Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons (1875-1941) was a sociologist, anthropologist, and folklorist. By birth and marriage, Parsons belonged to the wealthy, social, and generally conservative circles of New York City. Nevertheless, the chose to study at newly founded Barnard College (B.A. 1896) and received a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University in 1899. In 1900 Elsie Clews married New York lawyer Herbert Parsons, who later became a Republican National Committeeman (1916-1920). They had six children, four of whom survived: Elsie ("Lissa") born in 1901, John Edward in 1903, Herbert in 1909, and Henry McIlvaine ("Mac") in 1911.

Parsons' early works were in the field of sociology and dealt primarily with gender roles, conventions of society, and the effect of society's pressures on the individual. Her works on these subjects include: The Family (1906), The Old-Fashioned Woman (1913), Fear and Conventionality (1914), Social Freedom (1915), and Social Rule (1916). She also wrote numerous newspaper and journal articles on feminism and pacifism.

After a trip to the American Southwest with her husband in 1910, Parsons' interests turned to anthropology. She began making field trips to Arizona and New Mexico. Under the influence of her friend Franz Boas, Parsons recorded in meticulous detail data on social organization, religious practices, and folklore of the Southwest Indians. Her publications from this period include: The Social Organization of the Tewa of New Mexico (1929), Hopi and Zuni Ceremonialism (1933), and Pueblo Indian Religion (1939). Later in her career, Parsons became interested in the Spanish influence on Indian cultures. She conducted research in Mexico and in Ecuador for her final ethnographies, Mitla: Town of the Souls (1936) and Peguche (1945).

Concurrently, Parsons conducted research in folklore, concentrating on folk tales of Afro-Americans and Caribbean peoples. She travelled to the Carolinas, Cape Verde Islands, and Caribbean islands to collect tales, and she frequently funded anthropology students to collect data. Publications in this area of interest include: Folk-Lore from the Cape Verde Islands (1923), Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, S.C. (1924), and Folk-Lore of the Antilles, French and English (3v., 1933-1943).

Elsie Clews Parsons held the office of President of the American Folklore Society (1918-1920), the American Ethnological Association (1923-1925), and the American Anthropological Association (1940-1941). She was the associate editor of the Journal of American Folklore from 1918 until her death. Parsons also gave much financial support to these groups and financed field trips by young scholars.

The Parsons Papers (1880-1980; bulk dates 1880-1942) contain correspondence, lectures, manuscripts of published and unpublished works, research notes and notebooks, and photographs which document the life of the anthropologist, Elsie Clews Parsons. While the bulk of the collection is comprised of material generated by Parsons during the course of her career, it includes some significant material collected by her, including Frank Hamilton Cushing's notebook of Zuni vocabulary, 1880, and valuable material collected about her.

Many letters, especially in Subcollection II - Series II (Personal Correspondence) are undated. In cases where the bulk of the correspondence has no dates, "original" order (i.e. the order in which it arrived at this repository) was maintained. In folders where only a few undated letters exist, these items are placed following the dated ones. Dates in brackets with question marks are, for the most part, Peter H. Hare's estimation. Other dates supplied are by the repository's archivists and are taken from the postmark on the accompanying envelope. Envelopes were disposed of, but in cases where they are kept, for dating or exhibition purposes, the envelopes are placed in front of the corresponding letter.

The Elsie Clews Parsons Papers was acquired as two separate groupings and remains organized in that way. Subcollection I (12 linear feet acquired in 1949), is tightly focused on Parsons' professional career, and includes correspondence, ca. 1921-1941 (ca. 1000 items), notebooks, papers, photographs, news clippings, etc., relating to the tales, proverbs, and folklore of the West Indies; Jamaican Negro proverbs and sayings collected by George R. Drinkwater in 1892; "Filipino Village Reminiscences" by Parsons; riddles, folk tales, poems from York Village, Maine; materials on birth control; "Indian trait survey" by Edward W. Gifford; the Hopi notebooks of Alexander M. Stephens; ethnography and folklore of Pueblo of the southwest U.S., Mitla in Oaxaca, Mexico, and Peguch, Ecuador; and unpublished manuscripts on sleep, a trip to Greece, and "The World Changes." The correspondence pertains primarily to her publications and those written by others, and with her efforts for the American Anthropological Association, and the American Folklore Society. Correspondents include: Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, Fay-Cooper Cole, Fred Eggan, Juan Gorrell, A. Irving Hallowell, Melville Herskovits, Alfred V. Kidder, Alfred L. Kroeber, Oliver La Farge, Robert H. Lowie, John E. Parsons, Robert Redfield, Gladys Reichard, Edward Sapir, Stith Thompson, and Leslie A. White.

There is a great deal of material concerning Parson's publications in anthropology and folklore, with related correspondence and reviews of her work, along with numerous manuscripts relating to her commitment to feminist causes and pacifism during World War I. The collection includes at least four unpublished manuscripts: "In the Southwest" (a complete travel guide), "Imaginary Mistress," "Journal of a Feminist," and "Journal of a Pacifist." There is an interesting reminiscence of Parsons by Ralph Beals.

The most recent materials in the Parsons Papers were assembled by Peter Hare who, with the family's consent, collected material on Parsons for his biography, A Woman's Quest for Science (1985).

In the following, notes have been added to clarify the relationships between Parsons and her correspondents. Such notes are usually intended to distinguish Elsie's husband Herbert from her son Herbert, and her father-in-law John E. Parsons, from her son John E. Parsons. Unless otherwise specified, the relationship given in the note (e.g. son) is that of the individual to Elsie Clews Parsons.

Native American Image Note : Over 2,000 ethnographic images: 800 black and white silver gelatin photographs, 900 ink and pencil sketches, 100 color illustrations, 200 watercolor paintings of Pueblo Indians, particularly the Hopi, Isleta, Taos, Tewa, and Zuni. All images by Elsie Parsons, except where noted, the collection is organized in two separate groupings with a date range of 1880-1942. All social and cultural aspects are depicted such as men weaving, women making pottery, dwellings, masks, tools, prayer sticks, arrows and rattles. Series VIII in Ms. Coll. 29 presents extensive images of over twenty types of dances with some action and some group portraits of Native Americans in native attire. Numbers 60-66 in 572 P25.1 contain social customs of the Quechua of Ecuador and stencils of masks of the Kwakiutl of British Columbia. Of particular and rare note, Number 25 in 572 P25.1, contains 189 original watercolor and ink sketches by Joe Bartolo Lente, a Tewa from the Isleta pueblo of New Mexico. In 1962, 140 of the paintings were published by the Bureau of American Ethnology in Isleta Paintings. Other watercolors by Albert Looking Elk and other unidentified artists depict ceremonies such as the deer, snake and rain dance. The APS American Indian Collections Guide by John Freeman and manuscript sketch file contain descriptions and itemized lists of the images in the collection. Note: Pueblo tribes are particularly sensitive to depiction of their culture so respectful use of the images is requested.

There are 42 maps in this collection, chiefly of Picuris Pueblo and of Hopi materials. Some of the maps are diagrams of dwellings and dance areas. Most of the maps have no title and were made in her notebooks. (Realms of Gold, 37).

The papers are divided into two subcollections, each containing multiple series:

Subcollection I was originally assigned call number 572 P35. That designation has been maintained to accomodate older references, but the entire collection now has the call number Ms. Coll. 29.

Restrictions

Some materials in this collection recorded in indigenous communities may contain information that is considered culturally sensitive to those communities. In accordance with the APS Protocols for the Treatment of Indigenous Materials, materials evaluated to be potentially culturally sensitive are restricted pending review from the community of origin. Materials not currently designated as potentially culturally sensitive may be designated as such when evaulated by an archivist, including in the course of a reference request.

Provenance

The materials included in Elsie Clews Parsons Papers Subcollection I (Call no. 572.P25) were donated to the American Philosophical Society by the Parsons family in 1949.

The materials in Elsie Clews Parsons Papers II were presented by Fanny Parsons Culleton (Mrs. John E. Parsons) in three accessions.

The latter accessions have been kept separate from the 1949 accession, which consists primarily of professional correspondence, field notes, and manuscripts.

1. Accesion no. 1985-185ms, 17 lin. feet presented by Mrs. John E. Parsons (Fanny Parsons Culleton), January 1985
2. Accesion no. 1988-1527ms, 9 lin. feet presented by Fanny Parsons Culleton, June 1988
3. Accesion no. 1988-1869ms, ca. 1 lin. foot) by Fanny Parsons Culleton, July 1988.

Five additional accessions were added to the Parsons Papers in 1996: 1996-601ms, 602ms (gift of Marnie Frost), 898ms, 1113ms, 1222ms. These are inventoried separately.

Preferred citation

Cite as: Elsie Clews Parsons Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Catalogued by Carla B. Zimmerman and Timothy T. Wilson, June 1992, revised October 1992, and updated for encoding by Alison Lewis, 2001.

Other finding aids

Most of the materials in Elsie Clews Parsons Papers I is indexed in the online Daythal Kendall Guide to Native American Collections at the American Philosophical Society. The second subcollection is not indexed.

Separated material

Reprints and books found in the collection have been removed for storage to the APS printed materials collection.

Related material

The papers of Parsons' mentor Franz Boas (B B61 and B B61p) include abundant correspondence with and about Parsons.

Bibliography

Conservation Note

During processing, the entire collection was refoldered and re-housed in acid-free folders and boxes. All metal fasteners were removed and replaced with plastic clips when necessary. White acid-free paper has been placed in folders permanently, to distinguish between clipped or stapled papers, and, temporarily, to keep acidic materials separate. Please do not remove these sheets. Many brittle and torn items have been photocopied onto Permalife bond paper. After this process, originals were discarded.

If a deteriorating item was considered valuable in its original state, a white acid-free marker was placed in its folder. A list of these manuscripts has been compiled by series and will be submitted for in-house conservation.

African American History Note

Of particular interest to scholars of African American history is Parson's research in folklore. Parson produced three major monographs on African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans: Folk-Lore from the Cape Verde Islands (1923), Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, S.C. (1924), and Folk-Lore of the Antilles, French and English (3 volumes, 1933-1943).

Materials which may be of interest in the collection include: correspondence (e.g. with Melville Herskovits, Anson Phelps Stokes, and Franz Boas); several manuscripts -- "Arabic elements in Negro Folk Tales," "Folklore from Georgia," 1934, "Negro Folklore" (5 folders), "Old signs in Alabama" and "Spirituals in Alabama," "Provenience of certain Negro folk-tales" (6 folders) in Series III; and research notes on African American folklore (Series IV).

• American Anthropological Association
• American Folklore Society
• University of California, Berkeley. Anthropology Department.

• Gelatin silver prints
• Illustrations.
• Nitrate negatives
• Sketches.
• Watercolors

• Balch, Ernesto
• Beals, Ralph L. (Ralph Leon), 1901-1985
• Benedict, Ruth, 1887-1948
• Boardman, Ruth
• Boas, Franz, 1858-1942
• Bourne, Randolph Silliman, 1886-1918
• Bovey, Charles, 1907-1978
• Brice, Kirkpatrick
• Bunzel, Ruth Leah, 1898-1990
• Camody, Mary
• Cole, Fay-Cooper, 1881-1961
• Day, Clarence
• Drinkwater, George R.
• Eastman, Max, 1883-1969
• Eggan, Fred, 1906-1991
• Fitz, Reginald
• Galton, Francis, Sir, 1822-1911
• Gifford, Edward W.
• Goddard, Pliny Earle, 1869-1928
• Goldenweiser, Alexander, 1880-1940
• Gorrell, Juan L.
• Hackett, Francis
• Hallowell, A. Irving (Alfred Irving), 1892-1974
• Hare, Peter
• Herskovits, Melville J. (Melville Jean), 1895-1963
• Hughes, Larry
• Johnson, Alvin
• Kidder, Alfred Vincent, 1885-1963
• Kroeber, A. L. (Alfred Louis), 1876-1960
• La Farge, G. Grant
• La Farge, Oliver, 1901-1963
• Law, George
• Lewis, Margaret
• Looking Elk, Albert
• Lowie, Robert Harry, 1883-1957
• Luhan, Mabel Dodge
• Opler, Morris Edward, 1907-1996
• Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews, 1875-1941
• Parsons, John E.
• Redfield, Robert, 1897-1958
• Reichard, Gladys Amanda, 1893-1955
• Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
• Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939
• Spier, Leslie
• Stephen, Alexander M.
• Taft, William Howard, 1857-193
• Thompson, Stith
• Titiev, Morris
• True, Clara
• White, Leslie A.
• Young, George

• Anthropology, ethnography, fieldwork
• Birth control.
• Blacks -- Jamaica -- Folklore
• Culture, community, organizations
• Feminism.
• Folklore
• Folklore -- Jamaica
• Greece -- Description and travel -- 20th century
• Hopi Indians
• Indians of Central America
• Indians of Mexico
• Indians of North America -- Arizona
• Indians of North America -- British Columbia
• Indians of North America -- New Mexico
• Indians of South America -- Ecuador
• Isleta Indians
• Kwakiutl Indians
• Pacificism
• Peace movements -- 20th century
• Phillipine Islands -- Description and travel -- 20th century
• Pueblo Indians
• Quechua Indians
• Southwest Indians
• Taos Indians
• Tewa Indians
• World War, 1914-1918
• Zuni Indians