Call Number:

0049

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives

Extent:

1.2 linear foot

Language:

English

Date:

1951-1961 (inclusive)

Creator:

Eyman, Frances, 1921-1949

Form:

Manuscripts for publication

Abstract:

A.(Alice) Frances Eyman, Assistant Curator and Keeper of the American section of the Penn Museum was educated at Oberlin College and the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) and did graduate work at Columbia and the University of New Mexico. While at the University of New Mexico, Eyman participated in archaeological field work with the Navajo. Eyman taught as a part of the education departments of both the American Museum of Natural History and the Penn Museum. Her special interest involved American Indian objects and how they fill the gap in the ethnology of the native people. The American Section records of A. Frances Eyman consist of three boxes of information. The collection is divided into three series; correspondence, notes and writings/manuscripts.

A.(Alice) Frances Eyman, Assistant Curator and Keeper of the American section of the Penn Museum was educated at Oberlin College and the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) and did graduate work at Columbia and the University of New Mexico. While at the University of New Mexico, Eyeman participated in archaeological field work with the Navajo. Eyman taught as a part of the education departments of both the American Museum of Natural History and the Penn Museum. While at the Penn Museum, Eyman became the assistant to the American section then moved to Keeper of the collection in the American Section. Her special interest involved American Indian objects and how they fill the gap in the ethnology of the native people.

Eyman was married to Dr. John Witthoft, Anthropologist on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. They shared an interest in native peoples and collaborated often. Wittoft studied the Eastern tribes including the Delaware and Cayuga and, in the West, the Havajo and Piute.

A life-long learner, Eyman wrote many articles on native Americans for Expedition Magazine. She held a particular interest in the material culture of the tribes as seen in her research and writings which included the clothing, objects and games of tribal life. Eyman worked slowly on a paper about the agriculture of the Hopi nation but sadly, did not complete it before her untimely death at age 48 from cardiovascular disease.

A.(Alice) Frances Eyman, Assistant Curator and Keeper of the American section of the Penn Museum was educated at Oberlin College and the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) and did graduate work at Columbia and the University of New Mexico. While at the University of New Mexico, Eyeman participated in archaeological field work with the Navajo. Eyman taught as a part of the education departments of both the American Museum of Natural History and the Penn Museum. While at the Penn Museum, Eyman became the assistant to the American section then moved to Keeper of the collection in the American Section. Her special interest involved American Indian objects and how they fill the gap in the ethnology of the native people.

The American Section records of A. Frances Eyman consist of three boxes of information divided into three series; correspondence, notes, and writings/manuscripts.

Correspondence makes up the bulk of the papers consisting of general correspondence and an alphabetical file. Following the correspondence is a folder containing Eyman's "Deskbook," a record of finances and research for the 1950s and 1960s.

Eyman's notes, mostly undated and unorganized were almost always related to North American Indians and their culture. Specific topics of her notes are: arrows and poison, the Indian game of lacrosse, ceremonies and clothing. There are also notes for the articles written for the Penn Museum magazine, Expedition.

The manuscript section consists of five folders; two representing papers by other archaeologists, M.D.Dilks and John Witthoft. A draft is present for Eyman's paper, "Lacrosse and the Cayuga Thunder Rite" for Expedition Magazine and the notes and proposal for a paper on the "Study of the Rio Grande and Other Textiles."