off-site materials.
Access to materials containing social security numbers; Halpern's students' graded materials; and manuscripts and grant applications sent to Halpern for review is restricted. Additional materials have also been restricted at Halpern's request.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Please note that some of the materials in the collection are copies made by Joel M. Halpern; the originals are most likely deposited at other archives. For these materials, permission will need to be obtained from the repositories where the originals are held. See Related Collections for a list of repositories.
This collection is comprised of the professional papers of linguistic anthropologist Geoffrey O'Grady. Included are research materials consisting of field notes and notebooks, correspondence, published and unpublished writings, annotated copies of other scholars' work, photographs, and sound recordings.
The materials in this collection document O'Grady's career as a linguistic scholar from his days as a jackaroo in the Australian outback to his time at the University of Victoria. The majority of the collection is made up of field research, which contains detailed vocabularies and linguistic analysis for aboriginal peoples of Australia and First Nation communities of Canada. O'Grady's sound recordings represent his work with the Arizona Tewa language among the Hopi as well as various Australian aboriginal languages; they supplement the Field Research series.
Arrangement:
The O'Grady collection is arranged into 7 series: (1) Field Research; (2) Writings; (3) Professional Activities; (4) Correspondence; (5) Writings by Others; (6) Photographs; (7) Sound recordings.
Biographical/Historical note:
Anthropological linguist Geoffrey N. O'Grady was born on January 1, 1928 in southern Australia. He first became interested in languages in high school when he took classes in Latin, German, Russian, and Hungarian. O'Grady became immersed in Australian aboriginal languages during his six years as a jackaroo on a sheep station at Wallal Downs in the Australian Outback. There he spent time with aboriginal peoples and was adopted into the Nyangumarta tribe where he learned to speak their language.
O'Grady was offered a research assistantship at the University of Sydney in 1956. This allowed him to take field research trips into the Outback where he recorded various indigenous languages. During this time he undertook a project to alphabetize the Nyangumarta language. As a result, a literacy program and a Nyangumarta newspaper, which is still published, were established.
In 1960, after completing his BA at the University of Sydney, O'Grady received a Fulbright Scholarship to attend Indiana University. During three summers at Indiana, he travelled to Arizona to conduct field research in Hopi Tewa. After he completed his PhD he accepted a position at the University of Alberta, Edmonton in 1963. While at the University of Alberta he began to study northern Canadian First Nations languages. In 1965 he moved on to the Linguistics Department at the University of Victoria, where he began to study indigenous languages on Vancouver Island and taught courses on phonetics and historical sound change. When O'Grady retired from the University of Victoria in 1993, the Australian National University honored him with a Festschrift entitled "Boundary Rider."
Geoffrey O' Grady passed away on December 28, 2008 after a long struggle with Parkinson's.
Sources Consulted
2009. Geoffrey O'Grady Obituary. Victoria Times Colonist. January 3. http://web.uvic.ca/ling/information/index.htm, accessed April 4, 2012.
John Esling. 2009. In Memoriam: Dr. Geoffrey N. O'Grady. http://ring.uvic.ca/people/memoriam-dr-geoffrey-n-o%E2%80%99grady, accessed April 4, 2012.
1928 -- Born January 1
1956 -- Accepted research assistantship at the University of Sydney and began undergraduate studies
1957 -- Married wife Alix
1959 -- Received BA from the University of Sydney
1960 -- Fulbright scholarship at Indiana University where he finished his PhD
1960-1963 -- Summer field studies of Hopi Tewa in Arizona
1963 -- Completed dissertation on grammar of Nyangumarta under the supervision of C.F. and F.M. Voegelin
1963 -- Began work at University of Alberta, Edmonton
1965 -- Joined the Linguistics Department at University of Victoria in BC Canada
1966 -- Project to outline the relationships among all of the Aboriginal languages of Australia
1993 -- Retired from University of Victoria
2008 -- Died December 28
Related Materials:
For more of O'Grady's language material from Western Australia and sound recordings from his fieldwork among the aborigines in the 1950s and 1960s, consult the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) located in Lawson Cres, Canberra ACT, Australia.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by O'Grady's wife Alix O'Grady.
This collection documents the research Robert E. Johnson conducted for his dissertation on the Coeur d'Alene language, as well as his fieldwork on the Makah language. Johnson's papers consist of field notes, audio recordings, index cards, and transcripts concerning both languages. The Coeur d'Alene recordings are of Lawrence Nicodemus. The Makah recordings were done with several of the last remaining speakers of that language, most of whom were over eighty years old when the recordings were made.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into two series: 1) Coeur d'Alene Language, 1969 and 2) Makah Language, 1971.
Biographical / Historical:
Robert E. Johnson, an anthropological linguist, received a B.A. in psychology from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Washington State University. As a doctoral student he conducted field research on the Coeur d'Alene language on the tribe's reservation in Idaho (1969 and 1970). In 1971, he did fieldwork on the Makah language in Washington state.
Johnson began teaching at Gallaudet University's Department of Linguistics in 1981. While there, he engaged in research on the phonetic, phonological, and morphological structures of signed languages. He studied the structures of American Sign Language, Argentine Sign Language, and the sign language of a Yucatec Maya community. He also worked with Scott Liddell on a phonetic notation system for signed languages and co-authored with Liddell and Carol Erting "Unlocking the Curriculum: Principles of Achieving Access in Deaf Education." In addition, he provided consulting services as an expert witness on Miranda rights for deaf suspects.
Johnson retired from Gallaudet University in December of 2011.
Sources Consulted
Johnson, Robert. n.d. Robert Johnson, PhD. Accessed April 10, 2013. http://www.gallaudet.edu/faculty-staff/linguistics/johnson_robert_e.html
Johnson, Robert. n.d. Robert Johnson, PhD. Accessed April 10, 2013. http://www.mendeley.com/profiles/robert-johnson2/
Related Materials:
The Human Studies Film Archives holds Robert E. Johnson's Mayan sign language video tapes and related notebooks.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Robert E. Johnson upon his retirement from Gallaudet University in 2011.
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Robert E. Johnson papers on the Coeur d'Alene and Makah languages, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Digitization and preparation of most of this material for online access has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund and by National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
220 Linear feet (The total extent of the collection is 191.41 linear feet (consisting of 473 document boxes and 2 record boxes) plus 254 sound recordings, 94 computer disks, 42 card file boxes, 85 oversize folders, 9 rolled items, 18 binder boxes, and 3 oversize boxes. Of the total extent, 4.79 linear feet (14 boxes) are restricted.)
This collection contains the professional papers of William Curtis Sturtevant and documents his activities as Curator of North American Ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History, his work as the editor-in-chief of the Handbook of North American Indians, his research among the Seminole and Iroquois people, and other professional activities. The collection is comprised of books, sound recordings, research and field notes, realia, artifacts, clippings, microfilm, negatives, slides, photographs, manuscripts, correspondence, memorandums, card files, exhibition catalogs, articles, and bibliographies.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains the professional papers of William Curtis Sturtevant and documents his activities as Curator of North American Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, his work as the editor-in-chief of the Handbook of North American Indians, his research among the Seminole and Iroquois people, and his involvement in various professional activities. The collection is comprised of research and field notes, sound recordings, realia, clippings, negatives, slides, prints, published and unpublished writings, correspondence, memorandums, conference papers and meeting notes, card files, exhibition catalogs, articles, bibliographies, student files such as class notes and papers from Sturtevant's years as an anthropology student, teaching materials including lecture notes and exams, daily planners, passports, military records, artwork including prints and lithographs, maps, and computer files.
The materials in this collection document Sturtevant's career as a preeminent North American ethnologist, museum curator, university professor, his role as General Editor of the Handbook of North American Indians, and his contributions to the field of Anthropology. From his early work with the Seminole Indians of Florida to his forays into Burma, and his decades-long study of how Native Americans have been depicted in artistic and popular culture, Sturtevant's diverse intellectual interests are represented in his research files. A copious note taker, Sturtevant captured his observations and opinions of everything from meetings with colleagues to museum exhibits. Sturtevant's commitment to the anthropological profession can be found in the notes and programs of the many conferences, symposiums, and lecture series he attended and at which he presented. He also held numerous leadership positions in various professional associations and sat on the board of directors/trustees for several cultural organizations including Survival International and the Museum of the American Indian-Heye Foundation. Sturtevant was respected for his vast knowledge of indigenous peoples and he received a voluminous amount of correspondence from colleagues who often included copies of their papers and grant proposals. He kept many of these works, which, it appears he used as reference material. Sturtevant's own work is reflected in his writings; he published over 200 scholarly papers, articles, and books.
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 organized in 14 series: 1. Correspondence, 1951-2008; 2. Research Files, 1851, 1860s, 1880s, 1890, 1939-2006; 3. Writings, 1952-2006; 4. Professional Activities, 1952-2006; 5. Smithsonian, 1954-2008; 6. Handbook of North American Indians, 1971-2007; 7. Biographical Files, 1933-2007; 8. Student Files, 1944-1985; 9. Subject Files, 1902-2002; 10. Photographs, 1927-2004; 11. Artwork, 1699-1998; 12. Maps, 1949-1975; 13. Sound Recordings, 1950-2000; 14. Computer Files, 1987-2006.
Biographical/Historical note:
William C. Sturtevant (1926-2007), preeminent North American ethnologist, museum curator, and university professor, was best known for his contributions to Seminole ethnology, as curator of North American Ethnology in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, and for his work as the general editor of the Handbook of North American Indians.
Sturtevant's passion for studying Native peoples began at a young age. In third grade "after a class on American Indians, he asked his father what kind of people study Indians, and his father replied, 'Anthropologists.' Sturtevant decided then that he would make anthropology his career" (Merrill 11). After graduating with honors from the University of California at Berkeley in 1949, Sturtevant went on to Yale University to complete his graduate work in anthropology. When it came time to decide on what area of North America he should focus his research, one of his faculty members at Yale, Irving Rouse, "suggested he consider the Seminoles of south Florida. By the end of his first fieldwork season, Sturtevant was convinced that the dearth of ethnographic information about these Seminoles and their status as one of the least acculturated of all North American Indian societies justified ethnographic research among them and offered the possibility of making an important contribution to North American ethnology" (Merrill 13). Sturtevant spent the summers of 1950 and 1951 conducting preliminary fieldwork among the Mikasuki-speaking Seminole and in 1952 he took up temporary residence at Big Cypress Reservation to undertake research for his dissertation, "The Mikasuki Seminole: Medical Beliefs and Practices." This work focused on Seminole medicine, but also included Sturtevant's analysis of Seminole worldview, religion, history, inter-ethnic relations, material culture, economy, kinship, language, and social organization.
In 1954, while he was finishing his dissertation, Sturtevant made the transition from student of anthropology to professional anthropologist. He was hired as an instructor in Yale's Anthropology Department and began his career in museum work as an assistant curator of anthropology at the Yale Peabody Museum. After receiving his PhD from Yale in 1955, Sturtevant moved on to the Smithsonian Institution, where he accepted a position as a research anthropologist at the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE). This position afforded Sturtevant the chance to continue to explore his many research interests in ways that a full time professorship or museum curatorship could not. Over the next ten years he studied the Catawba in South Carolina; the Seneca and Cayuga nations of the Iroquois League in New York, Oklahoma, and Ontario; continued his work with the Seminole; visited European museums to examine early ethnographic examples and possible European prototypes of eastern North American Indian material culture; and spent a year in Burma. In 1963, Sturtevant and his wife, Theda Maw, the daughter of a prominent Burmese family, took their three young children to Burma so that they could visit with Maw's family. Sturtevant took this as an opportunity to branch out from his Native American research and spent the year visiting neighborhoods in Rangoon and villages in the surrounding countryside, examining archival materials, studying the Burmese language, learning about Burmese clothing and other aspects of the culture, and taking photographs. He also collected 386 items of clothing and other objects for the Smithsonian.
When Sturtevant returned from Burma, he found the BAE had been dissolved. In 1965, he was transferred from the now-defunct BAE to the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), where he became curator of North American Ethnology, a position he held for the next forty-two years. During his tenure at NMNH Sturtevant oversaw all the North American ethnology collections, planned exhibitions, served on committees, and sponsored interns and fellows. One of Sturtevant's primary duties at NMNH was serving as the General Editor of the Handbook of North American Indians, "a major multi-volume reference work summarizing anthropological, linguistic, and historical knowledge about native peoples north of Mexico" (Jackson). Each volume was designed to represent a geographic or topical area of Americanist study. As General Editor, Sturtevant selected volume editors, chapter authors, oversaw office staff, and proofread manuscripts over the course of production.
Besides focusing on the Handbook, much of Sturtevant's time was taken up by responsibilities he held outside the Institution. Sturtevant was extremely involved in professional anthropological associations and held many leadership positions. Fresh out of graduate school, he began a three-year term on the Board of Governors of the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1957. He later became a member of the executive committee of the Florida Anthropological Society, served as book-review editor and associate editor of the American Anthropologist from 1962-1968, was a member of the American Anthropological Association's Committee on Anthropological Research in Museums and was both vice president and president of the committee once it became the Council for Museum Anthropology, was on the American Anthropological Association's Committee on Archives, served three terms on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the American Indian-Heye Foundation from 1976-1982 and was appointed to a fourth term between 1984 and 1986, and sat on the Board of Directors of Survival International from 1982-1988. He was President of the American Society for Ethnohistory, the American Ethnological Society, the American Anthropological Association, and the Anthropological Society of Washington. Sturtevant also taught classes at Johns Hopkins University as an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology, served as a consultant on exhibits at other museums, and reviewed manuscripts for scholarly publications.
Sturtevant remained active in the profession throughout his later years. After divorcing Theda Maw in 1986, he married Sally McLendon, a fellow anthropologist, in 1990 and they undertook several research projects together. Sturtevant was recognized for his dedication and contributions to the field of anthropology in 1996 when he was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters by Brown University, and in 2002 when his colleagues published a festschrift in his honor, Anthropology, History, and American Indians: Essays in Honor of William Curtis Sturtevant.
Sturtevant died on March 2, 2007 at the Collingswood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rockville, MD after suffering from emphysema.
Sources Consulted
Estrada, Louie. 2007. William C. Sturtevant; Expert on Indians. Washington Post, March 17. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602273.html, accessed August 31, 2012.
Jackson, Jason Baird. 2007. William C. Sturtevant (1926-2007). http://museumanthropology.blogspot.com/2007/03/william-c-sturtevant-1926-2007.html, accessed August 31, 2012.
Merrill, William L. 2002. William Curtis Sturtevant, Anthropologist. In Anthropology, History, and American Indians: Essays in Honor of William Curtis Sturtevant. William L. Merrill and Ives Goddard, eds. Pp. 11-36. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
1926 -- Born July 26 in Morristown, NJ
1944 -- Entered the University of California at Berkeley as a second-semester freshman
1944 -- Attended summer school at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City where he took courses on Mexican archaeology and South American ethnology
1945 -- Drafted into the United States Navy
1946 -- Received an honorable discharge from the Navy with the rank of pharmacist's mate third class and returned to UC Berkeley
1947 -- Attended the University of New Mexico's summer field school in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
1949 -- January: Received his Bachelor's degree with honors in anthropology from UC Berkeley
1949 -- Began graduate studies at Yale University
1950-1951 -- Spent the summers of 1950 and 1951 in Florida conducting fieldwork among the Mikasuki-speaking Seminole
1951 -- Conducted his first research study of the Iroquois, a classification of Seneca musical instruments, their construction and use, with Harold Conklin
1952 -- May: Moved to Big Cypress Reservation in Florida to conduct research for his dissertation. He focused on Seminole medicine, but also collected physical anthropological data such as blood-type frequencies, handedness, and color blindness
1952 -- July 26: Married Theda Maw
1954 -- Hired by Yale University as an instructor in the Department of Anthropology and as an assistant curator of anthropology in the Yale Peabody Museum
1955 -- Received PhD in anthropology from Yale University
1956 -- Joined the staff of the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) as a research anthropologist
1957 -- Began a three-year term on the Board of Governors of the Anthropological Society of Washington
1957 -- Traveled to Rock Hill, South Carolina to collect linguistic data from Sam Blue, the last member of the Catawba tribe to have maintained some proficiency in the Catawba language. While there, he made a small collection of Catawba pottery for the United States National Museum
1957-1958 -- Spent seven weeks continuing his research among the New York Seneca
1959 -- Returned to Florida to study Seminole ethnobotany. He also collected ethnographic materials, especially objects made for the tourist market, which he deposited in the United States National Museum
1959-1960 -- Member of the executive committee of the Florida Anthropological Society
1960 -- July and August: Visited 17 European museums to examine early ethnographic examples and possible European prototypes of eastern North American Indian material culture
1961-1962 -- Spent the summers of these years conducting ethnographic fieldwork among the Seneca-Cayuga in Oklahoma
1962 -- October: Visited the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada to conduct fieldwork among the Seneca and Cayuga there
1962-1968 -- Book-review editor and associate editor of the American Anthropologist
1963 -- October: Spent the year in Burma; visited neighborhoods in Rangoon and villages in the surrounding countryside, examined photographs in several archives, studied the Burmese language, and read extensively about the country's history and culture. Assembled notes on Burmese clothing and other aspects of the culture, took hundreds of photographs, and made a collection of 386 items of clothing and other objects for the Smithsonian
1964 -- Visited Inle Lake in the Southern Shan States southeast of Mandalay, where he examined local approaches to artificial island agriculture
1964-1981 -- Became a member of the American Anthropological Association's Committee on Anthropological Research in Museums, which became the Council for Museum Anthropology in 1974. Sturtevant was the Council's first vice president, serving two terms between 1974 and 1978, and was its president from 1978 to 1981
1965 -- Became curator of North American Ethnology in the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History after the dissolution of the BAE
1965-1966 -- President of the American Society for Ethnohistory
1966 -- Named the editor of the Handbook of North American Indians
1967-1968 -- Fulbright scholar and lecturer at Oxford University's Institute of Social Anthropology
1969 -- Began serving on the American Anthropological Association's Committee on Archives
1974-1989 -- Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University
1976-1982 -- Served three terms on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the American Indian-Heye Foundation and was appointed to a fourth term between 1984 and 1986
1977 -- President of the American Ethnological Society
1980-1981 -- President of the American Anthropological Association
1981 -- Spent part of the spring semester at the University of California Berkeley as a Regents Lecturer
1982-1988 -- Board of Directors of Survival International
1986 -- Divorced Theda Maw
1986-1987 -- Smithsonian Fellow at Oxford University's Worcester College
1990 -- Married Sally McLendon
1992 -- President of the Anthropological Society of Washington
1996 -- Awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters at Brown University
2007 -- Died March 2 in Rockville, MD
Related Materials:
Other materials relating to William C. Sturtevant at the National Anthropological Archives are included in the following collections:
Manuscript 4504
Manuscript 4595
Manuscript 4806
Manuscript 4821
Manuscript 4972
Manuscript 7045
Photo Lot 59
Photo Lot 79-51
Photo Lot 80-3
Photo Lot 81R
Photo Lot 86-68 (6)
Photo Lot 86-68 (7)
American Society for Ethnohistory records
Committee on Anthropological Research in Museum Records
Handbook of North American Indians records
Records of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History
Gordon Davis Gibson Papers, Sound Recordings
SPC Se Powhatan Confederacy Mattapony BAE No # 01790700
DOE Oceania:Amer Poly:Hi:Hawaiian Helmet:Sturtevant 04913800
DOE Oceania:Amer Poly:Hi:Hawaiian Helmet:Sturtevant 04913900
DOE Oceania:Amer Poly:Hi:Hawaiian Helmet:Sturtevant 04914000
Negative MNH 1530
Negative MNH 1530 B
Sturtevant is listed as a correspondent in the following NAA collections:
Administrative file, 1949-1965, Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology
John Lawrence Angel Papers
James Henri Howard Papers
Donald Jayne Lehmer Papers
John Victor Murra Papers
Records of the Society for American Archaeology
Albert Clanton Spaulding Papers
Waldo Rudolph Wedel and Mildred Mott Wedel Papers
Copies of sound recordings made by William C. Sturtevant can be found at The California Language Archive at UC Berkeley in two collections, The William Sturtevant collection of Creek/Seminole sound recordings, which includes 31 minutes of Northern Muskogean linguistic field recordings from 1951, and The William Sturtevant collection of Mikasuki sound recordings, which includes 33 minutes of Mikasuki linguistic field recordings from 1951. Two sound tape reels of Seminole music Sturtevant recorded in Florida in 1951 can be found at Wesleyan University's World Music Archives. Folk songs on these recordings include "Scalping Sickness," "Bear Sickness with blowing," "Bear sickness without blowing," "Lullaby," "Feather Dance," "Snake Dance," and "Crazy Dance." Performers include Josie Billie, Lee Cypress, Harvey Jumper, Boy Jim, Charlie (Johnny?) Cypress, Little Tiger Tail, Billy Ossiola, and Charlie Billy Boy.
Separated Materials:
One video tape, "Seminole History and Tradition", was transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives.
Series 2.2, Tukabahchee Plate: Glass negative of spectrogram from FBI (Box 135), removed for storage with other glass plate negatives.
Provenance:
These papers were transferred to the National Anthropological Archives by the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History.
Restrictions:
Files containing Sturtevant's students' grades have been restricted, as have his students' and colleagues' grant and fellowships applications. Restricted files were separated and placed at the end of their respective series in boxes 87, 264, 322, 389-394, 435-436, 448, 468, and 483. For preservation reasons, his computer files are also restricted. Seminole sound recordings are restricted. Access to the William C. Sturtevant Papers requires an apointment.
William C. Sturtevant papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The papers of William C. Sturtevant were processed with the assistance of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Dr. Ives Goddard. Digitization and preparation of these materials for online access has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund.
Truman Michelson traveled to Odanah, Wisconsin on August 21, 1925 to study the Ojibwa. These notes, collected by Michelson at that time, cover the physical anthropology, linguistics, and ethnology of the Ojibwa. The notes include anthropometric measurements, notes on gentes, stories, and Ojibwa terms and phrases with English glosses
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 1853
Local Note:
Title changed from "Ethnology; legends; physical anthropology; linguistics August, 1925 (part)" 3/14/2014.
Wedel, Waldo R. (Waldo Rudolph), 1908-1996 Search this
Container:
Box 26
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
The Waldo R. Wedel and Mildred Mott Wedel papers are open for research. Personnel files and grant proposals sent to Waldo Wedel to review are restricted. Waldo and Mildred Wedel's monographs are stored at an off-site facility.
Access to the Waldo R. Wedel and Mildred Mott Wedel papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
NAA.1990-20, Waldo R. Wedel and Mildred Mott Wedel papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Some of the original field notes are restricted due to Frederica de Laguna's request to protect the privacy of those accused of witchcraft. The originals are restricted until 2030. Photocopies may be made with the names of the accused redacted.
Collection Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Frederica de Laguna papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Video oral history of anthropologist Andres Medina conducted by anthropologist Fernando Camara in Spanish. Andres Medina, instructor at the School of Anthropology in Mexico and at the National University of Mexico in the Anthropological Research Institute, discusses the events and people that were influential in his career, the geographical areas where he conducted research, and his interest in linguistics.
Legacy Keywords: Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 ; Universities Harvard University ; Universities University of Chicago ; Anthropology anthropological linguistics ; Mexico Chiapas ; Mexico Popolocas ; Special Collections
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1989.10.25
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. 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.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Video Dialogues in Anthropology, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
William A. Smalley (1923-1997) was a missionary and anthropological linguist. This collection mainly concerns his work with Hmong scripts and the Khmu' language and contains correspondence, notes, writings, reference materials, photographs, and sound recordings.
Scope and Contents:
These papers document William A. Smalley's work and research as an anthropological linguist and missionary, two roles that were often intertwined, through his correspondence, notes, writings, reference materials, photographs, and sound recordings. Smalley's research on Hmong scripts, particularly Pahawh, and the Hmong people make up a significant portion of the collection. Noteworthy are a collection of published and unpublished manuscripts written in Pahawh script and primers and writing samples of other Hmong scripts. Aside from some letters and 1953 conference reports by Smalley and G. Linwood Barney, there is little material from his work in developing Hmong RPA. Other materials relating to RPA include a Hmong-English dictionary by Ernest E. Heimbach and a Hmong-French dictionary by Father Yves Bertrais. Also in the collection are Smalley's research on Khmu' and Thai languages and dialects and several Khmu' primers. As a missionary linguist, Smalley created guides for missionaries learning Khmu' and Vietnamese, as well as a guide to pronouncing Egyptian Arabic, all of which are in the collection. Reprints for a large portion of his articles can also be found in the collection, reflecting his interests in linguistics, anthropology, missionary work, and Southeast Asia. In addition, the collection contains drafts of his unfinished book, Liberation of an Evangelical and his work editing The Bible in Cross-Cultural Perspective by Jack Loewen. Photographs in the collection are composed mostly of 35mm slides and some prints and negatives. Most of the images are of Southeast Asia along with some photos of Africa, Haiti, New Guinea, and Hong Kong. There are also photos of Hmongs in the United States and photos for his book, Mother of Writing: the Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script. The sound recordings are composed mostly of interviews he conducted for his research on Thailand, Hmongs in the United States, and the Pahawh Hmong script. Additional materials in the collection are his writings as a college student published in the Houghton Star, the school newspaper for which he also served as chief editor.
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.
William A. Smalley was born April 4, 1923, in Jerusalem, Palestine. His parents were American missionaries for the Christian and Missionary Alliance, working among Arabs in Jerusalem and Transjordan. In 1934, Smalley and his family moved back to the United States. In reflecting upon his upbringing, Smalley writes, "My parents were thoroughly, deeply devoted both to Christ and to the Alliance, but they drew their boundaries more widely than many." According to Smalley, "My home was intellectually more open than some Alliance homes; my upbringing was somewhat less doctrinaire." (Smalley 1991)
Smalley attended Houghton College, where he developed an interest in anthropology, which he saw as relevant to missionary work. After graduating from Houghton in 1945 with a degree in English literature, he attended the Missionary Training Institute (1945-1946) and received linguistic training in Bible translation at the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) at the University of Oklahoma (1946-1947). In 1946 he also enrolled in Columbia University's graduate program in anthropology with a concentration in
linguistics. According to Smalley, he discovered his "intellectual niche" studying at SIL, while "the anthropological training at Columbia gave linguistics a broader cultural context." "I became absorbed in the challenge to understand my faith in Christ in light of all I was learning about human culture." (Smalley 1991)
In 1950, Smalley was sent to Vietnam by the Christian and Missionary Alliance. There, Smalley worked on language analysis problems in the southern region of the country. The following year, he was sent to Luang Prabang, Laos to analyze the Khmu' language and prepare language lessons for other missionaries to learn the language. While in Laos, Smalley also worked with Reverend G. Linwood Barney and Father Yves Bertrais in developing a writing system for the Hmong people. Together, they developed the Hmong Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA), which is the most widely used Hmong writing system today.
With the outbreak of civil war in Laos, Smalley and his wife were forced to return to the United States in 1954. He completed his dissertation on the Khmu' language and was awarded his doctorate in 1956. An abbreviated version of his dissertation was later published in 1961 as Outline of Khmu' Structure.
Over the next several years, Smalley worked primarily in Southeast Asia as a translation consultant for the American Bible Society (1954-1969) and as a regional translations coordinator (1969-1972) and translation consultant (1972-1977) with the United Bible Societies. Due to his work, he resided in Thailand from 1962 to 1967 and from 1969 to 1972. (He also lived in Thailand as a Fulbright research fellow in 1985 and 1986.) In 1977, he decided to leave the United Bible Societies after 23 years. Unable to find employment, he worked briefly at a discount toy store.
In 1978, Smalley relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota, to accept a position as professor of linguistics at Bethel University (1978-1987). In Minnesota, he unexpectedly found that thousands of Hmong refugees were also settling in the Twin Cities, which guided his research over the next decade. As an Honorary Fellow (1982-1984) with the University of Minnesota Southeast Asia Refugee Studies Program, he took part in a project studying Hmong adaptation to life in the United States, publishing "Adaptive Language Strategies of the Hmong: From Asian Mountains to American Ghettos" (1985) and "Stages of Hmong Cultural Adaptation" (1986). He also studied the different Hmong scripts that had
developed since RPA, in particular Pahawh Hmong script, which was created in 1959 in Laos by Shong Lue Yang. Smalley published two books on the script and its creator— Mother of Writing: The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script (1990) and The Life of Shong Lue Yang: Hmong "Mother of Writing" (1990), both of which he co-authored with Chia Koua Vang and Gnia Yee Yang.
In addition to his work on the Hmong, Smalley researched the different languages and dialects of Thailand, publishing Linguistic Diversity and National Unity: Language Ecology in Thailand (1994); "Thailand's Hierarchy of Multilingualism" (1988); and
"Language and Power: Evolution of Thailand's Multilingualism" (1996). As a student at Columbia University, he had also studied Comanche phonology and morphology, coauthoring with Henry Osborn "Formulae for Comanche Stem and Word Formation" (1949).
In 1955, Smalley took over editorship of Practical Anthropology (now known as Missiology), which he edited from 1955 to1968. He also served as associate editor for
Bible Translator (1957-59) and Language Sciences (1983-92).
When he retired from Bethel College in 1987, he was awarded the college's first annual Distinguished Teaching Award. In his retirement, he continued to write extensively and also edited Jacob A. Loewen's book, The Bible in Cross-Cultural Perspective, for which
he wrote an introduction.
In 1997, Smalley died of a heart attack at the age of 74.
Sources Consulted
Smalley, William. "My Pilgrimage in Mission." International Bulletin of Missionary Research 15, no. 2 (1991): 70-73.
Beckstrom, Maja. "Scholar of Hmong language praised for 'invaluable' work." St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 21, 1997: 1B, 6B.
Chronology
1923 -- Born April 4 in Jerusalem, Palestine
1945 -- Earns B.A. from Houghton College in English Literature
1945-1946 -- Studies at Missionary Training Institute
1946-1947 -- Studies at Summer Institute of Linguistics at University of Oklahoma
1950 -- Serves as missionary linguist in Vietnam
1951 -- Assigned to Luang Prabang, Laos to analyze the Khmu' language and prepare language lessons for other missionaries to learn the language
1951-1953 -- Works with Reverend G. Linwood Barney and Father Yves Bertrais in developing Hmong RPA
1954-1969 -- Translation consultant for American Bible Society
1955-1968 -- Editor of Practical Anthropology (now known as Missiology)
1956 -- Receives doctorate in linguistic anthropology at Columbia University
1961 -- Publishes Outline of Khmu' Structure
1969-1972 -- Regional translations coordinator with the United Bible Societies
1972-1977 -- Translation consultant with the United Bible Societies
1978-1987 -- Professor of linguistics at Bethel College
1982-1984 -- Honorary fellow with the University of Minnesota Southeast Asia Refugee Studies Program studying Hmong adaptation to life in the United States
1985-1986 -- Fulbright Fellow studying linguistic diversity and national unity in Thailand
1990 -- Publishes Mother of Writing: The Origin and Development of a Hmong Messianic Script and The Life of Shong Lue Yang: Hmong "Mother of Writing"
1994 -- Publishes Linguistic Diversity and National Unity: Language Ecology in Thailand
1997 -- Dies of a heart attack at the age of 74 on December 16
Related Materials:
Smalley's Pahawh Hmong project was funded by the Indochina Studies Center, Social Science Research Council. Upon the completion of the project, the Indochina Studies Center arranged for some of his Pahawh Hmong research materials to be deposited at the Library of Congress as part of the archives of programs that the center has funded. The materials deposited at the Library of Congress include photographs, sound recordings, and a collection of published and unpublished manuscripts written in Pahawh and Sayaboury script. Indices and descriptions of the materials deposited can be found in
Series 2: Hmong, Sub-series 2.2 Pahawh, "[Pahawh Hmong Project]." Not all of the materials that were sent to the Library of Congress are present in this collection and vice versa. Among the materials absent from this collection are some of the photographs, four sound recordings, and most
of the Sayaboury manuscripts.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Jane Smalley.
Restrictions:
Three tape recordings and the associated transcripts of the interviews that Smalley conducted for his research on the Pahawh Hmong script are restricted until 2040.
Access to the William A. Smalley papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
This collection contains fieldnotes, drawings and illustrations from Efron's research on gesture language among Sicilian and Lithuanian Jewish immigrants on the lower east side of New York City. The several hundred original captioned illustrations in the collection were created by Stuyvesant Van Veen. The collection also includes a 115-page Bibliography of Gesture and Posture, which Efron apparently never published, and one item on Native American gesture language from 1890.
Biographical / Historical:
A student of Franz Boas, David Efron conducted his gesture study to examine differences in the gestural repertoire of different neighboring immigrant communities, as well as the effect of assimilation on the range of gestures used by their first generation descendants. Efron's demonstration of the cultural basis of gestural style challenged Nazi "scientific" claims that gestural style was racially inherited. The results of his research were published as Gesture and Environment (King's Crown Press, 1941), republished as Gesture, Race and Culture (Mouton, 1972).
Efron collaborated on his gesture research with Stuyvesant Van Veen (1910-1988), a New York City artist who studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students league and worked with the muralist Thomas Hart Benton. Van Veen is also known in anthropological circles for the illustrations he produced for Franz Boas' research on Kwakiutl dances.
Efron's was perhaps the first ethnographic research to combine meticulous participant observation and artistic collaboration with the analysis of everyday social behavior recorded on motion picture film.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2004-07
Other Archival Materials:
Stuyvesant Van Veen's papers are maintained by the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, which also has a 1981 interview with Van Veen in which the artist discusses his work with Boas.
(Anthropological Linguistics Vol. 8 No. 2, February 1966), Archives of the Languages of the World, Anthropology Department, Indiana University—author's pencilled annotation p159—back cover detached
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Geoffrey N. O'Grady Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The digitization of portions of this collection was supported by a generous grant from the Arcadia Fund.
Blair Arnold Rudes was a linguist who specialized in Native American languages. The Blair Rudes papers document his research and professional activities from 1974-2008 and primarily deal with dictionaries and other linguistic materials he created and studied, as well as the culture and history of various Native American groups around the Eastern United States and the rest of North America. His involvement in language education, federal recognition of tribes, and the use of authentic Native American dialog in film are also represented. The collection consists of research files, linguistic research and data, correspondence, papers and other writings written by Rudes and his colleagues, movie scripts and related materials, and audio/visual recordings.
Scope and Contents:
The Blair Rudes papers 1967-2008, document his research and processional activities from his time in graduate school at the University of Buffalo in the 1970s through the end of his career at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Materials primarily deal with linguistic and historical research on Native American languages, particularly those in eastern North America. There is also a significant amount of material related to the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe and their petition to the federal government for recognition, and Rudes's work as a consultant on language education projects. The collection consists of research files, linguistic research and data, correspondence, papers and other writings written by Rudes and his colleagues, official documents for the Golden Hill Paugussett federal recognition case, movie scripts and related materials, and audio/visual recordings.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 7 series: Series 1. Biographical, 1999-2007; Series 2. Correspondence, 1975-2007; Series 3. Linguistic Research and Data, 1969-2008, undated; Series 4. Writings, 1967-2007, undated; Series 5. Dialog Translation, 2003-2008; Series 6. Grants, Contracts, and Foundations, 1997-2007; Series 7. Golden Hill Paugussett Federal Recognition, 1994-2003.
Biographical / Historical:
Blair Arnold Rudes was a linguist specializing in Native American languages, particularly those originating in eastern North America. Aside from working in academia for many years, Rudes also used his linguistic skills as a language education expert and consultant and was involved in projects related to film dialog translation, federal recognition of Native American tribes, and education for migrant and Native American students in the United States. He was best known in the Native American community for his extensive work documenting endangered indigenous languages (such as Tuscarora) as well as reconstructing Native languages that were dormant or lost to history and assimilation (such as costal Algonquian and Catawba). At the time of his death in 2008, he was an Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
Rudes was born in Gloversville, NY on May 18, 1951. He attended the State University of New York at Buffalo where he studied linguistics at the undergraduate and graduate level. As a masters student in the mid-1970s, he was exposed to the Seneca language through his landlady who was also a graduate student studying the language. As Rudes learned more about Seneca, he quickly became interested in it and the rest of the Iroquoian languages, particularly Tuscarora. Before long Rudes was visiting the Tuscarora Reservation near Buffalo and learning the language from fluent speakers. He was awarded his Doctorate in linguistics in 1976. After graduating, he briefly spent time as a Fulbright scholar in Romania and as a lecturer at the University of Maryland, College Park before being hired as a consultant for Development Associates, Inc.
For almost twenty years, Rudes worked on various language-related projects for Development Associates and as an independent contractor. Most of these projects studied academic programs and performance of minority, migrant, and Native American students with special language issues. Rudes was also hired as a researcher and consultant by the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe between 1994 and 2003 to assist in their petition for federal recognition. In 1999, Rudes returned to academia and was hired as an Assistant Professor of English in the Applied Linguistics Program at U.N.C. Charlotte. That same year he published his seminal Tuscarora-English/English Tuscarora Dictionary.
Aside from his academic duties, Rudes continued to work independently as a language consultant and was hired in 2004 to reconstruct the Virginia Algonquian language for the New Line film The New World (2005). Rudes also assisted in coaching actors in speaking the language, which had been dormant since the early 18th century. In order to finish translating dialog into Virginia Algonquian on time, Rudes was reported to have shut himself into his Williamsburg hotel room for nearly a month, working feverishly until his task was completed. Rudes was also hired as a Mayan dialog coach for the Paramount Pictures film The Ruins (2008).
Throughout his career, Rudes was active in the Foundation for Endangered Languages, the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, the annual Algonquian Conference, and the American Society for Ethnohistory. He presented and published regularly about his work with Native American languages, especially Virginia and Carolina Algonquian, Catawba, Mohawk, and Tuscarora. Rudes died of a heart attack on March 16 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Sources consulted:
Whitford, Sara. "The Algonquian Language Reborn: An Interview with Blair Rudes." Coastal Carolina Indian Center, 2011. Accessed April 12, 2016.
http://www.coastalcarolinaindians.com/the-algonquian-language-reborn-an-interview-with-blair-rudes/
Whitford, Sara. "Obituary: Blair A. Rudes, PhD – Linguistics Advisor to CCIC." Coastal Carolina Indian Center, 2011. Accessed April 12, 2016.
http://www.coastalcarolinaindians.com/obituary-blair-a-rudes-phd-linguistics-advisor-to-ccic/
Chronology
1951 -- Born on May 18 in Gloversville, New York.
1973 -- Awarded Bachelors of Art in linguistics from the University of Buffalo.
1974 -- Awarded Masters of Art in linguisitcs from the University of Buffalo.
1976 -- Awarded Ph.D in linguistics from the University of Buffalo.
1976-1978 -- Awarded Fulbright Scholarship to teach linguistics at the University of Bucharest in Romania.
1980-1981 -- Hired as a lecturer at the University of Maryland, College Park.
1981-1999 -- Worked for Development Associates, Inc. as an educational consultant.
1994-2003 -- Hired by the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe to assist in their petition for recognition from the federal government.
1999 -- Hired as an Assistant Professor in the Applied Linguistics Program in the Department of English at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
2004-2005 -- Worked as a Virginia Algonquian translator and dialog coach for The New World.
2005 -- Promoted to Associate Professor at U.N.C. Charlotte.
2006 -- Recognized by the Tuscarora Nation for contributions to preserving the Tuscarora language.
2007 -- Worked as a Mayan dialog coach for The Ruins. Recognized by the South Carolina General Assembly in a resolution for work done for the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs.
2008 -- Awarded the University at Buffalo's Distinguished Alumni Award. Died on March 16 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Separated Materials:
Two VHS recordings were transferred to the Human Studies Film Archive (HSFA.2016.10)
Provenance:
Materials were held at the U.N.C. Charlotte Department of English after Rudes's death until 2008, when his brother Bryan Rudes donated them to the National Anthropological Archives (accession 2009-16).
In 2015, Rudes's former graduate student Craig Kopris donated an appendix draft from his dissertation (A Grammar and Dictionary of Wyandot, 2001) that contained comments and annotations from Rudes. This file is located in sub-series 4.4: Writings by Others.
Restrictions:
The Blair Rudes papers are open for research.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Citation:
Blair Rudes Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The papers of Blair Rudes were processed with the assistance of the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund.