Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Bill Sonin Papers,
- Dates:
- 1983-1993
- Creators:
- Sonin, Bill, 1939-1993
- Abstract:
- Research files of the Bay Area rock art archive, consisting of site reports, research notes, and other documentation assembled by Sonin and relating to rock art in California and other western states, including Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, and Baja California.
- Language:
- English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Bill Sonin Papers, BANC MSS 97/52 cp, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Bill Sonin Papers contain correspondence, notes, research papers, photographs, and articles, with the bulk of the collection consisting of his files of rock art site information for each county in the state of California. In addition to the extensive information available on sites, the collection also contains separate files on other topics such as cupules, baby rocks, PCN's western message sites, ground figures, the Southwest, and questions he wanted to pose to researchers, many with personal notations. Also included are Sonin's note books, which were filled with site reports, research notes, and cut-and-pasted documentation of all references he gathered for each trinomial.
The collection is arranged as received, divided into three series: California Sites by Counties, Western Message Petroglyphs, and Miscellany. Files relating to California sites are arranged alphabetically by county, and then numerically by site, with unidentified sites, general notes, and related information following the numbered sites in each county. Files relating to Western message petroglyphs are arranged geographically, and includes sites in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and New Mexico.
- Biographical / historical:
-
In November 1993, Bill Sonin of Berkeley, Calif. passed away, and unknown to his fellow avocational and professional rock art researchers, left an extraordinary corpus of material relating to the rock art of California and the surrounding area. A Volkswagon mechanic and computer hardware repairman, he became fascinated with rock art studies during the last ten years of his life.
Sonin began compiling this list as an update on Heizer and Clewlow, but the number of new sites exceeded their original 400. In 1995, the computerized document was published, just as he had left it on his computer, as California Rock Art -- An Annotated Site Inventory and Bibliography. It was edited by Leigh Marymor and published as Occasional Papers, Volume 17, of the Rock Art Archive of the Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area Rock Art Research Association. The Bay Area Rock Art Research Association was asked to catalog his library and research papers and to procure an archival home for the collection. Only as BARARA members reviewed the plethora of correspondence, notes, research papers-in-progress, photographs and articles, plus over 57 assorted binders of rock art site information for each county in the state did the magnitude of his work begin to be revealed. A search of his computer files revealed a computerized database of a 1300 page annotated site inventory and bibliography of rock art sites in California. Sonin's note books were filled with site reports, research notes, and cut-and-pasted documentation of all references he was able to glean for each trinomial.
In addition to the extensive information available on sites, the collection also contains separate files on other topics such as cupules, baby rocks, PCN's western message sites, ground figures, the Southwest, and questions he wanted to pose to researchers and many personal notations.
[extracted from Gray Literature Roundtable, presented at the 1997 SCA meeting in Rohnert Park, Calif., by Donna L. Gillette]
- Custodial history:
-
The Bill Sonin Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Sylvia R. Sonin, via Dr. Paul Freeman, Leigh Marymor, and associates of the Bay Area Rock Art Research Association on May 7, 1996.
- Physical location:
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
- Physical description:
- Number of containers: 34 boxes, 4 oversize folders Linear feet: 43.0
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- © 2002
- Date Encoded:
- Machine-readable finding aid derived from Wordperfect. Date of source: December 2001.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research, with the following exception:
Photograph negatives and original computer disks in Box 34 are restricted: use only by permission of the appropriate curator. Inquiries concerning these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the appropriate curator or the Head of Public Services for forwarding. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Bill Sonin Papers, BANC MSS 97/52 cp, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481