Research

Object Details

Sponsor: The C. Earle Smith Jr. papers were processed with the assistance of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Vernon (Jim) Knight of the University of Alabama.

Collection Citation: C. Earle Smith Jr. papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Arrangement: This series is arranged in 4 sub-series: (2.1) Fieldwork, 1949-1950, 1960-1987; (2.2) Identifications, 1967-1991; (2.3) Grants, 1957-1958, 1969-1983; (2.4) Subject Files, 1942, 1954-1966, 1979-1980

Scope and Contents: A large portion of this series is comprised of correspondence, notes, data, writings, and photographs associated with Smith's fieldwork in Latin America with Richard MacNeish in Tehuacán Valley; Kent Flannery in Oaxaca Valley; Paul Tolstoy in the Basin of Mexico; Ronald Spores in Nochixtlan; Terence Grieder in La Galgada, Peru; Thomas Lynch in Callejón de Huaylas, Peru; Joyce Marcus in Cañeta Valley, Peru; Anna Roosevelt in the Middle Orinoco area of Venezuela; and Michael J. Snarkis in Costa Rica. There are also photographs and a typed report from his trip to Cuba as a student for a seminar on tropical plants. Materials pertaining to his excavation of Bat Cave consist of a few pages of notes and newspaper articles about his discovery of the earliest known remains of corn at the site. Other materials in this series are correspondence regarding his identifications of specimens for colleagues, grant applications and paperwork to fund his research, and subject files. For more research related materials, see also Series 1: Correspondence, Series 3: Writings, and Series 8: Photographs.

Collection Restrictions: Grant proposal reviews in Series 4: Professional Activities and materials with student grades in Series 5: University of Alabama have been restricted. Access to the C. Earle Smith Jr. papers requires an appointment.