Guide to the Shirley S. Gorenstein papers

Scope and Contents

The Shirley S. Gorenstein papers document Gorenstein's archaeological research in Mexico, mainly concerning the culture areas of Tepexi el Viejo, Acámbaro, and the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin. The collection includes research notes, artifact indexes, field notebooks, site surveys, reports, grant materials, photographs, maps, and a small amount of correspondence.

This collection mainly comprises of a large amount of material documenting Gorenstein's fieldwork. This includes many field notebooks containing detailed descriptions of archaeological sites, artifacts collected, and daily operations. These journals were created by Gorenstein and her students. Additionally, there are several site surveys and hand drawn site maps. There are also a large number of photographs documenting Tepexi el Viejo, Acámbaro, and the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, including photographs of excavations, artifacts, surrounding landscapes, and aerial images.

Additionally, there is a substantial amount of manuscript material from Gorenstein's publications. This mainly consists of her work related to two of her books, Acambaro: Frontier Settlement on the Tarascan-Aztec Border and The Tarascan Civilization: A Late Prehispanic Cultural System.

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 As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today.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

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in 5 series: 1) Research notes and data, 1965-1981, undated; 2) Professional material, 1964-1981, undated; 3) Publications and manuscripts, 1965-1985, undated; 4) Photographs, 1962-1981, undated; and 5) Maps, 1959-1981, undated.

Biographical Note

Shirley Slotkin Gorenstein (1928-2020) was a pioneering Mesoamerican archaeologist who carried out major projects in the Mexican states of Puebla, Guanajuato, and Michoacán.

Gorenstein began her anthropological field work at the age of 17, studying the Mohawk ironworkers on the Kahnawake Reserve in Canada. She then earned her Bachelor's in anthropology from Queens College in 1948. Gorenstein received her Master's and PhD from Columbia University in 1953 and 1963, respectively. Her thesis and dissertation were based on library studies on the development of Andean and Mesoamerican states from the perspective of their political and military organization. Gorenstein stayed on as faculty in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia and received funding from the National Science Foundation in 1965 for her first archaeological field project in Mexico which studied the Aztec fortress at Tepexi el Viejo in Puebla. In 1971, she focused her studies on the Tarascan side of the Aztec-Tarascan military frontier, seeking historically documented fortified sites along the northern frontier of the Aztec empire. In 1972, she began excavations for this research on sites around Acámbaro in Guanajuato. From 1976 to 1981, Gorenstein directed a major project studying the development of the Tarascan State in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán. This project was female led, in collaboration with Helen Pollard. Gorenstein also served as the chairperson of the American Anthropological Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology (1971-1972), was an executive board member of the American Anthropological Association (1978-1979), and was a member of the Nominating Committee of Section H (Anthropology) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1980-1981).

After a decade of teaching at Columbia, Gorenstein left to create the public archaeology program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), becoming a Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, and later was a founding member of RPI's Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) (1982). Gorenstein was the Department Chair for STS from 1983 to 1995. Additionally, in 1992, she cohosted a conference in Phoenix, Arizona, funded by the WennerGren Foundation which resulted in the 2000 publication Greater Mesoamerica: The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico. Gorenstein wrote and edited numerous books and articles throughout her career, many of which have become classics in Mesoamerican archaeology.

Shirley S. Gorenstein passed away at the age of 92 on September 14, 2020.