Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin papers
Collection
Identifier: Ayer-Modern-MS-Wheeler-Voegelin
Scope and Content of the Collection
Indian Claims Commission documents and research materials of anthropologist Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin, 1945-1979.
Includes Indian Claims Commission case documents, research reports, docket materials, and case exhibits focusing on Great Lakes, Upper Mississippi Basin, and Pacific States tribes; notes from research projects; field notebooks from work with the Blackfoot, Delaware, Klamath-Modoc, Potawatomi, Shawnee, Tübatulabal, and Washita; survey and element lists for projects with the Shawnee and Ojibwa; drafts of chapters for an unfinished book on the Shawnee with notes; and photographs for Shawnee and Tübatulabal projects. There are also student papers, personal and business correspondence, personal photographs, and miscellaneous patterns of cultural items.
Includes Indian Claims Commission case documents, research reports, docket materials, and case exhibits focusing on Great Lakes, Upper Mississippi Basin, and Pacific States tribes; notes from research projects; field notebooks from work with the Blackfoot, Delaware, Klamath-Modoc, Potawatomi, Shawnee, Tübatulabal, and Washita; survey and element lists for projects with the Shawnee and Ojibwa; drafts of chapters for an unfinished book on the Shawnee with notes; and photographs for Shawnee and Tübatulabal projects. There are also student papers, personal and business correspondence, personal photographs, and miscellaneous patterns of cultural items.
Dates
- 1934-1985
Creator
- Wheeler-Voegelin, Erminie, 1903-1988 (Person)
Language
Materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Digital Access
The digitized files of the Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin papers are restricted to in library use or family use, as they contain personal identifying information.
Conditions Governing Access
The Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin papers are open for research; they are available one box at a time in the Special Collections reading room (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Literary rights of other authors, including copyright, may belong to them or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collections, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
Biography of Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
American anthropologist, ethnohistorian, and folklorist; founder of the American Society for Ethnohistory, editor of Ethnohistory (1954-1964), and director of the Great Lakes - Ohio Valley Research Project at Indiana University from 1956 to 1969.
Erminie Wheeler was born in Berkeley, California, on April 2, 1903. She attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she won recognition for poetry, and graduated in 1923. She began graduate work in anthropology at the University of California, and received a master's degree in 1930. She married fellow graduate student Charles F. (Carl) Voegelin. For the next two decades they worked on parallel projects, with Erminie handling the ethnological data collection and Carl conducting linguistic fieldwork. In 1939, Erminie was the first woman to receive a doctoral degree in anthropology from Yale. Her studies were supported through the Indiana Fellowship, founded by Eli Lilly, at Yale.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Wheeler-Voegelin conducted fieldwork in a wide variety of North American locations, including California, Oklahoma, Alberta, Michigan, and Ontario. She taught at Indiana University, served as editor on various journals, and was published widely in the areas of anthropology, folklore, and ethnohistory. She and her husband both received Guggenheim Fellowships in 1947. She is best known for founding the American Society of Ethnohistory and for her work as director of the Great Lakes-Ohio Valley Research Project at Indiana University from 1956 to 1969. She died on July 10, 1988.
Erminie Wheeler was born in Berkeley, California, on April 2, 1903. She attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she won recognition for poetry, and graduated in 1923. She began graduate work in anthropology at the University of California, and received a master's degree in 1930. She married fellow graduate student Charles F. (Carl) Voegelin. For the next two decades they worked on parallel projects, with Erminie handling the ethnological data collection and Carl conducting linguistic fieldwork. In 1939, Erminie was the first woman to receive a doctoral degree in anthropology from Yale. Her studies were supported through the Indiana Fellowship, founded by Eli Lilly, at Yale.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Wheeler-Voegelin conducted fieldwork in a wide variety of North American locations, including California, Oklahoma, Alberta, Michigan, and Ontario. She taught at Indiana University, served as editor on various journals, and was published widely in the areas of anthropology, folklore, and ethnohistory. She and her husband both received Guggenheim Fellowships in 1947. She is best known for founding the American Society of Ethnohistory and for her work as director of the Great Lakes-Ohio Valley Research Project at Indiana University from 1956 to 1969. She died on July 10, 1988.
Extent
24.6 Linear Feet (45 boxes, 12 notecard boxes, and 2 oversize boxes)
Abstract
Notes and draft materials for writings on Native Americans, and Indian Claims Commission case documents and research reports, created by anthropologist Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin. Also field notebooks, photographs and correspondence.
Organization
Materials are organized into six series:
- Series 1: Indian Claims Commission Case Documents, 1953-1969
- Boxes 1-28
- Series 2: Research Materials and Writings, 1935-1974
- Boxes 29-41
- Series 3: Miscellaneous, 1940-1983
- Boxes 42-43
- Series 4: Photographs, 1934-1983
- Box 44
- Series 5: Notecards, 1953-1985
- Boxes 45-56
- Series 6: Oversize, 1937-1969
- Boxes 57-59
Collection Stack Location
3a 57 3-4
Provenance
Gift of Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin, November 12, 1985.
Separated Materials
The following materials were removed from the collection for individual cataloging:
Map of North American Indian languages compiled and drawn by C. F. Voegelin and E. W. Voegelin, 1941. Map showing Indian reservations in the United States, U. S. Department of the Interior, 1941.
Processed by
Shannon Thompson, 2003.
- Baerreis, David A., 1916-1989
- Barney, Ralph A.
- Berthrong, Donald J.
- Blasingham, Emily J.
- Cherokee Indians
- Clark, Ramsey, 1927-2021
- Dakota Indians
- Delaware Indians
- Dundes, Alan
- Eggan, Fred, 1906-1991
- Fox Indians
- Hickerson, Harold, 1923-
- Indiana University, Bloomington. Great Lakes-Ohio Valley Research Project
- Indians of North America -- Claims
- Indians of North America -- Government relations
- Indians of North America -- Land tenure
- Iroquois Indians
- Jones, J. A. (John Alan), 1923-
- Kaskaskia Indians
- Kent, Donald H.
- Kickapoo Indians
- Klamath Indians
- Legal documents -- United States -- 1951-2000
- Libby, Dorothy R.
- Manuscripts, American
- Maxwell, Thomas J.
- Miami Indians
- Modoc Indians
- Morton, Perry W., 1908-1967
- Nez Percé Indians -- Photographs
- Ojibwa Indians
- Ottawa Indians
- Photographs -- California
- Photographs -- Iowa
- Photographs -- Oklahoma
- Piankashaw Indians
- Potawatomi Indians
- Sauk Indians
- Seneca Indians
- Shawnee Indians
- Shawnee Indians -- Photographs
- Shoshoni Indians
- Stout, David B. (David Bond), 1913-
- Tubatulabal Indians
- Tubatulabal Indians -- Photographs
- United States. Indian Claims Commission
- Voegelin family
- Voegelin, C. F. (Charles Frederick), 1906-1986
- Wea Indians
- Wheeler-Voegelin, Erminie, 1903-1988
- Winnebago Indians
- Women ethnologists -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
- Women folklorists -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
- Wyandot Indians
- Wycoco-Moore, Remedios
- Yakama Indians
Creator
- Wheeler-Voegelin, Erminie, 1903-1988 (Person)
- Title
- Inventory of the Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin papers, 1934-1985
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Shannon Thompson
- Date
- 2003
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts Repository
Contact:
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512
reference@newberry.org
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512
reference@newberry.org