These records document the governance and programmatic activities of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (MAI) from its inception in 1904 until its sublimation by the Smithsonian Institution in 1990. The types of materials present in this collection include personal and institutional correspondence, individual subject files, minutes and annual reports, financial ledgers, legal records, expedition field notes, research notes, catalog and object lists, publications, clippings, flyers, maps, photographs, negatives and audio-visual materials. These materials span a varied range of subjects relating to the activities of the museum which are more fully described on the series level.
Scope and Contents:
These records document the governance and programmatic activities of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation (MAI) from its inception in 1904 until its sublimation by the Smithsonian Institution in 1990. The types of materials present in this collection include personal and institutional correspondence, individual subject files, minutes and annual reports, financial ledgers, legal records, expedition field notes, research notes, catalog and object lists, publications, clippings, flyers, maps, photographs, negatives and audio-visual materials. These materials span a varied range of subjects relating to the activities of the museum which are more fully described on the series level.
Arrangement:
The MAI, Heye Foundation records have been arranged into 21 series and 50 subseries:
Series 1: Directors, 1908-1990 (1.1: George Gustav Heye, 1863-1962, 1.2: Edwin K. Burnett, 1943-1960, 1.3: Frederick Dockstader, 1950-1976, 1.4: Alexander F. Draper, 1972-1977, 1.5:Roland W. Force, 1963-1990, 1.6: George Eager, Assistant Director, 1977-1990)
Series 2: Board of Trustees, 1916-1990 (2.1: Board of Trustee Minutes, 1916-1990, 2.2: Individual Board Correspondence, 1943-1990, 2.3: Subject Files, 1917-1990)
Series 3: Administrative, 1916-1989 (3.1: Subject Files, 1904-1991, 3.2: Personnel, 1956-1991, 3.3: Legal, 1900-1989, 3.4: Task Force, 1976-1986, 3.5: George Abrams, 1980-1991)
Series 4: Financial, 1916-1990 (4.1: Ledgers, 1900-1962, 4.2: Correspondence, 1905-1985, 4.3: Subject Files, 1916-1990)
Series 5: Expeditions, 1896-1973Series 6: Collectors, 1872-1981Series 7: Registration, 1856-1993Series 8: Collections Management, 1937-1988Series 9: Curatorial, 1963-1990 (9.1: Curatorial Council, 1973-1990, 9.2: Gary Galante, 1979-1991, 9.3: Mary Jane Lenz, 1974-1994, 9.4: James G. E. Smith, 1963-1990, 9.5: U. Vincent Wilcox, 1968-1984, 9.6: Anna C. Roosevelt, 1973-1988)
Series 10: Exhibits, 1923-1991 (10.1: MAI Exhibits, 1923-1990, 10.2: Non-MAI Exhibits, 1937-1991)
Series 11: Public Programs, 1935-1990Series 12: Publications, 1904-1994 (12.1: Annual Reports, 1917-1989, 12.2: Publications by MAI, 1904-1990, 12.3: Publications by Other Sources, 1881-1990, 12.4: Administration, 1920-1988, 12.5: Archival Set of Official Publications, 1907-1976)
Series 13: Public Affairs, 1938-1991Series 14: Development, 1927-1991 (14.1: Administration, 1979-1990, 14.2: Donors, 1978-1990, 14.3: Fundraising, 1973-1990, 14.4: Grants, 1970-1990, 14.5: Subject Files, 1976-1990)
Series 15: Other Departments, 1914-1990 (15.1: Archives, 1914-1990, 15.2: Conservation, 1972-1989, 15.3: Education, 1921-1990, 15.4: Indian Information Center, 1977-1989, 15.5: Museum Shop, 1947-1989, 15.6: Photography, 1918-1990, 15.7: Physical Anthropology, 1919-1956)
Series 16: Huntington Free Library, 1926-1991Series 17: Museum Relocation, 1969-1992 (17.1: Subject Files, 1979-1990, 17.2: American Museum of Natural History, 1980-1987, 17.3: Dallas, Texas, 1984-1987, 17.4: Smithsonian Institution, 1979-1990, 17.5: U.S. Custom House, 1977-1990, 17.6: Other Locations, 1974-1987)
Series 18: MediaSeries 19: PhotographsSeries 20: Miscellaneous, 1837-1990Series 21: Oversize, 1873-1972 (21.1: Maps, 1873-1975, 21.2: Miscellaneous, 1884-1982)
History of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation:
The Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation was established by wealthy collector George Gustav Heye in 1908. Heye began collecting American Indian artifacts as early as 1897 and his collection rapidly increased over the next several years. Based in New York, Heye bought collections and documentary photographs, sponsored expeditions, and traveled and collected items himself. In addition, once MAI was established he sponsored numerous expeditions across the Western Hemisphere, including North American, Canada, South America and Central America.
From 1908 to 1917 Heye housed his artifacts on temporary loan at the University of Pennsylvania's University Museum, Pennsylvania, in lofts on East 33rd Street in New York City, and at other depositories. In 1917, the collections moved from his apartment to their permanent museum location at Audubon Terrace, at 155th Street and Broadway in New York City. The museum, containing ethnographic and archaeological collections from North, Central and South America, opened to the public in 1922. Less than ten years later, Heye completed a storage facility in the Pelham Bay area of the Bronx, known as the Research Branch. Heye served as Chairman of the Board and Museum Director until his death in 1957. After growing concern about the financial and other management of the collections came to a head, the museum became part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1989 and in 1994 opened exhibit space in the U.S. Customs House at Bowling Green near New York City's Battery Park. The Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland later opened in 1999 and the main Washington, DC museum opened in 2004.
Please visit the following links for more information about the history of the museum; History of the Collection, Collections Overview, and Significance of the Collection. Moreover, for information about how the museum currently cares for and exhibits the collection, please see the Conservation department and recent entries regarding Exhibitions and Conservation on the NMAI Blog. In addition, see portions of the NMAI Archive Center's collections highlighted in the SIRIS Blog.
Related Materials:
In 2004, the Huntington Fee Library, once part of the MAI/Heye Foundation, was transferred to the Cornell University Library Rare Book and Manuscript Collection. While this collection mainly contained books, it also contained a significant amount of archival materials. The Huntington Free Library's Native American Collection contains outstanding materials documenting the history, culture, languages, and arts of the native tribes of both North and South America, as well as contemporary politics and human rights issues are also important components of the collection. Further information about the collection and links to finding aids can be found here: rmc.library.cornell.edu/collections/HFL_old.html.
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).
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.
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.
The papers of Dennis J. Stanford and Margaret A. (Pegi) Jodry document the archaeological excavations and analysis of Paleoindigenous (also called Paleoindian) sites through the United States including sites within the San Luis Valley in Colorado and those on the Delmarva Peninsula in the Chesapeake Bay region. Stanford's career as curator of North American Archaeology and Jodry's career as project archaeologist and research associate at the National Museum of Natural History from the 1970s to 2010s as well as their collaboration with other researchers and professional organizations is also represented. The collection consists of field notes, data and analysis, manuscript drafts, publications, correspondence, illustrations and maps, photographic prints, negatives, slides, and recorded film and sound.
Biographical / Historical:
Dennis Joe Stanford (1943-2019) was born on May 13, 1943 in Cherokee, Iowa. After moving to New Mexico and then to Wyoming, Stanford had in early interest in archaeology by finding artifacts starting at the age of 9. After volunteering on an archaeological dig at the Union Pacific Mammoth Site as a teenager, Stanford received a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Wyoming in 1965 as a student of Dr. William Mulloy. Stanford then received a M.A. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 1967, and then subsequently began his doctoral research, which focused on the excavation (conducted in 1968-1969) and analysis of the Walakpa site in Alaska. He then received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 1972. That same year, Stanford was hired by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) as an Associate Curator of Archaeology and Director of the Paleoindian/Paleoecology Program. By 1978, he was promoted to Curator of Archaeology and served as Head of the Division of Archaeology from 1990-1992 and again from 2004-2011. He also served as Chairman of the NMNH Department of Anthropology from 1992-2000. During his 47 years at NMNH, Stanford also conducted extensive research on topics and methods such as experimental archaeology, lithic analysis, the peopling of the Americas, and paleoecology and published over 150 works, including several books such as Across Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America's Clovis Culture (2012), which he coauthored with archaeologist Bruce Bradley. A few notable sites, experiments, and concepts examined by Stanford and colleagues include the Jones-Miller, Selby, Dutton, Lamb Spring, and sites within the San Luis Valley in Colorado; the Ginsberg elephant butchery experiment; and the Solutrean Hypothesis. Stanford also contributed over one million objects to NMNH's collections, comprising the Dennis Stanford National Paleoindian Collection. Dennis J. Stanford died on April 24, 2019 at Georgetown Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Chronology of the Life of Dennis Stanford
1943 May 13 -- Born in Cherokee, Iowa, USA
1960-1961 -- Volunteered at excavations of the Union Pacific Mammoth site in Wyoming
1965 -- B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Wyoming
1967 -- M.A. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico
1968-1969 -- Led survey and excavations at the Walakpa site near Point Barrow, Alaska
1972 -- PhD in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico Began at the Smithsonian Institution as Associate Curator of Archaeology and Director of the Paleoindian/Paleoecology Program at the National Museum of Natural History
1973-1975 -- Excavations at the Jones-Miller Bison Kill site in Wray, Colorado
1975-1978 -- Excavations at the Selby and Dutton sites in Wray, Colorado
1977 -- Excavations at the Linger site (5AL91), Colorado
1978 -- Promoted to Curator of Archaeology at NMNH
1978-1979 -- Conducted the Ginsberg Elephant Butchery Experiment
1980-1981 -- Led second excavation of the Lamb Spring site, Colorado
1981-1983 -- Excavations at the Stewart's Cattle Guard site, Colorado
1983 -- Excavations at the Reddin site (5SH77), Colorado
1990-1992 -- Named Head of the Division of Archaeology at the National Museum of Natural History
1992 -- Coedited Ice Age Hunters of the Rockies with Jane Day Recipient of the C. T. Hurst Award for Outstanding Contributions to Colorado Archaeology, Colorado Archeological Society
1992-2000 -- Served as Chair of the National Museum of Natural History Department of Anthropology
2004-2011 -- Head of the National Museum of Natura History Division of Archaeology
2005 -- Coedited Paleo-American Origins: Beyond Clovis with Robson Bonnichsen, Bradley T. Lepper, and Michael R. Waters
2012 -- Coauthored Across the Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America's Clovis Culture with Bruce Bradley
2019 April 24 -- Died in Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
![view Stanford (Dennis J.) and Jodry (Margaret A. [Pegi]) papers digital asset: Finding aid](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=170&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/findingaid.gif "Finding aid")
