The papers of C. Malcolm Watkins provide comprehensive documentation of his professional career from 1934 to 1980. The collection documents his interest in early American
culture; his research on ceramics, historic archeology, and early California history; his curatorial and administrative activities in the Department of Anthropology, USNM,
and the Departments of Civil and Cultural History, NMHT; exhibits planning; and his role in professional societies
Series 1 consists of correspondence written and received by Watkins between 1941 and 1978. This large correspondence file documents his career at the Smithsonian, particularly
his interest in American material culture, especially ceramics, glass, and artificial lighting; historic archeology; teaching; and his role in professional societies. Correspondence
also documents exhibitions; restoration and identification of historic material; acquisitions; and museum administration. Correspondence files include magazine and newspaper
articles, booklets, photographs, graphic illustrations, and brochures.
Series 2 contains subject files, 1949-1979, documenting his research, exhibits planning, and professional society activities including his role in founding the Society
for Historical Archeology. These research files and those found in Series 5, 6, 7, and 8 document Watkins' work on early American culture, including the Marlborough and Jamestown,
Virginia, excavations; California early history and California Kitchen projects; North Devon pottery; Yorktown pottery; decorative arts; and American imports. Research files
include notes, correspondence, graphic illustrations, articles, photographs, site drawings, seminar and conference literature, and exhibit scripts.
Series 2 also contains information compiled by Watkins on historic sites, institutions dedicated to historic preservation and historic archeology, museums, and museum practices.
Museology files in Series 3 contain correspondence, brochures and pamphlets, newsclippings, and articles, reports, procedures manuals, proposals, and lecture notes.
Throughout his years at the USNM and NMHT, Watkins amassed a variety of material on the Smithsonian. The files in Series 4 document administrative policies; acquisitions;
ideas for departmental reorganization and future planning; Smithsonian Council meetings; the Smithson Bicentennial; exhibits including "Everyday Life in the American Past,"
"Artificial Lighting in America," and "A Nation of Nations"; symposia and seminars; Watkins' sabbatical; and general information on travel, teaching, and the Smithsonian Research
Foundation. Smithsonian files include memoranda, copies of reports, correspondence, notes, scripts, proposals, newsclippings, name and address lists, and articles. Series
9 documents his work on the "A Nation of Nations" exhibit.
The collection also includes a Series (10) on historical archeology mainly comprising the files of Marilyn Sara Cohen, a museum specialist working on the Historical Archeology
Project in the Division of Cultural History. It contains conference information, an interview with Watkins, correspondence, research notes, memoranda, and reports.
Historical Note:
C. Malcolm Watkins (1911- ) was born in Malden, Massachusetts, and developed an interest in early American material culture at a young age through the work of his parents
and grandfather. His mother, Lura Woodside Watkins, collected glass and pottery and published Cambridge Glass, 1818-1888 on the history of the New England Glass Company.
She later donated her extensive collection of kiln site pottery to the Smithsonian. Watkins' father, Charles H. Watkins, was interested in pottery as well. He participated
in the excavation of a site at Newburyport, Massachusetts, and collected potsherds. In addition, the inheritance of his grandfather's collection of lighting devices served
as an impetus for Watkins' research in artificial lighting techniques.
Watkins received his B.S. from Harvard College in 1934 and began his museum career as curator for the Wells Historical Museum (Southbridge, Massachusetts), the predecessor
of Old Sturbridge village (Sturbridge, Massachusetts). Watkins was its first curator, working there from 1936 to 1948, except for a leave of absence from 1942-1946 to serve
in the United States Air Force during World War II. In 1949, he began his career at the Smithsonian as an associate curator in the Division of Ethnology, Department of Anthropology,
United States National Museum (USNM). Watkins was responsible for the collections of American technology and decorative arts. When a separate Museum of History and Technology
was created in 1958, Watkins assumed responsibility for the new Division of Cultural History in the Department of Civil History, as curator (1958, 1960-1966) and supervisor
and curator (1967-1968). In this position, Watkins developed the national collections of American material culture, especially ceramics and glass. He also built the staff
of the Division and in 1969 achieved departmental status for Cultural History. He was appointed its first chairman, in addition to his duties as curator of Pre-Industrial
History and Ethnic and Western History. In 1973, he became senior curator of the Department of Cultural History, the position he held until his retirement in 1980. He continued
research as curator emeritus until 1984.
Watkins' wife, Joan Pearson Watkins, collaborated with him. From 1964 to 1977, she held the position of honorary curator, and from 1978 to 1979 she was an honorary research
associate. In 1980, she became a collaborator in the Division of Ceramics and Glass, a position she held until 1983.
During his career at the Smithsonian, Watkins worked on numerous exhibits. In 1955, he prepared an exhibition on "Folk Pottery of Early New England," which contained the
redware and stoneware from his mother's collection. The first large exhibition hall devoted to the history of everyday life in colonial and federal America was developed by
Watkins and opened in 1957 as part of the Exhibits Modernization Program. In 1964, a revised version of the hall opened in the new History and Technology Building as the "Hall
of Everyday Life in the American Past." Watkins was also involved in the construction of the "Growth of the United States" exhibit in the new museum, which represented the
material culture of the developing nation. The California Kitchen, found by Watkins and Pearson Watkins, was added to the exhibits in the History and Technology Building in
1965. In celebration of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution, Watkins contributed to the colonial section of the exhibition, "A Nation of Nations," which opened in
1976.
In addition to working on exhibits, Watkins spent much of his time acquiring and developing collections. His most important acquisition was the Arthur and Edna Greenwood
Collection of some 2,000 objects of Americana documenting everyday life in colonial America. Other major acquisitions during his tenure included the Remensnyder Collection
of American Stoneware and the Morgenstern Collection of early American material culture.
In addition to his curatorial duties, Watkins devoted much of his time to lecturing and writing scholarly and popular articles. His major publications include The Cultural
History of Marlborough, Virginia, North Devon Pottery and its Export to America in the 17th Century, and The "Poor Potter" of Yorktown, which he wrote with
Ivor Noel Hume.
Watkins was a pioneer in the field of historic archeology. He began his excavations of a colonial plantation at Marlborough, Virginia, with Frank M. Setzler in 1953 and
continued through 1969. Watkins also began excavations at the Jamestown, Virginia, site in 1955. In addition, he wrote and lectured extensively on historic archeology, served
as a consultant to numerous historic archeology projects, and was an active member of the Society for Historic Archeology, which he helped found.
In 1960, Watkins began his research on North Devon pottery imported to the United States in the 17th century, which led to a monograph on that topic. In 1965, he and Pearson
Watkins collaborated on an oral history project in Moore County, North Carolina, researching folk pottery traditions. In addition to Watkins' interest in ceramics, he also
spent considerable time researching early California history. Publications on this topic include James Johnston's White House in Half Moon Bay: An Example of Early Anglo-American
Reminiscent Architecture in California and New England in El Dorado: The Letters and Narrative Accounts of Robert and Caroline Batchelder Thompson, California Pioneers.
Watkins was active in numerous associations and societies including the Early American Industries Association, the Society of Architectural Historians, the National Trust
for Historic Preservation, the Western History Association, the California Historical Society, and the American Association of Museums. During the 1960s, Watkins also taught
for the American Studies Program at George Washington University.
For additional information on Watkins, see Record Unit 331, Department of Cultural History, 1954-1979, and undated, Records, and the C. Malcolm Watkins Interviews in the
Smithsonian Archives.
Chronology:
1911 -- Born in Malden, Massachusetts
1934 -- Bachelor of Science, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts
1934-1935 -- Self employed as a free-lance writer on antiques
This series consists of subject files ranging from historical research projects to Smithsonian administration. Included is material on organizations dedicated to
historic preservation and historic archeology, including the founding of the Society for Historic Archeology; exhibit models, ideas for departmental organization, research
notes, copies of manuscripts, correspondence, photographs and discussion of pottery, and information on other museums.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7322, C. Malcolm Watkins Papers
Folder 5 Historical Archeology Committee, 1962, 1965-1967, and undated. Includes memoranda, correspondence, copy of proposed program for the first annual meeting for the Society for Historical Archaeology, list of Fellows, copy of article on archeology...
Folder 6 Historical Archeology Committee, 1966-1967, 1975, and undated. Consists of memoranda, program for the eighth annual Conference on Historic Site Archaeology, correspondence, proposed by-laws of the Society for Historical Archeology, minutes, ne...
Folder 6 SHA - ICUA, 1975-1976. Includes abstracts of papers presented at the annual meetings for Society for Historical Archaeology and International Conference on Underwater Archaeology, and correspondence.
Folder 10 Hinshaw, Merton E., 1967-1969, 1971. Includes copy of Intern Program for Humanities Museum, paper read by Hinshaw at the annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archeology, discussion of findings in wells and privies, and Chinese pottery...
Photographs made by Richard Ahlborn during a study trip to Luzon's Mountain Province on a Fullbright grant. They document villages, houses, terraces, religious figures, a wake, and Igorot and Ifugao peoples in Banawe (Banaue) and Bontoc.
Biographical/Historical note:
Richard E. Ahlborn is a cultural historian and curator in the Division of Community Life of the Smithsonianʹs National Museum of American History. In the 1950s, he was a photographer for the Department of Cultural History in the Museum of History and Technology.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 83-23, NAA MS 4957
Location of Other Archival Materials:
MS 4957, previously filed in Photo Lot 97, has been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 83-23. These photographs were also made by Richard E. Ahlborn in Luzon and form part of this collection.
Correspondence from Ahlborn can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the Society for Historical Archaeology records and John Lawrence Angel's papers.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds curatorial, exhibition, agency, and departmental records for Ahlborn from his time in the Department of Cultural History and the Division of Community Life.
The Latin American Library at Tulane University holds photographs by Ahlborn of Filipino-Hispanic architecture and art in the Philippines.
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Department of Anthropology Search this
Smithsonian Institution. Department of Anthropology Search this
Smithsonian Institution. United States National Museum. Department of Anthropology Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1965-1970
Scope and Contents:
The material in this sub-series consists of copies of outgoing letters, memoranda, and minutes with a few in-coming letters.
This file was maintained by Woodbury's secretary. The majority is composed of documents accumulated immediately after he left the position as director of the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology. In addition to his normal curatorial duties and other professional interests, during this period Woodbury was the Smithsonian representative on the Committee for the Recovery of Archeological Remains, the Smithsonian representative on the Board of Directors of the Human Relations Area Files, advisor on applications made under the Antiquities Act, the chairman of a departmenal committee on the publication of research by Frank H. H. Roberts Jr., the chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the River Basin Surveys, a member of the Smithsonian Editorial Policy Committee, and a member of the Smithsonian Steering Committee for Anthropology that was involved with educational activities and training. There are also small amounts of material concerning the American Anthropological Association, the Society for Historical Archeology, and Woodbury's relationship with anthropologists and amateurs outside the Institution. There is some reference correspondence amd material relating to accessions of specimens.
There is not a great amount of material sent to any one person. Correspondents include such people as David F. Aberle, John Adair, J. O. Brew, Stephen F. Borgheyi, Wesley Breedlove Jr., Warren W. Caldwell, E. Mott Davis, Frederick J. Dockstader, Robert F. Heizer, Robert H. Lister, Robert L. Stephenson, and Gwinn Vivian.
The memoranda include a report on the first annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archeology, reports of meetings of the directors of the Human Relation Area Files, and minutes of the River Basin Surveys Advisory Committee meetings on October 18 and November 2, 1967. Two drafts of letters (March 14, 1969, and July 10, 1969) are to Governor Robert E. Lewis of Zuni, and concern plans for a visitors center and museum at the pueblo. Letters to and from Wesley Breedlove (in 1968) largely concern the effort for salvage archeology in South Carolina.
Collection Restrictions:
Some materials are restricted.
Access to the Department of Anthropology records requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Department of Anthropology Records, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
