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
MS 3941 Materials assembled by Hewitt for preparation of articles in Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30 and for replies to inquires from the public
Collector:
Hewitt, J. N. B. (John Napoleon Brinton), 1859-1937 Search this
Indians of North America -- Southern States Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Calendars
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Contents: Adirondack tribe (St Lawrence River) Old Manuscript Number 3553. Adoption Old Manuscript Number 4007. Refers to Algonquian method of counting -only; see Haas note 2/18/72; Old Manuscript Number 3864. "Alligewi"; Animism Old Manuscript Number 3867 and 2842-c, box 6. Blood Indians, origin of name; Brant, Joseph Old Manuscript Number 3874. Chippewa, origin of name Old Manuscript Number 3646. Chiefs, function and significance of Old Manuscript Number 2842-c, box 6. Delaware tribe, New Jersey area claimed by Old Manuscript Number 3866. Detroit River, tribes near; Ekaentoton Island-- see Ste. Marie Island Environment (Bulletin 30 draft by O. T. Mason) Old Manuscript Number 4007. Erie, origin of name Old Manuscript Number 3646. Erie and Black Mincqua tribes Old Manuscript Number 3586. [Eskimo] Arctic tribes, leaving elderly and sick people to die Old Manuscript Number 3668. Family, Bulletin 30 draft and notes Old Manuscript Number 4011 and 2842-c, box 6. Grand River (Tinaatoua), name of; Hebrew calendar; Hewitt, list of Bulletin 30 articles by Old Manuscript Number 4066. Hoboken, origin of name; Iroquois, "On the Northern and Eastern Territorial Limits of the Iroquoian people, in the 16th Century," and Algonquian tribes, at Chaleur Bay. Iroquois at Gulf of St Lawrence and Bay of Gaspe Old Manuscript Number 3625.
Iroquois, location of Six Nations tribes reservations Old Manuscript Number 3763. Iroquois false face; Iroquois preparation of corn ("as food") Old Manuscript Number 4009. Iroquoian early dress Old Manuscript Number 3660. Iroquoian "Gachoi" tribe, identity of (Correspondence with F. Bogaskie.) Old Manuscript Number 3816. Iroquoian moon names and concept of time; Iroquoian social organization, and place name-name origins; "Man," Iroquoian term for Old Manuscript Number 3781. Iroquoian towns Old Manuscript Number 4006. Kentucky, meaning of the word; Kentucky, origin of name Old Manuscript Number 3840. Lenni Lenape, meaning of the word; Logstown-- see Shenango Old Manuscript Number 3773. Lost Ten Tribes as American Indians Old Manuscript Number 3670. Mayan linguistic family and other Mayan linguistic notes including Quiche and Tepehuanan notes Old Manuscript Number 3473. Mexico: idols, sacrifices, etc. Old Manuscript Number 3807. Mexico: Indian languages. Letter from Captain W.E.W. MacKinley Old Manuscript Number 3778. Missouri, Indian village, location of Old Manuscript Number 3944. Mohawk land near Lake Champlain; Mohawk grammar; Montour family, notes for Bulletin 30 Old Manuscript Number 3812. Muskhogean social organization. Letter from J. J. Harrison. Old Manuscript Number 3891. New England tribes Old Manuscript Number 3513.
Niagara, origin of name; "Old Smoke"-- see Sayenqueraghta Old Manuscript Number 3949. Onondaga tribe, text of memorial inscription to, and correspondence Old Manuscript 4391 and 4271- box 1 (part.) Ontwaganha or Toaganha, origin and meaning of name Old Manuscript Number 3864. Owego, meaning of town's name; Pekwanoket tribe (Cape Cod); Pemaquid, Abnaki word and its origin Old Manuscript Number 89. Piasa bird- pictograph formerly near present Alton, Illinois. Article is similar to that by Cyrus Thomas, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. Old Manuscript Number 3981. Potawatomi, notes on the name Old Manuscript Number 4034. Potawatomi Green Corn Dance; Roanoke, origin of name Old Manuscript Number 3998. Sacagawea, spelling of; St Ignace, 3 settlements (Michigan); St Marie Island or Ekaentoton Island; Sauk, Bulletin 30 article and galley proof, notes Old Manuscript Number 3764. Sayenqueraghta or "Old Smoke" (correspondence with Alanson Skinner) Old Manuscript Number 3949. Scalping Old Manuscript Number 4025. Shenango and Logstown Old Manuscript Number 3773. Sioux, origin of name Old Manuscript Number 3624. Society of American Indians, resolutions by thanking General Hugh L. Scott, Fr. Anselm Webber and others Old Manuscript Number 3868. Susquehanna, origin of name Old Manuscript Number 3707. Tacoma, origin of name Old Manuscript Number 3470.
Thunderbird, notes on Old Manuscript Number 3552. Tinaatoa-- see Grand River; Toronto, origin of name; Tuscarora villages Old Manuscript Number 3998. Wampum Old Manuscript Number 3998. War club with inscription; West Virginia panhandle tribes Old Manuscript Number 3945. Williams, Eleazer Old Manuscript Number 3998. Women, status of Old Manuscript Number 3566. Wyandots (Huron) List of tribes of which Wyandots of today are constituted. Old Manuscript Number 3774.
Photographs collected by Willis G. Tilton, a dealer in artifacts and photographs relating to Native Americans. Many of the photographs were made by Field Columbian Museum photographer Charles Carpenter at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904; many others were created by various photographers for Field Museum publications. Notable subjects include Big Foot, dead in the snow at the Wounded Knee battlefield; Arapaho and Cheyenne social dances; Hopi ceremonies; a reenactment of the shooting of Sitting Bull; Sun Dances (Arapaho, Assiniboin, Gros Ventre, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Ponca); and views of the United States Indian School Building and Pawnee people at the the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. Other photographs include portraits and images of artifacts, basket weaving, cradles, dress, dwelling, tipis and other dwellings, and tree burials. There are also some photographs of Henry Field's expedition to Iraq in 1934 (Field museum anthropological expedition to the Near East), work elephants in Burma, Pipestone Quarry in Minnesota, a church in the Yucatan, and a rickshaw and cart in Ceylon.
Biographical/Historical note:
Willis G. Tilton was a dealer and owner of the store, Tilton Indian Relics, in Topeka, Kansas.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 89-8, NAA Photo Lot 135
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photographs in the Tilton Collection, previously filed in Photo Lot 135, have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 89-8. These photographs were also purchased by the Bureau of American Ethnology from Willis G. Tilton and form part of this collection.
Associated photographs still held in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
Most photographs included in the card catalog of copy negatives and in the reference file prints by tribe.
Additional photographs by Dorsey held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4721 and Photo Lot 24.
Correspondence from Dorsey held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4821, records of the Bureau of American Ethnology, the J.C. Pilling Papers, and the Ales Hrdlicka Papers.
Additional photographs by Nelson held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 171, Photo Lot 133, Photo Lot 24, and the BAE historical negatives.
Additional Maude photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 90-1 and Photo Lot 24.
Additional E. E. Hall photographs held in National Anthropological Archives MS 4978 and Photo Lot 24.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds Nelson's field reports (SIA Acc. 97-123) and the Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection (SIA RU007364).
See others in:
Willis G. Tilton photograph collection of American Indians, circa 1880-1930 (bulk 1899-1904)
Most of Ruth Landes's papers relate directly or indirectly to Landes's American Indian research, her work in Brazil, and her study of bilingualism. There is also a considerable amount of material that relates to her experiences (sometimes fictionalized) at Fisk University. There is only small amount of material related to her other interests. Her collection also has material of and relating to the Brazilian folklorist and journalist Edison Carneiro. There is also noteworthy material concerning Herbert Baldus, Ruth Benedict, Elmer C. Imes, Charles S. Johnson, and Robert E. Park. There is a large amount of printed and processed materials in the collection, mainly in the form of newspaper clippings and a collection of scholarly papers.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is mainly comprised of the professional papers of Ruth Schlossberg Landes. Included are correspondence, journals, published and unpublished manuscripts of writings, research materials including field notes and reading notes, photographs, drawings, scholarly papers and publications by other scholars, and clippings from newspapers and periodicals.
Landes's field research on Candomblé in Brazil is well-represented in this collection, consisting of her field journals, writings, and photographs. Also present are Maggie Wilson's stories that were the basis for Landes's The Ojibwa Woman. Unfortunately, Landes was unable to locate her journals for her early research with the Ojibwa/Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Dakota. There are, however, field photographs of the Ojibwa/Chippewa and Potawatomi in the collection. There is also a great deal of her research on groups, especially minorities, in multilingual states with particular focus on the French of Quebec, Basques of Spain and the United States, Boers and Blacks of South Africa, the several socio-linguistic groups of Switzerland, and Acadians (Cajuns) of Louisiana. In the collection are several drafts of her unpublished manuscript on bilingualism, "Tongues that Defy the State." There is also a small amount of material about Black Jews of New York and considerable material about Landes's experience among African Americans when she taught briefly at Fisk University, including her unpublished manuscript "Now, at Athens," containing fictional and autobiographical accounts of her time at Fisk.
Reflections of other facets of Landes's professional activities are also included. Some materials concern her teaching activities, and there is also documentation of her work with the Fair Employment Practices Commission (a federal government agency during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt) and a similar private organization which immediately succeeded the FEPA; Gunnar Myrdal's research into the plight of African Americans ("The Negro in America"); the Research in Contemporary Cultures project at Columbia University; and the American Jewish Congress.
Among Landes's correspondents are Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Ralph Bunche, Herbert Baldus, Edison Carneiro, Sally Chilver, Frances Densmore, Sol Tax, Elmer S. Imes, Charles S. Johnson, Robert E. Park, and Hendrik W. van der Merwe.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 6 series: (1) Correspondence, 1931-1991; (2) Research Materials, circa 1930s-1990; (3) Writings, circa 1930s-1990; (4) Teaching Materials, 1935-1975, undated; (5) Biographical and Personal Files, 1928-1988; (6) Graphic Materials, 1933-1978, undated
Biographical Note:
Ruth Schlossberg Landes was born on October 8, 1908 in New York City. Her father was Joseph Schlossberg, an activist in the Yiddish labor socialist community and one of the founders of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. She studied sociology at New York University (B.A. 1928) and social work at the New York School of Social Work, Columbia University (M.S.W. 1929). While in graduate school, Landes studied Black Jews in Harlem for her master's thesis, a topic that developed her interests in anthropology.
After graduating in 1929, she worked as a social worker in Harlem and married Victor Landes, a medical student and son of family friends. Their marriage ended after two years when she enrolled in the doctoral program in anthropology at Columbia against her husband's wishes. She kept his surname due to the stigma of being a divorced woman.
At Columbia, Landes studied under Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict, her main advisor. Under the guidance of Benedict, Landes moved away from further study of African Americans to focus on Native American communities. Upon Benedict's suggestion, Landes studied the social organization of the Ojibwa in Manitou Rapids in Ontario from 1932 to 1936 for her Ph.D. fieldwork. Her dissertation, Ojibwa Sociology, was published in 1937. Landes also contributed "The Ojibwa of Canada" in Cooperation and Competition among Primitive Peoples (1937), a volume edited by Margaret Mead. In 1938, Landes published Ojibwa Women (1938), a book written in collaboration with Maggie Wilson, an Ojibwa interpreter and informant.
In addition to studying the Ojibwa in Ontario, Landes also conducted fieldwork with the Chippewa of Red Lake, Minnesota in 1933, working closely with shaman or midé Will Rogers. Her book, Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin (1968) was based largely on her research with Rogers and Maggie Wilson. In 1935 and 1936, she undertook fieldwork with the Santee Dakota in Minnesota and the Potawatomi in Kansas. Like Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin, her books on the Santee Dakota and Potawatomi were not published until several years later—The Mystic Lake Sioux: Sociology of the Mdewakantonwan Sioux was published in 1968 while The Prairie Potawatomi was published in 1970. In between her field research in the 1930s and the publication of The Prairie Potawatomi, Landes returned to Kansas to study the Potawatomi in the 1950s and 1960s.
Landes's plan to continue her studies with the Potawatomi in 1937 changed when Benedict invited her to join a team of researchers from Columbia University in Brazil. Landes was to conduct research on Afro-Brazilians in Bahia, Brazil, while Walter Lipkind, Buell Quain, and Charles Wagley studied indigenous people in the Amazons. To prepare for her research, Landes was at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1937 and 1938 to consult with Robert Park and Donald Pierson and to use the university's library collections of African and African American materials. During that time, Landes also held a teaching position at Fisk and lived in the non-segregated women's residence on campus. Landes later wrote "Now, at Athens," an unpublished memoir containing fictional and true accounts of her experiences at Fisk.
From 1938 to 1939, Landes conducted fieldwork on the role of Afro-Brazilian women and homosexuals in the Candomblé religion in Bahia, Brazil. Unable to move freely by herself in Brazil as a single woman, Landes was accompanied by Edison Carneiro, a Bahian journalist and folklorist. With Carneiro as her companion, Landes was allowed access to rituals and people that would have been closed off to her otherwise. Due to her association with Carneiro, a member of the Brazilian Communist Party, Landes was suspected of being a communist and was forced to leave Bahia early. Publications from her research in Brazil include "A Cult Matriarchate and Male Homosexuality" (1940) and City of Women (1947). She returned to Brazil in 1966 to study the effects of urban development in Rio de Janeiro. In 1967, a Portuguese translation of City of Women was published, a project that Carneiro had commissioned as the first director of the Ministry of Education and Culture's Special National Agency for the Protection of Folklore.
Landes returned to New York in 1939, working briefly as a researcher for Gunnar Myrdal's study of African Americans. Unable to obtain a permanent position at a university, she worked in several other short term positions throughout most of her career. During World War II, Landes was a research director for the Office of the Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs (1941) and consultant for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fair Employment Practices Committee on African American and Mexican American cases (1941-44). In 1945, Landes directed a program created by Pearl S. Buck and a group of interdenominational clergy to analyze pending New York anti-discrimination legislation. She moved to California the following year to work for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Welfare Council on a study of race and youth gangs. After her contract ended, she moved back to New York and was hired as a contract researcher for the American Jewish Congress (1948-50). She also participated in Columbia University's Research in Contemporary Cultures (1949-51), studying Jewish families. She coauthored with Mark Zborowski, "Hypothesis concerning the Eastern European Jewish Family." From 1951 to 1952, Landes spent a year in London, funded by a Fulbright fellowship to study colored colonial immigrants and race relations in Great Britain.
After her fellowship ended, Landes returned to the United States and held short term appointments at several universities. She taught at the William Alanson White Psychiatric Institution in New York (1953-54), the New School for Social Research in New York (1953-55), University of Kansas (1957, 1964), University of Southern California (1957-62), Columbia University (1963), Los Angeles State College (1963), and Tulane University (1964). At Claremont Graduate School, Landes helped to develop and direct the Claremont Anthropology and Education Program (1959-62).
It was not until 1965 that Landes obtained a permanent faculty position at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario; she was recruited for the position by Richard Slobodin. Due to Ontario's age retirement law, Landes was forced to retire in 1973 at the age of 65. She continued to teach part-time until 1977, when she became professor emerita.
Landes passed away at the age of 82 on February 11, 1991.
Sources Consulted
Cole, Sally. 2003. Ruth Landes: A Life in Anthropology. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
Chronology
1908 October 8 -- Born Ruth Schlossberg in New York City
1928 -- B.A. in sociology, New York University
1929 -- M.S.W., New York School of Social Work, Columbia University
1929-1931 -- Social worker in Harlem Married to Victor Landes
1929-1934 -- Studied Black Jews in Harlem
1931 -- Began graduate work in anthropology at Columbia University
1932-1936 -- Studied the Ojibwa in Ontario and Minnesota (in field periodically)
1933-1940 -- Research Fellow, Columbia University
1935 Summer-Fall -- Studied the Santee Sioux (Dakota) in Minnesota
1935-1936 -- Studied the Potawatomi in Kansas
1935 -- Ph.D., Columbia University
1937 -- Instructor, Brooklyn College
1937-1938 -- Instructor, Fisk University
1938-1939 -- Studied Afro-Brazilians and Candomblé in Brazil, especially at Bahia
1939 -- Researcher on Gunnar Myrdal's study, "The Negro in America"
1941 -- Research Director, Office of Inter American Affairs, Washington, D.C.
1941-1945 -- Representative for Negro and Mexican American Affairs, Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), President Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration
1944 -- Interim Director, Committee Against Racial Discrimination, New York
1946-1947 -- Researcher, study of Mexican American youth, gangs, and families, Los Angeles Metropolitan Council
1948-1951 -- Researcher, American Jewish Congress, New York
1949-1951 -- Research consultant, study on Jewish families in New York for Research in Contemporary Cultures Project, Columbia University
1951-1952 -- Fulbright Scholar, to study colored colonial immigration into Great Britain
1953-1954 -- Lecturer, William Alanson White Psychiatric Institution, New York
1953-1955 -- Lecturer, New School for Social Research, New York
1956-1957 -- Married to Ignacio Lutero Lopez
1957 Summer -- Visiting Professor, University of Kansas
1957-1958 -- Visiting Professor, University of Southern California
1957-1965 -- Consultant, California agencies (Department of Social Work, Bureau of Mental Hygiene, Department of Education, Public Health Department) and San Francisco Police Department
1958-1959 -- Director, Geriatrics Program, Los Angeles City Health Department
1959-1962 -- Visiting Professor and Director of Anthropology and Education Program, Claremont Graduate School
1962 -- Extension Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley
1963 -- Extension Lecturer, Columbia University Extension Lecturer, Los Angeles State College
1963-1965 -- Consultant, International Business Machines (IBM)
1964 January-June -- Visiting Professor, Tulane University
1964 Summer -- Field work with Potawatomi in Kansas Professor, University of Kansas
1965-1975 -- Professor at McMaster University
1966 -- Studied urban development in Rio de Janeiro
1968-1975 -- Studied bilingualism and biculturalism in Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, United States, and Canada (in Spain and the United States concentrated on Basques)
1975 -- Became part-time faculty member at McMaster University
1977 -- Professor Emerita, McMaster University
1978 -- Award of Merit from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
1991 February 11 -- Died in Hamilton, Ontario
1991 -- Establishment of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund at Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM)
Related Materials:
Correspondence from Ruth Landes can be found in the William Duncan Strong Papers, the Leonard Bloomfield Papers, and MS 7369. The Ruth Bunzel Papers contains a copy of a grant application by Landes.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Ruth Landes in 1991.
Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.
The Philleo Nash papers attest to Nash's interest in anthropology, not only research and teaching but also in its application to public service. His papers can be separated into four main areas: undergraduate and graduate education, research, teaching, and public service. Files contain class notes from Nash's undergraduate and graduate studies as well as papers by well-known professors lecturing at the University of Chicago including Ralph Linton, Robert Redfield, and R.A. Radcliffe-Brown. The bulk of his research was conducted in the Pacific Northwest where he studied the Klamath-Modoc culture on the reservation, focusing on revivalism and socio-political organization (1935-1937). Other research included archeology at two sites, a study of the Toronto Jewish community, and a continuing interest in minority issues. Nash taugh at the University of Toronto (1937- 1941) and at American University in Washington, D.C. (1971-1977). Teaching files contain lecture notes from his work at the University of Toronto. Public service files include correspondence from the period when he was Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin (1959-1961) as well as reports and photos from the years as Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1961-1966). Other public service and business positions are not represented in these files.
Scope and Contents:
The Philleo Nash Papers attest to Nash's interest in anthropology, not only research and teaching but also in its application to public service. His papers can be separated into four main areas: undergraduate and graduate education, research, teaching, and public service. Files contain class notes from Nash's undergraduate and graduate studies as well as papers by well-known professors lecturing at the University of Chicago including Ralph Linton, Robert Redfield, and R.A. Radcliffe-Brown. The bulk of his research was conducted in the Pacific Northwest where he studied the Klamath-Modoc culture on the reservation, focusing on revivalism and socio-political organization (1935-1937). Other research included archeology at two sites, a study of the Toronto Jewish community, and a continuing interest in minority issues. Nash taugh at the University of Toronto (1937-1941) and at American University in Washington, D.C. (1971-1977). Teaching files contain lecture notes from his work at the University of Toronto. Public service files include correspondence from the period when he was Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin (1959-1961) as well as reports and photos from the years as Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1961-1966). Other public service and business positions are not represented in these files.
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.
Philleo Nash was born on October 25, 1909, in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. He studied at the University of Wisconsin, taking a year off to study music at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. On his return to the University of Wisconsin, Nash completed his undergraduate degree in anthropology (1932) and went on to the University of Chicago for a Ph.D. in anthropology (1937). His doctoral dissertation explored the concepts of revivalism and social change with a focus on the Klamath Ghost Dance activities of the 1870s.
Nash held positions in teaching as well as in government and his family business. He was a lecturer in anthropology at the University of Toronto (1937-1941). He also lectured at the University of Wisconsin (1941-1942) and at American University in Washington, D.C. (1971-1977).
From 1942 to 1953, Nash served in various positions in the federal government, first in the Office of War Information and later as Assistant to President Truman, focusing on minority affairs and as liaison to the Department of the Interior. During this period in Washington, Nash also acted as President of the Georgetown Day School (1945-1952), where he was one of the founders of this racially integrated cooperative school. In 1953, Nash returned to Wisconsin where his interest in politics continued, and he became Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1959 to 1961. In 1961, he returned to Washington, DC as U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a position he held until 1966.
Following his work as Commissioner, Nash remained in Washington where he acted as a consultant in applied anthropology and held offices in various associations including hte Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA), the American Anthropological Association (AAA), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). During all the years of professional responsibilities, Nash also held positions in the family business, Biron Cranberry Company. He returned to Wisconsin in 1977 to be President and Manager of the Company.
Throughout his life Nash was active in various associations for science and anthropology. He was awarded the AAA's Distinguished Service Award in 1984. In 1986, the SfAA presented him with the Bronislaw Malinowski Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship and long term commitment in applying the social sciences to contemporary issues.
Philleo Nash died in 1987. Some years before his death Nash sent his archaeological research material from the Pound Village Site (1938-1939) to Toronto and his research material from the DuBay Village Site (1940) to the Milwaukee Public Museum. According to the terms of his will, his government and political papers are housed at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.
Reference: Landman, Ruth H. and Katherine S. Halpern (eds.). Applied Anthropologist and Public Servant: the Life and Work of Philleo Nash. NAPA Bulletin #7. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association, 1989.
Related Materials:
According to the terms of his will, Nash's government and political papers are housed at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.
Restrictions:
The Philleo Nash papers are open for research.
Access to the Philleo Nash papers requires an appointment.
National Film and Sound Archive (Australia) Search this
Extent:
Film reels (10 minutes 15 seconds, black-and-white silent)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1918
Scope and Contents:
Edited film documents a typical day in the life of Skaguay, Alaska. Scenes include the Public Gardens, Huandusky Village, native Alaskans, children racing, an artist drawing a scene of Skaguay from memory, Pitchfork Falls, the grave of the man who shot "Soapy" Smith, and environmental images of flowers and fruit.
Legacy Keywords: Animals dogs Alaska ; Exhibitions parades Alaska ; Social organizations Elks Club Alaska ; Games racing Alaska ; Plants flowers dahlias Alaska ; Transportation automobiles Alaska ; Transportation sleds dog teams Alaska ; Alaska ; Skaguay, Skagway ; North America; Americans ; Eskimos ; Arctic peoples ; Indians of North America Subarctic
Local Number:
HSFA 1994.14.5
Collection 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.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
National Film and Sound Archive of Australia films, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
101 Social Dance Songs: Northern Plains, Navajo, Maliseet / Crying Woman Singers, Sweethearts of Navajoland, Wabunoag Singers. Drum,Water-drum.
102 Ceremonial and Social Songs: Yupik, Pomo, Kiowa / Bernice Torres, Dorothy Whitehorse DeLaune, Elena Charles. Hand drums,Rattle (Musical instrument).
Local Numbers:
FP-1995-CT-0513
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 23, 1995.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Ceremonial and Social Songs: Yupik, Pomo, Kiowa / Bernice Torres, Dorothy Whitehorse DeLaune, Mary Stachelrodt. Hand drums,Rattle (Musical instrument).
102 Mohawk Singer-Songwriter: ElizaBeth Hill / Elizabeth Hill. Guitar.
Local Numbers:
FP-1995-CT-0514
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 23, 1995.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Ceremonial and Social Songs: Yupik, Pomo, Maliseet, Plains Big Drum / Little River Singers, Pomo & Yupik Singers, Wabunoag Singers. Drum,Hand drums,Water-drum,Rattle (Musical instrument).
102 Mohawk Singer-Songwriter: ElizaBeth Hill / Elizabeth Hill. Guitar.
Local Numbers:
FP-1995-CT-0518
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 24, 1995.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Ceremonial and Social Songs: Pomo, Kiowa, Yupik / Bernice Torres, Dorothy Whitehorse DeLaune, Elena Charles. Hand drums,Rattle (Musical instrument).
102 Navajo Singers / Sweethearts of Navajoland, Geraldine Barney. Water-drum,Guitar.
Local Numbers:
FP-1995-CT-0522
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 26, 1995.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Storysongs: Seminole and Makah / Betty Mae Jumper, Melissa Peterson, Samantha Della. Hand drums,Rattle (Musical instrument).
102 Social Dance Songs: Navajo, Northern Plains, Maliseet / Crying Woman Singers, Sweethearts of Navajoland, Wabunoag Singers. Hand drums,Drum,Water-drum.
103 California to Alaska: Pomo, Makah, Yupik / Melissa Peterson, Bernice Torres, Mary Stachelrodt. Hand drums,Rattle (Musical instrument).
Local Numbers:
FP-1995-CT-0524
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 26, 1995.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
The 1984 Alaska program offered an opportunity to reflect upon the Smithsonian's involvement with that State. For more than a century, the Institution had devoted a large part of its scholarly effort to the documentation and preservation of the deep and varied cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, including Alaska Natives. The Alaska program also included representatives of occupations whose labor and cultural expression shaped that State in a profound way.
Among Alaska Natives, the old ways, the indigenous arts, reflect long experience in a place. Alaska's traditional Native arts are tremendously varied and rich with meaning, and they are inseparable from Native values - especially a sense of the relatedness of all things - closely tied to the use of local materials, and dependent upon the seasonal rounds of subsistence activities. While traditional materials, processes, and designs are evident in much of the material culture of Alaska's Native people, change is also evident. Power tools and sewing machines shorten and ease tasks. New materials replace old, sometimes by choice, sometimes by economic necessity (beadwork is now often done on felt because a single tanned moosehide may cost four or five hundred dollars), and sometimes because new and complex regulations make access to some materials, such as birchbark, difficult. In addition, side by side with the traditional artists, a generation of contemporary artists are creating new idioms for Native art. Among Eskimos, Indians and Aleuts, art has not been seen as a separate category of life or as an inventory of certain objects, but rather as a part of life. It expresses the relatedness of everything in the natural world, the social world, and the spiritual world.
The Native people of Alaska refer to themselves as "the people." "Yupik" means "real person" and "Tlingit" means "human". The oral traditions of all Alaska Natives teach the individual how to be human - to know who one is and how one fits into society and the cosmos. The categories of sacred and profane are perceived in a very different way than in the secular mainstream American world view. Stories and songs allude to each other; both record history, and are often reflected in visual arts, such as Chilkat robes, masks, carved dance headdresses and helmets. Yupik dancing, to take one example, is as vital today as ever in the delta region. Men and women continue to dance to the steady rhythm of the hooped drum, traditionally said to represent the beating heart of the spirits as well as the lively movements of the spirits of men and game over the thin surface of the earth.
Alaskan occupational traditions give meaning to the world of work. Through these traditions, workers know the history and development of their occupation, share similar feelings about remembered events and people, and learn from the skills and knowledge of experienced hands. Occupational cultures, especially the selected Alaskan traditions presented at the 1984 Festival, also have a second side to them - an outside, in the sense that they have symbolic or heroic meaning for outsiders. The romantic image of the gold miner, the logger, the fisherman and the bush pilot have peopled the popular and literary imagination as symbols of the epic confrontation between society and nature. For Alaskan workers themselves, however, occupational life has more to do with productivity, safety and cameraderie, even though the Alaskan land and sea they earn their living from is, for them and us, among the most dramatically beautiful and valuable on earth.
The 1984 Festival offered visitors the opportunity to encounter the varied traditions of Alaska, with a sizable contingent of Alaska Natives, a glacier transported to the National Mall, and the chance to see its natural bounty - especially fish - transformed into delicious meals.
The Alaska program was made possible by the State of Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development through its Division of Tourism and the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Additional funding was made available through private and corporate donations.
Larry Deemer served as Alaska Program Coordinator and Suzi Jones, as Consultant.
Fieldworkers:
Suzi Jones, Jens Lund, Bob McCarl, Peter Seitel, Chuck Smythe
Presenters:
George Charles, Julie Folta, Suzi Jones, Anna Katzeek, Jens Lund, Sue Manos, Bob McCarl, Barry Lee Pearson, Jack Santino, Velma Wallis
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1984 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Writings, art work, miscellaneous items, and photographs were received from the Estate of Sally Kent Gorton in 2001. Although not physically integrated with the main portion of the collection, this addition to the Rockwell Kent papers is described with the appropriate series in the online edition of the finding aid.
Writings consist of Kent's continuation of his autobiography It's Me, O Lord! (1995). The unpublished 185 page manuscript written between 1955 and 1971 recounts the artist's travels, exhibitions, and political activities during the 1950s and 1960s. Among the art work there are many drawings and sketches in pencil and ink, of miscellaneous subjects and various projects circa 1920-1939 including figure studies, landscapes and illustrations for various books by Kent. Also included are a color lithograph study for a war poster, circa 1941, and Kent's 1968 costume and set designs for Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes, along with a recording of Peter Grimes and its libretto. Photographs of people include formal and informal portraits of Rockwell Kent, Kent with others, and each of his wives; other individuals portrayed are Ted R. Lambert and Eugene Vuchatich. Other subjects include views of Asgaard Farm, the rebuilt Kent house at AuSable Forks, NY, and Kent's grave.
Kent presented the manuscripts for most of his books to the USSR, along with the Kent Collection. Included in this series are drafts, notes, and completed manuscripts for monographs, articles, speeches, book reviews, catalog texts and introductory essays, and miscellaneous writings (often unidentified) by Kent. Manuscripts are arranged chronologically, with undated items arranged alphabetically by title. Also included at the end of the series are a small number of manuscripts by other authors.
The unpublished continuation of Kent's autobiography It's Me, O Lord! was received from the estate of his widow, Sally Kent Gorton, 2001.
See Appendix for an itemized list of writings from Series 2.
Arrangement note:
The bulk of this series has been scanned. Poems and political statements written by other authors have not been scanned.
Appendix: Writings from Series 2:
Writings by Rockwell Kent"Men as Animals," 1906-1912
"The False Life," 1906-1912
"True Life," 1906-1912
"A Tragedy of Newfoundland," 1914 (with 1961 revision)
"Alaska Drawings by Rockwell Kent, With a letter from Rockwell Kent to Christian Brinton, M. Knoedler & Co.," 1919
"Greenland for the Painters," 1919
"Art," 1919
"The Tierra del Fuego Journal of Rockwell Kent," 1922
"Voyaging," 1924
"Tristan and Iseult," 1927
"George W. Bellows: His Lithography," 1927
"A Social Evolutionist's View of the War," 1928
Introduction to book about Patagonia, 1931
"Alias Kent by Hogarth, Jr.." 1933
"Rockwellkentiana," 1933
Greenland journal in the form of letters to Frances, 1934-1935
"What Is an American?," 1936
"In the Name of the Great Jehovah," 1936
Van Loon Review, 1937
"What Is an American?" (revised version), 1938
"People's Platform," 1938
"Good Old Loyalty," 1938
"Original Etchings, Lithographs and Woodcuts by American Artists published by the American Artists Group, Inc." (review), 1938
"Introduction by Rockwell Kent to 'Story of the White Collar Worker' by Giacomo Patri," 1940
Introduction to "Portinari and His Art," 1940
"Rockwell Kent: A Short Autobiography," 1940
"Rockwell Kent at Bookshop," 1940
"Statement by Rockwell Kent," 1940
"Introduction to Book on the Work of Candido Portinari," 1940
"Louis Untermeyer," 1940
Love poem to Sally (untitled, illustrated), 1940
"Outline of Address Delivered by Rockwell Kent," 1940
"To Louis and Esther" (poem), 1940
"Christmas 1940" (poem), 1940
"Review of -- Kabloona -- by Gontran de Poncins," 1941
"Portion of Address for Delivery June 5th at National Conference of Social Work, by Rockwell Kent," 1941
"Radio Address, by Rockwell Kent, to Be Delivered at Progressive Librarians Council Broadcast, Sunday, June 22nd," 1941
"Statement on Nazi-Soviet War, by Rockwell Kent," 1941
" 'The Intent of the Artist,' reviewed by Rockwell Kent," 1941
"A Northern Christmas," 1941
"Outline of Address for Fourth American Writers Congress," 1941
"Editorial for -- Junior Guide -- of International Workers Order," 1941
"Introduction to Book-Plate Catalog," 1941
"Article for Adirondack Mountain Club, Inc. Year Book," 1941
"Introduction for Catalog of American Library of Color Slides," 1941
"Statement for American Council on Soviet Relations," 1941
"To Sally" (illustrated poem), 1941
"Article for UOPWA News," 1942
"Introduction to Catalog of Rockwell Kent Exhibition at the Wildenstein Galleries," 1942
"Tierra del Fuego," 1942
Article for -- Script -- , 1942
"Introduction to Democracy," 1942
"Statement for Use of Artists League of America," 1942
"Introduction by Rockwell Kent to 'Silk Screen Stenciling as a Fine Art,'" 1942
"On Earth Peace," 1942
"Foreword by Rockwell Kent to -- American Pioneer Arts & Artists -- by Carl Drepperd," 1942
"Article for Use of American Russian Cultural Association Inc. in -- Novosselye -- ," 1942
"WQXR Broadcast 'Other Peoples's Business Program,'" 1943
"Article for Use of the Alumni of the Columbia School of Architecture," 1943
"Art and the People," 1943
"Article for AAA News," 1943
"Statement to AP, UP, -- Herald Tribune, Times, Daily Worker -- on Death of Art Young," 1943
"To Sally" (poem), 1943
"Statement by Rockwell Kent, Famous Landscape and Figure Painter and Wood Engraver, on the Presentation of His Mural-- -- Airplane View of America at Peace-- -- to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce"
"Article on Art Young, For Use of -- New Masses -- Memorial Number," 1944
"Article for Use of the American Artists Group," 1944
"Memorandum on the Proposed Organization for the Publication of Reproductions of American Art," 1944
" -- Arctic Fish Story -- by Otto Wm. Geist" (book review), 1944
"Article for Use of -- Tomorrow -- ," 1944
"Review of -- Horizon Is Calling -- by Taro Yashima," 1944
"Opening Address, Seventh General Convention, IWO," 1944
Obituary of mother, Sarah Holgate Kent, 1944
"Statement for Use of Philadelphia Council of American-Soviet Friendship," 1944
"To Voters of the Thirty-Third New York Congressional District," 1944
"Introduction ALA Fourth Annual Exhibition Catalog," 1944
"Introduction by Rockwell Kent, -- Drawings by American Artists -- ," 1944
" -- Mathematical Basis of the Arts -- , by Joseph Schillinger, Reviewed by Rockwell Kent," 1944
"We Hold These Truths," 1944
"Review for the -- New Masses -- of Steffanson's -- Greenland -- ," 1944
"Synopsis: -- This Is My Own -- by Rockwell Kent," 1944
"Story for -- Readers Digest -- 'Life in America' Series," 1944
"Greetings to the Red Army & Navy," 1944
"Introduction for -- This Is Our War -- Catalog," 1944
"Art with a Little a," 1944
"Small Town War," 1944
"How Not to Get a Seeder," 1944
"Statement for use of International Workers Order," 1945
"Introduction for Exhibition Catalog," 1945
"Shadows of Evening," 1945
"Stories for -- Readers Digest -- 'Life in America' Series," 1945
"Article for Use of Vet," 1946
"Statement for Use of Artists for Action," 1946
"The Artist in America Today," 1946
"Rockwell Kent Biographical Sketch for Use of General Electric Company," 1946
"Statement for Use of International Workers Order," 1947
"John Trumbull" and "Frederick Remington," supplementary text for -- World Famous Paintings -- , 1947
"To Thee" (history of the Rahr Malting Co.), 1947
"We Hold These Truths" (articles for use of -- Fraternal Outlook -- ), 1948
" -- The Mathematical Basis of the Arts -- , by Joseph Schillinger, Reviewed by R.K. for -- Music News -- ," 1948
"Radio Script--O. John Rogge Program, Tuesday, July 12, 1948, Introduction by Rockwell Kent," 1948
"An Artist in Politics," 1948
"Text of Address to Be Given by Rockwell Kent at Meeting of Business and Professional Women's Club, Plattsburgh, N.Y.," 1948
"Radio Script, Rockwell Kent Address at Skidmore College Forum," 1948
"Radio Address to Be Given by Rockwell Kent, American Labor Party Candidate for Congress, 33d District, New York," 1948
"Radio Script, Christmas Greetings from Rockwell Kent for Arthur Gaeth Program," 1948
"Wallace Speech," 1948
"To Voters of the Thirty-Third New York Congressional District," 1948
"Rsum of Still-Born Address to World Congress for Peace, Paris, 1949," 1949
"Statement on Conviction of the Twelve by Rockwell Kent (for Use of the International Workers Order)," 1949
"We Hold These Truths" (articles for use by -- Fraternal Outlook -- ), 1949
"Introduction by Rockwell Kent to -- Southern Cross -- , by Lawrence O. Hyde," 1950
"We Hold These Truths" (article for use of the -- Fraternal Outlook -- ), 1950
"Article for Use of VOKS," 1950
"Copy for Sabattis Ranch Booklet (Rough Draft)," 1950
"Radio Address Delivered by Rockwell Kent Sunday, April 15, 1950, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.," 1950
"Greetings from Rockwell Kent to the Congress of the Peoples for Peace," 1952
Article for Use of International Workers Order, 1952
"Stenographic Record of a Meeting of the VOKS Section of Fine Arts," 1953
"Statement by Rockwell Kent" (re: McCarthy hearings), 1953
"Christmas Record 1953," 1953
"Place Card Poems--New Year's Eve, 1953," 1953
"Silas Timberman -- , by Howard Fast, Reviewed by Rockwell Kent for Use of -- New World Review -- ," 1954
"Realism in Art by Sidney Finkelstein, Reviewed by Rockwell Kent for Use of -- Masses & Mainstream -- ," 1954
Unpublished continuation of autobiography, -- It's Me, O Lord! -- (1955), recounting the artist's travels, exhibitions and political activities during the 1950s and 1960s, circa 1955-1971
"Article for Publication in the USSR," 1957
"Article for Use of -- New World Review -- ," 1957
"Article for Use of -- New World Review -- ," 1958
Trip Book (diary detailing trip to USSR), 1958
"Article for Use of -- Standard Times -- (New Bedford, Mass.)," 1959
"Of Men and Mountains," 1959
"Remarks for Tolstoi Jubilee," 1960
"Gift of Peace--An Account of Rockwell Kent's Presentation of a Collection of His Works to the People of the Soviet Union," 1961
"Article for Use of -- New World Review -- ," 1962
"Statement for November 26th Meeting, NCASF, by Rockwell Kent," 1962
"To Major Gherman Titov, Greeting!" 1962
"World Conference on Disarmament and Peace--Statement by Rockwell Kent," 1962
"Message for November 28th Carnegie Hall Meeting of National Council of American-Soviet Friendship from Rockwell Kent," undated
"The Missing Lynx, New Light on Human Nature, Told by the Lynx. (`Might Is Right und Lynx Ist Rechts'.)," undated
"The Most Unforgettable Character I Have Ever Met," undated
"Notes by Rockwell Kent for Use of Miss Marie B. Ryan, Editor of the -- Sketch Book of Kappa pi -- in an Article Titled: `The Things I Wish They'd Taught Me'," undated
"Nuremberg--And After," undated
"On Being Famous," undated
"On the Writings of Rockwell Kent," undated
"Original Page of -- Salamina -- Manuscript," undated
"Preface," undated
"Preface to the Monhegan Edition," undated
"Proposal for the Solution of the Liquor Problem," undated
"Review, by Rockwell Kent, of -- The Game of Death -- ," undated
"Review of -- Eskimo -- , by Peter Freuchen," undated
"Rockwell Kent," undated
"Rockwell Kent Biographical Data," undated
" -- Salome -- , by Oscar Wilde. -- Inventions -- , by John Vassos. -- The Marriage of Heaven and Hell -- , by William Blake" (book review), undated
"A Second Preface--Eleven Years Later," undated
"Speech for Opening of Exhibition," undated
"Statement for November 26th Meeting, NCASF," undated
"Statement for Use of National Council for American-Soviet Friendship," undated
"Statement for Use of the Teachers Union," undated
"Statement on 'American Art Today,'" undated
"Statement on the Arrest of the Communist Leaders," undated
"Story for -- Reader's Digest -- 'Life in America' Series," undated
"Text for -- The Lovers -- , Wood Engraving by Rockwell Kent" undated
"Unpublished Manuscript," undated
"Vegetarianism," undated
"We Hold these Truths" (Article for Use of -- Fraternal Outlook -- , by Rockwell Kent), (2 separate articles), undated
"What Home Means to Me," undated
"When I Was a Teener," undated
"Winslow Homer at Prout's Neck" (draft of book review by Kent), undated
" -- Winslow Homer at Prout's Neck -- , by P. Beam," undated
Greenland Journal -- , undated
"A Voyager's Log, Part II," undated
Wilderness -- , undated
World Famous Paintings -- , undated
Untitled, undated
Poems, undated
Fragments and Miscellaneous Notes, undated
Writings by Sarah Holgate Kent [mother]"The Little I Know of My Ancestors. As Far Back As I Can Remember," 1941
Writings by Sally Kent (Gorton)"Monhegan Notebook," 1950
"Article for R.K. Memorial Booklet--First Rough Draft," 1971
"Article for Rockwell Kent Memorial Portfolio," 1971
" -- Bulgaria Today: The Land and the People -- , by William Cary" (review), 1971
"Greeting for World Peace Council Meeting, Budapest--First Rough," 1971
"Greeting in Memory of Rockwell Kent for World Peace Council, Meeting in Budapest--3d Best," 1971
"Greeting in Memory of Rockwell Kent for World Peace Council, Meeting in Budapest--2d Best," 1971
"The Happiest Day," 1971
Drafts of Memoir ("Introduction," "Living on and off--The Land!," "Memoirs," "Chapter I--Save, Use," "First Chapter--Passages to Add Perhaps," "Chapter 2," "1971 Later--31 Years Later," "Use," "July 3, 1972"), 1971
Memoir Notes ("Monhegan Notes," "Notes and Quotes for Use in Book--'Rockwell Kent--Some Fireside Reminiscences,' " "Possibly for Use," "Random Notes," "R.K. on Homes"), 1971
"Suggested Copy: -- New York Times -- Ad to Be Sponsored by Committee of Concerned Citizens" ("Rockwell Kent's Engagement with Life"--Draft), 1971
"Rockwell Kent's Engagement with Life for Use of -- American Dialogue -- ," 1971
"Rockwell Kent--Glimpses" (notes), 1971
"The Making of -- It's Me, O Lord -- , Draft," 1974
"The Making of -- It's Me, O Lord -- For Use in -- The Kent Collector -- ," 1974
"And Now Monhegan Again!," 1977
"The Jay Taxpayers Association in 1933: A Good Fight," 1977
"Muddling Through" (shorthand), 1978
"Dedication Words" (notes, some in shorthand), 1978
"Rockwell Kent Gallery Dedication Words," 1978
"Story" (shorthand), 1978
"Story 'In the Drawer' for Time Being," 1978
"The Happiest Day," undated
Poem, undated
Writings by Others About KentReviews of Books by Rockwell Kent, 1931-1941
Poems, undated
"The Beautiful American," undated
"Biographical Notes--Rockwell Kent," undated
" -- It's Me, O Lord -- , Introduction, On Rockwell Kent and His Autobiography," undated
"Kent--The Writer," undated
"Message by Y. A. Malik on the Occasion of the Opening of the Exhibition of Soviet and American Prints," undated
"Part One, Books Written and Illustrated by Rockwell Kent, by Dan Burne Jones," undated
Collection Restrictions:
The microfilm of this collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website. Use of material not microfilmed or digitized requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Rockwell Kent papers, circa 1840-1993, bulk 1935-1961. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Catawba social song (horse dance)--Micmac song--Cayuga corn dance--Drinking song--Rappahanock dance song--Catawba rattle snake dance--Catawba story
Local Numbers:
FW-ASCH-7RR-1476
General:
CDR copy
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
North Dakota -- Archeology
South Dakota -- Archeology
Great Plains
Honduras -- Archeology
Labrador (N.L.)
Nebraska -- Archeology
Columbia River Valley
Date:
1902-1965
bulk 1927-1955
Summary:
William Duncan Strong's early interest was in zoology, but, while an undergraduate at the University of California, he was brought into anthropology under the influence of Alfred Louis Kroeber. He conducted archaeological and ethnological field research in several areas of the New World and was the first professionally trained archaeologist to focus on the Great Plains, where he applied the so-called direct historical method, working from known history in interpreting archaeological sites. Strong's papers include correspondence, field notes, diaries, newspaper clippings, teaching notes and student papers, manuscripts of his writings, writings by other authors, papers from the various organizations in which he served, maps, and a considerable number of photographs from his field work. The materials date from 1902 to 1965, with most of the materials being from 1927 to 1955.
Scope and Contents:
Strong's papers include correspondence, field notes, diaries, newspaper clippings, teaching notes and student papers, manuscripts of his writings, writings by other authors, papers from the various organizations in which he served, maps, and a considerable number of photographs from his field work. The materials date from 1902 to 1965, with most of the materials being from 1927 to 1955.
Strong's papers reflect his professional life, but there is little personal material. Except for the Rawson-MacMillan Labrador Expedition, there is little information from Strong's years at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Other than information on field work expenses, there is little light shed on Strong's personal financial situation. There is no personal correspondence with either of his wives and little correspondence with family members, except for his brother, Ronald. Some correspondence from the late 1930s to the early 1940s is not present and its whereabouts is not known. Of special interest is a collection of drawings by Naskapi Indian children collected while Strong was on the Labrador expedition in 1928. Strong collected obituaries, vitae, news articles, and writings on and by other anthropologists. He was an inveterate doodler, and his fascinating creations appear throughout the papers.
Strong also collected materials from other researchers, including Loren Eiseley's 1931 field notes from the Morrill Expedition, Maurice Kirby's 1932 notes on the Signal Butte excavations, notes and drawings from the 1936 Honduras expedition by Alfred V. Kidder II, and the field notebooks kept by Clifford Evans for the 1946 Virú Valley expedition in Peru. Contributed photographs from field expeditions are from A.T. Hill, Waldo Wedel, and John Champe.
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 collection is arranged in 12 series: (1) Miscellaneous personal papers, 1914-1963; (2) Correspondence, 1922-1965; (3) Materials relating to field work, 1921-1963; (4) Miscellaneous research notes, 1917-1960, most undated; (5) Maps and charts, 1902-1949; (6) Drawings by Naskapi Indians and Eskimos, 1910, 1928; (7) Manuscripts of writings, 1922-1962, undated; (8) Writings by other authors, 1902-1961; (9) Papers relating to organizations, 1926-1961; (10) Teaching materials and course work, 1909, 1928-1961; (11) Miscellany, 1902-1961, most undated; (12) Photographs, 1913-1950.
Biographical Note:
William Duncan Strong (1899-1962) was a major figure in American anthropology. His accomplishments were as a field worker in archaeology and ethnology, archaeological theorist, writer, and teacher. He was, furthermore, a leader in anthropological organizations. In 1954, his position in the field was recognized by the award of the Viking Fund Medal for his contributions to archaeology.
William Duncan Strong's early interest was in zoology, but, while an undergraduate at the University of California, he was brought into anthropology under the influence of Alfred Louis Kroeber. He conducted archaeological and ethnological field research in several areas of the New World, including Labrador, southern California, Honduras, and Peru. Strong was the first professionally trained archaeologist to focus on the Great Plains, and it was there that he applied the so-called direct historical method, working from known history in interpreting archaeological sites. His work in all these areas are represented by notebooks, diaries, specimen catalogues, maps, and photographs.
Strong spent the majority of his professional life affiliated with various universities and taught many anthropologists who became influential in their own right. His students included Loren Eiseley, Waldo R. Wedel, Joseph Jablow, Oscar Lewis, John Landgraf, Dorothy Keur, David Stout, Charles Wagley, Eleanor Leacock, John Champe, Albert C. Spaulding, Victor Barnouw, John M. Corbett, Walter Fairservis, and Richard B. Woodbury. Strong preserved the student papers by some of these anthropologists as well as their correspondence with him.
Strong influenced American anthropology by his service in professional societies. He served as president of the American Ethnological Society, the Institute of Andean Research, and the Society for American Archaeology. He was the director of the Ethnogeographic Board (his journal from his tenure as director is in the papers) and chairman of the Committee on Basic Needs of American Archaeology. In this latter capacity, Strong was involved in establishing a program to salvage archaeological sites before they were destroyed by public works. Strong served as the anthropological consultant to the Bureau of Indian Affairs during Franklin Roosevelt's administration and advised on new directions to be taken in Indian Service policy.
Strong died suddenly on January 29, 1962.
Chronology
1899 -- Born January 30 in Portland, Oregon
1917 April-1919 January -- In the United States Navy aboard the U.S.S. South Dakota on convoy duty in the Atlantic Ocean
1922 -- Collected faunal specimens in the Canadian Rockies, Skeena River district, for the University of California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
1923 -- A.B., University of California Studied Max Uhle's Peruvian archaeological collection Collected faunal specimens, Columbia River, Washington
Winter, 1923-1924 -- Archaeological investigations in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California under the direction of Edwin Winslow Gifford
1924-1925 -- Expedition to study Shoshonean tribes (the Serrano, Cahuilla, Cupeño, and Luiseño) of Southern California (Riverside and San Diego counties) under Alfred Louis Kroeber Archaeological surveys and excavations of three months each in the middle Columbia River Valley in Oregon and Washington
1925 -- Archaeological expedition and collection of faunal specimens in the San Pedro Martir Mountains, Baja California under W. Egbert Schenk
1925-1926 -- Research Assistant, Department of Anthropology, University of California
1926 -- PhD, Anthropology, University of California
1926 July-1929 August -- Assistant Curator of North American Ethnology and Archaeology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago
1927 -- An Analysis of Southwestern Society (doctoral dissertation)
1927 June-1928 September -- Anthropologist on the Rawson-MacMillan September, 1928 Subarctic Expedition of the Field Museum Studied Naskapi and Eskimos in Labrador and on Baffin Island
1929 -- Married Jean Stevens
1929 August-1931 July -- Professor of Anthropology, University of Nebraska
1929 -- Published The Aboriginal Society of Southern California
1929-1931 -- Director, Archaeological Survey of Nebraska, University of Nebraska
1930 June 11-September 6 -- Excavated at Rock Bluff cemetery site
1931 -- Helped organize the First Plains Conference (held August 31-September 2)
1931-1932 -- Morrill Expedition, central and western Nebraska and North and South Dakota: ethnological investigations of Arikaras at Nishu, North Dakota; excavation at Signal Butte, Nebraska; and excavation at Leavenworth and Rygh village sites in South Dakota
1931 July-1937 August -- Senior Anthropologist, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution
1932 -- Archaeological survey of northeastern Honduras along the Mosquito Coast and the Patuca River, archaeological work on the Bay Islands, and ethnological investigation of Sumu Indians
1933-1934 -- Two Civilian Works Administration archaeological expeditions (five months each) in California in southern San Joaquin Valley, Kern County, at Tulamniu (a Yokuts village) and eastern Chumash area
1934-1937 -- Trustee, Laboratory of Anthropology, Sante Fe
1935 -- Anthropological consultant to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Assistant editor, American Antiquity Published Archeological Investigations in the Bay islands, Spanish Honduras and An Introduction to Nebraska Archeology
1935-1937 -- Member, Committee on State Archeological Surveys, National Research Council
1936 -- Smithsonian Institution-Harvard expedition to northwestern Honduras to the valleys of the Chamelecon and the Ulua Rivers, Naco and other sites
1937-1962 -- Professor, later Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
1937-1938 -- Vice-President, American Anthropological Association
1938 -- Fort Abraham Lincoln (Slant Mandan village) site and Sheyenne-Cheyenne village site excavations in North Dakota
1939 -- Chairman, National Research Council's Committee on Basic Needs in American Archaeology Excavated at Arzberger site in South Dakota and the area between the Chamberlain and Cheyenne Rivers
1940 -- Member, National Research Council's Committee on War Services of Anthropology Expeditions to western Florida and southwestern United States, especially New Mexico Peruvian archaeological survey
1941 -- Chairman, Section H, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1941-1942 -- President, American Ethnological Society Peruvian excavations at Pachacamac in the Chancay Valley and the Ancon-Supe excavations
1942? -- Peruvian excavations in the Naxca and Ica Valleys
1942-1944 -- Director, Ethnogeographic Board
1943 -- Published Cross Sections of New World Prehistory Appointed to Loubat Professorship at Columbia University
1945 -- Married Helen Richardson
1946 -- Peruvian excavations, Virú Valley Project National Research Council liaison member of the Committee for the Recovery of Archaeological Remains President, Institute of Andean Research
1948-1949 -- Chairman, Anthropology Section of New York Academy of Sciences
1949 July-August -- Peru-Mexico trip
1950 -- Talking Crow site expedition Excavated at Signal Butte
1952-1953 -- Peruvian expeditions, Nazca and Ica Valleys
1954 -- Awarded the Viking Fund Medal Trip to western United States
1955-1956 -- President, Society for American Archaeology
1962 -- Died January 29
Selected Bibliography
1929 -- Strong, William Duncan. Aboriginal Society of Southern California. Vol. 26, University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1929.
1935 -- Strong, William Duncan. Archeological Investigations in the Bay islands, Spanish Honduras. Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1935. Strong, William Duncan. An Introduction to Nebraska Archeology. Vol. 93, no. 10, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1935.
1938 -- Strong, William Duncan, Alfred Kidder, II, and A.J. Drexel Pail, Jr. Preliminary Report on the Smithsonian Institution-Harvard University Archeological Expedition to Northwestern Honduras, 1936. Vol. 97, no. 1, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1938.
1943 -- Strong, William Duncan. Cross Sections of New World Prehistory: a Brief Report on the Work of the Institute of Andean Research, 1941-1942. Vol. 104, no. 2, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, 1943. Strong, William Duncan. Archeological Studies in Peru, 1941-1942. New York: Columbia University Press, 1943.
1948 -- "The Archeology of Honduras." In The Circum-Caribbean Tribes Vol. 4, Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Julian H. Steward, 71-120. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 143. Washington: U.S. Government Print Office, 1948.
1952 -- Strong, William Duncan, and Clifford Evans. Cultural Stratigraphy in the Virú Valley, Northern Peru. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.
For a complete bibliography of Strong's works, see Solecki, Ralph, and Charles Wagley. "William Duncan Strong, 1899-1962," American Anthropologist 65, no. 5 (October 1963): 1102-1111. https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/aa.1963.65.5.02a00080
Related Materials:
Additional materials in the National Anthropological Archives relating to William Duncan Strong can be found in the records of the American Anthropological Association, Bureau of American Ethnology, Handbook of South American Indians, Institute of Social Anthropology, River Basin Surveys, the Society for American Archaeology, and Tulamniu Project (1933-1934); the papers of Ralph Leon Beals, John Peabody Harrington, Frederick Johnson, Frank Maryl Setzler, Ruth Schlossberg Landes, Albert Clanton Spaulding (including information on the Arzberger site), and Waldo Rudolph and Mildred Mott Wedel; Photographic Lot 14, Bureau of American Ethnology Subject and Geographic File; Photographic Lot 24, Bureau of American Ethnology-United States National Museum Photographs of American Indians; Photographic Lot 77-80, Portraits of Smithsonian Anthropologists; Photographic Lot 92-35, Ralph S. Solecki Photographs of Anthropologists; Numbered Collections, MS 4821 (records of the Anthropological Society of Washington), MS 4261 (photographs made on a site survey in the Santa Barbara Mountains, California, 1934), MS 4302 (journal covering the 1936 expedition to Honduras), MS 4846 (correspondence between BAE authors and the BAE editor's office), and MS 7200 (original field catalog of Honduran artifacts, 1936); and in the non-archival reference file. There are also materials in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in record units 87 (Ethnogeographic Board), 9528 (Henry Bascom Collins interviews), and 1050102 (papers of T. Wayland Vaughan). In the Human Studies Film Archives there is material on Strong in the video dialogues of Charles Wagley, 1983.
Provenance:
The Strong papers were donated to the archives by Strong's widow, Mrs. Helen Richardson Strong. Most of the arrangements were handled by Ralph S. Solecki, then of Columbia University. He sent the papers to the archives between 1974 and 1979, and there have been small accretions since that time. These accretions came through Richard G. Forbis, Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary; Mildred Mott Wedel and Waldo R. Wedel, Department of Anthropology; and Nan A. Rothschild, Department of Anthropology, Barnard College. Mrs. Strong donated the rights in the unpublished material in the collection to the Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution.
Restrictions:
The William Duncan Strong papers are open for research.
Access to the William Duncan Strong papers requires and appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Excavations (Archaeology) -- California Search this
The material reflects Curry's legal work in representing the large number of Indian tribes that were his clients, his work as general counsel for N.C.A.I. and some of his early work as an attorney with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Other papers reflect Curry's long feud with the government concerning his contracts with a representation of the Indian tribes, political involvement, and other causes in which he was interested. The bulk of the documents consist of letters, but it also includes copies of telegrams, statements of services rendered, tribal resolutions, contract and lease copies, affidavits, vouchers, expense statements, press releases, minutes of tribal meetings, newspaper clippings, copies of testimony before government committees, copies of legislative bills, petitions and motions filed in cases, mailing lists, tribal reports, N.C.A.I. bulletins, and documents generated from Indian land claim cases. Other materials reflect Curry's efforts in the areas of Indian self-government, voting rights, civil rights, and social security.
Arrangement note:
Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically within each subject.
Directional Note:
For more information on subjects regarding Alaska, please see the specific names of Alaskan towns and Indian communities/tribes.
Alaska Communities
Akutan Alaskan Community
Angoon Alaskan Community
Craig Alaskan Community
Eskimo claims
Haida- see -- Tlingit and Haida
Haines, Alaska
Juneau Indians
Kake, Alaska
Kasaan, Alaska
Ketchikan, Alaska
Kiana, Alaska
Klawock, Alaska
Kluckwan, Alaska
Taku Indians of Douglas, Alaska
Tlingit
Unalakleet, Alaska
Wrangell, Alaska
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 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.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); James E. Curry papers, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
