Finding aid to the William E. Winter Maya Research Papers MS.226
Holly Rose Larson
Library and Archives at the Autry
2012 August 31
210 South Victory Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502
rroom@theautry.org
Contributing Institution:
Library and Archives at the Autry
Title: William E. Winter Maya Research Papers
Creator:
Winter, William
Creator:
Thompson, J. Eric S. (John Eric Sidney)
Identifier/Call Number: MS.226
Physical Description:
2.5 Linear Feet
(4 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1935-circa 1961
Abstract: William Ernst Winter (1899-1966) was a San Jose businessman with a voracious interest in Maya culture and the Mayan calendar.
Winter studied Maya archaeology from at least 1932 until 1961, and created an entire library of hand-drawn glyphs. This collection
from 1935 until about 1961 contains all of Winter's research on Maya culture and archaeology, and includes notecards and paper
slips with hand-drawn symbols in black and colored pencils, dictionary notes, calendrical and planetary calculations, and
newspaper clippings.
Language of Material:
English
.
Container: 1-3
Physical processing completed by Anna Liza Posas, 2011. Finding aid completed by Holly Rose Larson, NHPRC Processing Archivist,
2012 August 31, made possible through grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions (NHPRC).
Microfilm addition made 2015 October 28 by Mallory Furnier.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Research Services and Archives. Permission for publication is
given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit
https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives and fill out the Researcher Application Form.
William E. Winter Maya Research Papers, 1935-circa 1961, Brau Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.226; [folder number]
[folder title][date].
Donation from Mrs. Katherine Winter, 1967 November 18.
This collection contains the research material and notes made by William E. Winter relating to Mayan hieroglyphs and the Mayan
calendar. Materials include notecards and paper slips with hand-drawn symbols in black and colored pencils, dictionary notes,
calendrical and planetary calculations, newspaper clippings, four rolls of microfilm, and one piece of correspondence from
Eric Thompson from 1959. Some files and binders are named Archaeology, Maya Dictionary, and Mayan Archaeology. The glyphs
drawn on index cards are in the categories Affixes, Heads, Main Signs, and Whole Glyphs. The earliest dated object is a newspaper
clipping from 1935, but majority of the collection is undated.
William Ernst Winter was born 1899 December 17 in Blue Rapids, Kansas. After high school, Winter attended United States Military
Academy at West Point, followed by a year as a U. S. Army Second Lieutenant of Infantry at Camp Meade, Maryland. Winter resigned
from the military in January 1924, moved to Wyoming, and then settled in Northern California by the end of the year. Winter
attended Stanford University from 1925-1926 as a journalism student, then pursued work as a statistician in the Bay Area.
He married Katherine Mary Steiner in 1932, and the two lived in San Jose until about 1961. Winter passed away in Palm Springs
in October of 1966.
Although Winter was not an archaeology student, he always had an interest in history. Winter co-authored two historical review
books in 1927 for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co., where he was a statistician and rate engineer. Winter's interest
in Maya glyphs and culture started at least in 1932, but possibly earlier. He amassed a collection of twenty books on Maya
archaeology, which were also donated to the Braun Research Library in 1967. Winter corresponded with English archaeologist
of Mesoamerica, Eric Thompson, who was working at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D. C. at the time. Winter's book
collection and meticulously-executed notes were frequently used and given special consideration by scholars visiting the Southwest
Museum's Braun Research Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Mayan languages -- Writing
Maya calendar
Drawings
Clippings
Mayas -- Social life and customs
Archaeology
Calendar -- Mathematics
Encyclopedias and dictionaries, Mayan
Mesoamerica