Scope and Contents

This collection consists of the professional papers of Jerome Mintz, documenting his work as an anthropologist, filmmaker, and professor. The collection contains his correspondence, research files, writings, photographs, sound recordings, grant applications, teaching files, and floppy disks.

A significant portion of the collection pertains to his work in Spain, particularly his research on the anarchist uprising in Casas Viejas. There are also materials related to his ethnographic films and his collection of song lyrics from carnivals held in Cadiz Province. His research on Hasidic tales and social change is also represented in this collection as well as interviews from his Hopi fieldwork.

His course files as a professor at Indiana University also form a sizable portion of the collection. He taught a wide range of courses within the folklore, Jewish studies, and anthropology department.

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 As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today.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

Jerome R. Mintz was born on March 29, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York. He received an A.B. (1952) in Comparative Literature and an M.A. (1955) in English literature from Brooklyn College. In 1961, he earned his Ph.D. in Folklore at Indiana University.

As a doctoral student in 1959, he began studying New York's Hasidic community. He interviewed members of different Hasidic courts and collected and analyzed Hasidic tales. This research formed the basis of his dissertation, which was expanded and published as The Legends of the Hasidim: an Introduction to Hasidic Culture and Oral Tradition in the New World (1968). He also published Hasidic People: A Place in the New World (1992), which is based on his study of social change within the Hasidic community. He received critical acclaim for the book and was honored with the National Jewish Book Award.

Mintz also received international recognition for his work in Andalusia, Spain. In 1965 he began studying Spanish anarchism, focusing on the events surrounding the 1933 uprising in the small rural town of Casas Viejas that resulted in the massacre of innocent villagers. Despite working in Casas Viejas, now Benalup-Casas Viejas, during the reign of Francisco Franco, Mintz was able to gain the trust and friendship of his informants, which included survivors of the failed anarchist uprising. Although much had been written about the event, his book The Anarchists of Casas Viejas (1982) is considered the most comprehensive account and the first to incorporate the perspectives of the campesinos involved. He also published Carnival Song and Society: Gossip, Sexuality, and Creativity in Andalusia (1997) and produced six ethnographic films on tradition and change in rural Andalusia. His films The Shoemaker and Pepe's Family (1980) received first place awards in the Modern Language Association Film Festival, and Romería: Day of the Virgin (1986) was honored by the Society for Visual Anthropology. In 2013, the city council of Benalup-Casas Viejas chose to posthumously honor Mintz for his contributions by renaming the city's cultural center after him.

In addition to his research on the New York Hasidim and Andalusian campesinos, Mintz studied the oral traditions and history of the Hopi in Arizona. In 1962, in between his field work among the Hasidim, Mintz spent the summer on the Hopi reservation recording interviews with Hopi informants. He planned to analyze the ethnographic data, tales, and histories that he collected but ultimately did not publish on the subject.

Mintz spent most of his academic career at Indiana University. He began teaching at the university in 1962 and joined the anthropology faculty in 1966. He retired in 1995.

After a long battle with leukemia, Mintz passed away on November 22, 1997.

Sources Consulted

Bahloul, Joëlle. 1998. Jerome R. Mintz. Anthropology Newsletter, February.

Carnival NEH Grant, Series 4. Grants, Jerome R. Mintz Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

La casa de cultura de Benalup llevará el nombre de Jerome Mintz. Diario de Cadiz, February 2, 2013. http://www.diariodecadiz.es/article/ocio/1450991/la/casa/cultura/ benalup/llevara/nombre/jerome/mintz.html (accessed February 7, 2013).

Grants (APS and IU), Series 4. Grants, Jerome R. Mintz Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Related Materials

Copies of Mintz's Spanish films and associated photos and sound recordings are at the Human Studies Film Archives. His original Spanish and Hopi sound recordings are at the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University, Bloomington.