The Flora S. Kaplan collection includes manuscript materials, field notes, slides, negatives and photographs. The extensive slide collection was taken in several regions of Mexico from the mid-to-late 1960's through the early 1980's and documented local craft processes, particularly ceramics, their makers, their families and life styles.
Scope and Contents:
The Flora S. Kaplan collection consists primarily of photographic materials documenting the pottery and pottery techniques of Mexican potters, as well as their families and lifestyles. A small amount of manuscript materials, including field notebooks, accompanied the slides, prints, and negatives which were donated to the National Museum of the American Indian in 2008 and 2009. Although the bulk of the photographs were taken by Flora Kaplan herself, a limited number of images were shot by photographer Sidney Kaplan (no relation). The photographs were taken primarily in the following area: barrios of Puebla de los Angeles (capital of the state of Puebla) (Barrios de la Luz) and the surrounding towns in the Puebla Valley (Acatepec, Santa María Tonantzintla, Amozoc, Cholula, La Acocota, Tepeaca, Izucar de Matamoros, Tecali de Herrera, Acoman, Ocototlan). There are also photographs of potters in the Mexican states of Chiapas (Chamula, Chanal, Amatenango, San Cristobal de las Casas, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapa de Corzo) ; Morelos, Michoacan (Janitzio, Alcoman, Capula, Tzintzuntzan, Morelia, Patzcuaro) ; Oaxaca (San Bartolome Coyotepec, Santa Maria Del Tule) ; Guerrero (Acapulco), Veracruz (Puerto de Veracruz, Minatitlán) ; Mexico (Teotihuacan) and the Distrito Federal (Mexico City).
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in two series; Series 1: Papers, 1952, 1958, 1970-1986 and Series 2: Photographs, 1971-1978, 1988. The Photographs series is then divided into 3 subseries based on material type. Subseries 2A: Slides, 1972-1978, 1988, Subseries 2B: Negatives, 1972-1973, 1977, and Subseries 2C: Silver Gelatin Prints, 1971-1977.
Biographical / Historical:
Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan, anthropologist, is a professor emerita, and former founding director (1978-99) of the Museum Studies Program, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, New York University. She taught Anthropology as a Fulbright professor, (1983-85), University of Benin, Nigeria; and previously taught at Lehman College, CUNY (1970-1976), before arriving at New York University in 1976. She publishes widely on Benin (Nigeria) and on Mexico, museum politics, art, photography, religion and gender. She holds degrees in anthropology from The Graduate Center, CUNY (Ph.D.), and Columbia University (M.A., archaeology). Dr. Kaplan is a former curator of The Brooklyn Museum, New York. She was a research associate at the Museum of the American Indian, (1977-87), and is an associate at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU. She currently co-edits the books series 'Museum Meanings' (Routledge) and has been a Board member of the journal 'Museums & Society' (University of Leicester Press) since 2004.
Books transferred to the NMAI Library:
A Mexican Folk Pottery Tradition: Cognition and Style in Material Culture in the Valley of Puebla by Flora S. Kaplan
Una Tradition Alfarera by Flora S. Kaplan
The Changing Roles of Ceramics in Society: 26,000 B.P. to the Present Edited by W.D. Kingery
Provenance:
This collection was originally donated by Flora S. Kaplan in October of 2008. An additional archival donation was made in December of 2009.
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 broadbast materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Collection Title, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
New York University. Museum Studies Program Search this
Extent:
134 Sound recordings
31.5 Linear feet (72 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Correspondence
Field notes
Place:
Mexico
Benin (Nigeria)
Date:
1951-2012, bulk 1969-2012
Summary:
The Flora S. Kaplan papers document her field work, research, and professional activities from 1951-2012 (bulk 1969-2012) and primarily deal with her work as the director and founder of New York University's Museum Studies program and her field work in Benin and Mexico. The collection consists of correspondence, research files, book files, photographs, sound recordings, ephemera, and writings.
Scope and Contents:
The Flora S. Kaplan papers document her field work, research, and professional activities from 1951-2012 (bulk 1969-2012) and primarily deal with her work as the director and founder of New York University's (NYU) Museum Studies program and her field work in Benin, Nigeria and Mexico. The collection consists of correspondence, research files, book files, photographs, sound recordings, ephemera, and writings.
Series 1. Museum Studies contains material related to the administration of NYU's Museum Studies program, Kaplan's participation in professional societies including ICOM (International Council of Museums), AAA (American Anthropological Association), and ACASA (Arts Council of the African Studies Association), and materials dealing with Kaplan's museum studies publications, especially Museums and the Making of "Ourselves": The Role of Objects in National Identity.
Series 2. Benin (Nigeria) consists of materials related to Kaplan's fieldwork in Benin, Nigeria including her tenure as a Fulbright professor at the University of Benin from 1983-1985 and subsequent books, articles, symposia, correspondence and travels to Benin. This includes letters from friends and business associates in Benin, including extensive correspondence with the Oba of Benin, and field notes that span more than 20 years and include interviews, research, and Kaplan's thoughts on her experiences.
Series 3. Mexico consists of materials related to Kaplan's field work in Mexico in the 1970s and subsequent research and writings. This includes original research in support of Kaplan's doctoral thesis, A Mexican Folk Pottery Tradition: Cognition and Style in Material Culture in the Valley of Puebla.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 3 series: Series 1. Museum studies, 1951-2012, bulk 1970-2012; Series 2. Benin (Nigeria), 1969-2012; Series 3. Mexico, 1957-2007, bulk 1969-1998.
Biographical note:
Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan, anthropologist, is a professor emerita, and founding director (1978-99) of the Museum Studies Program, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, New York University (NYU). She taught Anthropology as a Fulbright professor, (1983-85), University of Benin, Nigeria; and previously taught at Lehman College, CUNY (1970-1976), before arriving at New York University in 1976.
She publishes widely on Benin (Nigeria) and on Mexico, museum politics, art, photography, religion and gender. She holds degrees in anthropology from The Graduate Center, CUNY (Ph.D.), and Columbia University (M.A., archaeology). Dr. Kaplan was on the curatorial staff at the Brooklyn Museum, New York for six years in the Department of Primitive Art and New World Cultures. She was a research associate at the Museum of the American Indian, (1977-87), and was an associate at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU for more than 20 years. She co-edited the book series 'Museum Meanings' (Routledge) from 1997-2010 and has been a Board member of the journal 'Museums & Society' (University of Leicester Press) since 2004.
(Biography courtesy of Flora Kaplan's C.V. in Box 3 of this collection)
Chronology
1930 August 28 -- Flora Kaplan born in New York City
1951 -- B.A. degree, Hunter College: English writing major, Anthropology minor
1951-1954 -- Assistant, The Brooklyn Museum of the City of New York, Department of Primitive Art and New World Cultures
1954-1957 -- Acting Curator, The Brooklyn Museum of the City of New York, Department of Primitive Art and New World Cultures
1958 -- M.A. degree, Columbia University, Anthropology
1970-1976 -- Graduate fellow, lecturer: Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY), Department of Anthropology
1972-1973, 1977 -- Field work, Mexico
1976 -- Ph.D., The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), Social Anthropology
1976-1999 -- Director and founder of the Museum Studies Program, professor of Anthropology, New York University
1977-1987 -- Research associate, Museum of the American Indian
1983-1985 -- Fulbright professor at the University of Benin, Nigeria
1999-present -- Professor emerita of Museum Studies, New York University
Related Materials:
Additional material from Flora S. Kaplan, primarily related to her field work in Mexico, can be located at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Archive Center: Flora S. Kaplan collection, 1965-1989.
Separated Materials:
Two one-half inch video tapes and two 3/4 inch Umatic video tapes were transferred to the Human Studies Film Archive (accession number 2016-008).
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Flora S. Kaplan in 2015.
Restrictions:
The Flora S. Kaplan papers are currently closed to researchers due to donor imposed restrictions. Please contact the NAA for further information.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
The pottery and porcelain of the United States : an historical review of American ceramic art from the earliest times to the present day : to which is appended a chapter on the pottery of Mexico : combined with Marks of American Potters / by Edwin Atlee Barber
Ceramic production in early Hispanic California : craft, economy, and trade on the frontier of New Spain / Russell K. Skowronek, M. James Blackman, and Ronald L. Bishop ; with contributions by Eloise Richards Barter, Julia G. Costello, Glenn Farris, D. Larry Felton, Robert L. Hoover, Michael H. Imwalle, Sarah Peelo, Ruben Reyes, Barbara L. Voss, Jack S. Williams
