The Beatrice Medicine papers, 1913-2003 (bulk 1945-2003), document the professional life of Dr. Beatrice "Bea" Medicine (1923-2005), a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, anthropologist, scholar, educator, and Native rights activist. The collection also contains material collected by or given to Medicine to further her research and activism interests. Medicine, whose Lakota name was Hinsha Waste Agli Win, or "Returns Victorious with a Red Horse Woman," focused her research on a variety of topics affecting the Native American community: 1) mental health, 2) women's issues, 3) bilingual education, 4) alcohol and drug use, 5) ethno-methodologies and research needs of Native Americans, and 6) Children and identity issues. The collection represents Medicine's work as an educator for universities and colleges in the United States and in Canada, for which she taught Native American Studies courses. Additionally, because of the large amount of research material and Medicine's correspondence with elected U.S. officials and Native American leaders, and records from Medicine's involvement in Native American organizations, the collection serves to represent issues affecting Native Americans during the second half of the 20th century, and reflects what Native American leaders and organizations did to navigate and mitigate those issues. Collection materials include correspondence; committee, conference, and teaching material; ephemera; manuscripts and poetry; maps; notes; periodicals; photographs; training material; and transcripts.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Beatrice Medicine reflect Medicine's interests as an academic and an activist, and contain correspondence, committee, conference, and teaching material, ephemera, manuscripts and poetry, maps, notes, periodicals, photographs, and training material (see series scope notes for further details on contents). The majority of the material is printed matter that Medicine collected, with less of her own work included. Taken together, the collection reflects issues affecting Native Americans during the second half of the 20th century, as well as the network of Native American leaders and organizations that navigated these issues. Student papers, letters of recommendation, evaluations, and documents containing personally identifiable information are restricted.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into 24 series:
Series 1: Native American Culture and History, 1954-1962, 1967-1975, 1978-1989, 1991-1997, 1999-2002
Series 2: Appropriations, Economics, and Labor, 1955, circa 1970-1980, 1988, 1993, circa 1995-2000
Series 3: Archaeology, 1935-1950, 1952-1973, 1987-1995
Series 4: Native American Artists, Authors, Crafts, Film, and Poets, 1951-1969, 1972-2002
Series 5: Census, Demographic, and Poll Data, 1974, 1984-1986
Series 6: Civil Rights, 1972, 1980, 1983-1997
Series 7: Committee Material: Correspondence, Meeting Minutes, and Memos, 1985-1995
Series 8: Conference Material, 1955-1962, 1965, 1968-1974, 1976-2002
Series 9: Correspondence, 1952, 1959, 1962, 1966-2000
Series 10: Education: Native American Institutions and Teaching Material, 1948-2002
Series 11: Ephemera: Campaign, Pow-Wow, and Other Event Buttons, and Calendars, 1973, 1976, circa 1980-2000
Series 12: Health: Alcohol and Drug Addiction and Recovery, Disabilities, Healthcare, Mental Health, Nutrition, and Wellness, 1955, 1965, 1969-1999, 2004
Series 13: Historic Preservation, 1942, 1956, 1960-1969, 1979, circa 1985-1998
Series 14: Invitations, 1966-1979, 1982, 1991-2002
Series 15: Linguistics: Native American Languages, 1961, 1963, 1975, 1978-1981, 1987-1995
Series 16: Manuscripts, 1964-2003
Series 17: Maps, 1982-1991
Series 18: Museum Material: Native American Museums, Exhibit Preparation, and the National Museum of the American Indian, 1949, 1962, circa 1976-1998
Series 19: Oversized Material, 1962, circa 1965-1996, 1999
Series 20: Published material: Journals, Magazines, Monographs, and Newsletters, 1914, 1932, 1944, 1946-1947, 1952-2003
Series 21: Reports, 1947-1949, 1956-1998
Series 22: Training Material, 1968, 1988-2000
Series 23: Women and Gender, 1962, 1965, circa 1970-1997
Series 24: Restricted Material, 1972, 1978, 1987-1999
Biographical / Historical:
A member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, Beatrice "Bea" Medicine—also known by her Lakota name Hinsha Waste Agli Win, or "Returns Victorious with a Red Horse Woman"—was born on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in Wakpala, South Dakota on August 1, 1923.
As a young adult, she studied at the South Dakota State University on the Laverne Noyes Scholarship, where she attained her B.A. in Anthropology in 1945. Between 1945 and 1951, Medicine worked a variety of teaching positions, including for three American Indian institutions (see Chronology for Medicine's complete work history). In 1951, Medicine went back to school and worked as a research assistant until she earned her master's degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Michigan State University in 1954. For the remainder of her life, Medicine served as faculty, visiting professor, and scholar-in-residence at thirty-one universities and colleges in the United States and Canada, teaching cultural and educational anthropology courses, as well as Native American Studies. As an educator, Medicine carried out her research on a variety of issues affecting Native American and First Nation communities, including: 1) mental health issues, 2) women's issues—professionalization, sterilization, socialization, and aging, 3) bilingual education, 4) alcohol and drug use and abuse, 5) ethno-methodologies and research needs, and 6) socialization of children and identity needs. Medicine's research in American Indian women's and children's issues, as well as her research in gender identity among the LGBT community was among the first to document the narratives of the members of these groups.
In 1974, Medicine testified alongside her cousin, Vine Deloria, Jr., as an expert witness in the Wounded Knee trial (United States v. Banks and Means). Following this, Medicine returned to school to pursue her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology, which she completed in 1983 at the University of Wisconsin. With her experience as a researcher, educator, activist, and Lakota woman, medicine sought to create more opportunities for multicultural and bilingual education for minority students, especially those of Native American descent. Such education, she believed, provided students a means to preserve and legitimize their own cultural identity, debase negative stereotyes, and be recognized as individuals who are capable of academic and economic achievement.
Medicine was an active member of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and pursued her educational agenda further through the establishment of the Committee of Anthropologists in Primarily Minority Institutions (CAPMI) (1987-1995), which brought anthropologists out of retirement to teach at minority institutions. (See Chronology for a complete list of organizations and committees in which Medicine was involved.) The program was short-lived but provided a space for minority students to confront a field that historically misrepresented them, reclaim their narratives and languages, and instigate positive change as potential future anthropologists.
Medicine officially retired on August 1, 1989, but continued to be active in AAA and was honored many times for her contributions to the field of anthropology. Some of her recognitions include the Distinguished Service Award from AAA (1991) and the Bronislaw Malinowski Award from the Society for Applied Anthropology (1996). One of Medicine's highest honors, however, was serving as the Sacred Pipe Woman at the 1977 Sun Dance. Medicine continued her research into retirement, and went on to publish her first book in 2001, Learning to Be an Anthropologist and Remaining "Native": Selected Writings. Medicine died in Bismarck, North Dakota on December 19, 2005. Medicine's final work, Drinking and Sobriety Among the Lakota Sioux was published posthumously in 2006. In honor of her life's work and dedication to education, the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) created the Bea Medicine Award, a scholarship travel grant for students to attend the Annual Meeting of the SfAA.
Chronology: Beatrice Medicine
1923 August 1 -- Beatrice Medicine (also known by her Lakota name, Hinsha Waste Agli Win, or "Returns Victorious with a Red Horse Woman") is born on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in Wakpala, South Dakota.
1941-1945 -- Receives scholarship: Laverne Noyes Scholarship, South Dakota State University
1945 -- Receives Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, South Dakota State University.
1945-1946 -- Teacher, Home Economics, Haskell Indian Institute (B.I.A.)
1947-1948 -- Health Education Lecturer, Michigan Tuberculosis Association
1948-1949 -- Teacher, Santo Domingo Pueblo, United Pueblos Agency, Albuquerque, New Mexico
1949-1950 -- Teacher, Navajo Adult Beginner's Program, Albuquerque Indian School
1950-1951 -- Teacher, Home Economics, Flandreau Indian School
1950-1954 -- Fellowship: Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs Fellowships
1951-1954 -- Research Assistant, Sociology and Anthropology, Michigan State University
1953-1954 -- Fellowship: John Hay Whitney Foundation Fellowship
1954 -- Receives Master of Arts, Sociology and Anthropology, Michigan State University. Fellowship: American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship
1954- -- Charter Member, American Indian Women's Service League
1955-1958 -- Teaching and Research Assistant, University of Washington
1956 -- Honor: Outstanding Alumna, South Dakota State University
1960 -- Mentioned as "Who's Who Among American Indians"
circa 1960 -- Alpha Kappa Delta, Sociology Hononary Phi Upsilon Omicron, Home Economic Honorary
1960-1963 -- Lecturer, Anthropology, University of British Columbia
1960-1964 -- Board of Directors, Native Urban Indian Centers in Vancouver, British Columbia and Calgary, Alberta
1963-1964 -- Lecturer/Sociology and Teacher/Counselor, Mount Royal College, Indian Affairs Branch Receives grant: American Council of Learned Societies Research Grant
1965 -- Lecturer, Social Science, Michigan State University
1966 -- Psychiatric Social Worker, Provincial Guidance Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
1966-1967 -- Receives grant: Career Development Grant, National Institute of Mental Health
1966- -- Member, National Congress of American Indians (Education Issues)
1967 -- Receives grant: Ethnological Research Grant, National Museum of Canada
1967-1968 -- Lecturer, Sociology and Anthropology, University of Montana
1968 -- Teacher, "Cultural Enrichment Program," Standing Rock Indian Reservation, South Dakota Cited in "The Role of Racial Minorities in the United States," Seattle, Washington
1968 March -- Speaker: "The Pow-Wow as a Social Factor in the Northern Plains Ceremonialism," Montana Academy of Sciences
1968 May -- Speaker: "Patterns and Periphery of Plains Indian Pow-Wows," Central States Anthropological Society
1968 June -- Speaker: "Magic Among the Stoney Indians," Canadian Sociology and Anthropological Association, Calgary, Alberta
1968 August -- Speaker: "Magic Among the Stoney Indians," International Congress of Americanists, Stuttgart, German Speaker: "The Dynamics of a Dakota Indian Giveaway," International Congress of Americanists, Stuttgart, German
1968-1969 -- Director, American Indian Research, Oral History Project and Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of South Dakota
1968-1970 -- Consultant, Text Book Evaluation Committee, American Indians United
1969 -- Assistant Professor, Teacher Corps, University of Nebraska
1969 September -- Speaker: "The Red Man Yesterday," Governor's Interstate Indian Council, Wichita, Kansas
1969 December -- Speaker: "The Native American in Modern Society," Northwestern State College
1969-1970 -- Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University Speaker: "The Indian in Institutions of Higher Learning," Annual Conference, National Indian Education Association
1969-1975 -- Member, Editorial Board, American Indian Historical Society
1970 -- Mentioned for second time as "Who's Who Among American Indians" Steering Committee Member, Indian Ecumenical Convocation of North America Member, Planning Committee Indian Alcoholism and Drug Use
1970 August -- Speaker: "The Role of the White Indian Expert," 2nd Annual Conference, National Indian Education Association
1970 October -- Speaker: "The Ethnographic Study of Indian Women," Annual Convention, American Ethnohistorical Soceity
1970 November -- Speaker: "The Anthropologists as the Indian's Image Maker," Annual Meeting, American Anthropological Association Speaker: "The Anthropologist and Ethnic Studies Programs," Annual Meeting, American Anthropological Association
1970-1971 -- Associate Professor, Anthropology, San Francisco State University Member, Mayor's Committee on the Status of Women, San Francisco, California
1971 -- Member, Native American Scholars Board, Steering and Selection, American Indian Historical Society
1971 May -- Speaker: "Ethnic Studies and Native Americans," National Education Association
1971-1973 -- Pre-Doctoral Lecturer, Anthropology, University of Washington Consultant, American Indian Heritage Program
1972 -- Honored in "Potlatch" ceremony by Makah Tribal people at the National Indian Education Conference for contributions to Indian education Receives grant: American Council of Learned Societies Travel Grant, Americanist Annual Meeting, Rome, Italy Curriculum Advisor, Lakota Higher Education Center, Prine Ridge, South Dakota
1972 March -- Speaker: "Warrior Women Societies," Northwest Anthropological Conference
1972 April -- Chairperson and Speaker: "Racism and Ethnic Relations," Society for Applied Anthropology
1972 June -- Chairperson, Native American Studies Symposium, International Congress of Americanists, Mexico
1972 August -- Speaker: "Warrior Women of the Plains," International Congress of Americanists, Rome, Italy
1972 November -- Speaker: "Native Americans in the Modern World," Southwest Minnesota State College
1973 -- Expert Witness, Yvonne Wanro Trial, Spokane, Washington Member, Organization of American States, First Congress of Indigenous Women, Chiapas, Mexico Speaker: "Self-Direction in Sioux Education," American Anthropological Association Speaker: "North American Native Women: The Aspirations and Their Associations," presented as a Delegate to the Inter-American Commission on Indigenous Women, Chiapas, Mexico
1973-1974 -- Visiting Professor, Anthropology, Native American Studies Program, Dartmouth College
1973-1976 -- Member, Committee on Minorities in Anthropology, American Anthropological Association
1973- -- Consultant, Human Services Department, Sinte Gleska Community College
1974 -- Expert Witness, Wounded Knee Trial, Lincoln, Nebraska Speaker: "Indian Women's Roles: Traditional and Contemporary," Annual Meeting, American Anthropological Association
1974-1975 -- Visiting Professor, Anthropology, Colorado College
1975-1976 -- Visiting Associate Professor, Anthropology, Stanford University
1975-1977 -- Member, Steering Committee, Council of Anthropology and Education, American Anthropological Association
1976 -- Visiting Professor, Educational Anthropology, University of New Brunswick Expert Witness, Topsky Eagle Feathers Trial, Pocatello, Idaho Panelist, White House Conference on Ethnic Studies, Washington, D.C.
1977 -- Expert Witness, Greybull Grandchildren Custody Case, Portland, Oregon American Indian representative to the World Conference on Indigenous People, Geneva, Switzerland Honor: Outstanding Alumna, South Dakota State University
1977 August 18 -- Medicine serves as Sacred Pipe Woman at the Sun Dance, Green Grass, South Dakota
1977-1980 -- Education Consultant, National Congress of American Indians, Washington, D.C.
1978 -- Cited in the Directory of Significant 20th Century American Minority Women, Gaylord Professional Publications Biographical Sketch in "Moving Forward" of the Bookmark Reading Program, Third Edition
1978 August -- Speaker: "Issues in the Professionalization of Native American Women," Annual Meeting, American Psychological Association
1978-1982 -- Advanced Opportunity Fellow, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
1979 -- Visiting Professor, Department of Education Policy Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison
1979 August -- Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters, Northern Michigan University Speaker: "The Dakota Indian Memorial Feast: Reservation and Urban Manifestations," International Congress of Americanists, Lima, Peru
1980 -- Member, Nominations Committee, American Anthropological Association Biographical Sketch in "Native American Indian Personalities, Historical and Contemporary," Dansville, New York: The Instructor Publications, Inc.
1981 -- Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Washington-Seattle Speaker: "Linguistically Marginated: The Transformation of Dominated Speech Varieties," American Anthropological Association
1982 -- School of Social and Behavioral Science Academic Planning, California State University Speaker: "Policy Decisions: Federal Regulations and American Indian Identity Issues," Annual Meeting, American Anthropological Association
1982-1983 -- Anthropology Department Curriculum Committee, California State University
1982-1985 -- Associate Professor of Anthropology, Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Program in American Indian Studies, California State University Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Program in American Studies Program, California State University
1982- -- President, Assembly of California Indian Women
1983 -- Receives Ph.D., Cultural Anthropology, University of Wisconsin Expert Witness, Fortunate Eagle Trial, Reno, Nevada Award: Outstanding Woman of Color, National Institute of Women of Color, Washingtonton, D.C. (for anthropological contributions) Award: Outstanding Minority Researcher, American Educational Research Association Publishes book with Patricia Albers: The Hidden Half: Indian Women of the Northern Plains Honor: Significant Academic Book (The Hidden Half), Choice, Association of Colleges and Research Libraries, American Library Association
1983-1984 -- Student Affirmative Action Coordinating Council, California State University
1983-1986 -- Member, Executive Board, Southwest Anthropological Association Member, Governing Board, Common Cause
1984 -- Member, Advisory Board of National Research for Handicapped Native Americans, North Arizona University Scholarly Publications Award Selection Committee, California State University Award: Faculty Award for Meritorious Service, California State University Speaker: Field Work Methods: "Ties That Bond," Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology," Annual Meeting, American Anthropological Association Speaker: "Career Patterns of American Indian Women," Council of Education and Anthropology, Annual Meeting, American Anthropological Association
1984 November -- Faculty Award for Meritorious Service, California State University
1984-1985 -- Participant, Chancellor's Office Grant to "Cross-Cultural Perspectives in the Social Sciences," California State University
1985 November -- Speaker: Conference on "The Native American: His Arts, His Culture, and His History," West Virginia State College
1985-1986 -- Board of Directors, Naechi Institute on Alcohol and Drug Education
1985-1988 -- Professor, Department of Anthropology and Director, Native Centre, University of Calgary
1985-1989 -- Member, Malinowski Awards Committee, Society for Applied Anthropology
1987 -- Honor: Outstanding Minority Professorship Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks Visiting Professor, University of Michigan
1987-1995 -- Member, Committee of Anthropologists in Primarily Minority Institutions, American Anthropological Association
1988 August 1 -- Medicine officially retires.
1989 -- Volunteer (Committee of Anthropologists in Primarily Minority Institutions, American Anthropological Association), Standing Rock College Honor (twice): Outstanding Minority Professorship Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks Visiting Professor, Wayne State University.
1990 -- Honor: "Outstanding Contributions for the promotion of sex equity in Education," Illinois State Board of Education Honor: Outstanding Lakota Woman, Standing Rock College
1991 -- Honor: Distinguished Service Award, American Anthropological Association. Medicine was the first American Indian to receive this award.
1991 -- Visiting Professor, Saskatchewan Indian Federal College Visiting Professor, Colorado College Visiting Professor, Anthropology, Humboldt State University
1992 -- Visiting Distinguished Professor, Women's Studies, University of Toronto
1993 -- Visiting Professor, Rural Sociology, South Dakota State University Award: Distinguished Native American Alumna Award, South Dakota State University
1993-1994 December -- Research Co-ordinator, Women's Perspectives, Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
1994- -- Adjunct Professor, University of Alberta
1995 -- Scholar in Residence, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul Visiting Scholar, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia Award: Ohana Award, Multi-Cultural Counseling Excellence, American Association of Counselors
1996 -- Award: Bronislaw Malinowski Award, Society for Applied Anthropology. Buckman Professor, Department of Human Ecology, University of Minnesota
circa 1997- -- Associate Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, California State University
2001 -- Publishes book: Learning to Be an Anthropologist and Remaining "Native": Selected Writings.
2005 -- Award: George and Louise Spindler Award, Council on Anthropology and Education, American Anthropological Association.
2005 December 19 -- Medicine dies during emergency surgery in Bismarck, North Dakota.
2006 -- Book: Drinking and Sobriety Among the Lakota Sioux is published posthumously.
2008 -- The Society for Applied Anthropology creates the Bea Medicine Award.
Provenance:
The papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Beatrice Medicine between 1997 and 2003, and by Ted Garner in 2006.
Restrictions:
Materials relating to student grades, letters of recommendation, and evaluations have been restricted.
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.
Consists of the research notes of Dr. Phoebe Ottenberg Miller, relating to her field work among the Igbo in Afikpo, Nigeria, circa 1952-1960.
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. Phoebe Ottenberg received her Ph.D. in anthropology from Northwestern University. She received an Area Research Fellowship from the Social Science Council in support of her work among the Afikpo Igbo in Nigeria. Ottenberg was also co-editor of the book Cultures and Societies of Africa (1960).
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.
New York University. Museum Studies Program Search this
Extent:
134 Sound recordings
31.5 Linear feet (72 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Correspondence
Field notes
Place:
Mexico
Benin (Nigeria)
Date:
1951-2012, bulk 1969-2012
Summary:
The Flora S. Kaplan papers document her field work, research, and professional activities from 1951-2012 (bulk 1969-2012) and primarily deal with her work as the director and founder of New York University's Museum Studies program and her field work in Benin and Mexico. The collection consists of correspondence, research files, book files, photographs, sound recordings, ephemera, and writings.
Scope and Contents:
The Flora S. Kaplan papers document her field work, research, and professional activities from 1951-2012 (bulk 1969-2012) and primarily deal with her work as the director and founder of New York University's (NYU) Museum Studies program and her field work in Benin, Nigeria and Mexico. The collection consists of correspondence, research files, book files, photographs, sound recordings, ephemera, and writings.
Series 1. Museum Studies contains material related to the administration of NYU's Museum Studies program, Kaplan's participation in professional societies including ICOM (International Council of Museums), AAA (American Anthropological Association), and ACASA (Arts Council of the African Studies Association), and materials dealing with Kaplan's museum studies publications, especially Museums and the Making of "Ourselves": The Role of Objects in National Identity.
Series 2. Benin (Nigeria) consists of materials related to Kaplan's fieldwork in Benin, Nigeria including her tenure as a Fulbright professor at the University of Benin from 1983-1985 and subsequent books, articles, symposia, correspondence and travels to Benin. This includes letters from friends and business associates in Benin, including extensive correspondence with the Oba of Benin, and field notes that span more than 20 years and include interviews, research, and Kaplan's thoughts on her experiences.
Series 3. Mexico consists of materials related to Kaplan's field work in Mexico in the 1970s and subsequent research and writings. This includes original research in support of Kaplan's doctoral thesis, A Mexican Folk Pottery Tradition: Cognition and Style in Material Culture in the Valley of Puebla.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 3 series: Series 1. Museum studies, 1951-2012, bulk 1970-2012; Series 2. Benin (Nigeria), 1969-2012; Series 3. Mexico, 1957-2007, bulk 1969-1998.
Biographical note:
Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan, anthropologist, is a professor emerita, and founding director (1978-99) of the Museum Studies Program, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, New York University (NYU). She taught Anthropology as a Fulbright professor, (1983-85), University of Benin, Nigeria; and previously taught at Lehman College, CUNY (1970-1976), before arriving at New York University in 1976.
She publishes widely on Benin (Nigeria) and on Mexico, museum politics, art, photography, religion and gender. She holds degrees in anthropology from The Graduate Center, CUNY (Ph.D.), and Columbia University (M.A., archaeology). Dr. Kaplan was on the curatorial staff at the Brooklyn Museum, New York for six years in the Department of Primitive Art and New World Cultures. She was a research associate at the Museum of the American Indian, (1977-87), and was an associate at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU for more than 20 years. She co-edited the book series 'Museum Meanings' (Routledge) from 1997-2010 and has been a Board member of the journal 'Museums & Society' (University of Leicester Press) since 2004.
(Biography courtesy of Flora Kaplan's C.V. in Box 3 of this collection)
Chronology
1930 August 28 -- Flora Kaplan born in New York City
1951 -- B.A. degree, Hunter College: English writing major, Anthropology minor
1951-1954 -- Assistant, The Brooklyn Museum of the City of New York, Department of Primitive Art and New World Cultures
1954-1957 -- Acting Curator, The Brooklyn Museum of the City of New York, Department of Primitive Art and New World Cultures
1958 -- M.A. degree, Columbia University, Anthropology
1970-1976 -- Graduate fellow, lecturer: Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY), Department of Anthropology
1972-1973, 1977 -- Field work, Mexico
1976 -- Ph.D., The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), Social Anthropology
1976-1999 -- Director and founder of the Museum Studies Program, professor of Anthropology, New York University
1977-1987 -- Research associate, Museum of the American Indian
1983-1985 -- Fulbright professor at the University of Benin, Nigeria
1999-present -- Professor emerita of Museum Studies, New York University
Related Materials:
Additional material from Flora S. Kaplan, primarily related to her field work in Mexico, can be located at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Archive Center: Flora S. Kaplan collection, 1965-1989.
Separated Materials:
Two one-half inch video tapes and two 3/4 inch Umatic video tapes were transferred to the Human Studies Film Archive (accession number 2016-008).
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Flora S. Kaplan in 2015.
Restrictions:
The Flora S. Kaplan papers are currently closed to researchers due to donor imposed restrictions. Please contact the NAA for further information.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
The bulk of these papers document the professional life of Carol Kramer, a leading figure in ethnoarchaeology, specializing in the Middle East and South Asia. She was also a major advocate for the professional development of women in anthropology and archaeology.
Dating 1943-2002, the collection includes field notes, writings, correspondence, daily planners, teaching files, photographs, sound recordings, maps, computer disks, and botanical specimens. Her ethnoarchaeological research in "Shahabad" (a.k.a. "Aliabad") in Iran and in Rajasthan, India is well-represented in the collection.
Scope and Contents Note:
The bulk of these papers document the professional life of Carol Kramer. The collection contains field notes, writings, correspondence, daily planners, teaching files, photographs, sound recordings, maps, computer disks, and botanical specimens. Also in the collection are her notes and grade transcripts as a college and graduate student.
Her ethnoarchaeological research in "Shahabad" (a.k.a. "Aliabad") in Iran and in Rajasthan, India is well-represented in the collection in the form of her notes, maps, writings, and photographs. In addition, there are plant specimens that Kramer collected in Iran. Also among her research files are photocopies of her field notes from her work in Guatemala. Although her field notes from the Hasanlu Project are absent, the collection does contain a few photographs and some notes and correspondence from her research for her article on the Hasanlu Project's excavations at Dalma Tepe. In addition, the collection contains "A System of Pottery Classification According to Shape," a paper by Robert H. Dyson, Jr. and T. Cuyler Young, Jr. for the Hasanlu Project. Materials relating to the Godin Project consist of correspondence from 1996 and 1997 and a 1973 group photo.
Copies of her monographs are present in the collection along with drafts, figures, and correspondence for her published writings and dissertation. Many of the papers that she presented at professional meetings, seminars, and special lectures can also be found in the collection, including her 1994 AAA Distinguished Lecture, "The Quick and the Dead: Ethnography in and for Archaeology." In addition, there are two cassette tape recordings of Kramer presenting her paper, "Ceramics in Two Indian Cities," and the subsequent group discussion at the 1985 School of American Research Advanced Seminar, "Social and Behavioral Sources of Ceramic Variability." Also of special interest are materials documenting her involvement in the 1981 "Resolution to Implement the 1972 American Anthropological Association Resolution on Fair Practices in Employment of Women."
Kramer's professional correspondence is spread throughout the collection, mixed together with other documents, filed by subject. Much of her later correspondence is in the form of e-mail printouts. Letters of reference she wrote can also be found on her computer disks, which consist of several 3.50" and 5.25" floppy disks. Other files on the disks include materials for her books and articles, research data, her performance evaluations files, notes for courses she taught, and her will.
It should be noted that Kramer was briefly married during the 1960s and 1970s to Christopher Hamlin, who was a fellow graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. Thus, she is referred to as Carol Hamlin in some of the documents from that period.
1971 -- "The 1971 Excavations at Seh Gabi, Iran," Archaeology, Vol. 26, pp. 224-227.
1974 -- "The Early Second Millennium Ceramic Assemblage of Dinkha Tepe," Ibid. with Louis D. Levine. "The Godin Project: Seh Gabi," Iran XII, pp. 211-213. "Seh Gabi, 1973," Archaeology, Vol. 27, pp. 274-277
1977 -- "Pots and Peoples," Mountains and Lowlands: Essays in the Archaeology of Greater Mesopotamia, edited by L.D. Levine and T.C. Young, Jr. Malibu: Undena Publications
1979 -- editor. Ethnoarchaeology: Implications of Ethnography for Archaeology. New York: Colombia University Press.
1980 -- "Estimating Prehistoric Populations: an Ethnoarchaeological Approach," L'Archéologie de I'Iraq, edited by Marie-Thérèse Barrelet, Paris: Centre National de la Rechere Scientifique.
1982 -- Village Ethnoarchaeology: Rural Iran in Archaeological Perspective. New York: Academic Press.
1988 -- with Miriam Stark. "The Status of Women in Archaeology," Anthropology Newsletter. Vol. 29, No. 9, pp. 11-12.
1991 -- Co-editor with W.A. Longcre. "Ethnoarchaeology," special issue of Expedition "Ceramics in Two Indian Cities," Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology, edited by William Longacre. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
1997 -- Pottery in Rajasthan: Ethnoarchaeology in Two Indian Cities. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
2001 -- with Nicholas David. Ethnoarchaeology in Action. Cambridge (U.K.): Cambridge University Press
Chronology
1943 -- Born May 3 in New York, New York
1964 -- Earns B.A. from The City University of New York
1967, 1969 -- Site supervisor of archaeological excavations at Godin Tepe, Iran for the Royal Ontario Museum's Godin Project
1968 -- Site supervisor of archaeological excavations at Dinkha Tepe and Se Girdan, Iran for University of Pennsylvania-Metropolitan Museum of Art's Hasanlu Project.
1970 -- Ethnoarchaeological research with an urban potter in Antigua, Guatemala
1971 -- Receives Ph.D. in Anthropology from University of Pennsylvania 1971 Hired as Assistant Professor at City University of New York Assistant director of archaeological excavations at Seh Gabi, Iran for Godin Project
1973 -- Assistant director of archaeological excavations at Seh Gabi, Iran for Godin Project
1975 -- Ethnoarchaeological research in Iranian village
1977 -- Associate Professor, Lehman College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
1980 -- Ethnoarchaeological research in Rajasthan, India
1982-1984 -- Ethnoarchaeological research in Rajasthan, India
1985 -- Visiting Professor at Yale University
1986-1988 -- Visiting Professor at University of Arizona
1990 -- Hired as Professor at University of Arizona
1994 -- Presents distinguished lecture to Archaeology Section of American Anthropological Association
1995 -- Site supervisor of archaeological excavations at Gordion, Turkey
1996 -- Ethnoarchaeological research near Gordion, Turkey
1999 -- Receives "Squeaky Wheel Award" from COSWA/American Anthropological Association
2002 -- Died on December 3 at the age of 59
Carol Kramer was a leading figure in ethnoarchaeology, specializing in the Middle East and South Asia. She was also a major advocate for the professional development of women in anthropology and archaeology.
She was born on May 3, 1943 in New York City to Aaron Kramer, a poet and professor of English at Dowling College, and Katherine Kolodny Kramer, a social worker. She attended the High School of Music and Art and earned her B.A. at the City University of New York in 1964. Kramer initially studied archaeology in the graduate program at the University of Chicago, but transferred to the University of Pennsylvania after a year, where she earned her doctorate in 1971. Her dissertation was entitled "The Habur Ware Ceramic Assemblage of Northern Mesopotamia: An Analysis of its Distribution."
In 1968, she was a site supervisor for University of Pennsylvania and Metropolitan Museum of Art's joint archaeological excavations at Dinkha Tepe and Se Girdan, Iran as part of the Hasanlu Project, directed by Robert H. Dyson, Jr. She also served as site supervisor (1967, 1969) and Assistant Director (1971, 1973) for the Royal Ontario Museum's archaeological excavation at Godin Tepe, known as the Godin Project, which was directed by Louis D. Levine and T. Cuyler Young, Jr. In 1970, she conducted her first ethnoarchaeological fieldwork under Ruben Reina, working with an urban potter in Antigua, Guatemala.
Kramer returned to Iran in 1975 to conduct ethnoarchaeological research in a Kurdish village in the Hamadān Province. Her work there resulted in several papers, including "An Archaeological View of a Contemporary Kurdish Village: Domestic Architecture, Household Size, and Wealth," published in Ethnoarchaeology: Implications of Ethnography for Archaeology (1979), which she edited. She expanded upon her paper in her 1982 book, Village Ethnoarchaeology: Rural Iran in Archaeological Perspective.
For her next project, she intended to study pottery communities in Iran, but the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution forced her to change her plans, and she decided to shift her location to India. In 1980 and 1982-1984, she studied ceramic production and distribution in Rajasthan. Articles produced from her research include "Ceramics in Two Indian Cities" (1991), "Ceramics in Rajasthan: Distribution and Scalar Variation" (1992), "A Tale of Two Cities: Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology in Rajasthan" (1994), and "Social and Locational Contexts of Ceramic Distribution in Rajasthan" (1995). She also authored Pottery in Rajasthan: Ethnoarchaeology in Two Indian Cities, published in 1997.
Kramer returned to the field in 1995, serving as site supervisor for archaeological excavations in Gordion, Turkey. She returned the next year to explore the possibility of conducting research in Yassihöyük and other villages near Gordion as an extension of her village ethnoachaeology research in Iran.
In 2001, Kramer further contributed to the field of ethnoarchaeology with the publication of Ethnoarchaeology in Action, which she co-wrote with Nicholas David. The landmark book is the first comprehensive study of ethnoarchaeology.
In addition to her work in ethnoarchaeology, Kramer was also involved in promoting the professional advancement of women in anthropology. In 1980, Kramer and her colleagues (Roger Sanjek, Rayna Rapp, Carole Vance, and Glenn Peterson) drew up a resolution to implement the 1972 Resolution on Fair Practices in Employment of Women. They campaigned to raised funds and support for the resolution, which called for the American Anthropological Association (AAA) to censure universities that hired or promoted a low percentage of women. Due to their work, the resolution passed and AAA censured five departments in 1981. In 1988, she and Miriam Stark published, "The Status of Women in Archeology," a study of gender equity in archaeology. They looked at gender differences in the number of graduate students, PhD recipients, and funding recipients as well as in faculty composition. Kramer was also a member of the Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology (COSWA) from 1973 to 1975 and host and discussion leader at the COSWA Roundtable on professional skills and the female archaeologist at the 1998 annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA).
In 1999, Kramer was awarded the Squeaky Wheel Award by COSWA in recognition of her contributions to equity for women in anthropology. She also delivered the 1994 Distinguished Lecture to the Archaeology Section for the AAA, "The Quick and the Dead: Ethnography in and for Archaeology." In 2003, she was posthumously awarded the SAA's Award for excellence in Archaeological Analysis.
From 1971 to 1990, Kramer taught at Queens College and later Lehman College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, during which time she was a visiting professor at Yale University (1985). She also taught at the University of Arizona (1986-1988) as a recipient of a National Science Foundation Visiting Professorship for Women. In 1990, she joined the faculty of the University of Arizona, where she taught until her death.
Kramer passed away at the age of 59 on December 3, 2002.
Sources Consulted
Rothschild, Nan A. "Carol Kramer (1943-2002)." American Anthropologist 106.1 (2004): 214-220.
Thompson, Raymond H. and Norman Yoffee. "Carol Kramer." Anthropology News 44.3 (2003): 30.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Carol Kramer's sister, Laura Kramer.
Restrictions:
The Carol Kramer papers are open for research.
Materials with student grades and social security numbers have been restricted. The dates that the restricted items will be made available for access range from 2047 to 2064. Access to Kramer's computer disks is also restricted. Please consult an archivist for more information.
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.
134.16 Linear feet (167 boxes, 7 rolls, and 7 map-folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
Philippines
Date:
1921-2011
bulk 1960s
Summary:
The papers of Michiko Takaki, 1921-2011 (bulk 1960s), document her field work among the Kalinga people of the northern Philippines and her professional contributions as a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The papers consist primarily of economic and linguistic field data gathered between 1964 and 1968, used in the production of her doctoral dissertation ("Aspects of Exchange in a Kalinga Society, Northern Luzon," 1977) and throughout her anthropological career. The collection consists of field notes, maps, photographic prints, negatives, slides, sound recordings, recorded film, data and analysis, correspondence, working files and drafts, and publications.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Michiko Takaki, circa 1921-2011 (bulk 1960s), document her research into the Kalinga people of the northern Luzon region of the Philippines as both an economic and lingustic anthropologist. The collection consists of field notes; maps; photographic prints, negatives, and slides; sound recordings; recorded film; data and analysis; correspondence; working files and drafts; and publications.
The bulk of the collection consists of field-gathered data into the economics, culture, and language of the Kalinga people, created and compiled during Takaki's doctoral fieldwork in the Philippines between 1964 and 1968. This data was used in the production of her doctoral dissertation, "Aspects of Exchange in a Kalinga Society, Northern Luzon" (1977) and throughout the remainder of her career as a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. In addition to Takaki, this material was often created or edited by her Kalinga research assistants during the period of her fieldwork or by her graduate student assistants at UMass-Boston. The material can be divided into the analytical categories related to the two main threads of Takaki's research: economic and subsistence activities, and linguistics. Economic material in the collection includes tables and tabulations of data on property, rice cultivation, and livestock use, as well as climatic data and cultural stories about exchange systems and subsistence work. Also included is gathered research into the Kalinga response to the Chico River Dam development project of the northern Luzon, an electric power generation project from the 1980s. Language material in the collection includes word lists, vocabulary slips, and morphology and phonology analysis that document the Kalinga language family of the northern Luzon. Also included are working files related to Takaki's project to translate Morice Vanoverbergh's Iloko Grammar into Kalinga.
Maps, photographic images, sound, and film contained in this collection largely document Takaki's fieldwork and research interests into Kalinga society and culture. Field-gathered data has been separated out into its own series. These materials - field notes and field data, maps, photographs, and sound and film recordings - form the first five series of the collection (Series 1-5). Research and analysis, compiled and refined from field-gathered data on the topics of culture, economics, and language, are arranged into their own three topical series (Series 6-8).
The collection also contains correspondence, as well as material documenting Takaki's professional life as a graduate student and faculty member. It includes grant applications, graduate essays, course preparation materials, professional presentations and publications, a curriculum vitae and tenure dossier from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a copy of her master's thesis, "A Case Study of Cross-Cultural Communication: Some Aspects of the Psychological Warfare as Applied by the United States against Japan during the World War II" (1960).
Arrangement:
The Michiko Takaki papers are divided into 10 series:
Series 1: Field data and field notes, 1935-1985 (bulk 1960s)
Series 2: Maps, circa 1950-2003, undated
Series 3: Photographs, circa 1964-2006
Series 4: Sound recordings, circa 1964-1995
Series 5: Films, circa 1964-1968
Series 6: Kalinga texts, circa 1960-2006, undated
Series 7: Economic and subsistence activities research and analysis, circa 1961-1997
Series 8: Lingustic research and analysis, 1921-1993
Series 9: Correspondence, 1960-2002
Series 10: Professional materials, circa 1958-2011
Biographical / Historical:
Michiko "Michi" Takaki was born on September 11, 1930 to Noboru Takaki and Sumiko Kohaka in Tokyo, Japan.
As a GARIOA Scholar (Government Appropriation for Relief in Occupied Areas), Takaki earned an associate's degree from Stephen's College in Columbia, Missouri (1952) and a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri (1953). She also earned a second bachelor's degree from the Tokyo Women's Christian University (1954), returning to the US to earn a master's degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University (1960). In the fall of 1960, Takaki began graduate studies in anthropology under Prof. Harold C. Conklin at Columbia University. Conklin transferred to the Department of Anthropology at Yale University in 1962. Takaki followed, completing her dissertation and earning her PhD from Yale in 1977.
From 1964 to 1968, Takaki completed a 46-month period of ethnographic fieldwork in the Philippines. Her dissertation, published in 1977, was entitled "Aspects of Exchange in a Kalinga Society, Northern Luzon." After a brief stint as a curator of Pacific ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History (1970-1973), Takaki became a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. While teaching, Takaki continued her research into the Northern Luzon region of the Philippines. Her early research into economic and subsistence activities gave way, in later years, to lingustic anthropology centered on the Kalinga language family. Takaki was granted tenure in 1980, and she remained on the UMass-Boston faculty until her retirement in 2002.
Michiko Takaki died in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 5, 2014.
Chronology
1930 September 11 -- Born in Tokyo, Japan
1951-1953 -- GARIOA Scholar (Government Appropriation for Relief in Occupied Areas)
1952 -- A.A. Stephens College
1953 -- B.A. Lindenwood College
1954 -- B.A. Tokyo Women's Christan University
1960 -- M.A. Southern Illinois University (Journalism)
1960-1962 -- Graduate coursework, Columbia University Department of Anthropology
1962-1968 -- Graduate coursework, Yale University Department of Anthropology
1964-1968 -- Field work in the Philippines
1964-1965 -- Research Fellow, International Rice Research Institute
1970-1973 -- Curator, Pacific Ethnology, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History
1973-2002 -- Faculty, University of Massachusetts, Boston
1977 -- Ph.D. Yale University (Anthropology)
1980 November -- Awarded tenure by the University of Massachusetts, Boston
2014 December 5 -- Died in Boston, Massachusetts
Separated Materials:
The eleven film reels in the collection have been transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives, accession number HSFA 2017-009, but are described in this finding aid in Series 5: Films.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by R. Timothy Sieber, Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, in 2016.
Restrictions:
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Digital media in the collection is restricted for preservation reasons.
Access to the Michiko Takaki papers requires an appointment.
Arensberg, Conrad M. (Conrad Maynadier), 1910-1997 Search this
Extent:
108.29 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
New York (State) -- New York City
New Jersey -- Newark
Date:
circa 1930-2009
bulk 1960-1993
Summary:
Vivian E. Garrison was an applied medical anthropologist who researched the cultural understandings and community treatment structures surrounding mental illness and mental health care among low-income, minority, and migrant communities of the New York metropolitan area. The Vivian E. Garrison papers document this research and consist of clinical and case files; research policies and protocols; presentations and workshops notes; manuscripts and drafts; publications and working papers; correspondence; grant applications; administrative files; sound recordings and films; annotated scholarly literature; and personal biographical material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Vivian E. Garrison, circa 1930-2009 (bulk 1960-1993) document her work as an applied medical anthropologist in the New York metropolitan area. Garrison studied and published on the cultural understandings and community treatment structures surrounding mental illness and mental health care among low-income, minority, and migrant communities. The collection includes clinical and case files, sound recordings, and films; research policies and protocols; presentations and workshop notes and recordings; manuscripts and drafts; publications and working papers; correspondence; grant applications; administrative files; annotated scholarly literature (reprints and books); and personal biographical material.
The bulk of material in the collection relates to Garrison's research under and administration of different research grants focusing on community mental health care in the greater New York City area. As a research scientist at the Lincoln Hospital Mental Health Services (LHMHS), Garrison undertook anthropological research under the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grant, "Study of Neighborhood Centers and Mental Health Aides" (1965-1969). The research completed at LHMHS was used in her dissertation (1971). Garrison continued her studies of the South Bronx populations at the Columbia-Bronx Research Center as principal investigator under the NIMH grant, "Folk Healers and Community Mental Health Programming" (1972-1975). She built upon that research as the director and principal investigator of the U.S. Public Health Grant "Inner-City Support Systems" (ICSS) from 1976-1982, run through the College (later University) of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (C/UMDNJ). Within the Resource Center for Multicultural Care and Prevention (RCMCP) at UMDNJ (born out of the ICSS program), Garrison administered the NIMH grant "Community Support Systems of Haitian Immigrants," (CSSHI) which transferred to Columbia University in 1984. Garrison's research under these and other grants was typically undertaken in concert with anthropological colleagues, community consultants, and medical professionals. The materials in this collection reflect the collaborative nature of this research process, as well as Garrison's administrative role at the ICSS project at UMDNJ. Some research notes, case files, and manuscript drafts of colleagues and contributors are present in this collection.
The collection also contains personal biographical, medical, and historical material documenting the lives of Vivian Garrison and her husband, anthropologist Conrad M. Arensberg. Much of this material relates to Arensberg's medical history and care in the last years of his life, as meticulously recorded and analyzed by Garrison. Personal material in the collection also relates to the preservation and destruction of her historic home in Rumson, New Jersey (the Morris-Salter-Hartshorn-Tredwell House).
Arrangement:
The Vivian E. Garrison papers are arranged into the following 10 series:
Series 1: Lincoln Hospital Mental Health Services, circa 1960-1973
Series 2: Columbia University Bronx Research Center, circa 1968-1977
Series 3: Inner-City Support System Project, circa 1968-1997
Series 4: Community Support Systems of Haitian Immigrants, circa 1973-1988
Series 5: Publications, manuscripts, and associated research files, circa 1960-2005
Series 6: Presentations, workshops, and conferences, 1969-2000
Series 7: Professional development files, 1955-2008
Series 8: Personal files, circa 1930-2009
Series 9: Scholarly literature and bibliographies, circa 1970s-1980s, undated
Series 10: Unprocessed material
Biographical Note:
Vivian Eva Garrison, known as "Kelly" to friends and colleagues, was an applied medical anthropologist who researched the cultural understandings and community treatment structures surrounding mental illness and mental health care among low-income, minority, and migrant communities the New York metropolitan area. She worked predominantly with African American, Hispanic, and Caribbean migrant populations in the South Bronx and in Newark, New Jersey.
Garrison was born on August 28, 1933 in Butte, Montana. She earned a B.A. in Spanish and psychology from New York University in 1961 and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University in 1972. Her dissertation, Social Networks, Social Change and Mental Health among Migrants in a New York City Slum, was completed in 1971.
Garrison conducted her research under the purview of various federal and state grants to examine community mental health care. The majority of her research was completed at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, at the College/University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and at Columbia University.
Throughout her career, Garrison acted as a consultant in matters of folk healing and community health care and published frequently on folk healing, espiritismo, psychiatry, and psychiatric methodology. She taught intermittently, including teaching one semester of Margaret Mead's "Problems and Methods in Anthropology" course at Columbia University (1979). She also contributed to the President's Commission on Mental Health in 1977-1978.
Garrison married anthropologist Conrad M. Arensberg in 1973 and died in April 2013 at the age of 79.
Chronology
1933 August 28 -- Born in Butte, Montana
1961 -- B.A. New York University (Spanish and Psychology)
1965-1969 -- Research Scientist, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grant "Study of Neighborhood Centers and Mental Health Aides," Lincoln Hospital Mental Health Services, Yeshiva University Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1969-1972 -- Assistant Professor and Staff Member, Program Information and Assessment Section, Connecticut Mental Health Center, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine
1972 -- Ph.D. Columbia University (Anthropology)
1972-1973 -- Senior Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
1972-1975 -- Senior Research Associate and Principal Investigator, NIMH Grant "Folk Healers and Community Mental Health Programming," Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
1973 -- Married Conrad M. Arensberg
1974-1985 -- Assistant to Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Mental Health Science, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), New Jersey Medical School
1976-1982 -- Principal Investigator, U.S. Public Health Grant "Inner-City Support Systems," UMDNJ
1979 -- Senior Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University,
1980-1984 -- Director, Resource Center for Multicultural Care and Prevention, UMDNJ
1982-1984 -- Principal Investigator and Director, NIMH Grant "Community Support Systems of Haitian Immigrants," UMNDJ
1982-1984 -- Project Director, "Culturally Sensitive Case Management Training," State of New Jersey, Division of Mental Health and Hospitals, UMDNJ
1983-1986 -- Associate Research Scholar, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
1984-1985 -- Principal Investigator, U.S. Public Health Grant "Community Support Systems of Haitian Immigrants," Columbia University
1984-? -- Visiting Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School, King/Drew Medical Center
1986-? -- Senior Research Associate, Teachers College, Columbia University, Institute for Urban and Minority Education
2013 April 2 -- Died
Related Materials:
Conrad M. Arensberg papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Separated Materials:
The films in this collection have been transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives, accession number HSFA/NAFC 2017-013. They are described in this finding aid.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by the estate of Vivian Garrison Arensberg in 2017.
Restrictions:
The Vivian E. Garrison papers are open for research.
Certain materials in the collection contain personally identifiable information (PII) and personal health information (PHI). These materials are restricted for 80 years from the date of their creation. Restricted materials are noted in the following finding aid and have been removed to boxes 54-61.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings.
Access to the Vivian E. Garrison papers requires an appointment.
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Search this
Extent:
24.96 Linear feet (59 document boxes plus 1 oversize box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
Italy
Monte Castello di Vibio (Italy)
Date:
1939-2010
bulk 1949-2010
Summary:
The Sydel Silverman papers, 1939-2010 (bulk 1949-2010) document her field research in Italy, her work as an educator and foundation executive, and her involvement in professional organizations. Sydel Silverman taught at Queens College in New York, was Executive Officer of the CUNY Ph.D. Program in Anthropology, and served as president of the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Her primary fields of research have been agrarian communities in Italy and the history and practice of anthropology. Materials in the collection include field notes, journals, correspondence, calendars, published and unpublished writings, conference papers and lectures, teaching files, student files, photographs and slides, and sound recordings.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains the professional papers of anthropologist Sydel Silverman. Included are research materials consisting of field notes, journals, other scholars' publications, and newspaper clippings; correspondence; postcards; calendars; published and unpublished writings; conference papers and lectures; brochures; itineraries; conference meeting notes; teaching files, including syllabi and reading lists; student files such as class notes and papers from Silverman's years as an anthropology student; photographs and slides; and sound recordings.
The materials in this collection document Silverman's travels through Italy while conducting field research, her role as an educator and academic administrator, and her involvement in professional organizations such as the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the American Anthropological Association. Silverman participated heavily in conferences and seminars across the U.S. and internationally. A copious note taker, Silverman recorded her reflections on many of these experiences. Her notes can be found throughout the collection.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 10 series: (1) Field Research, 1939-2002 [bulk 1960-1987]; (2) Correspondence, 1959-2009; (3) Writings, 1963-2009; (4) Wenner-Gren Foundation Files, 1985-2009; (5) Professional Activities, 1961-2010; (6) Teaching Files, 1958-2005; (7) Biographical Files, 1961-2008; (8) Student Files, 1949-65; (9) Photographs, 1961-2002; (10) Sound Recordings, 1960-61
Biographical Note:
Sydel Silverman was an anthropologist known for her work as a researcher, writer, academic administrator, and foundation executive. Her career in anthropology began with her graduate studies at the University of Chicago (1952-1957) and Columbia University (1957-63). After graduation she started teaching at Queens College in New York (1962-75) and became Executive Officer of the CUNY Ph.D. Program in Anthropology (1975-86). After leaving CUNY, she moved on to the Wenner-Gren Foundation, serving as president of the Foundation from 1987 to 1999.
Silverman was born on May 20, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. Sydel, the youngest of seven siblings, was raised in the Jewish neighborhood of Lawndale on the west side of Chicago. Silverman credited her Uncle Hirschel for inspiring her to learn about foreign cultures and traditions, writing that her time spent with him reading about mysticism and oriental religions "may have been the beginnings of what became my interest in anthropology" (Silverman 2008).
Silverman graduated from high school in January 1951 and entered the University of Illinois at Navy Pier as a pre-med student. At the end of her second year at the University of Illinois, she entered the University of Chicago's program in Committee on Human Development, which combined study in biology, psychology, and sociology-anthropology. The program allowed students to enter with only two years of college with a special exam, which Silverman passed. She completed her Masters in 1957 and enrolled in the PhD program in Anthropology at Columbia University, during which she decided to focus her research on central Italy.
Silverman's first experience in Italy was in 1955 when she spent a year traveling through Europe with her first husband, Mel Silverman. They moved from city to city, beginning in Naples and then Rome, the city that Sydel writes was "the instant beginning of my love affair with Italy" (Silverman 2008). Upon their return from Europe the couple moved to New York. Sydel began working as a secretary but she soon decided to go back to school. She "picked anthropology, because it was the closest thing to being multi-disciplinary while still having a label, and Columbia was the obvious place to go in New York" (Silverman 2008). She was inspired to focus on the Mediterranean for her fieldwork because of Conrad Arensberg's cultural anthropological work in Europe.
In August of 1960 Sydel left for Italy to conduct a community study of the village Montecastello di Vibio. Silverman confessed in her memoirs that she was "never good at fieldwork," but she formed relationships with many of the locals who helped her collect data for her dissertation. Her research in Italy was one of the first social-anthropological studies of Central Italy and is known for its description of the traditional agrarian system of that area (the mezzadria) shortly before it was abolished by law. Silverman's dissertation research resulted in a book, Three Bells of Civilization, and numerous journal articles. She was awarded her Ph.D. in 1963.
Silverman's subsequent research in Italy included a study of a land reform area in the South (1967) and several field seasons (1980-85) devoted to a comparative study of competitive festivals in Central Italy. Most notable from this work are her publications on the Palio of Siena.
Silverman's other primary research interest has been in the history and practice of anthropology. She edited Totems and Teachers (1981, rev. 2004), a text about prominent anthropologists, and co-authored One Discipline Four Ways (2005). Her book The Beast on the Table (2002) analyzes twenty-five international symposia that she organized and led while at the Wenner-Gren Foundation and is a record of the living history of anthropology. She later became interested in parallels between the history of anthropology and that of the movies, which she presented as the 2006 Distinguished Lecture to the American Anthropological Association (published in The American Anthropologist Volume 109, Issue 3). In addition, she initiated an effort to save the primary documents of anthropology, co-authoring with Nancy Parezo the book Preserving the Anthropological Record (1992, rev. 1995) and co-organizing CoPAR (the Council for the Preservation of Anthropological Records).
Silverman's career as an administrator began in 1970 when she was elected as departmental chair at Queens College. In 1975 she was chosen as the Executive Officer of the CUNY Ph.D. Program in Anthropology, and under her leadership the program went from disarray and the threat of elimination to being cited as one of the ten top anthropology doctoral programs in the country. She also led a successful effort to retain full anthropology departments at all the senior CUNY colleges during the New York City budget crises of 1965-76. In 1987 she was appointed president of the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and acted as the spokesperson for the Foundation, overseeing fellowship and grant funding and advocating for the field of anthropology. She retired from Wenner-Gren in 1999.
Silverman died of cancer on March 25, 2019 at age 85.
Roberts, Sam. "Sydel Silverman, 85, Dies; Defended Anthropology in Academia." New York Times, April 5, 2019.
Chronology
1933 -- Born May 20 in Chicago, Illinois
1951 -- January: Entered University of Illinois at Navy Pier, pre-med, through August 1952
1952 -- Entered University of Chicago, Program in Human Development
1953 -- December 27: Married Mel Silverman
1957 -- September: Entered Columbia University, Department of Anthropology Received M.A. from University of Chicago
1960-1961 -- Conducted fieldwork in Montecastello di Vibio
1962 -- September: Began teaching classes at Queens College, CUNY
1963 -- PhD awarded
1966 -- Mel Silverman died
1968 -- Fall semester: Acting Chairman, Dept. of Anthro., Queens Tenure awarded, Queens College
1970-1973 -- Department Chairman, Anthropology, Queens
1972 -- March 18: Married Eric R. Wolf
1975 -- Executive Officer of Ph.D. Program in Anthropology, CUNY Graduate School (through June 1982)
1980-1982 -- Festival research and travels in Italy: Siena, Perugia, Gubbio, Rome, Florence, Geneva
1982-1983 -- September: Acting Dean of the Graduate School, CUNY
1987 -- President of Wenner-Gren Foundation
1999 -- Eric R. Wolf died Retired from Wenner-Gren presidency
2019 -- Silverman died of cancer on March 25 at age 85
Selected Bibliography
1968 -- Silverman, Sydel F. "Agricultural Organization, Social Structure, and Values in Italy: Amoral Familism Reconsidered." American Anthropologist 70 (February 1968): 1-20.
1970 -- Silverman, Sydel F. "'Exploitation' in Rural Central Italy: Structure and Ideology in Stratification Study." Comparative Studies in Society and History 12 (July 1970): 327-339.
1975 -- Silverman, Sydel. Three Bells of Civilization: the Life of an Italian Hill Town. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975.
1976 -- Silverman, Sydel. "Anthropology and the Crisis at CUNY." Anthropology News 17, no.10 (December 1976): 7-10.
1981 -- Silverman, Sydel, ed. Totems and Teachers: Key Figures in the History of Anthropology. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.
1984 -- Silverman, Sydel. "Anthropological Perspectives on Suicide." In Suicide: The Will to Live vs. The Will to Die, edited by Norman Linzer, 225-233. New York: Human Sciences Press, 1984.
1986 -- Silverman, Sydel. "Anthropology and History: Understanding the Boundaries." Historical Methods 19 (Summer 1986): 123-126.
1992 -- Silverman, Sydel and Nancy J. Parezo, eds. Preserving the Anthropological Record. New York: Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, 1992.
2002 -- Silverman, Sydel. The Beast on the Table: Conferencing with Anthropologists. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2002.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Sydel Silverman in April 2011.
Restrictions:
Files containing Silverman's students' grades and papers have been restricted, as have grant and fellowships applications sent to Silverman to review and her comments on them. For preservation reasons, the computer disks from The Beast on the Table are also restricted.
Access to the Sydel Silverman papers requires an appointment.
Sydel Silverman papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The papers of Sydel Silverman were processed with the assistance of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Sydel Silverman.
The bulk of this collection documents the professional life of Ruth Leah Bunzel from the 1940s to 1970s. The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, notes, research files, teaching materials, card files, artwork, and sound recordings.
Scope and Contents:
The bulk of this collection documents the professional life of Ruth Leah Bunzel from the 1940s to 1970s. The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, notes, research files, teaching materials, card files, artwork, and sound recordings. A large portion of the collection is comprised of work from the Chinese project that Bunzel led as part of Columbia University Research in Contemporary Cultures [RCC]. The collection also contains her paper for the Bureau of Applied Social Research, "Interviewing in National Character Research" (in which she analyzes the methods used in RCC), as well as materials from two spin-offs of RCC--Studies in Soviet Culture and Studies in Contemporary Cultures. Bunzel's relationship with Columbia University is also represented in the collection through her notes as lecturer and adjunct professor at Columbia University, correspondence with her students, and her students' papers. Among her students was Ethel Cutler Freeman, whose letters and assignments can be found in the collection. There are also memos and other materials documenting the activities of the anthropology department and university, as well as their responses to the 1968 student uprising at Columbia. In addition, the collection contains notes from courses Bunzel took with Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict as a graduate student at Columbia.
Other items of significance are the drawings of Hopi and Zuni kachinas that Bunzel collected while in the field in the Southwest and a map of a Tewa village sketched in pencil. The collection does not contain any of her field notes from her work in the Southwest nor from her work in Guatemala or Mexico.
Although Bunzel's writings are not well represented in the collection, there are items of interest such as typescript copies of "Tentative Questionnaire for Handbook of Psychological Leads for Ethnological Field Workers: Economics," her handwritten reminiscence of Boas, and drafts of papers she presented at conferences. Also of interest are notes on her memories of the Abram Kardiner psychocultural seminars (in which she was an early participant), notes from various seminars, and two 1963 sound recordings from an Anthropology and World Affairs regional conference.
Among her notable correspondents in the collection are David F. Aberle, Franziska Boas, Steve Boggs, Paul Bohannan, Joseph Casagrande, Vincent Crapanzano, Harold Driver, Abe Edel, Raymond Fogelson,Morton H. Fried, Ethel Cutler Freeman, Alexander Lesser, Oscar Lewis, George Marcus, Catharine McClellan, Margaret Mead, Lita Fejos Osmundson, George Spindler, Leslie White, Helene Boas Yampolsky, and Mark Zborowski.
Arrangement:
Arranged into 9 series: (1) Correspondence, 1957-1977; (2) Research in Contemporary Cultures, 1947-1954; (3) Columbia University, 1925-1941 & 1956-1969; (4) Writings and Projects, 1929-1968 [Bulk 1960-1968]; (5) Associations, Conferences, & Seminars, 1940-1973; (6) Writings by Others, 1921-1979; (7) Card Files; (8) Artwork; (9) Sound Recordings, 1963
Biographical Note:
Ruth Leah Bunzel was born on April 18, 1898 in New York City. Known as "Bunny" by her friends, she attended Barnard College where she received her B.A. in European History in 1918. With no thought of continuing her education, she acquired a job in 1922 as secretary and editorial assistant to Franz Boas at Columbia University. Esther Goldfrank, who had resigned as Boas's secretary to study anthropology at Columbia, was a friend of one of Bunzel's sisters.
By 1924 Bunzel, herself, was considering a career in anthropology and wanted to observe an anthropologist at work in the field. Since Boas traveled to Europe every summer, Bunzel decided to spend her vacation that year in Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico as a secretary to Ruth Benedict, who would be collecting Zuni mythology. When she informed Boas of her plan, Boas encouraged her to work on her own research rather than spending her time on secretarial work. He suggested that she study art, specifically potters and their pottery. Elsie Clews Parsons objected to Bunzel (who lacked formal training) conducting her own research in Zuni and threatened to withdraw her financial support of Benedict's mythology project. With Boas's firm backing, Parsons eventually relented and Bunzel was allowed to go to Zuni.
That summer, Bunzel arrived in Zuni with papier maché pots she had made for her informants to paint designs on. She observed the potters at work and also made pottery alongside them. After five weeks she felt she had gathered enough information on the Zuni and moved on to study Hopi, San Ildefonso, and Acoma potters. The results of her research would later produce her dissertation, The Pueblo Potter, A Study of Creative Imagination in Primitive Art, published in 1929.
When she returned to New York, she began work on a draft of The Pueblo Potter and in 1925 resigned as Boas's secretary to become his student at Columbia University. Although she completed her doctoral work and dissertation in 1927, she was not awarded her PhD until 1929 when the The Pueblo Potter was published. (At the time, the university did not confer doctorates until a student's dissertation had been published.) The Pueblo Potter, a landmark work, was the first anthropological study of art and the individual in culture.
From 1924 to 1929 Bunzel spent several summers and winters in Zuni. Parsons, who had initially opposed her first trip, sponsored Bunzel's second trip, this time to study ceremonialism, and other trips and projects. Bunzel's papers on Zuni ceremonialism as well as creation myths, kachinas, and poetry were published in the 47th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (1932). Flora Zuni and her family, with whom Bunzel lived when she was in the field, formally adopted her and initiated her into their clan, the Beaver clan. They gave her the Zuni name Maiatitsa, which means "blue bird," a reference to the blue smock that Bunzel often wore while making pottery. Bunzel's second Zuni name, Tsatitsa, was given to her by her primary informant and former governor of the pueblo, Nick Tumaka. After a decade long absence, Bunzel returned to Zuni for her last time in 1939 to study child development.
Having studied the Southwest, Bunzel felt it was natural to also study Mexico. During her interview for a Guggenheim Fellowship, however, the chairman of the foundation persuaded her to study Guatemala, instead, as no American anthropologist had done much work in the area. As a result, from 1930 to 1932 she studied the Highland Mayan village of Santo Tomas Chichicastenango. Her work there resulted in Chichicastenango, A Guatemalan Village, published in 1952. From 1936 to 1937 she also did fieldwork in the village of Chamula in Chiapas, Mexico. Her 1940 article "The Role of Alcoholism in Two Central American Communities" was a comparative study of Chichicastenango and Chamula.
During World War II, Bunzel worked in England for the U.S. Government Office of War Information from 1942 to 1945. Having spent some time in Spain during the late 1930s improving her Spanish, she translated broadcasts for Spain as well as incoming broadcasts.
When she returned to New York after the war, she became involved in the Columbia University Research in Contemporary Cultures project [RCC]. Directed by Ruth Benedict and funded by the Office of Naval Research, RCC was composed of research groups, each studying a different culture. From 1947 to 1951, Bunzel led the group studying China, which involved interviewing Chinese immigrants in New York City. The project produced several papers, including her unpublished manuscripts, Explorations in Chinese Culture and An Anthropological Approach to Chinese Communism, which she co-authored with John Hast Weakland.
Early in her career, Bunzel was a lecturer at Barnard College (1929-1930) and at Columbia University (1933-1935, 1937-1940). It was not until 1953 that she was hired as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia. Although the university's official appointment card lists Bunzel as having retired in 1966, she continued to teach at Columbia University after her retirement.
On January 14, 1990, Bunzel passed away at the age of 91.
Sources Consulted
Babcock, Barbara A. and Nancy Parezo. "Ruth Bunzel." Daughters of the Desert. University of New Mexico. 1988.
Fawcett, David M. and Teri McLuhan. "Ruth Leah Bunzel." Women Anthropologists: Selected Biographies. Ed. Ute Gacs, et al. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1989.
Chronology
1898 -- Born April 18 in New York, New York
1918 -- Earns B.A. from Barnard College in European History
1922-1924 -- Secretary and editorial assistant to Franz Boas
1924 -- First trip to Zuni, New Mexico
1925 -- Enrolls in Columbia University's graduate program in anthropology
1925-1929 -- Spends summers and winters conducting fieldwork among the Zuni
1927-1928 -- Studies at University of Chicago
1928-1943 -- Executive Committee Board of AAA
1929 -- Studies at the National University of Mexico Publication of dissertation, The Pueblo Potter, A Study of Creative Imagination in Primitive Art Receives Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University
1929-1930 -- Lecturer at Barnard College
1930-1932 -- Fieldwork in Chichicastenango, Guatemala
1933-1935 -- Lecturer, General Studies and Summer Session, Columbia University
1936-1937 -- Lecturer, General Studies and Summer Session, Columbia University
1939 -- Fieldwork in Zuni studying child development
1942-1945 -- Social Scientist U.S. Government Office of War Information, Propoganda Analysis
1947-1951 -- Director of Chinese Project of Columbia University Research in Contemporary Cultures
1951-1952 -- Works on Bureau of Applied Social Research project on techniques of interviewing
1953 -- Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
1955 -- Research Associate, Institute of Intercultural Studies
1962 -- Teaching-consultant, Columbia University School of Nursing
1969-1987 -- Senior Research Associate, Columbia University
1974-1976 -- Chair, Section H, AAAS
1990 -- Dies January 14 in New York City at the age of 91
Selected Bibliography
1929 -- The Pueblo Potter, A Study of Creative Imagination in Primitive Art. New York: Columbia University Press.
1932 -- "Zuni Ritual Poetry." Ibid. "Introduction to Zuni Ceremonialism." 47th Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Government Printing Office. "Zuni Creation Myths." Ibid. "Zuni Katchinas." Ibid.
1933 -- Zuni Texts. Publications of the American Ethnological Society, Vol. 15. New York: G.E. Stechert and Company.
1938 -- "Zuni Grammar." Handbook of American Indian Languages, Vol. 3. New York: Columbia University Press. "The Economic Organization of Primitive People." Ibid. "Primitive Art." General Anthropology. Boston: D.C. Heath .
1940 -- "The Role of Alcoholism in Two Central American Communities." Psychiatry, Vol 33, pp. 361-387.
1950 -- Explorations in Chinese Culture. Research in Contemporary Cultures, Columbia University. (unpublished report)
1952 -- Chichicastenango, A Guatemalan Village. Publications of the American Ethnological Society, Vol 22. Locust Valley, New York: J. J. Auigustin. with John Weakland. An Anthropological Approach to Chinese Communism. Research in Contemporary Cultures, Columbia University. (unpublished report)
1960 -- edited with Margaret Mead. The Golden Age of American Anthropology. New York: George Braziller.
1966 -- "May Mandelbaum Edel 1909-1964." American Anthropologist, Vol 68, No. 4, pp. 986-989.
1976 -- "Chamula and Chichicastenango: A Reexamination." Cross-Cultural Approaches to the Study of Alcohol. The Hague: Mouton.
Related Collections:
Other materials relating to Ruth Bunzel at the National Anthropological Archives include kachina drawings in MS 4609; correspondence with the Bureau of American Ethnology in MS 4846 and the Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology; and a photograph of Bunzel in Photographic Lot 92-35. The Human Studies Film Archive has a video oral history of Bunzel (HSFA 89.10.8) which was created as part of the "History of Anthropology Series" produced by the University of Florida's Department of Anthropology.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Columbia University's Department of Anthropology.
Restrictions:
Materials with student grades were separated and have been restricted. Most of the restricted materials are not open for access until 2030.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Sponsor:
Processed with the support of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant.
The S. Ann Dunham papers, 1965-2013, primarily document her work as an economic anthropologist in Indonesia. The papers include her dissertation research on blacksmithing and materials relating to her professional work as a consultant for organizations like the Ford Foundation and Bank Raykat Indonesia (BRI). Her work included projects on microcredit, women in development, and rural industries. Materials consist of field notebooks, correspondence, reports, research proposals, case studies, surveys, lectures, photographs, research files, and floppy disks.
Scope and Contents:
The S. Ann Dunham papers, 1965-2013, primarily document her work as an economic anthropologist in Indonesia. The papers include her dissertation research on blacksmithing and materials relating to her professional work as a consultant for organizations like the Ford Foundation and Bank Raykat Indonesia (BRI). Her work included projects on microcredit, women in development, and rural industries. Materials consist of field notebooks, correspondence, reports, research proposals, case studies, surveys, lectures, photographs, research files, and floppy disks.
The field notebooks are mostly written in English, but also contain a mixture of Indonesian and Javanese, and include notes from her years of fieldwork in central Java, work-related travel, experiences as a consultant, and notes on readings.
The bulk of the professional materials relate to Dunham's work at the Ford Foundation as Program Officer for Women and Employment in Jakarta from 1981-1984. Her work with the Provincial Development Program in the Indonesian Department of Industries, a consultancy in Pakistan, at Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), and at Women's World Banking are represented to a lesser degree.
Academic materials primarily deal with Dunham's work toward her PhD, including her comprehensive exams and her dissertation.
The personal and biographical materials include limited material regarding her son, President Barack Obama, and a comprehensive collection of her resumes and qualifications.
The bulk of the photographs relate to Dunham's early field research for dissertation, and subsequently her work as a consultant.
Materials related to Dunham's computer files from 1991-1995 includes floppy disks, inventories, copies of floppy disks on CDs with content lists, and printouts of selected documents. They include final versions of her dissertation and files relating to her work with Women's World Banking and DAI (Development Alternatives Incorporated). The floppy disks and CD-roms are unavailable for research. The printed inventories, content lists, and documents are available.
The reference and research materials were collected by Dunham over the course of her career and studies. A bibliography of the majority of the reference and research materials is filed with the materials.
The collected materials about S. Ann Dunham comprise files posthumously collected by Bronwen Solyom about Dunham and her legacy. These include academic files, publication files, biographical material, and files relating to the recognition of Dunham and her work.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 8 series: Series 1. Field notebooks, 1977-1994; Series 2. Professional, 1974-1994, undated; Series 3. Academic, 1973-1992, undated; Series 4. Personal and biographical, 1965-1994, undated; Series 5. Photographs, 1978-1992, undated; Series 6. Computer files, 1991-2012, undated; Series 7. Reference and research, circa 1969-2012, undated; Series 8. Collected materials about S. Ann Dunham, 1972-2013, undated.
Biographical Note:
Chronology
1942 November 29 -- Born in Wichita, Kansas
1961 August 4 -- Son Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. born in Hawaii
1967 -- BA, Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii
1967 -- First trip to Indonesia
1970 August 15 -- Daughter Maya Soetoro born in Indonesia
1972-1973 -- Asia Foundation grant
1973-1974 -- Part-time instructor in handicrafts, Bishop Museum, Honolulu
1973-1978 -- East-West Center, Technology and Development Institute grant
1975 -- M.A. in Anthropology, University of Hawaii
1975 -- Went to Indonesia for PhD fieldwork
1979-1980 -- Consultant on international development, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
1981-1984 -- Program Officer for Women and Employment, Ford Foundation Regional Office for Southeast Asia, Jakarta
1986-1987 -- Rural Development Consultant to the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan, under the Gujranwala Integrated Rural Development Project (GADP), credit component
1988-1992 -- Research Coordinator and Consultant to the Bank Rakyat Indonesia (under 3 separate contracts funded by the World Bank and USAID in microfinance)
1992 -- PhD, Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii
1992-1994 -- Research and Policy Coordinator, Women's World Bank, New York City
1995 November 7 -- Died in Honolulu
Stanley Ann Dunham was an anthropologist who worked primarily in Indonesia conducting research for her PhD in economic anthropology while also building a professional career as an international consultant with various non-governmental organizations. Born in 1942 in Kansas, Dunham attended high school in Mercer Island, WA and moved to Honolulu, HI with her family. She attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she received her BA in 1967, her MA in 1975, and her PhD in 1992, all in anthropology.
Dunham's research and work dealt mostly with Indonesian handicrafts and small non-argricultural rural industries, including the study of economic and technical aspects that were important to enabling and sustaining development and village level microfinance programs.
Her dissertation Peasant Blacksmithing in Indonesia: Surviving Against all Odds was completed in 1992. The first half of her dissertation was published posthumously in 2009.
Dunham is the mother of President Barack Obama.
She died on November 7, 1995 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
(Chronology courtesy of the Ann Dunham Chronology by Ellen Chapman, S. Ann Dunham papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.)
Separated Materials:
Objects have been transferred to the Anthropology Collections department. For more information please contact the department at 301.238.1340.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the NAA by Ann Dunham's daughter, Maya Soetoro-Ng, in 2011.
Restrictions:
The S. Ann Dunham papers are open for research.
Electronic records are unavailable for research. Please contact the reference archivist for additional information.
Access to the S. Ann Dunham papers requires an appointment.
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 broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the 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); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
