Tozzer Library | |
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![]() Tozzer Library building exterior | |
Location | 21 Divinity Ave Cambridge, MA 02138, United States |
Type | Academic |
Established | 1868 |
Branch of | Harvard Library |
Collection | |
Items collected | Anthropology and Archaeology |
Access and use | |
Access requirements | Open to public |
Other information | |
Website | Tozzer Library |
Tozzer Library is Harvard Library's primary source for all subfields of anthropology and archaeology. With over 250,000 volumes, Tozzer is home to one of the largest and most comprehensive anthropology and archaeology collections worldwide. The anthropology collections cover a wide span of regions across the globe, while the archaeology collections also range worldwide but focus heavily on archaeology of the Americas (Widener Library maintains Harvard’s archaeology collections on Greece, Rome, and Egypt).
Tozzer Library is the oldest library in the United States specializing in all subfields of anthropology, ethnology, and archaeology. Originally founded as the library of Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the Library was first recognized as the Peabody Museum Library. The Museum was established in 1866 after George Peabody gifted $150,000 towards the acquisition and preservation of archaeological artifacts, as well as towards a physical building and professorship support. The Library was established a few years later, as the Museum’s collections rapidly expanded. The very first book (Kaladlit okalluktualliait: kalâdlisut kablunâtudlo) added to the Library was recorded in 1868 by Jeffries Wyman (1814-1874), natural scientist and Peabody Museum’s first curator. Since the Library was established as an appendage to the Peabody Museum, the book budget and collection grew relatively slowly in its early seminal years, and there were no full-time staff (Schmidt 1982 [1] ). Books purchases were rare, and scholars were accustomed to depending on the collections of other libraries’ within Harvard (Weeks 1987 [2] ). In 1880, the collection had reached approximately 1,000 volumes, most of which had been donated. Annual Reports during the first couple decades of the Library’s history indicate an average annual expenditure of roughly $50. Wyman and his secretary, Jane Smith, used index cards to alphabetically catalogue the small collection (Currier 1949 [3] ).
By the turn of the nineteenth century, the Peabody Museum’s growing collections and scholarly publications had broadened in scope within the field and opened up opportunities for exchanges and gifts. Harvard archaeologist Charles P. Bowditch (1842-1921) was the largest contributor to the Peabody Museum during this period. He initiated many expeditions to Central America to study the Maya civilization and donated a substantial number of materials to the Peabody Museum and Library (Tozzer 1921 [4] ). One notable example that Tozzer Library owns is the Bowditch-Gates Collection, which includes over 250 photographic reproductions of nearly every known unpublished manuscript and imprint in Mayan and Mexican languages. In addition to expeditions, Bowditch paved the way for a professorship, as well as continued research and publications under the Peabody Museum. In 1891, Frederic Ward Putnam (1839-1915), Peabody’s first professor, led the first course in archaeology and ethnography of the US (Currier 1949 [3] ).
In 1904, Harvard anthropology professor Roland B. Dixon (1875-1934) was appointed as the first librarian of the Peabody Museum Library (Schmidt 1982 [1] ). The administrative accomplishments of Dixon, along with the wider scope of research and expeditions and expanding student body, led to substantial growth of the Peabody Museum and Library during the early twentieth century. Archaeological research of Central America and the American Southwest continued, and scholars also expanded their focus to areas of Africa and Asia. Publications grew in numbers and scope, resulting in wider recognition of the Peabody Museum and Library as leading players in the field and opening additional opportunities for research exchanges. Dixon was able to secure increased funding for collection development, new shelving, and a team of staff. He also created an index as part of the Library’s card catalogue and developed a system of anthropological separate subject headings, boosting the Library’s reputation as a specialized academic library. Dixon’s card cataloguing and separate subject headings were used for many years, although they were revised and updated as anthropological terminology evolved throughout the years (Weeks 1987 [2] ).
Dixon served as Librarian until his death in 1934 and was succeeded by Alfred M. Tozzer (1877-1954), Hudson Professor of Archaeology of Harvard University (Tozzer & Kroeber 1936 [5] ). Tozzer continued in Dixon’s footsteps, growing the Library’s collections and using the cataloguing system that Dixon developed (Weeks 1987 [2] ). Earlier in his career, Tozzer participated in several excavations to study the Maya civilization. He was part of a Peabody Museum-funded excavation team that was credited with discovering the Holmul ruins in 1910 (Tozzer 1913 [6] ). Tozzer donated many of his field notes to the Library and contributed to cultivating its collections on Mesoamerica (Weeks 1987 [2] ).
After Tozzer’s retirement in 1947, Margaret Currier was appointed as the third Librarian but the first professional librarian to lead the Peabody Museum Library. By this time, the Library’s collections had exceeded its physical location within the Museum, and plans were soon drafted for a building of its own. With the help of donations from the Tozzer family, among others, the new building underwent construction in 1973. The collections were moved to the newly renovated building in 1974, and the Peabody Museum Library was subsequently renamed to Tozzer Library, in honor of Alfred Tozzer (Weeks 1987 [2] ).
Antonio Rodriguez-Buckingham served briefly as the fourth Librarian, from 1974-1977, and was then followed by Nancy J. Schmidt, professional librarian and educational anthropologist, from 1977 to 1984. From the conception of the Library until then, the Peabody Museum had been largely responsible for funding the Library’s collection development and staff appointments. In 1979, however, Tozzer Library transitioned from the property of the Museum to Harvard College Library (HCL). This reorganization aligned library services and practices with those of HCL at large (Weeks 1987 [2] ). Tozzer Library and the Peabody Museum remained closely connected and are still connected to this day.
In the early 1980s, Tozzer Library began entering bibliographic records into HOLLIS, Harvard’s online library catalog, and in 1986, the Library completed the transition from card catalog to HOLLIS. The separate subject cataloguing system, originally devised by Roland B. Dixon, was also switched over to the widely used Library of Congress Subject Headings. Although the Library of Congress Subject Headings are now used widely throughout the field of anthropology, Dixon’s original index is still a major resource for research in anthropology, as it represents over a century of publishing in anthropology and is still produced at Harvard. Because Dixon had begun indexing journals retrospectively, all the way to the conception of the field of anthropology, the Library’s index has and continues to be one of the most comprehensive indexes of anthropology (Steins 2005 [7] ). There is now an online database, Anthropological Literature (AL), for which users can explore citations to both print and digital journals.
The 1980s saw the turnover of a few different librarians: Sally Williams served as Acting Librarian from 1984-1985, followed by G. Edward Evans from 1985-1988, and then Lynne M. Schmelz, who was originally appointed in 1988. Schmelz served on and off through 2018, with the exceptions of Maija M. Lutz (Librarian from 1998-2004) and Janet L. Steins (Interim Librarian from 2009-2010). After Schmelz retired from Harvard in 2018, Susan L. Gilman became and is still the Librarian of Tozzer Library.
Some notable rare and special collections at Tozzer Library include, but are not limited to:
Tozzer Library also holds many personal libraries of notable scholars, including:
Housed in its own building since 1974, the Library is located at 21 Divinity Avenue in Cambridge, MA and is open to the public. More information about hours and services can be found on Tozzer Library’s homepage.
Alfred Louis Kroeber was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the first professor appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. He played an integral role in the early days of its Museum of Anthropology, where he served as director from 1909 through 1947. Kroeber provided detailed information about Ishi, the last surviving member of the Yahi people, whom he studied over a period of years. He was the father of the acclaimed novelist, poet, and writer of short stories Ursula K. Le Guin.
Alfred Percival Maudslay was a British colonial administrator and archaeologist. He pioneered the careful archaeological study of the Maya ruins and the results of his field work were presented in Biologia Centrali-Americana: Archaeology (1889–1902). The massive five volume set continues to serve as an important work of reference for the study of Maya culture. In 1908, he made a complete translation, with annotations, of Bernal Díaz del Castillo's Historia. His translation remains the standard English edition.
Ralph Linton was an American anthropologist of the mid-20th century, particularly remembered for his texts The Study of Man (1936) and The Tree of Culture (1955). One of Linton's major contributions to anthropology was defining a distinction between status and role.
Zelia Maria Magdalena Nuttall was an American archaeologist and anthropologist specialised in pre-Aztec Mexican cultures and pre-Columbian manuscripts. She discovered two forgotten manuscripts of this type in private collections, one of them being the Codex Zouche-Nuttall. She was one of the first to identify and recognise artefacts dating back to the pre-Aztec period.
Edward Winslow Gifford devoted his life to studying California Indian ethnography as a professor of anthropology and director of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Alfred Vincent Kidder was an American archaeologist considered the foremost of the southwestern United States and Mesoamerica during the first half of the 20th century. He saw a disciplined system of archaeological techniques as a means to extend the principles of anthropology into the prehistoric past and so was the originator of the first comprehensive, systematic approach to North American archaeology.
Henry Field was an American anthropologist and archaeologist.
Frederic Ward Putnam was an American anthropologist and biologist.
Alfred Marston Tozzer was an American anthropologist, archaeologist, linguist, and educator. His principal area of interest was Mesoamerican, especially Maya, studies. He was the husband of Margaret Castle Tozzer and father of figure skating champion Joan Tozzer.
The Codex Zouche-Nuttall or Codex Tonindeye is an accordion-folded pre-Columbian document of Mixtec pictography, now in the collections of the British Museum. It is one of about 16 manuscripts from Mexico that are entirely pre-Columbian in origin. The codex derives its name from Zelia Nuttall, who first published it in 1902, and Baroness Zouche, its donor.
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with particular focus on the ethnography and archaeology of the Americas. The museum is caretaker to over 1.2 million objects, some 900 feet (270 m) of documents, 2,000 maps and site plans, and approximately 500,000 photographs. The museum is located at Divinity Avenue on the Harvard University campus. The museum is one of the four Harvard Museums of Science and Culture open to the public.
Roland Burrage Dixon was an American anthropologist.
Sherwood Larned Washburn, nicknamed "Sherry", was an American physical anthropologist, and "a legend in the field." He was pioneer in the field of primatology, opening it to the study of primates in their natural habitats. His research and influence in the comparative analysis of primate behaviors to theories of human origins established a new course of study within the field of human evolution. He changed the field of anthropology with the publication of his paper The New Physical Anthropology, in 1951, in which he argued, convincingly, that human variation was continuous, and could not be broken up into discontinuous races.
Anthropological Literature (AL) is an online database of citations to journal articles and articles in edited volumes and symposia held by the Tozzer Library (previously the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology), the anthropology library at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Carl Eugen Guthe was an American academic and anthropologist, son of Karl Eugen Guthe, Professor of Physics and Dean of the Graduate Department of the University of Michigan, and Clara Belle née Ware of Grand Rapids, Mich. Guthe married Grace Ethel 12 September 1916 in Wayne, MI and they had three sons: Karl Frederick, Alfred Kidder, and James. Karl Frederick Guthe (1919–1994) was professor emeritus of biological sciences at the University of Michigan. Alfred Kidder Guthe (1920–1983) specialised in the archaeology of the US eastern seaboard, and became director of the Frank H. McClung museum at U Tennessee.
George Byron Gordon (1870–1927) was a Canadian-American archaeologist, who graduated from Harvard University in 1894. While studying at Harvard, he participated in excavations at Copan in Honduras under the direction of John G. Owens in 1891. Following Owens’ death in the field, Gordon took command of the Copan expeditions from 1894 to 1895 and in 1900–1901. After his time in Honduras, George Byron Gordon was hired by the University of Pennsylvania where he led two expeditions to Alaska in 1905 and 1907. He spent the remainder of his twenty-four year employment at the University of Pennsylvania collecting antiquities for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’s North American collections, and he remains one of the museum's largest contributors of North American artifacts.
The Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition occurred between 1886 and 1894 in the American Southwest. Sponsored by Mary Tileston Hemenway, a wealthy widow and philanthropist, the expedition was initially led by Frank Hamilton Cushing, who was replaced in 1889 by Jesse Walter Fewkes. It was considered to be a major scientific archaeological expedition, notable for the discovery of the prehistoric Hohokam culture.
Charles Pickering Bowditch was an American financier, archaeologist, cryptographer and linguistics scholar who specialized in Mayan epigraphy.
The George and Mary Foster Anthropology Library is one of the subject specialty libraries at University of California, Berkeley, and is one of only three anthropology libraries at American research universities. The library supports the University of California, Berkeley anthropology department.
Herbert Joseph Spinden (1879–1967) was an American anthropologist, archeologist and art historian who specialized in the study of Native American cultures of the US and Mesoamerica.