Finding Aid to the Southwest Society Institutional Archives MS.2
Holly Rose Larson
Library and Archives at the Autry
2011
210 South Victory Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502
rroom@theautry.org
Contributing Institution:
Library and Archives at the Autry
Title: Southwest Society Institutional Archives
Creator:
Archaeological Institute of America. Southwest Society
Identifier/Call Number: MS.2
Physical Description:
12 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1903-1917
Abstract: The Southwest Society was an active branch of the Archaeological Institute of America from 1903-1917. The Society was founded
by Charles F. Lummis with the intent of eventually opening a museum of artifacts of the Southwest. Southwest Society Institutional
Archives includes administrative records, materials related to Southwest Society expeditions, and documentation regarding
the dispute between Frank M. Palmer and Charles Fletcher Lummis. This collection also includes all Southwest Society bulletins,
publication drafts, scrapbooks, correspondence, and ephemera. The dates of the material range from 1903-1917.
Language of Material:
English
.
- MS.2.1 Administrative records, 1903-1917
- MS.2.2 Bulletins, 1904-1911
- MS.2.3 Scrapbooks, 1903-1910
The Southwest Society was an active branch of the Archaeological Institute of America from 1903-1917. The Society was founded
by Charles F. Lummis with the intent of eventually opening a museum of artifacts of the Southwest. The Society succeeded in
this goal in 1907, when the Southwest Museum was founded. At that point, the mission of the Southwest Society was entirely
geared towards supporting the museum. The Society separated from the Archaeological Institute of America in 1914. Once the
Southwest Museum established a staff of its own, the Southwest Society was dissolved in 1917. Lummis was still adamant that
some sort of society needed to exist separate from the Museum, so he founded the Institute of the West in 1917, which then
dissolved in 1918.
Materials in this collection were deposited to the Southwest Museum Library, presently known as the Braun Research Library,
as institutional records. Deposit was made circa 1907.
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.
Southwest Society Institutional Archives, 1903-1917, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.2,[folder number][folder
title][date].
Archaeological Institute of America Records, The Archaeological Institute of America, Boston University, Boston, MA.
Charles F. Lummis papers. MS-R033. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Charles Fletcher Lummis Manuscript Collection, 1888-1928, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.1
Hector and Laurena Alliot Manuscript Collection, 1901-1925, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.216.
School for Advanced Research Archival Collections, Catherine McElvain Library, School for Advanced Rearch, Santa Fe, NM; AC32
Southwest Museum Institutional Archives, 1901-2007, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.3
This collection consists of material from 1903-1917, which also reflect the active years of the Southwest Society. Included
are all administrative records, which contain financial records, reports, meeting minutes, constitution, form letters, correspondence,
membership records, documentation of the merger into the Southwest Museum, two Southwest Society expeditions, and documentation
regarding the dispute between Frank M. Palmer and Charles Fletcher Lummis. This collection also includes all Southwest Society
bulletins, publication drafts, scrapbooks, correspondence, and ephemera.
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.
Rehousing by Betty Burnham and William Thrall. Finding aid completed by Holly Rose Larson, NHPRC Processing Archivist, 2011,
made possible through grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions (NHPRC).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Maps
Archaeological expeditions -- Arizona
Archaeological Institute of America. Southwest Society
Southwest Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Correspondence
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New
Scrapbooks
California, Southern -- History
Clippings
Receipts (financial records)
Lummis, Charles Fletcher
Palmer, Frank M.
box 1-22, 28, 29
Administrative Records MS.2.1 1884-1967
Physical Description: 10 Linear Feet
This series includes all business papers regarding the Southwest Society, including financial records, reports, meeting minutes,
constitution, form letters, correspondence, membership records, documentation of the merger into the Southwest Museum, notebooks
and maps of Southwest Society expeditions to Arizona in 1905 and 1906, and documentation regarding the dispute between Frank
M. Palmer and Charles Fletcher Lummis (boxes 21 and 22). The ledger in this series includes financial data from the Archaeological
Institute of America, Landmarks Club, Institute of the West, and several different accounts dealing with the Southwest Museum.
box 23-26
Bulletins MS.2.2 1904-1911
Physical Description: 1.6 Linear Feet
This series contains all published bulletins and drafts, as well as correspondence regarding the bulletins. Two volumes in
this series include Southwest Society bulletins bound together with issues of Out West, Landmarks Club bulletins, and Sequoya
League bulletins. The two bound volumes have obsolete call numbers on their spines, which should be disregarded in citation.
The Southwest Society published eight bulletins and was drafting a ninth when it was dissolved.
box 27
Scrapbooks MS.2.3 1903-1910
Physical Description: 1 Linear Feet
This series includes scrapbooks compiled by Lummis. Two are cloth-bound volumes filled with clippings, correspondence, and
other ephemera pasted in. One is a leather-bound volume titled "The Winning of the Southwest," containing correspondence and
documentation of the Society's success in securing permission to perform research in the American Indian reservations of the
Southwest.