The Albert Clanton Spaulding Papers consist of correspondence, field project data, manuscripts, and teaching notes documenting his work at the University of Michigan, University of California Santa Barbara, the National Science Foundation, and field work at the Arzberger Site and Agattu.
Scope and Contents:
The Albert Clanton Spaulding Papers consist of correspondence, field project data, manuscripts, and teaching notes documenting his work at the University of Michigan, University of California Santa Barbara, the National Science Foundation, and field work at the Arzberger Site and Agattu. Although it has been noted that there are significant and inexplicable lucunae in Spaulding's papers, they nevertheless touch on most phases of his professional life. There is, however, relatively little field material.
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 As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today.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:
1. Correspondence, 1948-1982; 2. manuscript of Spaulding writings; 3. material concerning students; 4. site reports and field project data; 4. material regarding conferences and committees; 6. material related to work as National Science Foundation archeology program director; 7. student notebooks and dissertation; 8. material regarding the Arzberger site; 9. administrative material regarding the University of Michigan; 10. academic papers collected by Spaulding, teaching aids, and lecture notes; 11. Philip C. Phillips and Gordon R. Willey file; 12. James A. Ford file; 13. correspondence regarding publications; 14. miscellany; 15. photographs
Biographical note:
Albert C. Spaulding was trained at Montana State University (B.A. in economics, 1935), the University of Michigan (M.A. in ahthropology, 1937), and Columbia University (Ph.D., 1946). In 1946-1947, he taught at the University of Kansas and was an assistant curator at the university's Museum of Anthropology. From 1947-1961, he taught at the University of Michigan and was curator of that university's Museum of Anthropology. In 1959-1961, Spaulding was first program director for the History and Philosophy of Science Program of the National Science Foundation and the NAS program director for anthropology. In 1963-1966, he was professor and chairman of the anthropology department at the University of Oregon. In 1967-1971, he became dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara and continued at that institution as professor of anthropology until 1983. Spaulding served the Society for Amercian Archeology as associate editor, secretary, vice president, and president. In 1964, he was vice president for Section H of American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Although Spaulding carried out several significant field projects, he is best rememberd for his theoretical and methodological concerns. In relating his first archeological field work, he declared: "My fundamental interest at the time (and now) was clarification of the basic concepts of archeology, which led me into explicit definitions of archaeological problems in terms of relationship between or among well-defined variables." Spaulding produced many articles and book reviews in which he dealt with such problems. Some of the best-known appeared in the pages of American Antiquity in 1953 and 1954 when be debated James A. Ford in general terms concerning teh most productive methods of archeology in general and the nature of archeological types and methods of defining them in particular. Because of his espousal of rigor in method, Spaulding is considered on of the main forerunners of the "new archeology" of the 1960s. For his work, he received the SAA distinguished Service Award in 1981.
Restrictions:
The Albert Clanton Spaulding papers are open for research.
Access to the Albert Clanton Spaulding papers requires an appointment.
This collection consists of the records of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and documents the activities of the officers of SAA and the editors of the journal American Antiquity. Materials include minutes, correspondence, reports, newsletters, financial records, memorandums, contracts and journals.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of the records of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and documents the activities of the officers of SAA and the editors of the journal American Antiquity. Materials include minutes, correspondence, reports, newsletters, financial records, memorandums, contracts and journals.
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:
Portions of this collection are unprocessed. Please contact the repository for further information.
Earlier accessions, containing records dating from 1935-1985, have been arranged in the following proposed series: (1) Records of the secretary-treasurer, 1935-1947; (2) treasurer's records, 1935-1950; (3) executive committee meeting minutes, 1961-1978; (4) records concerning annual meetings, 1935-1978; (5) records concerning nominations and elections, 1971-1978; (6) secretary's general correspondence, 1968-1978; (7) secretary's correspondence with SAA presidents, 1970-1978; (8) correspondence with affiliated organizations, 1968-1976; (9) secretary's subject files, undated; (10) records relating to committees, undated; (11) records relating to constitutional revision, undated; (12) copies of legislation; resolutions, undated; (13) antiquities actions, 1970-1976; (14) financial statements and treasurer's correspondence with the secretary, 1968-1977: (15) membership records, 1970-1977; (16) records concerning publications, 1970-1977; (17) field school lists, 1968-1979; (18) indexes and other compilations regarding executive committee and annual meeting actions; (19) executive committee meeting minutes, 1945-1976; (20) records concerning publications, 1970-1977; (21) field school lists, 1968-1979; (22) indexes and other compilations regarding executive committee and annual meeting actions; (23) executive committee meeting minutes, 1945-1978, 1980; (24) material relating to executive committee and annual meetings, including some reports, 1978-1983; (25) secretary's subject file, ca.1967-1983; (26) procedural materials; (27) material relating to proposals from and contract with management firm, 1983; (28) printed and processed material; (29) chairperson's records of the Committee on the Status of Women in Archaeology; (30) Fred Wendorf's files, 1972-1981; (31) records of the Committee on Public Archaeology, 1969-1981; (32) videocasettes and photographs, 1985; (33) editor's files; (34) Don D. Fowlers files; and (35) materials relating to American Antiquity.
Historical note:
The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) is an international organization with over 7,000 members. Founded in 1934, the SAA is "dedicated to the research, interpretation, and protection of the archaeological heritage of the Americas."
Restrictions:
Some material may be restricted. Contact the repository for further information.
Access to the Society for American Archaeology records requires an appointment.
These papers reflect the professional and personal life of Frederica de Laguna. The collection contains correspondence, field notes, writings, newspaper clippings, writings by others, subject files, sound recordings, photographs, and maps. A significant portion of the collection consists of de Laguna's correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and students, as well as her informants from the field. Her correspondence covers a wide range of subjects such as family, health, preparations for field work, her publications and projects, the Northwest Coast, her opinions on the state of anthropology, and politics. The field notes in the collection mainly represent de Laguna and her assistants' work in the Northern Tlingit region of Alaska from 1949 to 1954. In addition, the collection contains materials related to her work in the St. Lawrence River Valley in Ontario in 1947 and Catherine McClellan's field journal for her research in Aishihik, Yukon Territory in 1968. Most of the audio reels in the collection are field recordings made by de Laguna, McClellan, and Marie-Françoise Guédon of vocabulary and songs and speeches at potlatches and other ceremonies from 1952 to 1969. Tlingit and several Athabaskan languages including Atna, Tutchone, Upper Tanana, and Tanacross are represented in the recordings. Also in the collection are copies of John R. Swanton's Tlingit recordings and Hiroko Hara Sue's recordings among the Hare Indians. Additional materials related to de Laguna's research on the Northwest Coast include her notes on clans and tribes in Series VI: Subject Files and her notes on Tlingit vocabulary and Yakutat names specimens in Series X: Card Files. Drafts and notes for Voyage to Greenland, Travels Among the Dena, and The Tlingit Indians can be found in the collection as well as her drawings for her dissertation and materials related to her work for the Handbook of North American Indians and other publications. There is little material related to Under Mount Saint Elias except for correspondence, photocopies and negatives of plates, and grant applications for the monograph. Of special interest among de Laguna's writings is a photocopy of her historical fiction novel, The Thousand March. Other materials of special interest are copies of her talks, including her AAA presidential address, and the dissertation of Regna Darnell, a former student of de Laguna's. In addition, materials on the history of anthropology are in the collection, most of which can found with her teaching materials. Although the bulk of the collection documents de Laguna's professional years, the collection also contains newspaper articles and letters regarding her exceptional performance as a student at Bryn Mawr College and her undergraduate and graduate report cards. Only a few photographs of de Laguna can be found in the collection along with photographs of her 1929 and 1979 trips to Greenland.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional and personal life of Frederica de Laguna. The collection contains correspondence, field notes, writings, newspaper clippings, writings by others, subject files, sound recordings, photographs, and maps.
A significant portion of the collection consists of de Laguna's correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and students, as well as her informants from the field. Her correspondence covers a wide range of subjects such as family, health, preparations for field work, her publications and projects, the Northwest Coast, her opinions on the state of anthropology, and politics. Among her notable correspondents are Kaj Birket-Smith, J. Desmond Clark, Henry Collins, George Foster, Viola Garfield, Marie-Françoise Guédon, Diamond Jenness, Michael Krauss, Therkel Mathiassen, Catharine McClellan, and Wallace Olson. She also corresponded with several eminent anthropologists including Franz Boas, William Fitzhugh, J. Louis Giddings, Emil Haury, June Helm, Melville Herskovitz, Alfred Kroeber, Helge Larsen, Alan Lomax, Margaret Mead, Froelich Rainey, Leslie Spier, Ruth Underhill, James VanStone, Annette Weiner, and Leslie White.
The field notes in the collection mainly represent de Laguna and her assistants' work in the Northern Tlingit region of Alaska from 1949 to 1954. In addition, the collection contains materials related to her work in the St. Lawrence River Valley in Ontario in 1947 and Catharine McClellan's field journal for her research in Aishihik, Yukon Territory in 1968. Most of the audio reels in the collection are field recordings made by de Laguna, McClellan, and Marie-Françoise Guédon of vocabulary and songs and speeches at potlatches and other ceremonies from 1952 to 1969. Tlingit and several Athapaskan languages including Atna, Tutochone, Upper Tanana, and Tanacross are represented in the recordings. Also in the collection are copies of John R. Swanton's Tlingit recordings and Hiroko Hara's recordings among the Hare Indians. Additional materials related to de Laguna's research on the Northwest Coast include her notes on clans and tribes in Series VI: Subject Files and her notes on Tlingit vocabulary and Yakutat names specimens in Series 10: Card Files.
Drafts and notes for Voyage to Greenland, Travels Among the Dena, and The Tlingit Indians can be found in the collection as well as her drawings for her dissertation and materials related to her work for the Handbook of North American Indians and other publications. There is little material related to Under Mount Saint Elias except for correspondence, photocopies and negatives of plates, and grant applications for the monograph. Of special interest among de Laguna's writings is a photocopy of her historical fiction novel, The Thousand March.
Other materials of special interest are copies of her talks, including her AAA presidential address, and the dissertation of Regna Darnell, a former student of de Laguna's. In addition, materials on the history of anthropology are in the collection, most of which can found with her teaching materials. The collection also contains copies of photographs from the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899. Although the bulk of the collection documents de Laguna's professional years, the collection also contains newspaper articles and letters regarding her exceptional performance as a student at Bryn Mawr College and her undergraduate and graduate report cards. Only a few photographs of de Laguna can be found in the collection along with photographs of her 1929 and 1979 trips to Greenland.
Frederica Annis Lopez de Leo de Laguna was a pioneering archaeologist and ethnographer of northwestern North America. Known as Freddy by her friends, she was one of the last students of Franz Boas. She served as first vice-president of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) from 1949 to 1950 and as president of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) from 1966-1967. She also founded the anthropology department at Bryn Mawr College where she taught from 1938 to 1972. In 1975, she and Margaret Mead, a former classmate, were the first women to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Born on October 3, 1906 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, de Laguna was the daughter of Theodore Lopez de Leo de Laguna and Grace Mead Andrus, both philosophy professors at Bryn Mawr College. Often sick as a child, de Laguna was home-schooled by her parents until she was 9. She excelled as a student at Bryn Mawr College, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in politics and economics in 1927. She was awarded the college's prestigious European fellowship, which upon the suggestion of her parents, she deferred for a year to study anthropology at Columbia University under Boas. Her parents had recently attended a lecture given by Boas and felt that anthropology would unite her interests in the social sciences and her love for the outdoors.
After a year studying at Columbia with Boas, Gladys Reichard, and Ruth Benedict, de Laguna was still uncertain whether anthropology was the field for her. Nevertheless, she followed Boas's advice to spend her year abroad studying the connection between Eskimo and Paleolithic art, which would later became the topic of her dissertation. In the summer of 1928, she gained fieldwork experience under George Grant MacCurdy visiting prehistoric sites in England, France, and Spain. In Paris, she attended lectures on prehistoric art by Abbe Breuil and received guidance from Paul Rivet and Marcelin Boule. Engaged to an Englishman she had met at Columbia University, de Laguna decided to also enroll at the London School of Economics in case she needed to earn her degree there. She took a seminar with Bronislaw Malinowski, an experience she found unpleasant and disappointing.
It was de Laguna's visit to the National Museum in Copenhagen to examine the archaeological collections from Central Eskimo that became the turning point in her life. During her visit, she met Therkel Mathiassen who invited her to be his assistant on what would be the first scientific archaeological excavation in Greenland. She sailed off with him in June 1929, intending to return early in August. Instead, she decided to stay until October to finish the excavation with Mathiassen, now convinced that her future lay in anthropology. When she returned from Greenland she broke off her engagement with her fiancé, deciding that she would not able to both fully pursue a career in anthropology and be the sort of wife she felt he deserved. Her experiences in Greenland became the subject of her 1977 memoir, Voyage to Greenland: A Personal Initiation into Anthropology.
The following year, Kaj Birket-Smith, whom de Laguna had also met in Copenhagen, agreed to let her accompany him as his research assistant on his summer expedition to Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet. When Birket-Smith fell ill and was unable to go, de Laguna was determined to continue on with the trip. She convinced the University of Pennsylvania Museum to fund her trip to Alaska to survey potential excavation sites and took as her assistant her 20 year old brother, Wallace, who became a geologist. A close family, de Laguna's brother and mother would later accompany her on other research trips.
In 1931, the University of Pennsylvania Museum hired de Laguna to catalogue Eskimo collections. They again financed her work in Cook Inlet that year as well as the following year. In 1933, she earned her PhD from Columbia and led an archaeological and ethnological expedition of the Prince William Sound with Birket-Smith. They coauthored "The Eyak Indians of the Copper River Delta, Alaska," published in 1938. In 1935, de Laguna led an archaeological and geological reconnaissance of middle and lower Yukon Valley, traveling down the Tanana River. Several decades later, the 1935 trip contributed to two of her books: Travels Among the Dena, published in 1994, and Tales From the Dena, published in 1997.
In 1935 and 1936, de Laguna worked briefly as an Associate Soil Conservationist, surveying economic and social conditions on the Pima Indian Reservation in Arizona. She later returned to Arizona during the summers to conduct research and in 1941, led a summer archaeological field school under the sponsorship of Bryn Mawr College and the Museum of Northern Arizona.
By this time, de Laguna had already published several academic articles and was also the author of three fiction books. Published in 1930, The Thousand March: Adventures of an American Boy with the Garibaldi was her historical fiction book for juveniles. She also wrote two detective novels: The Arrow Points to Murder (1937) and Fog on the Mountain (1938). The Arrow Points to Murder is set in a museum based on her experiences at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the American Museum of National History. Fog on the Mountain is set in Cook Inlet and draws upon de Laguna's experiences in Alaska. Both detective novels helped to finance her research.
De Laguna began her long career at Bryn Mawr College in 1938 when she was hired as a lecturer in the sociology department to teach the first ever anthropology course at the college. By 1950, she was chairman of the joint department of Sociology and Anthropology, and in 1967, the chairman of the newly independent Anthropology Department. She was also a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania (1947-1949; 1972-1976) and at the University of California, Berkeley (1959-1960; 1972-1973.)
During World War II, de Laguna took a leave of absence from Bryn Mawr College to serve in the naval reserve from 1942 to 1945. As a member of WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service), she taught naval history and codes and ciphers to women midshipmen at Smith College. She took great pride in her naval service and in her later years joined the local chapter of WAVES National, an organization for former and current members of WAVES.
In 1950, de Laguna returned to Alaska to work in the Northern Tlingit region. Her ethnological and archaeological study of the Tlingit Indians brought her back several more times throughout the 1950s and led to the publication of Under Mount Saint Elias in 1972. Her comprehensive three-volume monograph is still considered the authoritative work on the Yakutat Tlingit. In 1954, de Laguna turned her focus to the Atna Indians of Copper River, returning to the area in 1958, 1960, and 1968.
De Laguna retired from Bryn Mawr College in 1972 under the college's mandatory retirement policy. Although she suffered from many ailments in her later years including macular degeneration, she remained professionally active. Five decades after her first visit to Greenland, de Laguna returned to Upernavik in 1979 to conduct ethnographic investigations. In 1985, she finished editing George Thornton Emmons' unpublished manuscript The Tlingit Indians. A project she had begun in 1955, the book was finally published in 1991. In 1986, she served as a volunteer consultant archaeologist and ethnologist for the U. S. Forest Service in Alaska. In 1994, she took part in "More than Words . . ." Laura Bliss Spann's documentary on the last Eyak speaker, Maggie Smith Jones. By 2001, de Laguna was legally blind. Nevertheless, she continued working on several projects and established the Frederica de Laguna Northern Books Press to reprint out-of-print literature and publish new scholarly works on Arctic cultures.
Over her lifetime, de Laguna received several honors including her election into the National Academy Sciences in 1976, the Distinguished Service Award from AAA in 1986, and the Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. De Laguna's work, however, was respected by not only her colleagues but also by the people she studied. In 1996, the people of Yakutat honored de Laguna with a potlatch. Her return to Yakutat was filmed by Laura Bliss Spann in her documentary Reunion at Mt St. Elias: The Return of Frederica de Laguna to Yakutat.
At the age of 98, Frederica de Laguna passed away on October 6, 2004.
Sources Consulted
Darnell, Regna. "Frederica de Laguna (1906-2004)." American Anthropologist 107.3 (2005): 554-556.
de Laguna, Frederica. Voyage to Greenland: A Personal Initiation into Anthropology. New York: W.W. Norton Co, 1977.
McClellan, Catharine. "Frederica de Laguna and the Pleasures of Anthropology." American Ethnologist 16.4 (1989): 766-785.
Olson, Wallace M. "Obituary: Frederica de Laguna (1906-2004)." Arctic 58.1 (2005): 89-90.
Related Materials:
Although this collection contains a great deal of correspondence associated with her service as president of AAA, most of her presidential records can be found in American Anthropological Association Records 1917-1972. Also at the National Anthropological Archives are her transcripts of songs sung by Yakutat Tlingit recorded in 1952 and 1954 located in MS 7056 and her notes and drawings of Dorset culture materials in the National Museum of Canada located in MS 7265. The Human Studies Film Archive has a video oral history of de Laguna conducted by Norman Markel (SC-89.10.4).
Related collections can also be found in other repositories. The University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania holds materials related to work that de Laguna carried out for the museum from the 1930s to the 1960s. Materials relating to her fieldwork in Angoon and Yakutat can be found in the Rasmuson Library of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in the papers of Francis A. Riddell, a field assistant to de Laguna in the early 1950s. Original photographs taken in the field in Alaska were deposited in the Alaska State Library, Juneau. Both the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress and the American Philosophical Library have copies of her field recordings and notes. The American Museum of Natural History has materials related to her work editing George T. Emmons' manuscript. De Laguna's papers can also be found at the Bryn Mawr College Archives.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Frederica de Laguna.
Restrictions:
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.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Copy prints
Prints
Photographs
Place:
New Mexico -- Antiquities
Alaska
Mississippi
Pueblo Bonito Site (N.M.)
Date:
circa 1920-1936
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs depicting crews, camps, artifacts, and excavated areas from various archeological digs and anthropological expeditions. These include Neil Merton Judd's archeological excavations at Pueblo Bonito, Collins and Hermes Knoblock measuring Choctaw people in Mississippi, James Alfred Ford and Paul Silook at Miyowagh on St. Lawrence Island, and Ford at Cape Prince of Wales.
Biographical/Historical note:
Henry B. Collins (1899-1987) began his career in anthropology as an assistant on Neil M. Judd's 1922-1924 expeditions to Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico. In 1924, he became an aid in the United States National Museum Division of Ethnology and shortly afterwards was promoted to assistant curator. He received a Masters in Anthropology from the George Washington University in 1925 and was appointed associate curator in 1938. In 1939, Collins took a position as senior ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology and became acting director in 1963. When the BAE and the Department of Anthropology were merged in 1965, Collins became a senior scientist in the new Smithsonian Office of Anthropology. He was appointed archeologist emeritus in 1967.
Collins' independent field work during the early part of his career focused on the American South, in which he conducted investigations relating to the Choctaw and to areas whose cultural history was little known. Collins is most recognized, however, for his efforts in Arctic archeology. Between 1927 and 1936, he and colleagues, including James A. Ford and T. Dale Stewart, focused on the Bering Sea area and the Arctic coasts of Alaska, including St. Lawrence Island, Nunivak Island, the Diomedes, Punuk Island, Bristol Bay, Norton Sound, Point Hope, Cape Prince of Wales, the Aleutians, and the interior of the Seward Peninsula.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 82-23
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds Henry Bascom Collins's papers, as well as those of James Alfred Ford.
Additional photographs by Collins can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 28, Photo Lot 86-42, Photo Lot 86-43, and Photo Lot 86-59.
Additional papers by Collins can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4908, MS 4976, and MS 4977.
Additional photographs of Pueblo Bonito by O. C. Havens can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo lot 83-16.
Indians of North America -- Southern states Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo Lot 82-23, Henry Bascom Collins photograph collection relating to Pueblo Bonito, Mississippi Choctaws, and Alaska, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Consists of correspondence, prints showing mounds, bowls, an implement resembling a tomahawk, copies of various papers by Dr. Collins, Mr. Judd, Dr. Wissler, etc., etc.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4116
Citation:
Manuscript 4116, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The papers of this collection are those of Herbert William Krieger (b. 1889), archaeologist and curator of the Division of Ethnology for the former United States National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Included are correspondence, field notebooks, notes, administrative material, manuscripts of writings, printed matter, sketches, maps, photographs and other documents.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional life of Herbert William Krieger (b. 1889), archaeologist and curator of the Division of Ethnology for the former United States National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Included are correspondence, field notebooks, notes, administrative material, manuscripts of writings, printed matter, sketches, maps, photographs and other documents that cover the period from 1925 to 1957.
The bulk of the material concerns Krieger's archaeological work in the West Indies, primarily the Dominican Republic, where he researched intermittently from 1938 to 1953. There is also material in the collection on Krieger's work in Southeastern and Central Alaska where he was involved with the restoration and reconstruction of the Kansaan National Monument from 1926 to 1927. Material concerning the salvage archaeology performed on the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon, particularly in the area of the construction site of the Bonneville Dam, is included in the collection. Also included is work on two War Background Studies publications, one on the peoples of the Philippines, the other on the islands of the Western Pacific. The collection additionally contains Krieger's office files and collected correspondence of scholars and informants used for reference purposes.
Not represented in the collection is any phase of Krieger's personal life, nor is there any material reflecting his life prior to or since his association with the Museum.
Among correspondents whose letters are included are Franz BOAS, C. U. CLARK, John COLLIER, L. S. CRESSMAN, Frances DENSMORE, Philip DRUCKER, John EWERS, Jesse W. FEWKES, Melville HERSKOVITS, William H. HOLMES, Walter HOUGH, Neil M. JUDD, A. L. KROEBER, Otis MASON, Frank M. SETZLER, Herbert J. SPINDEN, T. D. STEWART, Matthew STIRLING, William Duncan STRONG, T. T. WATERMAN, Waldo WEDEL, Alexander WETMORE, and Clark WISSLER.
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:
OUTGOING LETTERS, 1925-1955: Box 1
INCOMING LETTERS, 1925-1957: Boxes 2, 3
COLLECTED CORRESPONDENCE USED AS REFERENCES, 1892-1957: Box 3
OFFICE FILE, 1929-1957: Boxes 4, 5, 6, 7
MATERIAL RELATING TO SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL ALASKA, 1926-1927: Box 8
MATERIAL CONCERNING THE COLUMBIA RIVER REGION, 1927-1955: Boxes 8, 9
MANUSCRIPTS AND NOTES ON THE ISLANDS OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC, 1943: Boxes 10, 11, 12, 13
MATERIALS RELATING TO THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, 1942: Box 14
MATERIAL CONCERNING THE WEST INDIES, 1938-1953: Boxes 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
MISCELLANY, 1925-1957: Boxes 20, 21
PRINTED, PROCESSED AND EXTRACTED MATERIAL, 1884-1957: Boxes 22, 23, 24
Herbert William Krieger joined the staff of the United States National Museum's Department of Anthropology as assistant curator of ethnology in 1924, and he became curator of ethnology in 1925. In spite of his position, much of his field work was carried out in archaeology. In 1927, for the Bureau of American Ethnology, he examined the feasibility of restoring Old Kasaan on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, and carried out archaeological reconnaissance along the Columbia River. In the following year, he continued reconnaissance work, first along the middle Yukon River and then, again, along the Columbia. In the former area, he also collected a few random notes on living Athapascan Indians and in both areas he carried out several excavations.
In 1934, for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Public Works Administration, he carried out salvage archaeological work near Bonneville, Oregon. As a pastime, during the 1930s, he carried out reconnaissance along the lower Potomac River. Krieger's major work, however, lay to the south among the problems of Caribbean archeology. Between 1928 and 1937 and from 1947 to 1952, he concerned himself with sites visited by Columbus and attempts to plot areas previously occupied by the Arawak, Carib, and other tribes.
His studies involved examinations of both historic and prehistoric Spanish and Indian settlements in Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, the Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas. Based on these, he published several articles and books, including Archeological and Historical Investigations in Samana, Dominican Republic, United States National Museum Bulletin 156, 1931, and Aboriginal Indian Pottery of the Dominican Republic, United States National Museum Bulletin 156, 1931. He was also a participant in several conferences concerned with the archaeology, ethnology, and history of the Caribbean area.
In addition to his field work and administrative duties as head of the Division of Ethnology, Krieger worked with the Museum's ethnological collections and published several articles based on them. He also became involved in the renovation of the division's public areas so that "the antiquated and overcrowed exhibits should be replaced by modern exhibits in which art and science are blended". Much of the effort for this was carried out by Krieger's associate curator John Canfield Ewers.
Having a special interest in the Philippines and western Oceania that grew from his early service as a teacher in Manila, Krieger also produced studies of the people of the Philippines and the islands of the western Pacific for the Smithsonian's War Backgroud Studies series during World War II. He also worked on a volume "The Islands of New Japan, " but it was never published.
December 8, 1889 -- Born in Burlington, Iowa
1907 -- Bachelor of Arts, Wartburg College, Clinton, Iowa
1908 -- Master of Arts, State University of Iowa, in German and Philosophy
1909-10 -- Fellow, University of Illinois
1911-14 -- Instructor of economics and commercial geography at the School of Commerce, Bureau of Education, Manila, Philippine Islands
1914-20 -- Bank cashier and ranch owner, Granada, Minnesota
1922-24 -- Instructor of Anthropology, University of Minnesota
1924 -- Assistant Curator, Division of Ethnology, U. S. National Museum
1925 -- Curator, Division of Ethnology, U. S. National Museum
1926-27 -- On an expedition to southeast and central Alaska, engaged in the reconstruction and restoration at the Old Kansaan National Monument
1927-35 -- Salvage archaeology along the Columbia River, primarily in the area surrounding the Bonneville Dam prior to its construction for the Department of the Interior
1938-53 -- Investigations in the Caribbean area, primarily the island of Hispaniola, Dominican Republic
1957 -- Retired from the staff of the United States National Museum and made Honorary Research Associate, U. S. N. M.
July 1, 1970 -- Died, Buried in Columbia Gardens Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia
Related Materials:
Additional material in the National Anthropological Archives that relates to Herbert Krieger can be found in the United States National Museum Manuscript and Pamphlet File, as well as among the correspondence files of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Topic:
Houses -- North America -- Africa -- Asia -- South America Search this
The collection consists of copy prints depicting Smithsonian anthropologists, including group portraits of the staff of the United States National Museum Department of Anthropology and mounted individual portraits of department heads in 1904, 1931, 1952, 1959, and 1962. The photographs were possibly made as part of a 1969 event, "The Anthropology of Anthropology, or Everything You Wanted to Know About the Anthropology Department but Didn't Know What to Ask." The announcement for this event is available with the collection.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 39
Reproduction Note:
Copy prints made by the Smithsonian Institution, 1969.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Original negatives for some images are held in the National Anthropological Archives in the BAE historical negatives.
The National Anthropological Archives also holds the Records of the Department of Anthropology.
Additional photographs of Department of Anthropology staff can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 33, Photo Lot 70, Photo Lot 136, Photo Lot 76-127, Photo Lot 77-52, Photo Lot 77-80, Photo Lot 79-51, Photo Lot 80-17, Photo Lot 83-15, and the BAE historical negatives.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Citation:
Photo lot 39, Copies of portraits of Smithsonian anthropologists, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photographs relating to archeology, most of which were made by Bureau of American Ethnology photographers and ethnologists. Much of the collection consists of photographs by Cosmos and Victor Mindeleff of Southwest pueblos. Images depict mounds and excavations (including Grant Mound in Pennsylvania and additional mounds in West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, and elsewhere); Hopi Sipaulovi village; petroglyphs in Wind River, Wyoming; ancient artifacts; Standing Rock; Tohono O'odham Indians; Canyon de Chelly; and Clear Creek. Photographers represented include John K. Hillers; C. H. Bryan of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky; the Mindeleff brothers; Henry Bascom Collins; L. C. Rennick; J. W. Milner; Hattons Studio in Lansing, Michigan; and a drawing by W. A. Rogers.
Collection may contain images of human remains.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 28
Location of Other Archival Materials:
William Dinwiddie photographs documenting Papago Indians, previously filed in Photo Lot 28, have been relocated to National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 89.
Additional Mindeleff photographs can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 4362, Photo Lot 14, Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 40, Photo Lot 78, and the BAE historical negatives.
Additional Hillers photographs can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 14, Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 40, Photo Lot 143, Photo Lot 83-18, Photo Lot 87-2N, Photo Lot 90-1, Photo Lot 92-46, and the BAE historical negatives.
Additional Collins photographs can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 82-23, Photo Lot 86-42, Photo Lot 86-43, and Photo Lot 86-59.
See others in:
Photograph collection relating to archeology, burial mounds, and the Southwest, 1880s-1920s
Photo Lot 28, Bureau of American Ethnology photograph collection relating to archeology and burial mounds, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
