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Trudy Griffin-Pierce and Keith Pierce Papers 1938-2009(bulk 1980-2008)

MS 499


Collection Summary

Creator: Griffin-Pierce, Trudy, 1949-2009; Pierce, Kieth
Collection Name: Trudy Griffin-Pierce and Keith Pierce Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1938-2009
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1980-2008)
Physical Description:17 linear ft.
Abstract:This collection is comprised of the papers of anthropologist Trudy Griffin-Pierce and solar astronomer Keith Pierce. The bulk of the material relates to Trudy Griffin-Pierce’s career as an anthropologist at the University of Arizona as well as her personal journals. Items include writings, correspondence, academic material as well as some personal material. Also included are some papers of Keith Pierce, primarily copies of his autobiography.
Collection Number:MS 499
Repository: University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://www.library.arizona.edu/speccoll

Biographical Note

Trudy Griffin-Pierce was born December 27, 1949 in South Carolina to Ben and Trudy Griffin. Due to Ben Griffin’s career as an Air Force officer, she spent her childhood travelling including living in Florida, Hawaii, England and California. When she was 16 her mother died suddenly of an aneurysm which became a pivotal experience in her life. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida State University in printmaking and fine arts. While she was a student there she wrote to the Navajo Tribal Chairman asking if she could join a traditional Navajo family as a daughter. After spending time in Many Farms, Arizona with her Navajo family who she maintained a relationship with for the rest of her life, she returned to Florida to finish her degree. She returned to Arizona and enrolled at the University of Arizona as a graduate student in fine arts but switched to anthropology and earned a Master of Arts in museum studies in 1970. She worked as a curator at the Indian Pueblo Culture Center as well as at the Kitt Peak National Observatory museum. There she met Keith Pierce who she married in 1979. She returned to the University of Arizona and earned a doctorate in anthropology in 1987.

Dr. Griffin-Pierce specialized in medical anthropology and native cultures with projects. She was an adjunct lecturer at the University from 1988 to 2003, assistant professor of anthropology from 2003 to 2008 and gained tenure as an associate professor in 2008. She authored six books including Earth is my Mother, Sky is my Father: Space, Time and Astronomy in Navajo Sandpainting (1992), Native Americans: Enduring Culture and Traditions (1996), The Encyclopedia of Native America (1995), Native Peoples of the Southwest (2000) which won the Alice Logan Writing Award in 2000, Chiricahua Apache Enduring Power: Naiche’s Puberty Ceremony Paintings (2007) which won the Southern Anthropological Society’s James Mooney Award in 2008 and The Colombia Guide to American Indians of the Southwest (2010). Dr. Griffin-Pierce was also an artist and did much of the art work for her books herself. She died January 6, 2009.

Austin Keith Pierce was born on October 2, 1918 in Tacoma, Washington to Tracy and Lucy Pierce. He was introduced early to telescopes as his father, a mathematics professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, who built telescopes at home. He attended the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, from 1936 to 1938 but eventually moved to Berkeley where he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science degree in astronomy. He married Mildred Buell in 1941 and had three children, Barbara, John and Ross. During World War II he worked on uranium isotope separation at the E.O. Lawrence Radiation Laboratory calutron in Berkeley as well as in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He returned to Berkeley in 1945 and earned his doctorate in Astronomy in 1948 under Dr. C.D. Shane.

After graduation he was recruited by Leo Goldberg from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to be a research assistant, he then moved to the McMath-Hulbert Observatory near Pontiac, Michigan. Dr. McMath found funding to develop the world’s largest solar telescope at Kitt Peak which Dr. Pierce helped site and design. He was appointed Associate Director in charge of the Solar Division which he held for 16 years. Dr. Pierce greatly contributed to work on the solar spectrum, especially the ultraviolet and infrared frontiers and was also a pioneer in the use of infrared and photoelectric detectors to make accurate measurements. At the 30th anniversary of the dedication of the McMath Solar Telescope in 1992 it was renamed the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in honor of his contribution to the development of the facility. He died on March 11, 2005.


Scope and Content Note

Papers, 1938-2009 (1980-2008). This collection consists primarily of the papers of Trudy Griffin-Pierce relating to her professional career as an anthropologist as well as her journals spanning 40 years. The bulk of the material consists of her writings, academic material including material from her graduate education and teaching career as well as correspondence, personal material and her personal journals. Also included is material from solar astronomer Keith Pierce primarily drafts of his autobiography as well as astronomy notes.


Arrangement

This collection is organized into 7 series.
Series I: Personal Files, 1961-2008
Series II: Correspondence, 1938-2007
Series III: Writings, 1985-2009
Subseries 1: Manuscripts, 1985-2007
Subseries 2: Articles, 1988-1992
Subseries 3: Book Reviews, 1988-2009
Series IV: Academic Files, 1976-2008
Series V: Journals, 1967-2008
Series VI: Keith Pierce Files, 1964-1982
Series VII: Oversize, 1992-2008

Restrictions

Restrictions

Personal journal volumes 50-104 located in Series V Boxes 9-16 are restricted until 2029.

Copyright

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.


Access Terms

Personal Name(s)
Griffin-Pierce, Trudy, 1949-2009
Pierce, A. Keith.

Subject(s)
Astronomy.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New.
Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Navajo Indians.
University of Arizona.

Genre Form(s)
Autobiography.
Journals.
Manuscripts.


Administrative Information

Credit Line

Trudy Griffin-Pierce and Keith Pierce Papers (MS 499). Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries.


Container List

Series I: Personal Files, 1961-2008
This series contains personal material associated with Trudy Griffin-Pierce. It includes calendars, personal notebooks and ledgers, receipts and correspondence related to her artwork. This series is arranged alphabetically.
boxfolder
11-2 Artist work, 1978
13 Artist work, 1979-2006
14 Calendars, 1971-1989
15 Calendars, 1990-1999
16 Calendars, 2000-2009
17-11 Notes, 1978-2008, undated
112 Professional record, 1976, 1980
113 School assignments, 1961-1965
114 Thankfulness notebooks, 1997-2002
115 Thankfulness notebooks, 2005-2008
Series II: Correspondence, 1938-2007
This series contains personal and professional correspondence including some correspondence between Trudy Griffin-Pierce’s parents, Ben and Trudy. This series is arranged alphabetically by last name with items in folders arranged chronologically.
boxfolder
116 A-P, 1982-2007
boxfolder
21 Pierce, Ben and Trudy, 1944-1970
22 Kux, Claudia, 1988-1989
23 NHNZ, 2002
24 Pierce, Keith, 1938-1998, undated
25 Washburn, Dorothy, 1998-1999
Series III: Writings, 1985-2009
This series contains published and unpublished writings. It is divided into 3 subseries, manuscripts, articles, and book reviews. The material is arranged alphabetically by title.
Manuscripts, 1985-2007
This sub-series contains drafts of manuscripts.
boxfolder
26 The Artist as Anthropologist: Achieving a Deeper Understanding of the Creative Process in the Constitution of Navajo Sacred Sandpaintings, 1991
27-14 Ben and Trudy, 1995-2001
215 Beyond the Scalpel and the Silver Bear: Bridging the Chasm between Biomedical Research and “Biocolonialism”, undated
216 Black God: God of Fire, God of Starlight, 1995
217 Camel Dreaming, ca. 1992
218 Camels in the Outback, ca. 1992
219 Challenges to Developing Neuropsychological Instruments for Assessing Alzheimer’s Disease in American Indians and Alaska Natives, 2006-2007
220 Chiricahua Apache enduring Power: Naiche’s Puberty Ceremony Paintings, 1999-2007
boxfolder
31-2 Cognition and Social Memory: The Role of Cultural Models in the Formation of Social Memory in Chiricahua Apache Prisoner of War Paintings, 2005-2006
33 Colombia Guide to American Indians of the Southwest, 2004-2008
34 Consensus and Variation in Depiction and Interpretation of Constellations in Navajo Sandpaintings, 1987
35 The Continuous Renewal of Sacred Relations: Navajo Religion, 1996, 2000
36 Creating a Culturally Appropriate Smoking Cessation Program with American Indians and Alaska Natives, 2006
37-12 Earth is my Mother, Sky is my Father: Space, Time, and Astronomy in Navajo Sandpainting, 1985-1995
313 The Encyclopedia of Native America, 1992-1996
314 Hopi and Zuni Prayer Sticks: Magic, Symbolic Texts, Gifts, or Persons?, 1989
315 How Navajo Sandpaintings Accomplish the Work of Healing, undated
316 Learning to see what is Really There: Reconstructing Cultural Models with Navajo Chanters, undated
317-18 Microsoft Encarta articles, 2001-2002
319 Mirindi Mick, the Magical Camel, 1992
320 Native Peoples of the Southwest, 1999-2000
boxfolder
41 Navajo Ceremonial Sandpainting: Sacred, Living Entities, 1991
42 The Navajo Nation and the Unites States Today, 2006-2007
43 Navajo Sandpaintings of the Heavens, undated
44 Navajo Stars: Variation in one domain of Cultural Knowledge, 1987
45 North America essay, 2001
46 Photographs as Foci for Informant Interviews in Two Cultures, 1989
47 Recording and Using Sacred Knowledge: When an Anthropologist and Navajo People work together, 2007
48 The Sacred Sky: Native American Star Knowledge, undated
49-10 Time, Self and Society, 2000-2004
411 Treasure Mapping, 1991
Subseries: Articles, 1988-1992
This series contains published copes of articles.
boxfolder
412 The American Anthropological Association on Session “Visions of the Sky: Studies in North American Ethnoastronomy”, 1988
413 Cosmological Order as a Model for Navajo Philosophy, 1988
414 The Hooghan and the Stars, 1992
Subseries: Book Reviews, 1988-2009
This series contains published copies of book reviews,
boxfolder
415 Desert Indian Women: Stories and Dreams, 2002
416 Living Life’s Circle: Mescalero Apache Cosmovision, 1993-1998
417 The Multicultural Southwest: A Reader, 2002
418 Navajo Medicine Bundles or Jish, 1988
419 Surviving the Conquest: A History of the Yavapai Peoples, 2003
420 Voice in Clay: Pueblo Pottery from the Edna M. Kelly Collection, 2002
421 Weaving Women’s Lives: Three Generations in a Navajo Family, 2009
Series IV: Academic Files, 1976-2008
This series contains material related to Trudy Griffin-Pierce's academic career including graduate school notes, teaching material such as lecture notes as well as material from different projects and conferences.
boxfolder
422-24 Alzheimer’s Disease research, 2007-2008
425 Anthropology 206, 1994
426 Anthropology 206, 1998, 2001
427-28 Anthropology 206 Honors, 1994
429 Anthropology 413, 1980
430 Anthropology 476, 1981
431 Anthropology 478, 1983
boxfolder
51 Anthropology 483, 1982
52 Anthropology 600, 1980
53 Anthropology/History 148, 1995
54 Appointments, 1981-2008
55 Arizona Lecture Series, 2002
56 Art History 112, 1997
57 Art History 233, 1971
58 Clara Lee Tanner talk, 1991-1992
59 Colloquium in honor of Susan Phillips, 2004
510 Colorado River Indian Tribes lecture, undated
511 Dancing of the Dreaming symposium, 1994
512 Death and Dying conference session abstracts, undated
513 Departmental correspondence, 2006-2008
514 Dissertation defense notes, 1987
515 Dissertation notebooks, 1985-1986
516 Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles of Diabetic Patients through Native Practitioners, 2004
517 Film requests, 1996-2003
518 Indian Pueblo Culture Center, 1976
519-20 INDV 102, 2000-2002
521 INDV 102, 2008
522 Junior Faculty Professional Development leave, 2003-2007
523 ‘Learning to see what is Really There’ Making Neuropsychological Instruments Culturally Important, 2006
524 Miscellaneous class essays, 1981-1982
525 Miscellaneous class notes, 2003, 2008, undated
526 Mountain Lions and other animals, 1989-1992
527-28 Native American art lecture notes, undated
529 Navajo Code Talker documentary, 1994
530 Navajo medical lectures, 1993-1994
531 Navajo papers, 1981-1983
boxfolder
61 The Navajo Philosophy of Healing, undated
62 Navajo Philosophy of life program, 1999
63 Navajo Sandpaintings of the Heavens, 1987-1989
64-6 Notes, 1985-2008, undated
67 Preliminaries notebook, 1984
68-15 Sandpaintings, undated
boxfolder
71 Sandpaintings, undated
72 Statement of Accomplishment and Objectives on Research, Teaching, and Service/Outreach, 2007-2008
73 Student evaluations, undated
74 Tonga notebook, 1985, 1989
75-6 Tonga research, 1984-1989
77 Undergraduate class notes, undated
78 Visual Prayers: The Paintings and Drawings of Native American Prisoners of War slides, undated
79 Walking in Beauty: The Dennys, a Family of Navajo Chanters, 2007
Series V: Keith Pierce Files, 1964-1982
This series contains the material of Keith Pierce with drafts of his autobiography making up the majority of the material. Also included are his notes on astronomy and some memos from the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
boxfolder
710 Biographical data, undated
711-14 The Illustrated Autobiography of Austin Keith Pierce, undated
715 Kitt Peak National Observatory, 1964-1966
716 Miscellaneous, 1970, 1982, undated
717-18 Notes, undated
Series VI: Journals, 1967-2008
This series contains the personal journals of Trudy Griffin-Pierce. They detail her life from her time on the Navajo Reservation as an adopted daughter until her death in 2009. She includes all aspects of her life, personally and professionally. Volumes 1-2 are not included in this collection. Volumes 50-104 are restricted until 2029.
boxfolder
81 Volume 3, 1967-1968
82 Volume 4, 1968
83 Volume 5, 1968
84 Volume 6, 1968
85 Volume 7, 1968
86 Volume 8, 1968
87 Volume 9, 1968-1969
88 Volume 10, 1969
89 Volume 11, 1969
810 Volume 12, 1969
811 Volume 13, 1969
812 Volume 14, 1969
813 Volume 15, 1969-1970
814 Volume 16, 1970
815 Volume 17, 1970
816 Volume 18, 1970
817 Volume 19, 1970
818 Volume 20, 1970-1971
819 Volume 21, 1971
820 Volume 22, 1971
821 Volume 23, 1971-1972
822 Volume 24, 1972
823 Volume 25, 1972
824 Volume 26, 1972
825 Volume 27, 1972
826 Volume 28, 1972-1973
827 Volume 28a, 1973
828 Volume 29, 1973
829 Volume 30, 1973
830 Volume 31, 1973
831 Volume 32, 1973
832 Volume 33, 1973-1974
833 Volume 34, 1974
834 Volume 35, 1974
835 Volume 36, 1974
836 Volume 37, 1974
837 Volume 38, 1974
838 Volume 39, 1974-1975
839 Volume 40, 1975
boxfolder
91 Volume 41, 1975
92 Volume 42, 1975
93 Volume 43, 1975-1976
94 Volume 44, 1976
95 Volume 45, 1976
96 Volume 46, 1976
97 Volume 47, 1977
98 Volume 48, 1977
99 Volume 49, 1977-1978
910 Volume 50, 1978-1979
911 Volume 51, 1979-1980
912 Volume 52, 1980
913 Volume 53, 1980
914 Volume 54, 1981
915 Volume 55, 1981
916 Volume 56, undated
boxfolder
101 Volume 57, 1982-1983
102 Volume 58, 1983
103 Volume 59, 1984
104 Volume 60, 1984-1985
105 Volume 61, 1985-1986
106 Volume 62, 1986-1987
107 Volume 63, 1987-1988
108 Volume 64, 1988
boxfolder
111 Volume 65, 1988-1989
112 Volume 66, 1989-1990
113 Volume 67, 1990
114 Volume 68, 1990-1991
115 Volume 69, 1991
116 Volume 70, 1991
117 Volume 71, 1991
118 Volume 72, 1991-1992
boxfolder
121 Volume 73, 1992
122 Volume 74, 1992
123 Volume 75, 1992-1993
124 Volume 76, 1993
125 Volume 77, 1993
126 Volume 78, 1993-1994
127 Volume 79, 1994
boxfolder
131 Volume 80, 1994
132 Volume 81, 1995
133 Volume 82, 1995-1996
134 Volume 83, 1996
135 Volume 84, 1996-1997
136 Volume 85, 1997
137 Volume 86, 1997-1998
boxfolder
141 Volume 87, 1998-1999
142 Volume 88, 1999-2000
143 Volume 89, 2000-2001
144 Volume 90a, 2001
145 Volume 90, 2001
146 Volume 91, 2001-2002
147 Volume 92, 2002
148 Volume 93, 2003
boxfolder
151 Volume 94, 2003-2004
152 Volume 95, 2004-2005
153 Volume 96, 2005
154 Volume 97, 2005
155 Volume 98, 2005-2006
156 Volume 99, 2006
157 Volume 100, 2007
boxfolder
161 Volume 101, 2007-2008
162 Volume 102, 2008
163 Volume 103, 2008
164 Volume 104, 2008
Series VII: Oversize, 1994-2008
This series contains oversize calendars from the personal series.
boxfolder
171 Calendars, 1994-2008