Cynthia Irwin-Williams was a pioneer for women in the field of archaeology. Her main interest was the Paleo-Indian culture of North America (specifically the Southwest), but she also did extensive work in Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) culture. This collection includes materials related to Irwin-Williams' research; her work at Eastern New Mexico University and The Desert Research Institute; her coursework at Radcliffe and Harvard; and her work for the Society of American Archaeology, the American Anthropological Association, the American Quaternary Association, Africa Tomorrow, and other organizations.
Scope and Contents:
The Cynthia Irwin-Williams papers contain fieldnotes, photographs, maps, notes, computer analyses, drafts of articles, articles and papers, grant proposals, index cards, personal and professional correspondence, administrative materials, lecture and research notes, student papers and theses, certificates and awards, biographical and autobiographical materials, and sound recordings. These materials relate to her research (primarily archaeological), associations of which she was a member (including the Society of American Archaeology, the American Anthropological Association, the American Quaternary Association, and Africa Tomorrow), conferences at which she participated, and coursework from Radcliffe and Harvard. The collection also includes some materials which belonged to her brother, Henry Irwin, who predeceased her. These materials are composed of his diplomas and some annotated articles and papers.
Irwin-Williams was a prolific letter writer and many folders include multiple drafts of her correspondence. Of particular interest is the correspondence between Irwin-Williams and her mother, Eleanor "Kay" Irwin. The two were very close and corresponded almost daily during the two years when Irwin-Williams was in Massachusetts and her mother was in Colorado. Of special note in the collection are materials which relate to the difficulties faced by women in the field of archaeology, such as the autobiographical section of her CV.
The collection does not include much material on her work at Magic Mountain, as these papers are housed at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Many of the materials related to her work at Salmon Ruins are housed at the San Juan County Research Center and Library. The only expedition for which this collection holds complete fieldnotes for Irwin-Williams and her team is Valsequillo.
Sensitivity statement:
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.
Please note that this collection contains images of human remains.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 8 series: 1) Research, 1936-1990, undated; 2) Writings, 1940-circa 1990, undated; 3) Associations and conferences, 1962-1989, undated; 4) Professional, 1960-1990, undated; 5) Coursework, 1954-1961, undated; 6) Correspondence, 1940-1941, 1959-1989, undated; 7) Photographs and Artwork, 1939, 1964-1990, undated; and 8) Sound recordings, 1980, undated
Biographical Note:
Cynthia Irwin-Williams was a pioneer for women in the field of archaeology. Her main interest was the Paleo-Indian culture of North America (specifically the Southwest), but she also did extensive work in Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) culture. She was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1936 and suffered from severe asthma for the first ten years of her life (Williams, 4). She and her brother, Henry Irwin, spent several summers during their childhood living with the Hopi in northeastern Arizona, which helped her to develop an interest in archaeology. She began taking part in amateur archaeological investigations through the Colorado Archaeological Society when she was in 5th grade and continued to do so through high school (Williams, 6). She organized an archaeology club while in high school and persuaded H. Marie Wormington, Herbert Dick, and Ruth Underhill to assist (Williams, 7). Irwin-Williams and her brother also volunteered for Dr. Wormington at the Denver Museum of Natural History throughout high school, eventually assisting Wormington at a dig in western Colorado (Williams, 7). Dr. Wormington became a friend and role model for Irwin-Williams, advising her on her education and career. Irwin-Williams also had a close relationship with her mother, Eleanor "Kay" Irwin, who frequently travelled and worked digs with her daughter, and her brother, Henry Irwin, with whom she worked many archaeological sites and published numerous papers.
Irwin-Williams earned her BA (1957) and MA (1958) in Anthropology from Radcliffe College and was one of the first three women, in any field, to earn her PhD (1963) from Harvard University (previously, women could only receive PhD degrees from Radcliffe). She had difficulty gaining a place in a fieldschool during her graduate work due to her gender, despite having experience under the guidance of H. Marie Wormington in high school and college, but eventually gained a place as a volunteer graduate student on the dig of one of her professors at L'Abri Pataud in France in 1958 (likely under Dr. Hallam Movius). She was disappointed that, unlike the male students, she was expected to perform secretarial work and menial tasks (Williams, 10). As a result of this experience, she chose to run her own excavations and stated that it taught her "how not to run a project" (Williams, 10). This experience also caused her to change her field of study to the New World and her advisor to J. O. Brew (Williams, 11).
While Irwin-Williams and her brother were in college and graduate school, they and their mother, under the supervision of H. Marie Wormington, spent summers excavating the LoDaisKa site in Colorado, providing their own equipment (Williams, 9). The first major excavation which she headed was at Valsequillo, where she worked from 1962 to 1966. Valsequillo, in Puebla, Mexico, is a stone age site dated to approximately 25,000 years ago (the dating of the site has been controversial). Her largest excavation was at Salmon Ruin; this site was almost destroyed when the land was purchased by a developer in 1967 who intended to "divide the ruin into 10-foot squares and sell 'digging rights'" (Irwin-Williams, 19). After a local non-profit, the San Juan County Museum Association, saved the site, they asked Irwin-Williams to run the excavations in 1969 (Irwin-Williams, 20).
The excavations she led were known for being inclusive, as her crews included men and women, people of multiple races and ethnicities, and people with disabilities (Williams, 16). She was also known for her ability to work well with volunteers and amateurs (Williams, 19). Another talent of hers was finding grant funding from unusal sources, which she attributed to the limited employment and fieldwork opportunities faced by female archaeologists in the 1960s (Profile of an Anthropologist, 7).
In addition to her fieldwork, Irwin-Williams taught anthropology, first at Hunter College (1963-1964), while holding a fellowship at the American Museum of Natural History and commuting from Princeton where her husband worked, and then at Eastern New Mexico University (1964-1982), at which time "she commute[d] nearly five hundred miles each weekend between her home in Albuquerque, where she live[d] four days a week with her husband, and her apartment in Portales, where she [taught] three days a week." (Williams, 1). She then became Executive Director of the Social Sciences Center, Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada. Under her supervision, the Social Sciences Center (later renamed the Quaternary Science Center) expanded substantially, eventually employing more than five times the staff it had when she began (Teague, 90). Irwin-Williams also held numerous professional offices including President of the Society for American Archaeology (1977-1979). She was known for her interdisciplinary work and had an interest in the environmental impact of human society and water harvesting techniques. These interests led her to become a member of the executive committee of Africa Tomorrow Inc., a nonprofit devoted to the Sahel region of Africa, and to lobby Congress to pass a bill to create a pilot project focused on water harvesting (Teague, 90).
Irwin-Williams also had a keen interest in issues which affected women. After going into recovery for alcoholism, she became an accredited counselor and served as a part-time substance abuse counselor from 1982 through 1989. She also brought this interest to her research, studying the genetic and environmental causes of alcoholism as well as the effects of alcoholism on families, conducting a study funded by the Stout Foundation entitled "Breaking the Chain: Defining Effective Education for Adult Children of Alcoholics." Her interest in studying health conditions which affected women did not end with alcoholism. A sufferer of migraines, she researched their causes and treatments in a study entitled "Biochemistry, Population Parameters, and Treatment of Migraine Headache."
During the final few years of her life, she suffered from a respiratory illness which interfered with her work, causing her to step down from her position as director of the Quaternary Science Center at the Desert Research Institute in 1988 and to take a sabbatical in 1989. She died in 1990 at the age of 54.
Sources cited
Curriculum Vitae of Cynthia Irwin-Williams, Cynthia Irwin Williams papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Irwin-Williams, "How Salmon Ruin Was Saved." Early Man (Autumn 1981): 18-23.
"Profile of an Anthropologist: Research Archeologist Begins Career Looking for Supplementary Income." Anthropology Newsletter (May 1981): 7.
Williams, Barbara. "Cynthia Irwin-Williams." In Breakthrough: Women in Archaeology. New York: Walker and Company, 1981.
Wormington, H. M. and George Agogino. "Cynthia Irwin-Williams: 1936-1990." American Antiquity 59, no. 4 (1994): 667-671.
1936 April 14 -- Born in Denver, Colorado
1957 -- BA from Radcliffe College in Anthropology, Magna Cum Laude
1958 -- MA from Radcliffe College in Anthropology Excavations in France
1958-1960 -- Excavations at LoDaisKa Site, Colorado
1959-1960 -- Director, Central Mexico Project, Harvard University Co-Director, Magic Mountain Project, Peabody Museum Excavations at Magic Mountain, Colorado
1960-1961 -- Co-Director, UP Mammoth Kill Site, Rawlins, Wyoming
1961-1966 -- Co-Director, Hell Gap Paleo-Indian Project in Wyoming, Peabody Museum
1962-1966 -- Excavations at Valsequillo in Puebla, Mexico Excavations at Hell Gap, Wyoming
1962-1968 -- Co-Director of Research on the Archaeology, Geology, and Paleontology of the Valsequillo Region, Pueblo, Mexico
1963 -- PhD from Harvard University in Anthropology
1963-1964 -- Lecturer in Anthropology, Hunter College Ogden Mills Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, American Museum of Natural History
1964-1967 -- Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Eastern New Mexico University
1964-1973 -- Director, Eastern New Mexico University Project on Anasazi Origins
1966 -- Director, Valsequillo Project (Harvard University, Eastern New Mexico University, University of Puebla)
1967-1972 -- Associate Professor of Anthropology, Eastern New Mexico University
1969-1970 -- Member of the Executive Council, American Quaternary Association
1969-1972 -- Director, Eastern New Mexico University Program of Early Agriculture in the Tularosa Valley, New Mexico
1969-1974 -- Member of the Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology, American Anthropological Association
1970-1979 -- Excavations at Salmon Ruins
1970-1980 -- Director, Eastern New Mexico University - San Juan Museum Association - San Juan Valley Archaeological Program; Salmon Ruin Project
1970-1981 -- Director, Eastern New Mexico University Program on Pueblo Settlement in the Puerco River Valley, New Mexico
1972-1977 -- Professor of Anthropology, Eastern New Mexico University
1973-1975 -- Member of the Executive Committee, Society for American Archaeology Member of the Committee on the Status of Women in American Archaeology, Society for American Archaeology
1973-1976 -- Member of the American Anthropological Association Nominations Committee Member of the Committee on Native American Relations, Society for American Archaeology
1974-1976 -- Director, Agency for Conservation Archaeology, Eastern New Mexico University Director, Division of Conservation Archaeology, San Juan County Museum
1974-1978 -- Member of the Executive Council, American Quaternary Association
1977-1979 -- President, Society for American Archaeology Member of the Coordinating Council of American Archaeological Societies Member of the Research Panel, Anthropology Program, National Science Foundation
1977-1982 -- Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Eastern New Mexico University
1978-1980 -- Member of the Research Panel, Integrated Basic Research Program, National Science Foundation
1978-1990 -- Member of the Board of Advisors, Center for Field Research
1979-1981 -- Member of the Museum Development Panel, National Endowment for the Humanities
1979-1985 -- Chairman of the Committee on Federal Archaeology, Society for American Archaeology
1980-1982 -- Member of the Media Panel, National Endowment for the Humanities
1981-1983 -- Member of the Research Panel, Archaeometry Program, National Science Foundation
1982-1988 -- Executive Director, Social Sciences Center / Quaternary Sciences Center, Desert Research Institute
1982-1989 -- Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Reno Principal Investigator, Desert Research Institute Archaic Oshara Project
1983-1985 -- Chairman, Society for American Archaeology / Bureau of Land Management / National Coal Association and Surface Mining Committee Conference on Archaeology
1983-1986 -- Member of the Executive Committee, Nevada Council on Professional Archaeology
1984 -- Member of the Nominations Committee, Society of Professional Archaeologists
1984-1986 -- Coordinator and Organizer of Regional Conferences on Cultural Resource Management, Society for American Archaeology
1985-1990 -- Principal Investigator, Desert Research Institute-Bureau of Land Management, Project on Climactic Stress and Human Population on the Middle Puerco River, New Mexico Co-Director, Investigations on Prehistoric Water Harvesting Devices near Fallon, Nevada, and their contemporary applications Member of the Executive Board, Africa Tomorrow Inc.
1986 -- Chairman, Society for American Archaeology Summary Symposium on Cultural Resources Management
1986-1990 -- Co-Principal Investigator, Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Program, Desert Research Institute Social Sciences Center
1987 -- Member of the Long-Range Planning Committee, Society for American Archaeology
1987-1990 -- Principal Investigator, Desert Research Institute Project on PaleoIndian Occupation of Northern Nevada Co-Principal Investigator, Nevada State Museum Sunshine Wells Paleo-Indian Project
1989-1990 -- Sabbatical from professorship at the Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Reno
1990 June 5 -- Died in Reno, Nevada
List of commonly used abbreviations:
This list includes abbreviations commonly used by Irwin-Williams. Many of them have been altered in folder titles to the extended version, but not all have.
AAA - American Anthropological Society
AMQUA - American Quaternary Association
AOPI - Anasazi Origins Project
AOPII - Archaic Oshara Project
BIA - Bureau of Indian Affairs
BLM - Bureau of Land Management
CIW - Cynthia Irwin-Williams
DRI - Desert Research Institute
ENMU - Eastern New Mexico University
EPSCoR - Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, National Science Foundation
HTI - Henry T. Irwin
HUD - Department of Housing and Urban Development
INAH - Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Historia
INQUA - International Quaternary Association
JWP - Journal of World Prehistory
LECAPSR - The Llano Estacado Center for Advanced Professional Studies and Research, Eastern New Mexico University
NEH - National Endowment for the Humanities
NSF - National Science Foundation
PMOA - Programmatic Memorandum of Agreement
PRP - Puerco River Project
QSC - Quaternary Science Center
SAA - Society for American Archaeology
SAR - School of American Research
SJVAP - San Juan Valley Archaeological Project
SOPA - Society of Professional Archaeologists
SSC - Social Sciences Center
SWAA - Southwestern Anthropological Association
UNR - University of Nevada Reno
Related Materials:
The San Juan County Research Center and Library at Salmon Ruins holds the Salmon Ruins collection, papers and information on the archaeological development of Salmon ruins by Cynthia Irwin-Williams.
The American Museum of Natural History, Division of Anthropology Archives holds the Cynthia Irwin-Williams papers, which relate to the manuscript "Pre-ceramic and Early Ceramic Development in Central Mexico."
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University holds the Magic Mountain Expedition Records.
The University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department holds the UP Mammoth Kill site field notes.
Hannah Marie Wormington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Dennis J. Stanford and Margaret A. [Pegi] Jodry papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Provenance:
Received from George Agogino, Michael Bradle, and C. Vance Haynes Jr.
Restrictions:
Materials containing personally identifiable information (predominately grant applications), student grades, references, grant reviews, and employee evaluations have been restricted for eighty years from their date of creation. Materials containing health information for Irwin-Williams have been restricted for fifty years from her date of death.
Audiovisual materials and computer disks are restricted. Please contact the repository for information on the availability of access copies.
Access to the Cynthia Irwin-Williams papers requires an appointment.
101 Tea Ritual / Ismala Mane, El Hadj Malick M'Baye.
102 Diola Foodways: Cooking with Palm Oil / Fatou Diatta.
103 Rhythms of Mortar and Pestle / Abdou Cissé. Mortar and Pestle.
Local Numbers:
FP-1990-CT-0278
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 28, 1990.
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.
