Catalogue of the C. Hart Merriam collection of data concerning California tribes and other American Indians Prepared by Robert F. Heizer, with the assistance of Dennis Bailey, Marke Estis and Karen Nissen
Author:
University of California, Berkeley Department of Anthropology Search this
Heizer, Robert F (Robert Fleming) 1915-1979 Search this
Subject:
Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart) 1855-1942 Art collections Search this
Robert F. Heizer was an anthropologist best known for his archeological work in California and Nevada and ethnographic work in California. A University of California Ph.D. (1941), he was on the Berkeley staff from 1946 to 1976, when he gained emeritus status. For many years he headed the Archeological Survey in California.
In 1955, Heizer extended his work into Mexican archeology with an expedition to La Venta with Philip Drucker, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Robert J. Squiers. The National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian, and the University of California sponsored the expedition. Its purpose was to follow up with large-scale excavations the preliminary work of Matthew W. Stirling of 1941 and Stirling and Waldo R. Wedel's work of 1943. Controversies concerning chronology took Heizer back to La Venta between 1967 and 1969. His interest in Middle American archeology continued until his death.
In 1957, Heizer began work at a site just west of the great pyramid at Cuicuilco. Involved was an investigation of a group of mounds threatened by lava quarrying. The site proved to be one of long occupation, back to around 2000 B.C. With James A. Bennyhoff, Heizer worked at the site in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, and 1962.
Virtually the entire collection of Heizer's papers in the National Anthropological Archives concerns the work at La Venta, the material relating to Cuicuilco representing a small miscellany. There are a few additional materials that concern Heizer's other activities, particularly in Middle America. Included are documents of an administrative nature concerning arrangements, management, and publications. There are also materials that came directly from the field work and studies of museum specimens. Also present are materials that concern controversies over Olmec chronology.
Heizer also collected notes, notebooks, photographs, cartographic material, and manuscripts from some of his colleagues and assistants on the La Venta expeditions. Included among these are materials of C. William Clewlow, Eduardo Contreras, Philip Drucker, and P.F. Healy. There are manuscripts of writings and reprints of publications from some of these and from students of Heizer. The photographic collections, considerable amounts of which are unidentified, include field negatives and prints of LaVenta, many other Olmec sites, and other archeological sites in Mexico and Middle America. There are also photographs collected from other archeologists, including Stirling.
Correspondents include James A. Bennyhoff, Ignacio Bernal, Geoffrey Bushnell, Leonard Carmichael, Michael D. Coe, William R. Coe, Carmen C. de Leonard, Philip Drucker, Clifford Evans, George Kubler, Melvin M. Payne, Froelich G. Rainey, Anna O. Shepard, Robert J. Squier, Matthew W. Stirling, Robert Stuckenrath, Howel Williams, and Robert Wuchopi.
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:
(1) Correspondence, 1954-1973; (2) notebooks, 1955-1968; (3) subject file, ca. 1954-1970; (4) writings, 1956-1974; (5) printed and processed material, ca. 1950s-1970s; (6) miscellany, 1955-1978; (7) maps and other cartographic material, 1955-1968; (8) drawings, n.d.; (9) photograph albums with negatives, n.d.; (10) photographs arranged by site, 1955-1969; (11) photographs of expeditions, 1955, 1967-1969; (12) miscellaneous photographs, n.d.; (13) slides, 1943-1971; (14) illustrations for Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 170, ca. 1957
Biographical Note:
Robert Fleming Heizer was an anthropologist best known for his archeological work in California and Nevada and ethnographic work in California. A University of California PhD (1941), he was on the staff at Berkeley from 1946 to 1976, when he assumed an emeritus status. For many years he headed the Archeological Survey in California. In 1955, Heizer extended his work into Mexican archeology with an expedition to La Venta that was led by him, Philip Drucker, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Robert J. Squiers. The expedition was sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian, and the University of California. Its purpose was to follow up with large-scale excavations the preliminary work of Matthew Williams Stirling of 1941 and Stirling and Waldo Rudolph Wedel of 1943.
Controversies concerning the chronology of the site led to Heizer's return to La Venta between 1967 and 1969. His interest in Middle American archeology continued in the meantime and afterward until his death.
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds Photo Lot 77-59, Photograph of Robert F. Heizer at Palenque.
Papers relating to other aspects of Heizer's career are at the Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley.
Provenance:
The papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by the terms of Dr. Heizer's will and placed in the archives in 1979. An addition to the collection was donated by Thomas R. Hester in 1980.
Restrictions:
The Robert F. Heizer papers are open for research.
Access to the Robert F. Heizer paper requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Archeology -- Olmec -- Mexico -- La Venta -- Middle America Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographic slides
Maps
Letters
Writings
Notebooks
Processed materials
Photographs
Printed materials
Notes
Citation:
Robert F. Heizer papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
May Mayko Ebihara's oral history interviews with Conrad Arensberg (3/7/84); Harold Conklin (1/26/82); William Davenport (8/19/82); James B. Griffin (10/7/81); Jane Richardson Hanks (8/6/82); Lucien M. Hanks (8/7/82); Robert Heizer and George Foster (10/2/74); Charles Hocket (8/25/81); Thomas Kirsch (8/25/81); Alfred Kroeber, et al. on Sapir (dub 5/11/1959); Floyd Lounsbury (1/27/82); David Mandelbaum (11/9/78); Margaret Mead (12/8/66); Mervyn Meggitt; Robert and Beatrice Miller (7/29/86); Horace Miner (10/7/81); George P. Murdock (8/20/82); Robert Murphy (10/17/80); John V. Murra (8/24/81); Leopold Pospisil (1/28/82); Irving Rouse (1/27/82); Lauriston Sharp (5/6/82); Edward Shils (11/19/83); Robert J. Smith (8/26/81). Also includes typewritten transcripts for some of the above, as well as for interviews with Theodore Stern and David H. French. The collection also contains notes on anthropology departments at Columbia University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and University of Pennsylvania.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2009-15
Other Archival Materials:
May Ebihara's Reed College bachelor's thesis (1955), "An Ethnohistorical Study of the Shoshoni Indians of the Northern Basin," was received with the collection and transferred to the John Wesley Powell Library of Anthropology.
The Albert Clanton Spaulding Papers consist of correspondence, field project data, manuscripts, and teaching notes documenting his work at the University of Michigan, University of California Santa Barbara, the National Science Foundation, and field work at the Arzberger Site and Agattu.
Scope and Contents:
The Albert Clanton Spaulding Papers consist of correspondence, field project data, manuscripts, and teaching notes documenting his work at the University of Michigan, University of California Santa Barbara, the National Science Foundation, and field work at the Arzberger Site and Agattu. Although it has been noted that there are significant and inexplicable lucunae in Spaulding's papers, they nevertheless touch on most phases of his professional life. There is, however, relatively little field material.
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:
1. Correspondence, 1948-1982; 2. manuscript of Spaulding writings; 3. material concerning students; 4. site reports and field project data; 4. material regarding conferences and committees; 6. material related to work as National Science Foundation archeology program director; 7. student notebooks and dissertation; 8. material regarding the Arzberger site; 9. administrative material regarding the University of Michigan; 10. academic papers collected by Spaulding, teaching aids, and lecture notes; 11. Philip C. Phillips and Gordon R. Willey file; 12. James A. Ford file; 13. correspondence regarding publications; 14. miscellany; 15. photographs
Biographical note:
Albert C. Spaulding was trained at Montana State University (B.A. in economics, 1935), the University of Michigan (M.A. in ahthropology, 1937), and Columbia University (Ph.D., 1946). In 1946-1947, he taught at the University of Kansas and was an assistant curator at the university's Museum of Anthropology. From 1947-1961, he taught at the University of Michigan and was curator of that university's Museum of Anthropology. In 1959-1961, Spaulding was first program director for the History and Philosophy of Science Program of the National Science Foundation and the NAS program director for anthropology. In 1963-1966, he was professor and chairman of the anthropology department at the University of Oregon. In 1967-1971, he became dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara and continued at that institution as professor of anthropology until 1983. Spaulding served the Society for Amercian Archeology as associate editor, secretary, vice president, and president. In 1964, he was vice president for Section H of American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Although Spaulding carried out several significant field projects, he is best rememberd for his theoretical and methodological concerns. In relating his first archeological field work, he declared: "My fundamental interest at the time (and now) was clarification of the basic concepts of archeology, which led me into explicit definitions of archaeological problems in terms of relationship between or among well-defined variables." Spaulding produced many articles and book reviews in which he dealt with such problems. Some of the best-known appeared in the pages of American Antiquity in 1953 and 1954 when be debated James A. Ford in general terms concerning teh most productive methods of archeology in general and the nature of archeological types and methods of defining them in particular. Because of his espousal of rigor in method, Spaulding is considered on of the main forerunners of the "new archeology" of the 1960s. For his work, he received the SAA distinguished Service Award in 1981.
Restrictions:
The Albert Clanton Spaulding papers are open for research.
Access to the Albert Clanton Spaulding papers requires an appointment.
Heizer, Robert F. (Robert Fleming), 1915-1979 Search this
Names:
Heizer, Robert F. (Robert Fleming), 1915-1979 Search this
Extent:
1 Print (silver gelatin)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Prints
Photographs
Place:
Palenque Site (Mexico)
Date:
1955
Scope and Contents note:
Photograph depicting Robert F. Heizer standing next to carved name, probably of Désiré Charnay, in Palenque temple, April 1955.
Biographical/Historical note:
Robert F. Heizer (1915-1979) was an anthropologist best known for his archeological and ethnographic work in California and Nevada. After receiving his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley (1941), he worked there as a professor from 1946 to 1976, when he gained emeritus status. Heizer's research interests grew to include Mexican archeology, and he undertook an expedition in 1955 to La Venta with Philip Drucker, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Robert J. Squiers.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 77-59
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds the Robert Fleming Heizer Papers 1943-1978; 1955-1970.
The Special Collections at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley also hold Heizer's papers.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot 77-59, Photograph of Robert F. Heizer at Palenque, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The processed material in this collection concerns work before 1955. Included are field notebooks, printed material, drafts of manuscripts, notes, catographic material, drawings, photograhs, writings, historical documents, and copies of United States government documents. Incorporated are notes (often comments and suggestion regarding Drucker's work) by Alfred Louis Kroeber, photographs of Nootka by R. Maynard, copies of papers by William Beynon and Viola Garfield, a catalog of an Alaskan Collection of Edward G. Fast, a field notebook relating to the British Columbia coast archeology survey by Richard King Beardsley, notes on Alsea by John Albert, and miscellaneous papers of various authors concerning Micronesia. The latter includes material by Harry K. Uyeharan on Angaur clan organization, J.E. Tobin on the Bikini, and George E. Thompson on education in American Samoa.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional life of Dr. Philip Drucker (1911-1982), Assistant Curator for the U. S. National Museum, Ethnologist and Anthropologist for the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE), Staff Anthropologist in the U. S. Navy, farmer, and professor at the Universities of Kentucky, Colorado, and Baylor. Included are notes and fieldnotes from his expeditions into the American Northwest, MesoAmerica, and Oceania, correspondence sent and received by Drucker, drafts and notes of some of his works, element lists, newspapers and newsletters he collected, papers and materials from others in the field, class notes and exams from his years of teaching, photographs, and maps.
Of primary concern are the materials dealing with the Northwest Coast, which contain his most detailed notes. Dr. Drucker was considered to be one of the foremost experts in that region. There is also considerable photographic material on MesoAmerica, the majority of which remains unprocessed. Also included are materials dealing with Southern California, South America, and Oceania.
Correspondents include Margaret Blackman, Joanna Chisholm, William Beynon, John Fox, E. Gartly Jaco, Elizabeth Tooker, Margaret Lantis, Joseph P. Benson, Kenneth Ames, Vera Rubin, Charles M. Tolbert, Robert E. Quirk, James R. Glenn, and Ward H. Goodenough.
The Drucker Papers also include notes, exams, and assignments from his classes as well as a number of papers dealing with topics not directly related to the main series. There are many photographs of the Northwest Coast and MesoAmerica, and a few maps from each of the main regions in which Drucker worked.
Arrangement:
(1) Northwest Coast native brotherhoods; (2) Northwest Coast Nootkan tribes; (3) Northwest Coast miscellaneous ethnology (on the Bellabella, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, Bellacoola, Wikeno, Haida, Haisla, Xaihais, and Heiltsuk); (4) Northwwest Coast archeology; (5) Northwest Coast cultural element distribution; (6) Oregon Coast and Northern California (including material on the Coos, Alsea, Clckamas, Tolowa, Karuk, Chinook, Karok, and Yurok; (7) southern California (including material on the Diegueno, Akwa'ala, Yaqui, Papago, Luiseno); (8) southwest Yuman-Piman tribes; (9) miscellaneous North American ethnology; (10) Mesoamerican archeology; (11) Micronesia (including material on Kili, Likiep, Jaliut, Ebon, Angaur, and other islands); (12) unprocessed material
Biographical Note:
Chronology of the Life of Philip Drucker
January 13, 1911 -- Born in Chicago, Illinois
1927 -- Began degree program in Animal Husbandry at Colorado Agricultural College
1929 -- Changed to Liberal Arts program at Colorado College
Summer 1930 -- Field School in Archaeology with the University of New Mexico
1930 -- Began Anthropology Degree at the University of California, Berkeley
1932 -- A. B. Degree in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley
1933 -- Teaching Fellowship, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
1934-1935 -- Social Science Research (SSRC) pre-doctoral fellowship "Study of Nootkan Indians"
1936 -- Ethnographic Survey of Northwest Coast for the University of California Program in "Cultural Element Distribution" Ph. D. In Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
1938-1939 -- National Research Council (NRC) post-doctoral fellowship(Archaeological Survey of the Northwest Coast)
1940 -- Assistant Curator, United States National Museum (transferred to Bureau of American Ethnology)
1941-1942 -- Olmec Field Trips
1942 -- Commissioned Lt. (Jg) (Line) USNR; active duty
December 1945 -- Released from active duty Ethnologist, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution
October 1948 -- Ordered to active duty, LCdr, USNR. Staff Anthropologist, Staff of Deputy High Commissioner, Trust Territory Of the Pacific Islands (Micronesia)
January 1952 -- Released from active duty Anthropologist for BAE
December 1955 -- Resigned BAE
1955-1966 -- Married Rosario and had two children, Felipe and Rosario Self-employed, farming operation, Vera Cruz, Mexico
October 1966 -- Sold farm and moved to San Andes Tuxtla, Vera Cruz
Spring 1967 -- Visiting professor of Anthropology, University of Kentucky
Summer 1968 -- Visiting professor of Anthropology, University of Colorado
1968-1969 -- Visiting professor of Anthropology, University of Kentucky
1969-1978 -- Professor of Anthropology, University of Kentucky
June 1978 -- Professor Emeritus, University of Kentucky
1978-1979 -- Distinguished Visiting Professor, Baylor University
1979—? -- Senior Scientist (Ethnography), Kentucky Longevity Study Project, University of Kentucky
These materials were left by Drucker in his office at the Bureau of American Ethnology when he resigned in December, 1955, and were deposited in the Bureau of American Ethnology Archives ca. 1956 By M. W. Stirling, Chief, Bureau of American Ethnology.
Restrictions:
Manuscript 4516 is open for research.
Access to Manuscript 4516 requires an appointment.
The Destruction of California Indians a collection of documents from the period 1847 to 1865 in which are described some of the things that happened to some of the Indians of California edited by Robert F. Heizer ; introduction to the Bison book edition by Albert L. Hurtado
Author:
Heizer, Robert F (Robert Fleming) 1915-1979 Search this
A manual of archaeological field methods; prepared for use by the California Archaeological Survey of the Univ. of California and the Dept. of Anthropology at Berkeley
Author:
Heizer, Robert F (Robert Fleming) 1915-1979 Search this
University of California Archaeological Survey Search this
University of California, Berkeley Department of Anthropology Search this
