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 Included are correspondence, journals, published and unpublished manuscripts of writings, research materials including field notes and reading notes, photographs, drawings, scholarly papers and publications by other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 In the collection are several drafts of her unpublished manuscript on bilingualism, "Tongues that Defy the State."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material about Landes's experience among African Americans when she taught briefly at Fisk University, including her unpublished manuscript "Now, at Athens," containing fictional and autobiographical accounts of her time at Fisk.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.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
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.
-Terry Bruckhart (Florida State University), "From goddess to god: whatever happened to the Great Mother?," 1979
-James Walter (University of Kansas), "The social significance of silence," 1962
Collection 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.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
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.
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Collection Creator:
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (6.0" x 3.5")
Container:
Box 22, Folder 1
Type:
Archival materials
Diaries
Date:
1937 March 28-1938 September 11
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Found here is Andrew Dasburg's extensive correspondence which spans over seventy years, documenting both his personal and professional life. One third of the correspondence is between Dasburg and his first wife, Grace Mott Johnson. most of which was written during their marriage. These candid letters discuss daily activities, social events, travels, including Dasburg's time in Paris in 1910 and trip to Europe in 1914, news of mutual friends, artwork, and problems with their relationship.
Also found is Dasburg's correspondence with his second wife, Nancy Lane around the time of their marriage in 1928, and correspondence with his third wife, Marina Wister Dasburg during the periods that she visited her family in Pennsylvania; most of these letters are written by Marina. Dasburg's correspondence with his son, Alfred, consists of brief letters sharing news of their travels, family, and personal matters.
General correspondence primarily consists of Dasburg's correspondence with other family members, friends, colleagues, scholars, universities, and galleries. Where they exist, Dasburg's outgoing letters are interfiled with letters he received in a chronological arrangement. Dasburg was friends with many artists who, like him, were part of regional art colonies in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Woodstock, New York. He also maintained friendships with artists he met in Europe and other travels and at the Art Students' League. Correspondents includes Kenneth Adams, Thomas Hart Benton, George Biddle, Dorothy Brett, Alexander Brook, Lucienne Chinard Clemens, Howard Cook, Russell Cowles, Vida Hunt Francis, Lewis Garrison, Marsden Hartley, Norbert Heerman, Richard Hollander, Lila Wheelock Howard, Charles Kassler, Mary Aubrey Keating, Carl Eric Lindin, Ward Lockwood, Erle Loran, Hayes Lyon, Henry Lee McFee, John Gaw Meem, Loren Mozley, Dickson Reeder, Louis Ribak, Paul Rohland, Alfred Stieglitz, Earl Stroh, Carl Van Vechten, Alice Morgan Wright, and Stanton Macdonald-Wright, among many others. Dasburg also corresponded with many former students including Edwin Gamble, Willard Nash, Alice Naylor, and Earl Stroh. Also found are letters from writers John Howard Griffin, Witter Bynner and Miriam Hapgood De Witt as well as art critics and historians such as Robert M. Coates, Oliver Larkin, and Stanley Lothrop. Dasburg maintained extensive correspondence with close friend, art patron and Taos resident, Mabel Dodge Luhan.
A small amount of correspondence with galleries, universities, museums, curators, and scholars concerns exhibitions, sales, or research. Additional topics found within his correspondence are American Indian rights in New Mexico and his medical treatment for Addison's disease.
See Appendix A for a list of correspondents from Series 1.2.
Appendix A: Correspondents from Series 1.2: Andrew Dasburg Papers, General Correspondence:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
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:
Andrew Dasburg and Grace Mott Johnson papers, 1833-1980 (bulk 1900-1980). Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
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); Collection Title, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
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); Collection Title, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of L. Brent Kington conducted 2001 May 3-4, by Mary Douglas, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Kington's home and studio, Makando, Illinois.
Kington describes his childhood and the impact of the Depression; his adopted sister Kay; and his hyperactivity and difficulty accomplishing schoolwork. He comments on his high school teachers; his academic and athletic accomplishments at University of Kansas (UK); his studies at Cranbrook Academy of Art with Richard (Dick) Thomas "the intellectual silversmith" and his "mentor"; Hugh Acton and the GM Tech Center; and fellow metalsmiths Fred Fenster, Mike Jerry, Stanley Lechtzin, and Heikki Seppä.
He discusses exhibitions including "Kansas Designer Craftsmen," "Michigan Designer Craftsmen," "Fiber, Clay, Metal," "Creative Casting, Young Americans 1962," and "Objects: USA." He talks about Ashanti gold weights; Scandinavian design; teaching at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois (SIU) and Illinois State University (ISU), and taking students to the Saint Louis Art Museum to see granulation in Mycenaean gold. He comments at length on his toys and experimenting with ideas about toys.
Kington also describes blacksmithing workshops held at SIU and the "renaissance" of blacksmithing in the United States. He recalls his involvement with the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG), American Craft Council (ACC), World Crafts Council (WCC), Artist Blacksmith's Association of North America (ABANA), the Kentucky School of Craft, the National Ornamental Metal Museum, and other organizations. He discusses his weathervane pieces and other series such as Icarus, Crozier, Europa, and Axis Mundi. He comments on the influence of Mircea Eliade's book "The Forge and the Crucible" (1979), considers the blacksmith's role in various cultural mythologies, and evaluates publications such as "Anvil's Ring" and "American Blacksmith."
He comments on the current state of affairs in metalsmithing; his retirement from SIU and teaching in the University of Georgia-Cortona program; the impact of Cyril Stanley Smith's insights and the importance of his book "A History of Metallography" (1960); his appreciation of Daryl Meier's work; exploring new techniques such as mokume gane, kuromido, shibuichi, rokusho (patination process); encouraging Mary Lee Hu to pursue wire structuring; and his enthusiasm for sharing information. He recalls John Allgood, Philip Baldwin, Robert Ebendorf, Phil Fike, Maija Grotell, Marvin Jensen, Richard Mawdsley, Lee Nordness, Ron Pearson, Bob Peterson,Gene and Hiroko Pijanowski, Jim Wallace, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
L. Brent Kington (1934-) is a metalsmith from Makanda, Illinois. Mary Douglas (1956-) is a curator at the Mint Museum of Craft and Design in Charlotte, N.C.
General:
Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 14 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 54 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Topic:
Metal-workers -- Illinois -- Interviews Search this
The papers of influential blacksmith, sculptor, metalsmith and educator, L. Brent Kington, measure 9 linear feet and date from 1944 to 2012. The collection provides a valuable overview of Kington's career through correspondence relating primarily to exhibitions, subject files, drawings, photographs of Kington and his artwork, printed matter and audiovisual material. An additional 5.2 linear feet of papers was accessioned from 2007 to 2012 and remains unprocessed.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of influential blacksmith, sculptor, metalsmith, and educator, L. Brent Kington, measure 9 linear feet and date from 1944 to 2012. The collection provides a valuable overview of Kington's career through correspondence, subject files, drawings, photographs of Kington and his artwork, printed matter and audiovisual material.
Correspondence in Series 1 relates primarily to exhibitions in the United States at institutions such as the the American Craft Museum, the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, and the National Ornamental Metal Museum, in which Kington's work was represented.
Kington's education at Cranbrook Academy of Art, his career at Southern Illinois University, his involvement with various professional organizations, his appearances at conferences and workshops, and his relationships with individual galleries, are more fully represented in Series 2: Subject Files.
The collection also includes printed matter, including exhibition announcements and catalogs for group and solo exhibitions in which Kington's work was featured, and publications containing articles about Kington.
Photographs in the collection include images of Kington's artwork and also picture Kington at various stages throughout his career. Audiovisual material includes an oral history interview with Kington from 2001, and two video recordings of a blacksmith workshop and a program entitled Brent Kington: Image of an Artist.
An additional 5.2 linear feet of papers was accessioned from 2007 to 2012 and remains unprocessed.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into six series. Original arrangement has generally been maintained throughout the collection, with some merging of chronological correspondence in Series 1 to facilitate access.
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1955-2004, undated (box 1; 0.8 linear ft.)
Series 2: Subject Files, 1956-2005, undated (box 1-3; 1.6 linear ft.)
Series 3: Printed Material, 1952-2003, undated (box 3-4, OV 5; 0.9 linear ft.)
Series 4: Photographs, circa 1944-2001 (box 4; 0.4 linear ft.)
Series 6: Unprocessed Addition to the L. Brent Kington Papers, 1956-2012 (boxes 6-12, OV 13; 5.2 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
L. Brent Kington was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1934. He received a BFA from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1957 and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1961. Kington began his career primarily as a silversmith working with small-scale objects such as jewelry, silverware, and toys, and then became interested in using forged iron to create sculpture. He sought the help and instruction of the few blacksmiths he could find working in a "traditional" style and began working with large-scale sculptures forged in iron and steel, weathervanes, and other kinetic sculpture. Kington's subsequent research, such as his exploration of forge welding techniques of iron and his experimentation with laminated, non-ferrous alloys, constituted an important contribution to the resurgence of traditional blacksmithing and was highly influential in the fields of blacksmithing and metalsmithing in general.
Kington served as Director of the School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale from 1981 to 1994. He was a lecturer at SIU from 1961 to 1962, assistant professor from 1962 to 1967, associate professor from 1967 to 1972, professor from 1972 to 1996, and is currently professor emeritus. A committed educator and an avid spokesman for the arts, he has been honored many times as a guest lecturer, visiting artist, exhibit juror, workshop demonstrator, and panelist in the United States and abroad. In 1987 he spent a summer in Cortona, Italy as guest professor in the University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program.
Since 1962, Kington's sculpture and metalwork has been shown in more than 350 group and solo exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, Mexico, and South America. Over the years Kington has served in various professional organizations. He has been a Trustee of the American Craft Council, Director of the Artist-Blacksmith Association of North America (ABANA), and President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG). In 1978 he was elected to the American Craft Council's Academy of Fellows and has been the recipient of two Artist Fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Kington continues to work from his home and studio in Makando, Illinois.
Related Material:
The Archives also has a transcribed interview of L. Brent Kington, conducted May 3-4, 2001 by Mary Douglas for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. The interview was conducted in Kington's home and studio in Makando, Illinois.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art in installments by L. Brent Kington from 2001 to 2012. Materials donated from 2007 to 2012 remain unprocessed.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
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.
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.
Collection Citation:
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Collection, Acc. 1992.0023, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Collection Citation:
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Collection, Acc. 1992.0023, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Search this
University of Kansas. Department of Anthropology Search this
University of South Carolina. Department of Anthropology Search this
Extent:
26 Linear feet (53 document boxes, 4 record storage boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 folder, 3 computer disks)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
South Carolina
Hierakonpolis (Extinct city)
Glorieta National Battlefield (N.M.)
Date:
1961-2004
Summary:
This collection is comprised of the professional papers of Ted Allan Rathbun. The collection documents his career as a forensic anthropologist and educator through correspondence, publications and teaching materials. The collection includes the publications resulting from his research in South Carolina, Egypt, and Glorieta, New Mexico, as well as a small portion of his research data. His other writings that can be found in the collection include his monographs, journal articles, papers presented at conferences, and reviews he wrote for various journals and publications. The collection also includes materials relating to his consulting activities for law enforcement agencies, and military and historical organizations. Additionally, the collection contains materials related to organizations that he was a member of and his syllabi and lecture notes as a professor at the University of South Carolina. The collection also includes Rathbun's course notes when, as a student at the University of Kansas, he studied under William Bass, Ellis Kerley and other notable anthropologists. Among his correspondents were J. Lawrence Angel, Eve Cockburn, Henry Dobyns, Henry Field, T. Dale Stewart, and T. Cuyler Young.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is comprised of the professional papers of Ted Allan Rathbun,. The collection documents his career as a forensic anthropologist and educator through correspondence, publications and teaching materials. The collection includes the publications resulting from his research in South Carolina, Egypt, and Glorieta, New Mexico, as well as a small portion of his research data. His other writings that can be found in the collection include his monographs, journal articles, papers presented at conferences, and reviews he wrote for various journals and publications. The collection also includes materials relating to his consulting activities for law enforcement agencies, and military and historical organizations. Additionally, the collection contains materials related to organizations that he was a member of and his syllabi and lecture notes as a professor at the University of South Carolina. The collection also includes Rathbun's course notes when, as a student at the University of Kansas, he studied under William Bass, Ellis Kerley and other notable anthropologists. Among his correspondents were J. Lawrence Angel, Eve Cockburn, Henry Dobyns, Henry Field, T. Dale Stewart, and T. Cuyler Young.
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:
Arranged into 10 series: 1) Correspondence (1969-2004); 2) Field Work (1976-1996, 2001); 3) Consulting Work (1974-2004); 4) Research Data (1977-1980); 5) Publications (1963-2001); 6) Grants (1977-1991); 7) Professional Organizations (1981-2000); 8) Grants and Publications Reviews (1974-2000); 9) University of South Carolina (1970-2004); 10) Education (1961-1970)
Biographical / Historical:
Ted Allan Rathbun (1942-2012) earned his B.A. (1964), M.A. (1966), and Ph.D. (1971) in anthropology from the University of Kansas, where he studied under anthropologist William M. Bass. He taught English as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran, where he became fluent in Farsi and did research for his doctorate. He conducted research on topics as wide-ranging as population growth in Iran; the physical characteristics of Woodland Indians; Coastal South Carolina paleopathology; growth rates among ancient urban states; shark attacks and human remains; social class and health; the history of African American health; and predynastic cemeteries at Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt. Through his South Carolina field work and publications, Rathbun became noted for expanding the knowledge of Afro-American history from the colonial and Civil War times.
Rathbun was also a pioneer in establishing and expanding the use of forensic anthropology technology by law enforcement. He was licensed in South Carolina to assist coroners, law enforcement officials and medical examiners in identifying human remains. He and his students refined a process for the reconstruction of victim's faces, which were then used to assist in their identification. He served as a consulting physical anthropologist to the Charleston County Medical Examiner (1973-93); Deputy State Archaeologist for Forensics (1985-2000); and Consultant to the U.S. Military Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii (1990-2003/2004) where he reviewed cases of military (and civilian) remains from the Vietnam, Korea, and WWII eras. He also participated in the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) efforts for identification of the victims of September 11, 2001.
Rathbun taught at the University of South Carolina for 30 years. He was a popular classroom professor and led research field trips with his students. In 1996 he received the Louise Fry Scudder Faculty Award, which recognized him for excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching, student mentoring and advising, and service contributions beyond the university. He retired from full-time teaching in 2000.
Rathbun was also a research associate of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology; director of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology (1985-91); and for 15 years a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. In 2005, he was honored by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences with the T. Dale Stewart Award — its highest honor in Forensic Anthropology — for his lifetime achievements and contributions to the field.
1942 -- Born April 11
1964 -- Married
1964 -- Earns B.A. from University of Kansas, Honors in Anthropology
1966 -- Earns M.A. from University of Kansas, Physical Anthropology
1966-1968 -- Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran
1970 -- Instructor at the University of South Carolina
1971 -- Earns PhD. from University of Kansas, (Physical Anthropology of SWAsia, Applied Cultural and Cultural Ecology). Dissertation: An Analysis of the Physical Characteristics of the Ancient Inhabitants of Hasanlu, Iran
1971-1975 -- Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina
1975-1984 -- Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina
1984-2000 -- Professor at the University of South Carolina
1987-1989 -- Chairman of the Anthropology Department
1990-1996 -- Undergraduate Director
1996 -- Awarded Louise Fry Scudder professorship
1999 -- Named Distinguished Professor
2000 -- Named Distinguished Professor Emeritus
2005 -- Honored by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences with the T. Dale Stewart Award
2012 -- Passed away on November 14
Related Materials:
Rathbun's South Carolina research materials are at the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. His other field research data can be found at the Field Museum in Chicago and the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.
His body was donated to the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee and the Physical Anthropology Collections, National Museum of Natural History.
Separated Materials:
Biological specimens found within Series 3. Consulting Work, Subseries: Forensic Cases were transferred to Physical Anthropology Collections, National Museum of Natural History. Videos, also from the forensic case files, were transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives.
Provenance:
Dr. Rathbun donated his professional papers to the National Anthropological Archives in 2005. Additional files were donated in 2013 by his wife, Babette Rathbun, after his death.
Restrictions:
Rathbun's forensic case files donated in 2013 are restricted until 2088. Two folders containing student grades have been separated and are restricted until 2055. For preservation reasons, his computer disks have been separated and restricted. Please note that the collection contains images of human remains.
This series contains Rathbun's course notes as an undergraduate and graduate student at University of Kansas. The series is arranged by date the course was taken.
Collection Restrictions:
Rathbun's forensic case files donated in 2013 are restricted until 2088. Two folders containing student grades have been separated and are restricted until 2055. For preservation reasons, his computer disks have been separated and restricted. Please note that the collection contains images of human remains.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use
Collection Citation:
Ted Allan Rathbun papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The papers of painter and educator Albert Bloch measure 17.9 linear feet and date from 1873 to 2014. The collection documents his career as an artist and university professor in Lawrence, Kansas, as well as his time in Munich, Germany, as part of the Blue Rider group of German Expressionists. The collection includes biographical material, extensive personal and professional correspondence, writings, personal business records, exhibition files, printed material, photographs, and artwork. Throughout the collection are records maintained by his widow Anna Bloch on the exhibition, sale, and research of Bloch's work after his death.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter and educator Albert Bloch measure 17.9 linear feet and date from 1873 to 2014. The collection documents his career as an artist and university professor in Lawrence, Kansas, as well as his time in Munich, Germany, as part of the Blue Rider group of German Expressionists. The collection includes biographical material, extensive personal and professional correspondence, writings, personal business records, exhibition files, printed material, photographs, and artwork. Throughout the collection are records maintained by his widow Anna Bloch on the exhibition, sale, and research of Bloch's work after his death.
Biographical material includes vital records, passports, chronologies, biographical summaries, family history documents, and bibliography files compiled by Anna Bloch. Correspondence is with family, friends, artists, art historians, students, museums, galleries, publishers, magazines, and others, and includes letters of both a personal and professional nature. Of note is Albert Bloch's correspondence with artists Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Emmy Klinker, Franz Marc, Philipp Fehl, and his students James Penney and Robert Sudlow.
Writings include poetry, lectures, essays, notes, and Bloch's translations of the writings of Austrian writer Karl Kraus. Included are many drafts of his book of poetry, Ventures in Verse: Selected Pieces. Also found are love notes between Albert and Anna Bloch. Writings by others include a few notebooks and loose notes by Anna Bloch, essays and lectures about Bloch's artwork, and poetry.
Personal business records include lists of artworks, price lists, sales records, and ownership records, and more recent records concerning artwork conservation; agreements, and consignment records with art galleries and dealers; and artwork shipping records, all maintained by Anna Bloch. Exhibition files are not comprehensive, and primarily document retrospective exhibitions of Bloch's artwork occurring after his death. Of note are records, including a scrapbook, for a 1997 retrospective at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Printed material includes exhibition publications, news clippings, magazines, journals, and photocopies of Bloch's work for The Mirror. Photographs depict Bloch in his home, studio, and with family and friends. Also found are many photographs of family and friends, artwork by Bloch, Blue Rider exhibition photographs taken by artist Gabriele Münter, and two photograph album "Record Books" that contain annotated photographs of his painting during the period that he lived in Germany. A small amount of artwork includes sketches by Bloch.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 8 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1873-1990s (0.4 Linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1912-2013 (6.2 Linear feet; Boxes 1-7)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1920s-1990s (3.9 Linear feet; Boxes 7-11)
Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1914-2014 (0.6 Linear feet; Box 11)
Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1939-2000 (0.7 Linear feet; Box 12, 19)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1911-2006 (2 Linear feet; Boxes 12-14)
Series 7: Photographic Materials, circa 1882-2013 (4.1 Linear feet; Boxes 14-21)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1930s-1950s (0.2 Linear feet; Box 17)
Biographical / Historical:
Albert Bloch (1882-1961) was a painter and educator in Lawrence, Kansas. From 1909 to 1921, he lived and worked in Germany, where he was associated with Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group of European modernists.
Bloch was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and as a teenager attended the St. Louis School of Fine Arts. From 1905 to 1913, he contributed numerous caricatures, cartoons, covers, and articles to the satirical newspaper The Mirror. In 1905, he married Hortense Altheimer and they lived briefly in New York City before moving to the artists' district in Munich, Germany, thanks to the financial support of William Reedy, editor of The Mirror. By 1911 Bloch had befriended prominent members of the Neue Kunstlervereinigung Munchen (NKVM), including Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. He joined them when they later seceded from the NKVM group to form Der Blaue Reiter. Bloch exhibited six paintings in the group's first exhibition in 1911-1912. Over the next few years, Bloch exhibited his works regularly, most notably at Der Sturm Gallery. He and his family remained in Germany throughout World War I, returning to the US in 1921.
Bloch worked briefly at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art, and in 1923, settled in Lawrence, Kansas, accepting a faculty position at the University of Kansas. During this period he did not regularly exhibit his work and focused on teaching and writing. He corresponded with Austrian writer Karl Kraus, editor of Die Fackel, and began to translate Kraus' works into English. In the early 1930s, Bloch met Anna Francis at the University of Kansas and later she lived with the Bloch family, including Hortense and two sons, Bernard and Walter. After the death of his wife Hortense, Alfred married Anna in 1951. 1947, Bloch suffered a heart attack and retired from the University of Kansas. That same year a book of his poetry, Ventures in Verse: Selected Pieces, was published.
Bloch continued to paint and had a large retrospective of his work in 1955 at the University of Kansas Museum of Art. He died in December 1961 after a long illness.
Related Materials:
The Albert Bloch, the American Blue Rider Exhibition records, 1994-1997, are available at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 2015 by the Albert Bloch Foundation via Scott Heffley, president. Additonal letters from Anna Bloch donated 2017 by David Strauss, Albert Bloch's cousin.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
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.
An interview with Clark Richert conducted 2013 August 20- 21, by Elissa Auther, for the Archives of American Art's, Stoddard-Fleischman Fund for the History of Rocky Mountain Area Artists, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, Colorado.
Richert speaks of deciding to become an artist; his influences; studying art at the University of Kansas; the Wichita Vortex; Droppings: working with geometric art; Drop City; geodesic domes; The Ultimate Painting; Zome Toy; Criss-Cross; using computers in art; being a teacher; the Armory Group; and A.R.E.A. Richert also recalls Bruce Conner, Richard Kallweit, Joan Brown, Gene Bernofsky, Buckminster Fuller, Michael McClure, Alan Kaprow, Nick Sands, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Jay Defeo, Dean Fleming, Linda Fleming, John Fudge, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Clark Richert (1941-2021) was a painter in Denver, Colorado and is head of the painting and drawing department at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. Elissa Auther (1966- ) is associate professor of contemporary art in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
General:
Originally recorded as 4 sound files. Duration is 2 hr., 55 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
For information on how to access this interview contact Reference Services.
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- Colorado -- Denver -- Interviews Search this
Painters -- Colorado -- Denver -- Interviews Search this
Topic:
Arts administrators -- Colorado -- Denver -- Interviews Search this
This collection contains John and Ann Fischer's correspondence, field notes, manuscripts, microfilm, sound recordings, and photographs relating to their work in Micronesia, Japan, and New England. Most of the materials in this collection were produced or collected by John. Although some materials have been identified as Ann's work, not all folders containing her notes have been so identified. Since John and Ann often collaborated, some of their notes are also intermixed. Materials relating to Truk and Ponape make up the bulk of the series. They not only include John and Ann's field notes but also administrative materials relating to John's position as District Anthropologist and District Island Affairs Officer. Because they returned at various times to visit and update data, there are documents on Ponape from 1949 as well as from the 1970s and in between. The Fischers' work in Japan is also well-represented in the collection along with their research for John and Beatrice Whiting's Six Cultures Project. The collection also contains a number of psychological tests administered by John and Ann during their research in Ponape and Japan. The sound recordings are mostly related to Ponape, with additional recordings from Japan. Several of the photographs are from Micronesia, some of which were taken by Harry Clifford Fassett. There are also some photos from Japan as well as personal photographs. Additional items in the collection include John's correspondence and papers he wrote as a student.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains John and Ann Fischer's correspondence, field notes, manuscripts, microfilm, sound recordings, and photographs relating to their work in Micronesia, Japan, and New England. Most of the materials in this collection were produced or collected by John. Although some materials have been identified as Ann's work, not all folders containing her notes have been so identified. Since John and Ann often collaborated, some of their notes are also intermixed.
Materials relating to Truk and Ponape make up the bulk of the series. They not only include John and Ann's field notes but also administrative materials relating to John's position as District Anthropologist and District Island Affairs Officer. Because they returned at various times to visit and update data, there are documents on Ponape from 1949 as well as from the 1970s and in between. The Fischers' work in Japan is also well-represented in the collection along with their research for John and Beatrice Whiting's Six Cultures Project.
The sound recordings are also mostly related to Ponape, with additional recordings from Japan. Several of the photographs are from Micronesia, some of which were taken by Harry Clifford Fassett. There are also some photos from Japan as well as personal photographs. Additional items in the collection include John's correspondence and papers he wrote as a student. Psychological tests administered by John and Ann during their research in Ponape and Japan are also in the collection.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 9 series: (1) Records and correspondence, 1948-1985; (2) Truk, 1949-1984 [Bulk 1949-1953]; (3) Ponape, 1839-1984 [Bulk 1947-1984]; (4) New England, 1954-1968 [Bulk 1955-1968]; (5) Japan, 1940-1985 [Bulk 1961-1964]; (6) Academic Work, 1946-1974; (7) Photographs, 1899-1974 [Bulk 1942-1974]; (8) Microfilm, undated; (9) Sound Recordings, 1947-1976 [Bulk 1959-1976]
Biographical Note:
Ann Kindrick Fischer was born on May 22, 1919 in Kansas City. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Kansas with a B.A. in Sociology in 1941. During World War II she lived in Washington, D.C. working as registrar at the School of Advanced International Studies. At the time she was briefly married to her first husband, James Meredith.
In 1946 Ann entered Radcliffe College's graduate program in the Department of Anthropology. As a student at Radcliffe, she met John Fischer, who was a student at Harvard. In 1949 she traveled to the Caroline Islands to study Trukese mother and child training and to marry John, who had obtained a position as District Anthropologist of the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. During their time in Micronesia, the two lived a year in Truk and three years in Ponape. While in Ponape, Ann taught English in a middle school as part of her anthropological research. She completed her dissertation, "The Role of the Trukese Mother and Its Effect on Child Training," and was awarded her Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1957.
Her interest in childrearing continued when she returned to Massachusetts from Micronesia. From 1954 to 1957, she worked as a research assistant on the Ford Foundation Six Cultures Project under the direction of John and Beatrice Whiting. Ann and her husband collaborated in a study of children in a New England town, which resulted in their 1963 article "The New Englanders of Orchard Town, USA." In 1961 and 1962, Ann and John worked together again to study childrearing in Japan, focusing on psychology and family life. When they returned from Japan, they did a follow-up study of a Japanese community in San Mateo, California.
In 1959, Ann became the first anthropologist to hold a training fellowship in biostatistics and epidemiology at Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She joined their faculty and also taught at the Tulane School of Social Work (1960-1966) and the Anthropology Department of Newcomb College (1968-1971). In addition, Ann served as consultant to the Peace Corps on Micronesia.
Although she continued to write extensively on families and children throughout her career, her interests also included medicine, the role of women, and minority rights. She particularly became interested in the Houma Indians, publishing her article "History and Current Status of the Houma Indians" in 1965. An active supporter of the Houma Indians, she played an integral role in eliminating segregation in the school system in their area.
On April 22, 1971 Ann died of cancer at the age of 51.
Selected Bibliography
Edmonson, Munro S. "Ann Kindrick Fischer." -- Women Anthropologists: Selected Biographies -- . Ed. Ute Gacs, -- et al. -- Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1989.
Halpern, Katherine Spencer. "Ann Fischer 1919-1971." -- American Anthropologist -- , New Series, Vol. 75, No. 1. (Feb., 1973), pp. 292-294.
Marshall, M. and M. Ward. "John (Jack) Fischer (1923-1985)." -- American Anthropologist -- , New Series, Vol.89, No.1 (Mar., 1987) 134-136.
John Lyle Fischer was born in Kewanee, Illinois on July 9, 1923. His undergraduate work began at Harvard in 1940 but was interrupted by his military service during World War II. During the war he studied Japanese and served as both an interpreter and translator in the Marines. Following the war he returned to Harvard to complete his B.A. in 1946. His undergraduate honors thesis was entitled "Japanese Linguistic Morphology in Relation to Basic Cultural Traits."
John continued on at Harvard for his graduate studies in the Department of Social Relations, earning his Masters degree in Anthropology in 1949. That same year he married Ann Kindrick Meredith on his birthday. The two were stationed in Micronesia where John served as District Anthropologist (1949-1951) for the Naval Administration and later as the District Island Affairs Officer (1951-1953) under the Interior Department Administration.
When he and his family moved back to Massachusetts, he returned to his academic studies at Harvard. Drawing upon his fieldwork in Micronesia, he completed his dissertation, "Language and Folktale in Truk and Ponape: A Study in Cultural Integration," in 1954 and received his PhD from Harvard the following year. Work on the dissertation led to a lifelong interest in folklore and lingistics as well as Truk and Ponape. He revisited Ponape several times in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
From 1954 to 1955 John collaborated with his wife to study comparative child-rearing in New England. In the early 1960s, they once again conducted fieldwork together, this time in Japan, studying the psychological dynamics of family life. They later did a follow-up study of a Japanese community in San Mateo, California. Just before his death, John was planning another research trip to Japan.
In 1958, John obtained a faculty position at Tulane University teaching social anthropology. He served as chair of the Department of Anthropology from 1969 to 1971 and taught at the university until his death. By 1979 Fischer had learned Russian and taught for a year at the University of Leningrad. Fischer was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Pittsburgh in 1975 to 1976. In addition, he was active in various professional societies and consulted with several national organizations. He was co-author of 8 books as well as author of many articles and book chapters.
Following Ann's death from cancer, Fischer married Simonne Cholin Sanzenbach, who was also a professor at Tulane, in 1973. They shared many interests and published an article together in Japanese, "The Nature of Speech According to French Proverbs," in 1983.
At the age of 61, John passed away on May 16, 1985.
Related Materials:
More materials relating to John and Ann Fischer can be found in other collections at the National Anthropological Archives. MS 7516 "Documents relating to scientific investigations in Micronesia" contains the Fischers' 1954 East Caroline Handbook. More of John's correspondence can be found in the Southern Anthropological Society Records and in Saul Herbert Riesenberg's Correspondence series under the Records of the Department of Anthropology. The American Indian Chicago Conference Records contains Ann's correspondence.
Harvard University's Tozzer Library and the Bishop Museum also hold some of John's original Ponapean field notes.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Richard A. Marksbury in 2013.
Restrictions:
Access to psychological tests administered by John and Ann Fischer during their research in Ponape and Japan is restricted. Access to the John L. Fischer and Ann K. Fischer Papers requires an appointment.
The papers of metal-worker Mary Kretsinger measure 1.1 linear feet and date from 1951 to 1985. The collection comprises professional files documenting Kretsinger's activities with various exhibitions, commissions, and galleries and museums, and photographic materials of Kretsinger and her artwork that include a binder and photograph album.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of metal-worker Mary Kretsinger measure 1.1 linear feet and date from 1951 to 1985. The collection comprises professional files documenting Kretsinger's activities with various exhibitions, commissions, and galleries and museums including the Brookfield Craft Center, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, and others; and photographic materials of Kretsinger and works of art that include a binder and photograph album.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 2 series.
Series 1: Professional Files, 1951-1985 (0.9 linear feet; Box 1, OV 2)
Series 2: Photographic Materials, 1960s (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Biographical / Historical:
Mary Kretsinger (1915-2001) was a metal-worker in Emporia, Kansas, who excelled in liturgical objects and was also known for her formed and constructed containers and cloisonné boxes.
Kretsinger began painting and drawing while attending Emporia High School, and then attended the University of Kansas graduating in 1937. Kretsinger went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in 1941 from the University of Iowa. Early in her career she studied with prominent metal-workers such as Rudolf Brom in Kansas and with Adda Husted-Andersen at the Craft Students League in New York.
Kretsinger taught at Emporia State Teachers College from 1950 to 1964, and opened her own workshop in 1957. Kretsinger left her teaching position in 1964 to focus on her art full time.
Provenance:
The Mary Kretsinger papers were donated in 1996 by Mary Kretsinger.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
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.
