Creator

Sturtevant, William C

correspondent

Ahlborn, Richard E

Appell, George N

Borhegyi, Stephan F

Brasser, Ted J

Campisi, Jack

Carpenter, Edmund

Chafe, Wallace L

Chagnon, Napoleon A. 1938-

Clifton, James A

Conklin, Harold C

Dark, Phillip John C

Darnell, Regna

Deloria, Vine

DeMallie, Raymond

Ewers, John C (John Canfield) 1909-1997

Feder, Norman

Feest, Christian F

Fenton, William Nelson

Fitzhugh, William W. 1943-

Fogelson, Raymond D

Fontana, Bernard Lee

Force, Roland W

Fried, Morton H

Garn, Stanley Marion

Geertz, Clifford

Goddard, Ives 1941-

Haas, Mary R

Hamell, George R

Hardin, Margaret Ann

Hicks, Sheila 1934-

Honigmann, Irma

Hymes, Dell H

Jackson, Jason Baird 1969-

Kaeppler, Adrienne Lois

King, Duane H

King, J.H.T

Knight, Charles L

Krech, Shepard 1944-

Lehman, Edward J

Levi-Strauss, Claude

Lomax, Alan 1915-2002

Lurie, Nancy Oestreich

McLendon, Sally

Meighan, Clement W

Meltzer, David

Merrill, William

Milanich, Jerald T

Mintz, Sidney W

Murra, John V (John Victor) 1916-

Osmundsen, Lita S

Parks, Douglas R

Pollitzer, William S. 1923-

Price, Richard 1941-

Price, Sally

Rappaport, Roy A

Silverman, Sydel

Stocking, George W. 1928

Tax, Sol

Taylor, Colin F

Tooker, Elizabeth

Trigger, Bruce G

Truettner, William H

Viola, Herman J

Washburn, Wilcomb E

Subject

National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)

Six Nations

Physical description

191.41 linear feet (473 manuscript boxes and 2 record boxes) plus 254 sound recordings, 94 computer disks, 42 card file boxes, 85 oversize folders, 9 rolled items, 18 binder boxes, and 3 oversize boxes

Type

Research

Collection descriptions

Newsletters

Books

Sound recordings

Realia

Office files

Artifacts

Clippings

Correspondence

Manuscripts

Exhibition catalogs

Theses

Card files

Field notes

Negatives

Photographs

Notes

Slides (photographs)

Articles

Memorandums

Date

1699

1699-2008

1699-2008 bulk 1950-2000

Notes

The papers of William C. Sturtevant were processed with the assistance of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Ives Goddard. Digitization of sound recordings was funded by a grant from the Arcadia Fund.

Other materials relating to William C. Sturtevant at the National Anthropological Archives are included in the following collections: MS 4504; MS 4595; MS 4806; MS 4821; MS 4972; MS 7045; Photo Lot 59; Photo Lot 79-51; Photo Lot 80-3; Photo Lot 81R; Photo Lot 86-68 (6); Photo Lot 86-68 (7); American Society for Ethnohistory records; Committee on Anthropological Research in Museum Records; Records of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History; Gordon Davis Gibson Papers, Sound Recordings; SPC Se Powhatan Confederacy Mattapony BAE No # 01790700; DOE Oceania:Amer Poly:Hi:Hawaiian Helmet:Sturtevant 04913800; DOE Oceania:Amer Poly:Hi:Hawaiian Helmet:Sturtevant 04913900; DOE Oceania:Amer Poly:Hi:Hawaiian Helmet:Sturtevant 04914000; Negative MNH 1530; and Negative MNH 1530 B.

Sturtevant is listed as a correspondent in the following NAA collections: Administrative file, 1949-1965, Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology; John Lawrence Angel Papers; James Henri Howard Papers; Donald Jayne Lehmer Papers; John Victor Murra Papers; Records of the Society for American Archaeology; Albert Clanton Spaulding Papers; and Waldo Rudolph Wedel and Mildred Mott Wedel Papers.

Copies of sound recordings made by William C. Sturtevant can be found at The California Language Archive at UC Berkeley in two collections, The William Sturtevant collection of Creek/Seminole sound recordings, which includes 31 minutes of Northern Muskogean linguistic field recordings from 1951, and The William Sturtevant collection of Mikasuki sound recordings, which includes 33 minutes of Mikasuki linguistic field recordings from 1951. Two sound tape reels of Seminole music Sturtevant recorded in Florida in 1951 can be found at Wesleyan University's World Music Archives. Folk songs on these recordings include "Scalping Sickness," zBear Sickness with blowing," zBear sickness without blowing," zLullaby," zFeather Dance," zSnake Dance," and "Crazy Dance." Performers include Josie Billie, Lee Cypress, Harvey Jumper, Boy Jim, Charlie (Johnny?) Cypress, Little Tiger Tail, Billy Ossiola, and Charlie Billy Boy.

William C. Sturtevant (1926-2007), preeminent North American ethnologist, museum curator, and university professor, was best known for his contributions to Seminole ethnology, as curator of North American Ethnology in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, and for his work as the general editor of the Handbook of North American Indians.

Sturtevant's passion for studying Native peoples began at a young age. In third grade "after a class on American Indians, he asked his father what kind of people study Indians, and his father replied, 'Anthropologists.' Sturtevant decided then that he would make anthropology his career." After graduating with honors from the University of California at Berkeley in 1949, Sturtevant went on to Yale University to complete his graduate work in anthropology.

In 1954, while he was finishing his dissertation, "The Mikasuki Seminole: Medical Beliefs and Practices," Sturtevant made the transition from student of anthropology to professional anthropologist. He was hired as an instructor in Yale's Anthropology Department and began his career in museum work as an assistant curator of anthropology at the Yale Peabody Museum. After receiving his PhD from Yale in 1955, Sturtevant moved on to the Smithsonian Institution, where he accepted a position as a research anthropologist at the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE). This position afforded Sturtevant the chance to continue to explore his many research interests in ways that a full time professorship or museum curatorship could not. After the BAE was dissolved he was transferred to the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), where he became curator of North American Ethnology, a position he held for the next forty-two years. One of Sturtevant's primary duties at NMNH was serving as the General Editor of the Handbook of North American Indians, "a major multi-volume reference work summarizing anthropological, linguistic and historical knowledge about native peoples north of Mexico."

Sturtevant died on March 2, 2007 at the Collingswood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rockville, MD after suffering from emphysema.

Electronic finding aid available via the website of the National Anthropological Archives.

Addl. KW Subjects

Five Nations

Organization

The collection is organized into 14 series: 1) Correspondence, 1951-2008; 2) Research Files, 1851, 1860s, 1880s, 1890, 1939-2006 [Bulk 1950-2000]; 3) Writings, 1952-2006; 4) Professional Activities, 1952-2006; 5) Smithsonian, 1954-2008; 6) Handbook of North American Indians, 1971-2007; 7) Biographical Files, 1933-2007; 8) Student Files, 1944-1985 [Bulk 1949-1955]; 9) Subject Files, 1902-2002; 10) Photographs, 1927-2004; 11) Artwork, 1699-1998 [Bulk circa 19th century-circa 20th century]; 12) Maps, 1949-1975; 13) Sound Recordings, 1950-2000; 14) Computer Files, 1987-2006

Summary

This collection contains the professional papers of William Curtis Sturtevant and documents his activities as Curator of North American Ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History, his work as the editor-in-chief of the Handbook of North American Indians, his research among the Seminole and Iroquois people, and other professional activities. The collection is comprised of books, sound recordings, research and field notes, realia, artifacts, clippings, microfilm, negatives, slides, photographs, manuscripts, correspondence, memorandums, card files, exhibition catalogs, articles and bibliographies.

Cite as

William C. Sturtevant papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Repository Loc.

National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Museum Support Center, Suitland, Maryland

Topic

Language and languages--Documentation

Seminole language

Choctaw language

French language

Spanish language

German language

Indians of North America

Handbook of North American Indians

Linguistics

Ethnology

History

Botany

Archaeology

Anthropology

Local number

NAA-MS 2008-24.0329

Restrictions & Rights

Files containing Sturtevant's students' grades have been restricted, as have his students' and colleagues' grant and fellowships applications. For preservation reasons, his computer files are also restricted. Seminole sound recordings are restricted. Access to the William C. Sturtevant Papers requires an apointment

Contact the repository for terms of use

Data Source

National Anthropological Archives

Creator

Stejneger, Leonhard 1851-1943

Subject

Stejneger, Leonhard 1851-1943

Steller, Georg Wilhelm 1709-1746

Ridgway, Robert 1850-1929

Yarrow, H. C (Harry Crécy) 1840-1929

True, Frederick William 1858-1914

Cleveland, Grover 1837-1908

International Fur Seal Commission

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

United States National Museum Division of Birds

United States National Museum Division of Reptiles and Batrachians

United States Army Signal Corps

United States National Museum Department of Biology

Physical description

23.86 cu. ft. (46 document boxes) (2 12x17 boxes) (oversize materials)

Type

Account books

Collection descriptions

Scrapbooks

Black-and-white photographs

Field notes

Journals (accounts)

Diaries

Manuscripts

Date

1753

1753-1943

1753, 1867-1943

Notes

Leonhard Stejneger (1851-1943) was born in Norway. In 1881 he left for the United States and arrived in Washington, D.C., where he soon began working with the birds of the New World at the Smithsonian Institution with particular interest in aquatic birds. In December 1884 he was appointed Assistant Curator in the Department of Birds under Robert Ridgway, Curator. In 1889 after the resignation of Henry Crecy Yarrow, Honorary Curator of the Department of Reptiles and Batrachians, Stejneger became the first full-time Curator for the Department. In 1903 he served as Acting Head Curator of the Department of Biology for several months, and in 1911 he was appointed Head Curator of the Department of Biology after Frederick William True vacated the post. From that time until his death Stejneger served both as Head Curator of the Department of Biology and Curator of the Division of Reptiles and Batrachians. He also chaired a Smithsonian committee which considered manuscripts for publication.

In addition to his herpetological and ornithological work, Stejneger was recognized as an authority on the fur seals of the North Pacific. He began his studies in this field when he was sent to the Commander Islands for the United States Signal Service in 1882, and made a number of trips to the area between then and 1922. In 1896, Stejneger was appointed to the International Fur Seal Commission by President Grover Cleveland. In connection with his fur seal work, Stejneger researched and published a biography of Georg Wilhelm Steller, 1936.

Stejneger also played an important role in international zoological meetings and was elected to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 1898.

Description in control file.

Addl. KW Subjects

(RU 7441) Music Massachusetts

Organization

(1) Manuscripts, notes, and related materials on herpetology, circa 1890-1943; (2) manuscripts, notes, and related materials on fur seals, 1882-1924; (3) manuscripts, notes, and related materials on ornithology, circa 1867-1905; (4) manuscripts, notes, and related materials on European fauna, circa 1904-1914; (5) manuscripts, notes, and related materials on Georg Wilhelm Steller, circa 1882-1941; (6) diaries, notebooks, and account books, 1882-1913 and undated; (7) photographs, circa 1882-1916; (8) scrapbooks, undated; (9) outgoing correspondence, 1877-1882; (10) personal materials, honors, and genealogy, 1875-1932; (11) miscellany, 1902, 1904 and undated; (12) add acquisition, 1753, 1853-1945; (13) add acquisition, oversize, 1893-1935; (14) add acquisition, circa 1930-1941

Summary

The papers of Leonhard Stejneger consist of manuscripts on Japanese herpetology, Chinese herpetology, Puerto Rican and West Indian herpetology, North American herpetology, poisonous snakes, turtles, fur seals, ornithology, European fauna, and the study of life zones; manuscripts, general notes, bibliographic notes, and correspondence regarding the publication of Stejneger's biography of Georg Wilhelm Steller and a copy of Steller's Ausfuhrliche Beschreibung von sonderbaren Meerthieren, 1753; diaries, notebooks, and account books covering much of the time Stejneger spent at zoological congresses and on field trips; photographs of fur seals and natives of the North Pacific-Bering Sea area; photographs of mammal skulls and skeletons; scrapbooks; outgoing correspondence; and personal material.

Repository Loc.

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520

Topic

Herpetology

Mammalogy

Natural History

Ornithology

Northern fur seal

Naturalists

Ornithologists

Herpetologists

Local number

SIA RU007074

Data Source

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Creator

Dall, Mark H

Subject

Dall, C. H. A (Charles Henry Appleton) 1816-1886

Dall, William Healey 1845-1927

Healey, Mark

Dall, Mark H

Physical description

7.72 cu. ft. (7 record storage boxes) (1 16x20 box) (1 oversize folder)

Type

Books

Collection descriptions

Clippings

Manuscripts

Drawings

Maps

Black-and-white photographs

Place

Alaska

India

Date

1574

1574-1963

Notes

Folder List in accession file.

Organization

Unarranged

Summary

This accession consists of information about the Healey family; personal and business correspondence of Mark Healey, maternal grandfather to William Healey Dall; poetry, correspondence, publications, photographs, and sermons by and pertaining to Charles Henry Appleton Dall, first Unitarian minister in India, and father of William Healey Dall; and correspondence, photographs, publications, awards, and certificates pertaining to William Healey Dall, and in particular, his interest in Alaska.

Repository Loc.

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520

Topic

Unitarianism

Local number

SIA Acc. 87-057

Data Source

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Creator

Collins, Henry Bascom 1899-1987

correspondent

Anderson, H. D

Armstrong, Robert Geiston

Ashley-Montagu, Montague Francis

Atwood, Wallace W Jr

Baird, Patrick D

Bennett, Wendell Clark

Birket-Smith, Kaj

Bostock, Hugh S

Brandt, G. Herman

Bushnell, David Ives Jr 1875-1941

Case, John C

Chambers, Moreau Browne Congleton

Chaney, Ralph W

Colbert, Lee O

Cole, Fay-Cooper

Cummins, Harold

Day, Albert M

De Laguna, Frederica 1906-2004

Deming, Edwin Willard 1860-1942

Densmore, Frances

Dorman, Caroline

Dunbar, Max J

Eide, Arthur Hansin

Evans-Pritchard, Edward Evans

Everett, Martha T

Fewkes, Jesse Walter 1850-1930

Flakne, Joseph T

Flint, Richard Foster

Ford, James Alfred 1911-1968

Frothingham, Robert

Garber, Clark M

Geist, Otto William

Goldstein, Marcus Solomon

Gould, Lawrence M

Graf, John Enos

Graves, Mortimer

Guthe, Carl E (Carl Eugen) 1893-1974

Hammerich, L. L

Herskovits, Melville J (Melville Jean) 1895-1963

Holtved, Erik

Hrdlička, Aleš 1869-1943

Jenness, Diamond 1886-1969

Jones, E. D

Judd, Neil Merton 1887-1976

Kashevaroff, A. P

Knoblock, Hermes

Linton, Ralph 1893-1953

MacKay, J. Ross

MacKenzie, C. J

Manca, Harry E

Manning, T. H

Mason, John Alden 1885-1967

Mathiassen, Therkel

Michael, Henry N

Moodie, Roy L

Moorehead, Warren King

Myers, John L

Nutt, David C

O'Bryan, Deric

Oka, Masao

OʹNeill, John J

Parkin, G. Raleigh

Pope, Helen

Rainey, Froelich G

Reed, John C

Rowland, Dunbar

Rowley, Diana

Rowley, Graham W

Ruppert, Karl

Sander, Gerhard

Sanders, A. G

Shanafeldt, William

Shimkin, Demitri Boris

Silook, Paul Eskimo

Skarland, Ivar

Slobodin, Richard

Smith, G. Dudley

Smith, Marian Wesley

Solecki, Ralph S

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur 1879-1962

Stewart, T. D (Thomas Dale) 1901-1997

Sullivan, J. Magruder

Tremaine, Marie

Tremblay, Jean-Louis

Walker, James Stewart

Wallace, Robert C

Wardle, H. Newell

Washburn, A. L

Waugh, Leuman M. Dr

Wetmore, Alexander 1886-1978

Wilson, J. Tuzo

Wood, Walter A

author

Hough, Walter 1859-1935

MacRae, T.W.R

Creator

Bohannan, C.T.R

author

Moore, Riley D

Creator

Du Roullet, Regis

Wilson, Thomas

photographer

Chamber, Moreau B.C

Taylor, William E

Jasse, Robert

McNutt, C.H

Creator

Resolute Bay Expedition, 1951

Southampton Island Expedition, 1956

Uniform title

Encyclopedia Arctica

Subject

Arctic Institute of North America

Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology

Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Office of Anthropological Research

Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Office of Anthropology

Ethnogeographic Board (Washington, D.C.)

Committee on International Relations in Anthropology

International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences 1958

Alaskan Science Conference

Physical description

34 linear feet

Type

Maps

Collection descriptions

Journals (accounts)

Manuscripts

Financial records

Printed material

Charts

Diagrams

Photographs

Sound recordings

Place

Arctic

Date

1922

1730-1977

bulk 1922-1970

Notes

Originally trained in geology, Henry Bascom Collins became involved in anthropology as an assistant on Neil M. Judd's expeditions to Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico in 1922-1924. In 1924, he became an aid in the Division of Ethnology of the United States National Museum. In 1924, he was promoted to assistant curator and in 1938 associate curator in the same division. In 1939, he was made a senior ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology and became that organization's acting director in 1963. When the BAE and the Department of Anthropology were merged in 1965, Collins became a senior scientist in the new Smithsonian Office of Anthropology.

He was appointed archeologist emeritus when he retired in 1967. Collins's independent field work during the early part of his career focused to a considerable extent on his native American South, an interest developed during a short appointment with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. His broad anthropological interests in the area were channeled into investigations, both archeological and physical anthropological, relating to the large Choctaw tribe and explorations of areas whose cultural history was little known. He was particularly interested in the culture history and relationships among the peoples who had inhabited the Gulf Coast.

Collins thus worked during the mid and late 1920s at village and mound sites in eastern and southern Mississippi, carried out archeological reconnaissance and excavations in southern Louisiana, and explored areas of southwestern Florida, becoming especially concerned there with problems concerning the Calusa. He also carried out anthropometric studies of living Choctaws of Mississippi. Collins is best known, however, for his efforts in Arctic archeology. In the northlands of North America, he became involved in the puzzles of Eskimo origins and cultural development and devoted most of his career as a field archeologist in explorations that resulted in solutions to these problems.

Between 1927 and 1936, he and colleagues, notably including James Alfred Ford, focused their field work on the Bering Sea area and the Arctic coasts of Alaska, including St. Lawrence Island, Nunivak Island, the Diomedes, Punuk Island, Bristol Bay, Norton Sound, Point Hope, Cape Prince of Wales, the Aleutians, and the interior of the Seward Peninsula. They concerned themselves with the Asian affinities, western origins, culture sequences, and non-Eskimo influences of Eskimo culture. For his report on his work on St. Lawrence Island, which represented a major and lasting revision of Eskimo culture history, Collins won a gold medal of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in 1936.

The report was issued as a Smithsonian publication under the title Archeology of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, volume 96, number 1. In 1948-1955, his field work expanded eastward to Baffin, Cornwallis, and Southampton islands and included further concerns with the development of Eskimo cultures, such as affinities with European Mesolithic and Siberian Neolithic cultures. In this and earlier work, Collins's field activities were supplemented by study of collections in many museums. Collins has also been quite active with several anthropological organizations.

He has served in several capacities with the International Congresses of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences, including vice president of the second congress in Copenhagen in 1938, member of the permanent council in 1952, member of the organizing committee in charge of foreign delegations, and president of the seventh congress in Moscow in 1965. For the International Congress of Americanists, which met in Copenhagen in 1956, he served as an honorary vice president.

Collins also served in various capacities with the Arctic Institute of North America. A founding member in 1944, he was on its board of governors in 1944-1958, 1951-1956, and 1960-1965, and he served as the boardʹs chairman in 1948. In 1946, he became chairman of the directing committee of the Arctic Bibliography, an AINA project. In 1960, he was chairman of the advisory committee and also became chairman of the advisory committee for AINAʹs Russian Translation Project.

He was president of the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1938-1939 and vice president of the Society for American Archaeology in 1952. For the Ethnogeographic Board, a World War II agency, he served as assistant director in 1943-1944 and director in 1944-1946. In 1945, he was a member of the National Research Councilʹs Council on International Relations and Anthropology and had direct charge of delivering CARE packages to European anthropologists.

Register Available without charge from the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560 Robert Lynn Montgomery Nigel Elmore, Register to the Papers of Henry Bascom Collins, National Anthropological Archives, 1994.

The papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Henry Bascom Collins, Jr., in 1977.

Organization

PAPERS RELATING TO COLLINS'S PERSONAL RESEARCH, including (1) articles about Collins and his work, ca. 1932-1949; (2) documents about Collins, 1924-1981; (3) calendars; (4) incoming letters, 1922-1958; (5) outgoing letters, 1924-1958; (6) incoming letters from Collins's family, 1922-1932; (7) correspondence on specific subjects; (8) published papers, 1925-1976; (9) unpublished papers, 1924-1952; (10) reference information; (11) diaries; (12) material relating to Collins's archeological expeditions, 1922-1955; (13) material relating totravel; (14) manuscripts collected by Collins, 1730-1965; (15) cataloged reprints, 1840-1970; (16) uncataloged reprints, 1920-1975; (17) exhibits, ca. 1930-1973; (18) miscellany, 1930-1972; (198) drawings; (20) maps; (21) photographs, 1924-1965; (22) financial records; (23) sound recordings, 1977; PAPERS RELATING TO THE ARCTIC INSTITUTE OF NORTH AMERICA, including (24) general papers, 1944-1970; (25) papers relating to the board of governor, 1945-1956; (26) papers relating to committees, 1947-1970; (27) papers relating to the Arctic Bibliography and roster projects, 1947-1967; (28) papers relating to the Russian translation project, 1959-1968; (29) papers relating to projects supported by the AINA and Office of Naval Research; PAPERS RELATING TO THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY, including (30) general papers, 1945-1955; (31) papers relating to the Fifth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Philadelphia, 1956; (32) papers relating to CARE package distribution, 1948;

PAPERS RELATING TO OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, including (33) papers relating to the "Encyclopedia Arctic," 1947-1953; (34) papers relating to the Ethnogeographic Board, 1942-1950; (35) papers relating to the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1963-1965; (36) papers relating to the Smithsonian Office of Anthropological Research (SOAR); (37)(26) papers relating to the Bureau of American Ethnology; 1963-1965; (27) papers relating to the Smithsonian Office for Anthropological Research (SOAR), 1964; (28) papers relating to the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology (SOA), 1963-1966.papers relating to the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology (SOA); 1963-1966; (38) papers relating to the Center for the Study of Man, ca. 1968-1971; (39) papers relating to the Smithsonian Relief Association, 1924-1931; (40) papers relating to the council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1953-1961; (41) papers relating to the Society for American Archaeology, 1934, 1939, 1984; (42) papers relating to the Early Sites Foundation, 1965-1968; (43) papers relating to the Explorer's Club, 1929-1937, 1981; (44) papers relating to the Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, 1960-1973; (46) papers relating to the Alaskan Science Conference

Summary

The papers reflect the professional life of Henry Bascom Collins, Jr., including his curatorial and research duties at the Smithsonian and his activities with a several anthropological organizations, especially the Arctic Institute of North America. Some of the material are historical documents collected for reference purposes. Included are manuscripts by Walter Hough, T.W.R. MacRae and C.T.R. Bohannan, Riley D. Moore, Regis Du Roullet, and Thomas Wilson. In addition, there are numerous historical maps of Alaska and Canada. Collins also acquired photographs made on expeditions he did not join, including phtotographs by Moreau B.C. Chambers on the Smithsonian's 1931 expedition to Alaska, photograph by William E. Taylor and Bob Jasse on the 1951 Resolute Bay expedition, and photographs by Taylor and C.H. McNutt during the 1956 Southampton Island expedition.

Cite as

Henry Bascom Collins Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Repository Loc.

National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Museum Support Center, Suitland, Maryland

Topic

Archeology

Arctic Bibliography

Stereotypes (Social psychology)

Restrictions & Rights

Collinsʹs correspondence with his family is not available to researchers

Literary and other rights have been retained by Collins and will pass to his wife

See more items in

Henry Bascom Collins, Jr. Papers 1730-1977 bulk 1922-1970

Data Source

National Anthropological Archives

Subject

Walcott, Mary Vaux 1860-1940

Walcott, Helena Stevens

Walcott, Charles Doolittle

Walcott, Sidney Stevens

Walcott, Helen Breese

Younger, Cole

Stevens Family

Walcott Family

Younger Family

Walcott, Charles D (Charles Doolittle) 1850-1927

Smithsonian Institution

Geological Survey (U.S.)

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Physical description

21.95 cu. ft. (17 record storage boxes) (3 12x17 boxes) (4 16x20 boxes) (6 3x5 boxes)

Type

Books

Collection descriptions

Clippings

Manuscripts

Ephemera

Black-and-white negatives

Black-and-white photographs

Color photographs

Artifacts

Place

United States

British Columbia

Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.)

Date

1720

1720-1929

1720-1929, 1944, 1995

Notes

Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927) was born in New York Mills, New York. He attended Utica public schools and the Utica Academy, but never graduated or pursued further education. He had an early interest in natural history, and began his professional career in 1876 when he was appointed as an assistant to James Hall, New York's state geologist. In 1879, he joined the newly formed United States Geological Survey (USGS) as an assistant geologist. Shortly after his appointment, Walcott began to do field work in Utah. Field work would continue to define his life, and later sites included the Appalachians, New England, New York, several Mid-Atlantic states, western and southwestern United States, and eastern Canada. From 1882 to 1893 he worked with the Survey's invertebrate Paleozoic paleontological collections, and in 1893 he was appointed Geologist in charge of Geology and Paleontology. He also served as an honorary curator of invertebrate Paleozoic fossils at the United States National Museum (USNM) from 1892 to 1907, and as Acting Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in charge of the USNM from 1897 to 1898. In 1894 Walcott was appointed Director of the USGS and served until 1907 when he resigned from the USGS and was appointed Secretary of the Smithsonian, a position he would remain at until his death.During Walcott's administration at the Smithsonian he oversaw the completion of the National Museum Building (now the National Museum of Natural History) in 1911. He also convinced Detroit industrialist Charles Lang Freer to donate his extensive Asian art collection and money for a building during his lifetime rather than after Freer's death, as was originally intended. He also set up the National Gallery of Art (predecessor to the Smithsonian American Art Museum) as a separate administrative entity in 1920.Despite his responsibilities as Secretary, Walcott found time to continue his research and collecting of fossils from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods, with primary focus on the Canadian Rockies. In 1909 he located Cambrian fossils near Burgess Pass above Field, British Columbia. The following season he discovered the Burgess shale fauna, which proved to be his greatest paleontological discovery. In 1872, Walcott married Lura Ann Rust. Their marriage was relatively short, as Rust died in 1876 from an undiagnosed illness. In 1888, he married Helena Stevens. Charles and Helena had three children: Charles Doolittle (born 1889), Sidney Stevens (born 1892), Helen Breese (born 1894), and Benjamin Stuart (born 1896). Helena and the children often accompanied Charles on fieldwork excursions. Unfortunately, in 1911 Helena was killed in a train accident in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Charles Doolittle Walcott Jr. (often referred to as "Charlie") died in 1913 while a student at Yale University, after suffering from multiple severe ear infections. In 1917, Benjamin Stuart (often referred to as Stuart), was killed in action while serving as a pilot in the l'Escadrille de Lafayette in France during World War I. In 1914, Walcott married Mary Morris Vaux, an accomplished naturalist. In 1925, the Smithsonian published her illustrations of American wildflowers in five volumes. Also in 1925, Helen Breese Walcott married Cole Younger. On February 9, 1927, Charles D. Walcott passed away.For a more detailed history of Charles D. Walcott, please see Record Unit 7004: Charles D. Walcott Collection 1851-1940 and undated.

Electronic List in accession file.

Folder List in accession file.

Organization

Unarranged

Summary

This accessions consists of the personal correspondence of Charles D. Walcott, his family, and his extended family, as well as genealogical materials, family Bibles, photographs, medals, and other materials related to the Walcott family. The correspondence documents the personal relationships between the immediate Walcott family, as well as the extended family, mostly relations and ancestors of Helena Stevens Walcott. Photographs consist of both personal photography, and photography from field research expeditions. Of note are eight boxes of lantern slides used by Mary Vaux Walcott to illustrate American wildflowers. The medals encompass awards presented to Charles D. Walcott, most notably the Mary Clark Thompson Medal, presented by the National Academy of Sciences. Materials include correspondence, images, negatives, albums, medals, school records, wedding registers, legal documents, family Bibles, articles, clippings, and ephemera.

Repository Loc.

Smithsonian Institution Archives Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520

Topic

Genealogy

Fieldwork

Scientific expeditions

Wild flowers

Legal documents

Local number

SIA Acc. 16-103

Data Source

Smithsonian Institution Archives