Guide to the Frank H.H. Roberts, Jr., and Edwin N. Wilmsen's papers concerning the Lindenmeier Site, Larimer County, Colorado, 1934-1978

Scope and Contents

The collection contains material of both Roberts and Wilmsen and consists of 1. copies of Roberts' notes (including notes of John Cotter, 1935), 1934-1940; 2. subject file; 3. manuscripts; 4. data sheets; 5. illustrations; 6. computer tape of book; 7. computer printouts on artifacts; 8. illustrations and mounted photographs; 9. newspaper with article on Roberts, 1940; 10. photographs.

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 As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today.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.

Historical Note

From 1934 to 1940, Roberts worked at the Lindenmeier site, "the largest paleolithic site yet discovered in the Western Hemisphere," but he never got a chance to publish his material because of other duties. Shortly before he died, however, Roberts gave permission to Wilmsen, a student at the University of Arizona, to use Lindenmeier material for his disseration. Wilmsen was then a logical choice when a 1966 committee (consisting of Henry Bascom Collins, Clifford Evans, Waldo Rudolph Wedel, and Richard Benjamin Woodbury) sought someone to bring Roberts' materials into publishable form. Wilmsen, then an employee of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, was made a research associate of the Smithsonian and brought to Washington to work during 1967-1969. Wilmsen's manuscript was published under Roberts and his own name with the title Lindenmeier, 1934-1974: Concluding Report on Investigations, number 234 in the series Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, 1978.

Related Materials

The National Anthropological Archives holds MS 4851 Frank Harold Hanna Roberts, Jr., papers and photographs and MS 7076 Lindenmeier: Concluding Report on Investigations, 1934-1974.