The Betty J. Meggers and Clifford Evans Papers document their research and professional activities from 1946-2012 and primarily deal with their archaeological and anthropological research in South America. Their work at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and their frequent collaboration with other researchers and professional organizations is also represented. In addition, this collection contains detailed records on South American research conducted by the Smithsonian Institution from the 1950s through the 2010s. The collection consists of research and project files, raw data and analysis, graphs and illustrations, photographs, correspondence, maps and charts, and administrative files.
Scope and Contents:
The Betty J. Meggers and Clifford Evans papers document their research and professional activities from 1946-2012 and primarily deal with their archaeological and anthropological research in South America. There is also significant material detailing research conducted in South America by the National Museum of Natural History (particularly the Department of Anthropology). Material documenting their publication and collaboration efforts with researchers and other colleagues is represented as well. There is also limited material related to Meggers and Evans time in graduate school at Columbia University and their brief careers before starting at the Smithsonian Institution in the early 1950s. The collection consists of research and project files, raw data and analysis, graphs and illustrations, photographs, correspondence, maps and charts, and administrative files.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 12 series: Series 1. Personal, 1893-2012, undated; Series 2. Writings, 1944-2011, undated; Series 3. Research, 1930-2011, undated; Series 4. Correspondence, 1922-2012; Series 5. Conferences and Seminars, 1949-2010, undated; Series 6. Museum and Institute Subject Files, 1973-2011, undated; Series 7. Smithsonian Institution Amazon Ecosystem Program, 1962-2008, undated. Series 8. National Program of Archeological Research in Brazil, 1961-1989, undated; Series 9. Paleoindian Research: Paleoclimatology and Paleofauna Programs, 1960-1992, undated; Series 10. Latin American Archaeology Fund, 1971-1991, undated; Series 11. Photographs, 1937-2008, undated; Series 12. Maps and Charts, 1957- circa 2009, undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Clifford Evans Chronology
1920 -- Born in Dallas, Texas.
1941 -- Bachelors degree in anthropology from the University of Southern California.
1946 -- Married Betty Meggers.
1948-1949 -- Field research: Lower Amazon archaelogical expedition to Marajo, Mexiana, Caviana, and Territory of Ampa, Brazil. With Betty Meggers.
1950 -- Ph.D., Columbia University.
1950-1951 -- Instructor, Anthropology, University of Virginia.
1951-1962 -- Associate Curator, Smithsonian Department of Anthropology.
1952-1953 -- Field research: Archaelogical and ethnographic investigations in British Guiana. With Betty Meggers.
1954 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations on coastal Ecuador. With Betty Meggers and Emilio Estrada.
1956 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations along the Rio Napo, Eastern Ecuador. With Betty Meggers.
1957 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations on coastal Ecuador. With Betty Meggers and Emilio Estrada.
1958 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations on coastal Ecuador. With Betty Meggers and Emilio Estrada.
1961 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations on coastal Ecuador. With Betty Meggers and Emilio Estrada.
1962-1964 -- Curator of the Division of Archaeology.
1963 -- Field research: Archeological investigations of megalithic structures on Nan Madol, Ponape, Caroline Islands. With Betty Meggers.
1964-1970, 1975-1981 -- Supervising Curator of the Department of Anthropological Research.
1965-1970 -- Co-principal investigator with Betty Meggers of PRONAPA.
1966 -- Field research: Archeological survey on Dominica. With Clifford Evans.
1968-1975 -- Co-principal investigator with Betty Meggers of the Proyecto Andino de Estudios Arqueologicos.
1970-1975 -- Chairman of the Department of Anthropology.
1971 -- Creates the Latin American Archaeology Fund with Betty Meggers.
1972 -- Creates the Paleo-Indian, Paleoecology, and Paleoenvironmental Research Program.
1974 -- Creates the Amazon Ecosystems Research Program.
1975-1980 -- Co-principal investigator with Betty Meggers of PRONAPABA.
1976 -- Field research: Paleoindian and Archaic sites and museum collections in Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. With Betty Meggers and Dennis Stanford.
1981 -- Dies in Washington, D.C.
Betty Meggers Chronology
1921 -- Born December 5 in Washington, D.C.
1943 -- A.B. in anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
1944 -- M.A., University of Michigan
1948-1949 -- Field research: Lower Amazon archaelogical expedition to Marajo, Mexiana, Caviana, and Territory of Ampa, Brazil. With Clifford Evans.
1950-1951 -- Instructor, Anthropology, American University
1952 -- Ph.D., Columbia University
1952-1953 -- Field research: Archaelogical and ethnographic investigations in British Guiana. With Clifford Evans.
1954 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations on coastal Ecuador. With Clifford Evans and Emilio Estrada.
1954-2012 -- Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, national Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
1956 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations along the Rio Napo, Eastern Ecuador. With Clifford Evans.
1957 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations on coastal Ecuador. With Clifford Evans and Emilio Estrada.
1958 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations on coastal Ecuador. With Clifford Evans and Emilio Estrada.
1961 -- Field research: Archaelogical survey and excavations on coastal Ecuador. With Clifford Evans and Emilio Estrada.
1963 -- Field research: Archeological investigations of megalithic structures on Nan Madol, Ponape, Caroline Islands. With Clifford Evans.
1965-1970 -- Co-principal investigator with Clifford Evans of PRONAPA.
1966 -- Field research: Archeological survey on Dominica. With Clifford Evans.
1968-1975 -- Co-principal investigator with Clifford Evans of the Proyecto Andino de Estudios Arqueologicos.
1975-1980 -- Co-principal investigator with Clifford Evans of PRONAPABA.
1976 -- Field research: Paleoindian and Archaic sites and museum collections in Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. With Clifford Evans and Dennis Stanford.
1976-1996 -- Committee for Research and Exploration, National Geographic Society
1982-1985 -- Consultant, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem, Brazil
2012 -- Dies in Washington, D.C.
Betty J. Meggers and Clifford Evans were anthropologists specializing in the archeology of lowland South America. Their combined careers at the Smithsonian Department of Anthropology totaled over 100 years. Evans was born in 1920 in Texas. He received his bachelor's degree in anthropology and archaeology from the University of Southern California in 1941. Following his service as a bombardier during World War II, he enrolled in the anthropology doctoral program at Columbia University where he met Meggers, a fellow student in the department. Meggers was born in 1921 in Washington, D.C., and was the daughter of well-known archaeologist William Frederick Meggers. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelors degree in anthropology in 1943 and from the University of Michigan with a masters in anthropology in 1944 before being admitted to Columbia.
Meggers and Evans did their dissertation research together in South America— Meggers worked on the island of Marajo at the mouth of the Amazon River while Evans did archaeological research in the Amapa territory of Brazil. The two were married on September 13, 1946.
After Evans received his Ph.D. in 1950, he was hired by the Smithsonian Institution as an associate curator in the Department of Anthropology in 1951. After graduating in 1952, Meggers worked as an anthropology instructor at American University for one year before being hired as a research associate in the Smithsonian Department of Anthropology in 1954.
Evans was named Curator of the Division of Archaeology in 1962, and Supervising Curator of the newly created Office of Anthropological Research in 1964. Under his leadership, standardized operating procedures were created that centralized accessioning, cataloging, storing, and lending of objects. This freed curators from many complicated and routine activities. In 1970, Evans was appointed the Chairman of Anthropology for a five year term, where he initiated many large-scale research programs with Meggers that continued to operate many years after his chairmanship ended.
The first program that Evans and Meggers created was the "Paleo-Indian, Paleoecology, and Paleoenvironmental Research Program" in 1972, which was designed to study prehistoric peoples in the Western Hemisphere. The second program, implemented in 1974 was the "Amazon Ecosystems Research Program," which organized Brazilian scientists and Smithsonian staff members interested in environmental studies of the Amazon region.
Meggers and Evans conducted much of their field work together, which resulted in hundreds of articles, essays, presentations, and books. The majority of their work was done in the Amazon and Andean regions of South America, particularly Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Ecuador. Aside from these publications, they were also able to collect many archaeological specimens that are still part of the Smithsonian's holdings.
The conclusions that Meggers and Evans drew from their research and field work, while ground-breaking, were often controversial. In the early 1960s local businessman and amateur archaeologist Emilio Estrada excavated pottery from the Valdivia area in Ecuador and shared his results with Meggers and Evans. After finding significant similarities between Valdivian artifacts and those from Japan's ancient Jomon culture, they theorized that there was transpacific contact between Japan and South America around the beginning of the third millennium B.C. Their theory remains controversial.
Meggers and Evans also argued that despite the rich forests of the Amazon region, the river basin's thin, poor soil could not hold enough nutrients to sustain intensive agriculture. As a result, they argued, large and complex societies could not have existed in the Amazon River basin as other archaeologists and anthropologists have suggested.
After finishing his tenure as chairman of the Department of Anthropology, Clifford Evans died in 1981 of a heart attack at the age of 60. Following his death, Meggers continued in her position as research associate in the Department of Anthropology for another 30 years. Though she did not conduct additional fieldwork after her husband's death, Meggers wrote prolifically and was heavily involved in analyzing field work data and collaborating with colleagues working throughout South America. She made it possible for many researchers to study and conduct research at the National Museum of Natural History, and presented in many conferences and seminars locally and internationally. In addition, Meggers advocated on the behalf of colleagues to the National Geographic Society and other organizations to procure funding for archaeological and anthropological expeditions all over the world. Betty Meggers died in 2012 at the age of 90.
Related Materials:
There are about 25 slide cases, each containing about 200 to 300 kodachrome slides, that are currently stored at the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History. These were created in the late 1940s and early 1950s and contain images of field work and other trips to South American locations such as Peru, British Guiana, the Peru Highlands, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, Hondouras, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Mexico. Contact repository for more information.
Separated Materials:
2 rolls of 16mm film, 22 audio cassettes, and 1 VHS of South and Central American research were transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives in 2015.
Provenance:
The papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by the estate of Betty J. Meggers in 2013.
Restrictions:
The Betty J. Meggers and Clifford Evans papers are open for research. Personal correspondence, however, is RESTRICTED until 2026.
Photographs assembled circa 1942-1948, probably as part of the Strategic Index of Latin America, and relating to people and scenery in Latin America. They depict transportation, irrigation, agriculture and industry (including rubber production), cities and villages, and archeological finds. The prints are arranged geographically into the following locations: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, British Guiana, British Honduras, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Leeward Islands, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Venezuela, Virgin Islands, and Windward Islands. The photographs were copied from published sources (originals circa 1850s-1940s) and are individually labeled with source information and original captions.
Biographical/Historical note:
George Peter Murdock (1897-1985) was an anthropologist of comparative ethnology. Educated at Yale, he received a BA in History (1919) and PhD in Sociology (1925). He taught sociology and anthropology at the University of Maryland for two years before returning to Yale in 1928 as an assistant professor of physical anthropology. In 1931, Murdock was granted a joint appointment with Yale's newly formed anthropology department, in which he served as department chair (1938-1960) and full professor (1939-1960). During his time at Yale, Murdock embarked on his most notable project, the Cross Cultural Survey in 1937. Positioned within the Institute of Human Relations, the CCS was a catalog of anthropological data, indexed according to Murdock's Outline of Cultural Materials (1938) to enable quick reference of cultures and analyses of a unified theory of behavior. During the Second World War, the Strategic Index of Latin America, an auxiliary arm of the CCS, was created to focus on Latin American cultural questions and strategic decision making. After the war, the CCS was reorganized by a consortium of universities as the Human Relations Area Files, with Murdock at the head. Murdock left Yale in 1960 and served as Mellon Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh until 1973.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 4632
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives also holds Murdock's Pacific Survey File.
Correspondence with Murdock held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 7027, MS 4821, American Ethnological Society records, Handbook of South American Indians Records, and collections of personal papers.
Photo Lot 4632, Photographs copied by George Peter Murdock's Strategic Index of Latin America, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
MS 3184 A Preliminary Survey of Certain Prehistoric Potteryware from the North-Western District of British Guiana
Creator:
Roth, Walter E. (Walter Edmund), 1861-1933 Search this
Extent:
89 Pages
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Photographs
Drawings
Maps
Date:
September 15, 1930
Scope and Contents:
Includes many photographs and sketches. The paper generally describes the distribution of certain ceramic industries, and discusses thoroughly ceramic types and vessel styles, also figurines. Includes one hand drawn map of British Guiana, 12" x 25", showing shell mounds and middens, as well as physical features.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 1
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1917 - 1920
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 2
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1921 - 1924
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 3
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1925 - 1927
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 6
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1935 - 1937
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 7
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1938 - 1941
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
These records are the official minutes of the Board. They are compiled at the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, who is also secretary to the Board, after
approval by the Regents' Executive Committee and by the Regents themselves. The minutes are edited, not a verbatim account of proceedings. For reasons unknown, there are no
manuscript minutes for the period from 1857 through 1890; and researchers must rely on printed minutes published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution instead.
Minutes are transferred regularly from the Secretary's Office to the Archives. Minutes less than 15 years old are closed to researchers. Indexes exist for the period from
1907 to 1946 and can be useful.
Historical Note:
The Smithsonian Institution was created by authority of an Act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. The Act entrusted direction of the Smithsonian to a body called
the Establishment, composed of the President; the Vice President; the Chief Justice of the United States; the secretaries of State, War, Navy, Interior, and Agriculture; the
Attorney General; and the Postmaster General. In fact, however, the Establishment last met in 1877, and control of the Smithsonian has always been exercised by its Board of
Regents. The membership of the Regents consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States; three members each of the Senate and House of Representatives;
two citizens of the District of Columbia; and seven citizens of the several states, no two from the same state. (Prior to 1970 the category of Citizen Regents not residents
of Washington consisted of four members). By custom the Chief Justice is Chancellor. The office was at first held by the Vice President. However, when Millard Fillmore succeeded
to the presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor in 1851, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney was chosen in his stead. The office has always been filled by the Chief Justice
since that time.
The Regents of the Smithsonian have included distinguished Americans from many walks of life. Ex officio members (Vice President) have been: Spiro T. Agnew, Chester A.
Arthur, Allen W. Barkley, John C. Breckenridge, George Bush, Schuyler Colfax, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Curtis, George M. Dallas, Charles G. Dawes, Charles W. Fairbanks, Millard
Fillmore, Gerald R. Ford, John N. Garner, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas A. Hendricks, Garret A. Hobart, Hubert H. Humphrey, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, William R. King, Thomas
R. Marshall, Walter F. Mondale, Levi P. Morton, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, James S. Sherman, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Henry A.
Wallace, William A. Wheeler, Henry Wilson.
Ex officio members (Chief Justice) have been: Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, Nathan Clifford, Morrison R. Waite, Samuel F. Miller, Melville W. Fuller, Edward D. White,
William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren E. Burger.
Regents on the part of the Senate have been: Clinton P. Anderson, Newton Booth, Sidney Breese, Lewis Cass, Robert Milledge Charlton, Bennet Champ Clark, Francis M. Cockrell,
Shelby Moore Cullom, Garrett Davis, Jefferson Davis, George Franklin Edmunds, George Evans, Edwin J. Garn, Walter F. George, Barry Goldwater, George Gray, Hannibal Hamlin,
Nathaniel Peter Hill, George Frisbie Hoar, Henry French Hollis, Henry M. Jackson, William Lindsay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Medill McCormick, James Murray Mason, Samuel Bell Maxey,
Robert B. Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Claiborne Pell, George Wharton Pepper, David A. Reed, Leverett Saltonstall, Hugh Scott, Alexander H. Smith, Robert A. Taft, Lyman Trumbull,
Wallace H. White, Jr., Robert Enoch Withers.
Regents on the part of the House of Representatives have included: Edward P. Boland, Frank T. Bow, William Campbell Breckenridge, Overton Brooks, Benjamin Butterworth,
Clarence Cannon, Lucius Cartrell, Hiester Clymer, William Colcock, William P. Cole, Jr., Maurice Connolly, Silvio O. Conte, Edward E. Cox, Edward H. Crump, John Dalzell, Nathaniel
Deering, Hugh A. Dinsmore, William English, John Farnsworth, Scott Ferris, Graham Fitch, James Garfield, Charles L. Gifford, T. Alan Goldsborough, Frank L. Greene, Gerry Hazleton,
Benjamin Hill, Henry Hilliard, Ebenezer Hoar, William Hough, William M. Howard, Albert Johnson, Leroy Johnson, Joseph Johnston, Michael Kirwan, James T. Lloyd, Robert Luce,
Robert McClelland, Samuel K. McConnell, Jr., George H. Mahon, George McCrary, Edward McPherson, James R. Mann, George Perkins Marsh, Norman Y. Mineta, A. J. Monteague, R.
Walton Moore, Walter H. Newton, Robert Dale Owen, James Patterson, William Phelps, Luke Poland, John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, B. Carroll Reece, Ernest W. Roberts, Otho Robards
Singleton, Frank Thompson, Jr., John M. Vorys, Hiram Warner, Joseph Wheeler.
Citizen Regents have been: David C. Acheson, Louis Agassiz, James B. Angell, Anne L. Armstrong, William Backhouse Astor, J. Paul Austin, Alexander Dallas Bache, George
Edmund Badger, George Bancroft, Alexander Graham Bell, James Gabriel Berrett, John McPherson Berrien, Robert W. Bingham, Sayles Jenks Bowen, William G. Bowen, Robert S. Brookings,
John Nicholas Brown, William A. M. Burden, Vannevar Bush, Charles F. Choate, Jr., Rufus Choate, Arthur H. Compton, Henry David Cooke, Henry Coppee, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Edward
H. Crump, James Dwight Dana, Harvey N. Davis, William Lewis Dayton, Everette Lee Degolyer, Richard Delafield, Frederic A. Delano, Charles Devens, Matthew Gault Emery, Cornelius
Conway Felton, Robert V. Fleming, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert F. Goheen, Asa Gray, George Gray, Crawford Hallock Greenwalt, Nancy Hanks, Caryl Parker Haskins, Gideon Hawley,
John B. Henderson, John B. Henderson, Jr., A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Gardner Greene Hubbard, Charles Evans Hughes, Carlisle H. Humelsine, Jerome C. Hunsaker, William Preston
Johnston, Irwin B. Laughlin, Walter Lenox, Augustus P. Loring, John Maclean, William Beans Magruder, John Walker Maury, Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, John C. Merriam, R. Walton
Moore, Roland S. Morris, Dwight W. Morrow, Richard Olney, Peter Parker, Noah Porter, William Campbell Preston, Owen Josephus Roberts, Richard Rush, William Winston Seaton,
Alexander Roby Shepherd, William Tecumseh Sherman, Otho Robards Singleton, Joseph Gilbert Totten, John Thomas Towers, Frederic C. Walcott, Richard Wallach, Thomas J. Watson,
Jr., James E. Webb, James Clarke Welling, Andrew Dickson White, Henry White, Theodore Dwight Woolsey.
Robinson, Jesse S. (Jesse Squibb), 1889- Search this
Extent:
86 Film reels (color silent; black-and-white silent; 36,900 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Film reels
Travelogues (motion pictures)
Silent films
Place:
North America
United States
Europe
Norway
Japan
East Asia
Guatemala
Mexico
Canada
South Africa
Egypt
Fiji
Philippines
Thailand
Southeast Asia
Africa, North
Date:
circa 1930-1965
Scope and Contents:
Amateur travel film shot by Jesse S. Robinson, professor of economics at Carleton College, of his numerous travels throughout the world. Travels include (1930) Norway (fjords), Sweden (Gota Canal), Russia (Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev); (1931) Florida (Clearwater) to Virginia, eastern U.S., Virginia to Halifax, Nova Scotia; (1932) Texas and Mexico; (1934) Italy, France, England (London), Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Germany (Oberammergau); (1935) National Parks (Black Hills, Yosemite, Glacier National Parks, Banff National Park and Lake Louise, Yellowstone); (1936) Gettysburg, Texas Centennial, Arkansas, Carlsbad Caverns and Taos (New Mexico), Mexico; (1937) Hawaii, Fiji, Japan, China, Singapore, Java, Bali, Australia, New Zealand; (1938) Cuba, Valley Forge, Gaspe (Quebec), Niagara, Kenora (Ontario, Canada); and (1948) British Isles, France, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium. Undated travels include Bermuda, Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Saba, St. Kitts, Lesser Antilles, Nevis, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent, Trinidad, Tobago, British Guiana, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Minnesota, Guatemala, Bermuda, Nassau, Jamaica, Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia), Williamsburg (Virginia), Washington, D.C., Acadia National Park (Maine), Rochester (New York), Provincetown (Rhode Island); Rocky Mountains, South Africa (Johannesburg, Durban, Hluhlule, Kruger, Amboseli), Philippines, Thailand, India, Ceylon, Saigon (Vietnam), Taiwan, Okinawa (Japan), Tahiti, Samoa, Kashmir, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Morocco (Casablanca, Marrakesh), Egypt.
Legacy keywords: Tourism ; Ruins archeological ; Landscapes ; Cities and towns ; Architecture Religious
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 Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Local Numbers:
HSFA 1997.12.1
Provenance:
Received from American Film Institute (National Center for Film and Video Preservation) in 1997.
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.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Travelogues (Motion pictures)
silent films
Citation:
J. S. Robinson travel films, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
No restrictions. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Contact SIA Reference Staff for further information (email photos@si.edu)
Data Source:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_arc_367118
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