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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
box
folder
4
22-24
Alzheimer’s Disease research, 2007-2008
4
25
Anthropology 206, 1994
4
26
Anthropology 206, 1998, 2001
4
27-28
Anthropology 206 Honors, 1994
4
29
Anthropology 413, 1980
4
30
Anthropology 476, 1981
4
31
Anthropology 478, 1983
box
folder
5
1
Anthropology 483, 1982
5
2
Anthropology 600, 1980
5
3
Anthropology/History 148, 1995
5
4
Appointments, 1981-2008
5
5
Arizona Lecture Series, 2002
5
6
Art History 112, 1997
5
7
Art History 233, 1971
5
8
Clara Lee Tanner talk, 1991-1992
5
9
Colloquium in honor of Susan Phillips, 2004
5
10
Colorado River Indian Tribes lecture, undated
5
11
Dancing of the Dreaming symposium, 1994
5
12
Death and Dying conference session abstracts, undated
5
13
Departmental correspondence, 2006-2008
5
14
Dissertation defense notes, 1987
5
15
Dissertation notebooks, 1985-1986
5
16
Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles of Diabetic Patients through Native Practitioners, 2004
5
17
Film requests, 1996-2003
5
18
Indian Pueblo Culture Center, 1976
5
19-20
INDV 102, 2000-2002
5
21
INDV 102, 2008
5
22
Junior Faculty Professional Development leave, 2003-2007
5
23
‘Learning to see what is Really There’ Making Neuropsychological Instruments Culturally Important, 2006
5
24
Miscellaneous class essays, 1981-1982
5
25
Miscellaneous class notes, 2003, 2008, undated
5
26
Mountain Lions and other animals, 1989-1992
5
27-28
Native American art lecture notes, undated
5
29
Navajo Code Talker documentary, 1994
5
30
Navajo medical lectures, 1993-1994
5
31
Navajo papers, 1981-1983
box
folder
6
1
The Navajo Philosophy of Healing, undated
6
2
Navajo Philosophy of life program, 1999
6
3
Navajo Sandpaintings of the Heavens, 1987-1989
6
4-6
Notes, 1985-2008, undated
6
7
Preliminaries notebook, 1984
6
8-15
Sandpaintings, undated
box
folder
7
1
Sandpaintings, undated
7
2
Statement of Accomplishment and Objectives on Research, Teaching, and Service/Outreach, 2007-2008
7
3
Student evaluations, undated
7
4
Tonga notebook, 1985, 1989
7
5-6
Tonga research, 1984-1989
7
7
Undergraduate class notes, undated
7
8
Visual Prayers: The Paintings and Drawings of Native American Prisoners of War slides, undated
7
9
Walking in Beauty: The Dennys, a Family of Navajo Chanters, 2007
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.
box
folder
7
10
Biographical data, undated
7
11-14
The Illustrated Autobiography of Austin Keith Pierce, undated
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.