National Anthropological Archives

Guide to the Donald Jayne Lehmer papers, 1927-1977.

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.1979-48
Creators:
Lehmer, Donald Jayne, 1918-1975
Dates:
1927-1977
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.66 Linear feet
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
These papers reflect the professional life of Donald Jayne Lehmer (1918-1975), archaeologist and professor of anthropology. Included are correspondence, diaries, fieldnotes, project reports, applications, articles, contracts, reference materials, mimeographed hand-outs, maps, diagrams, photographs and one sound recording. The bulk of the material relates to Lehmer's early archaeological career and to his later research work while a professor at Dana College, Lincoln, Nebraska. There are very few documents in this collection which relate to the period between 1956 and 1964. The only expedition in which Lehmer participated and for which there are field notes in this collection is the 1940-1941 expedition to Mesilla Valley, New Mexico, sponsored by the Museum of New Mexico and the Arizona State Museum. References to Lehmer's other fieldwork are made in some of the correspondence in series 2, 3, and 5. The correspondence also contains numerous references to Lehmer's personal life.
Persons for whom there are considerable correspondence or who are represented by the written material include: Ernst V. Antevs; Bryant Bannister; Robert E. Bell; William E. Bittle; Elaine Bluhm; Wesley Bradfield; John Ortis Brew; Thomas N. Campbell; John L. Champe; Earle A. Clark; Joan Clark; Donald Collier; Paul L. Cooper; John M. Corbett; Harriet S. Cosgrove; Herbert W. Dick; Henry F. Dobyns; Bertha P. Dutton; Fred R. Eggan; Gordon F. Ekholm; Florence Hawley Ellis; John C. Ewers; Paul H. Ezell; Fred C. Fagergren; Malcolm F. Farmer; Geroge E. Fay; Franklin Fenega; Harold S. Gladwin; John M. Goggin; James B. Griffin; Donald D. Hartle; George B. Hartzog, Jr.; Emil W. Haury; John J. Hoffman; Earnest A. Hooton; Roman L. Hruska; Wesley R. Hurt; Jesse D. Jennings; Elden Johnson; Frederick Johnson; Richard B. Johnston; J. Charles Kelley; Alfred V. Kidder II; Marvin F. Kivett; Clyde Klukhohn; Bert Kraus; Alex D. Krieger; Toimi E. Kyllonen; Wilfred D. Logan; Boas Long; Charles C. Madsen; Oscar L. Mallory; Paul S. Martin; John Y. McCollister; William Mulloy; Welson Murdock; Douglas Osborne; Erik K. Reed; John B. Rinaldo; Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.; Hugo G. Rodeck; Edward B. Sayles; Anna O. Shepard; Allan H. Smith; Carlyle S. Smith; G. Hubert Smith; Albert C. Spaulding; James E. Sperry; Leslie Spier; Robert L. Stephenson; Frank H. Stewart; Stanley A. Stubbs; Floyd V. Studer; William C. Sturtevant; Paul Tolstoy; James B. Watson; Waldo R. Wedel; Denver Fred Wendorf, Jr.; H. D. Weston; Richard P. Wheeler; Theodore E. White; Arnold M. Withers; W. Raymond Wood; Richard Woodbury; A. M. Woolsey; H. Marie Wormington.
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.

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Chronology:
October 9, 1918
Born in Omaha, Nebraska
1935-1937
Undergraduate, University of New Mexico
1938-1939
Excavation supervisor, La Junta de los Rios Expedition at Presidio, Texas (sponsored by Sul Rose College, Museum of New Mexico, and Works Project Administration)
1940
B.A., University of Arizona
1940-1942
Research Archaeologist, Museum of New Mexico
1940 & 1941 (summers)
Director, Mesilla Valley Expedition, Las Cruces, New Mexico (sponsored by the Museum of New Mexico and the Arizona State Museum)
1941-1942
Assistant Curator for Branch Museums, Museum of New Mexico
1942-1946
Private U.S. Army
1946-1948
Graduate School, University of Chicago while also working for the Oriental Institute
1948
M.A., University of Chicago
Dig foreman, University of Arizona Point of Pines Field School, San Carlos, Arizona
The Jornada Branch of the Mogollon
1949
Director, Mexican (Sonora) Archaeological Expedition (Sponsored by the Chicago Natural History Museum, the University of Chicago, and the University of Arizona)
1949-1950
Graduate School, Harvard University
1950-1951
Archaeologist, Bureau of American Ethnology River Basin Surveys, Lincoln, Nebraska
1950
Dodd Site, Oahe Reservoir, South Dakota
1951
Tenkiller Reservoir, Oklahoma
1952-1953
Research Archaeologist, Laboratory of Anthropology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
1952
Field Director, University Archaeological Field School, Harlem Co., Nebraska
Ph.D., Harvard University
1953
Archaeologist, El Paso Natural Gas Company Pipeline Project
1953-1954
Visiting Professor of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle
1954
Married Evelyn Garton
Archeological Investigations in the Oahe Dam Area, South Dakota, 1950-51
1955
City Planner, Omaha, Nebraska
1955-1960
Lecturer in Anthropology and History, Strategic Air Command Headquarters and the University of Omaha, Nebraska
1961-1975
Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Dana College, Blair Nebraska
1964 (summer)
Research Archaeologist, State Historical Society of North Dakota
1969
Visiting Professor of Anthropology, University of Minnesota
1971
Introduction to Middle Missouri Archeology
June 5, 1975
Died, Blair, Nebraska (?)

Administration

Author
Nigel Elmore
Processing Information
Processed by Nigel Elmore, January 1980.
Encoded by Zac Greenfield, February 2018.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
The Donald J. Lehmer papers are open for research. Access to the Donald J. Lehmer papers requires an appointment.
Conditions Governing Use
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Preferred Citation
Donald Jayne Lehmer papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Related Materials
Additional material in the National Anthropological Archives that relates to Donald J. Lehmer can be found in the Records of the River Basin Surveys.

Keywords

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