Pan-African Congress on Prehistory and Quaternary Studies Search this
University of California, Berkeley -- Faculty Search this
Extent:
100 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides (photographs)
Maps
Place:
Koobi Fora Site (Kenya)
Olorgesailie Site (Kenya)
Africa -- Antiquities
Kenya
Tanzania
Africa
Date:
1954-1997
Summary:
The Glynn Isaac Papers document his lifelong interest in the study of human origins and evolution. A significant portion of the collection consists of files relating to Glynn Isaac's field work at Koobi Fora, Olorgesailie, Lake Natron, and Naivasha/Nakuru (1961-1985). These files contain accession records, catalogs, correspondence, drawings, field notes, grant proposals, lectures, manuscripts, maps, printouts, photographs, publications, reports, and slides. Glynn Isaac's teaching experiences at University of California - Berkeley and Harvard are also well represented with class notes and other teaching materials. His studies at the University of Cape Town and the University of Cambridge are also documented. Among the extensive correspondence files are letters from the members of the Leakey family along with students and colleagues studying hominid development in Africa. The collection also features copies of his lectures and a complete set of his publications including reviews.
Scope and Contents:
The Glynn Isaac Papers document his lifelong interest in the study of human origins and evolution. A significant portion of the collection consists of files relating to Glynn Isaac's field work at Koobi Fora, Olorgesailie, Lake Natron, and Naivasha/Nakuru (1961-1985). These files contain accession records, catalogs, correspondence, drawings, field notes, grant proposals, lectures, manuscripts, maps, printouts, photographs, publications, reports, and slides. Glynn Isaac's teaching experiences at University of California - Berkeley and Harvard are also well represented with class notes and other teaching materials. His studies at the University of Cape Town and the University of Cambridge are also documented. Among the extensive correspondence files are letters from the members of the Leakey family along with students and colleagues studying hominid development in Africa. The collection also features copies of his lectures and a complete set of his publications including reviews.
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:
The Isaac papers are organized into the following series: Koobi Fora Research Project, Olorgesailie Research Project, Naivasha and Nakuru Research Project, Natron Research Project, Early Records (Education), Early Correspondence, Sites/Collections Visited, Experiments, Publications, Unpublished Writings, Lectures and Papers, Symposia and Conferences, Employment and Personal Papers, Teaching Files, Memorials, Correspondence, Slides, B&W Negatives, B&W Prints, and Maps.
Biographical / Historical:
Glynn Llywelyn Isaac was born on November 19, 1937 in Cape Town, South Africa. He attended school in South Africa and England. He earned a B.Sc. in Zoology in Archaeology - Ethnology in 1958 from the University of Cape Town and a B.A. (1961) M.A. (1966) and Ph.D. (1969) from the University of Cambridge. Glynn Isaac received numerous awards and scholarships including the J.S. Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1975-1976).
Glynn Isaac lived and worked in both East Africa and England during his studies at the University of Cambridge. He served as Warden of Prehistoric Sites for the Royal National Parks of Kenya from 1961 to 1962 and as Deputy Director of the National Museum of Kenya, Centre for Prehistory and Paleontology from 1963 to 1965.
Glynn Isaac moved to the United States in 1966 when he joined the faculty of the Department of Anthropology at the University of California - Berkeley. He was invited to be a visiting scholar in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology at the Australian National University in the summer of 1976. Glynn Isaac was the George Grant McCurdy Visiting Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University during the Spring Semester in 1981. Glynn Isaac became a full time Professor of Anthropology at Harvard in 1983. Glynn Isaac died in 1985.
Glynn Isaac specialized in archaeological studies of early hominid adaptation. His major field work took place at Lake Natron in Tanzania, Olorgesailie, Naivasha/Nakuru, and Koobi Fora in Kenya. The Koobi Fora work was funded by a series of National Science Foundation grants. Glynn Isaac's wife, Barbara was an active collaborator in his work. She made many of the pencil drawings in the collection and served as co-editor of his posthumous publication on Koobi Fora. Isaac's contributions to the study of the paleolithic include work on the theory of typology, the studies of artefact form and function, and his pioneering work in site formation and interpretation.
Provenance:
Barbara Isaac donated the Glynn Ll. Isaac Papers to the National Anthropological Archives in 2001 and 2002. A Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program Grant enabled Barbara Isaac to rehouse the collection and to prepare an initial version of this register. In 2009, Barbara Isaac donated Glenn Isaac's 1972 field journal from his research in East Rudolf.
Restrictions:
The Glynn Ll. Isaac papers are open for research.
The correspondence files in the Glynn Ll. Isaac papers are closed until 2025. Individuals needing access to these materials may apply for an exception from the donor, Barbara Isaac.
Access to the Glynn Ll. Isaac papers requires an appointment.
