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John L. Champe, Anthropology Papers

Title: John L. Champe, Anthropology Papers

Creator: Champe, John L. (John Leland), 1895-

Dates: 1917-1977

Quantity: 5 boxes, (2 linear feet)

Collection Number: RG 12-05-11

Language: English

Restrictions: None

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Preferred Citation: John Champe, Anthropology Papers (RG 12-05-11). Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries. Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries.

Biography:

John Leland Champe was born in Elwood, Nebraska, on April 27, 1895 and graduated from high school in Friend, Nebraska in 1911. From 1917 to 1919 he was a member of the 36th Infantry of the U.S. Army. He rose to the rank of 1st Lieutenant but never actually served over seas in WWI. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Nebraska in 1921. On December 27, 1924, John Champe married Flavia Waters, a ballet teacher. Following an interest in anthropology he studied at Columbia University and received his Ph.D. in 1946.

In 1940, Champe became an instructor in anthropology within the Sociology Department at the University of Nebraska. John Champe became an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in 1947, an associate professor in 1950, and a full time professor in 1952. He was Chairman of the Department of Anthropology from 1953 to 1961. He reorganised the University's Nebraska State Archaeological Survey to the Lab of Anthropology, which he oversaw until his retirement. He provided temporary housing for the Missouri Valley Project of the Smithsonian River Survey (SRBS) in 1946, thus making a direct and strong connection between the University and the SRBS. He was the sole anthropology instructor at UNL until 1948. He retired as a Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Laboratory of Anthropology at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in 1963.

From 1954 to 1978, Champe acted as a consultant and expert witness on a number of court cases involving treaty disputes and land claims between various Native American tribes and the U.S. government.

John Leland Champe died of a heart attack on January 28, 1978.

Scope and Content:

The Champe papers include articles that he researched and published. There are additional articles that Champe brought together for his archaeological research. Additional components include correspondence, along with subject files that represent Champe's interests and his activities in professional organizations. Biographical information and photographs are located at the end of the materials.

Subjects:

Champe, John L. (John Leland), 1895-

Nebraska -- Antiquities

University of Nebraska--Lincoln. Department of Anthropology -- Faculty

Nebraska -- Archaeology

Series Description: Series 1: Correspondence

The correspondence includes those items sent to Champe. Some of the folders may include only a single item, or may include additional items, such as two publications by Fred Voget with his correspondence. The correspondence outlined as Flavia Champe's includes information on anthropologist Gene Weltfish.

Series 2: Indian Claims Litigation

This series includes correspondence and documents pertaining Champe's involvement in court cases associated with land claims. Among the tribes involved in these cases were the Yankton Sioux, the Omaha, and the Pawnee.

Series 3: Articles and Publications

This series includes typescripts, and an occasional manuscript copy, of articles that were written by Champe or by other authors, who are identified. Some of the unpublished typescripts listed may have been written by Champe, a note on each of these items outlines whether it is a possible article by Champe.

Series 4: Subject Files

The subject files includes notes and research items relating to each topic listed. Selected professional organizations and activities are represented.

Container List: Series 1: CorrespondenceBox 1. Folder 1. Correspondence, A, 1948-1960 Box 1. Folder 2. Correspondence, B, 1933-1976 Box 1. Folder 3. Correspondence, Brew, Jo, 1947-1977 Box 1. Folder 4. Correspondence, C, 1976 Box 1. Folder 5. Correspondence, D, 1939-1967 Box 1. Folder 6. Correspondence, E, 1967, 1970 Box 1. Folder 7. Correspondence, F, 1947-1972 Box 1. Folder 8. Correspondence, G, 1936-1972 Box 1. Folder 9. Correspondence, H, 1936-1972 Box 1. Folder 10. Correspondence, J, 1946-1972 Box 1. Folder 11. Correspondence, K, 1943-1968 Box 1. Folder 12. Correspondence, L, 1940-1971 Box 1. Folder 13. Correspondence, M, 1941-1977 Box 1. Folder 14. Correspondence, N, 1946-1975 Box 1. Folder 15. Correspondence, O, Box 1. Folder 16. Correspondence, P, 1947-1971 Box 1. Folder 17. Correspondence, R, 1941-1971 Box 1. Folder 18. Correspondence, Roberts, John (Jack), 1941-1953 Box 2. Folder 1. Correspondence, Roberts, John (Jack), 1954-1969 Box 2. Folder 2. Correspondence, S, 1940-1969 Box 2. Folder 3. Correspondence, Smith, Carlyle, 1940-1969 Box 2. Folder 4. Correspondence, Spaulding, Albert, 1941-1958 Box 2. Folder 5. Correspondence, T, 1951-1974 Box 2. Folder 6. Correspondence, U, 1958 Box 2. Folder 7. Correspondence, V, 1951-1974 Box 2. Folder 8. Correspondence, W, 1941-1976 Box 2. Folder 9. Correspondence, Flavia Champe Box 2. Folder 10. Correspondence, WPA, Anthropology Department Box 2. Folder 11. Correspondence, Mamie Meredith, Louise Pound, Dorothy Canfield Series : Indian Claims LitigationBox 2. Folder 12. Symposium, Indian Claims Litigation and Anthropology, Detroit, 1954 Box 2. Folder 13. Correspondence, Pawnee Indians vs. Oklahoma Box 2. Folder 14. Typescript, Pawnee Claims, "Garland Publishing Class Suits and the Court of Claims" Angelo A. Iadarola Box 2. Folder 15. Correspondence, contracts, vouchers, Three Affiliated Tribes Box 2. Folder 16. Correspondence, Wilkinson, Cragun & Barker, 1968-1974 Box 2. Folder 17. Correspondence, Weissbrodt Law Firm, Sealaska material, 1972-1975 Series : Articles and PublicationsBox 3. Folder 1. Articles, Champe Item 1. Champe, publication list Item 2. "Corpus, Locus, Tempus" Item 3. "Early Spanish Expeditions Northeast of New Mexico" Item 4. "Symposium on Missouri River Basin Archeology" Item 5. "Aksarben" Box 3. Folder 2. Sterns Creek Revisited Box 3. Folder 3. Differences Between Horse and Bison Box 3. Folder 4. Present Status of Physcial Anthropology in the Central Plains, 1945 Box 3. Folder 5. The Sweetwater Culture Complex Box 3. Folder 6. Published articles, Champe Box 3. Folder 7. Reprints, reviews, ChampeItem 1. "A is for Apple" Item 2. "White Cat Village" Item 3. Review, "Upper Missouri River Valley Aboriginal Culture in North Dakota, George F. Will and Thad C. Hecker" Item 4. Review, "Post-Kansas Geologic History of the Lower Platte Valley Area, Gilbert Carl Lueninghoener" Item 5. Review, "River Basin Surveys Papers, Numbers 9-14," 1960 Box 3. Folder 8. Typescript drafts, unpublished manuscripts, 1968-1974Item 1. "Anthropologist and the Historian" Item 2. "Ethnohistory in the Central Plains" Item 3. "Can Paraffin be Removed from Charcoal Samples" Item 4. "Anthropologist and the Indian Claims" Item 5. "Possibility of Personality in Prehistory Interpretations" Item 6. "Swanson Site, 39BR16, Brule County, South Dakota" Wesley R. Hurt, Jr. Item 7. "Proceedings of the Sixth Plains Archeaological Conference" edited by Jesse D. Jennings Item 8. "In Defense of David Ingram" Item 9. "Critique of the Nebraska and Upper Republican Aspects" Item 10. Untitled, on central plains taxonomy Item 11. "Early Spanish Expeditions Northeast of New Mexico" Item 12. "Symposium on Missouri River Basin Archeaology" Item 13. Taxonomy Box 3. Folder 9. ArticlesItem 1. "Certain Culture Correlations in Nebraska Archeology," Waldo R. Wedel Item 2. "Melvin Randolph Gilmore (1868-1940), Accomplished Ethnobotanist, Museologist, Plains Ethnologist," David L. Erickson Item 3. "Aboriginal and Historic Groups of the Ute Indians of Utah: An Analysis," Julian H. Steward Box 3. Folder 10. "Brandon Village Site and the Split Rock Creek Mounds" E.E. Meleen and W.R. Hurt, Jr., 1941 Box 3. Folder 11. "Burial Complex from the Oahe Sit, 39," E.E. Meleen and W.R. Hurt, Jr. Box 3. Folder 12. "Preliminary Report of the Mitchell Indian Village and Burial Mounds" E. E. Meleen, 1938 Box 3. Folder 13. "Spanish Horses among the Plains Tribes," D. E. Worcester Box 3. Folder 14. "Migrations of Siouan Tribes" J. Owen Dorsey, 1886 Box 3. Folder 15. "Source Material Available for the Study of the Physical Anthropology of the Central Plains" Robert B. Cumming, Jr. RESTRICTED Box 4. Folder 1. "Functional-Historical View of Plains Indians Warfare" Frank R. Secoy, 1950 Box 4. Folder 2. "Historiography, Ethnohistory, and Applied Anthropology," Nancy Oestreich Lurie Box 4. Folder 3. Pottery, Upper Missouri, Paul Tolstory, 1950 Box 4. Folder 4. "Oto Ethnohisory Before 1855", Arth, Hanson, & Wood, 1956 RESTRICTED Box 4. Folder 5. "Excavation of Earth-Lodge Ruins in Eastern Nebraska" Robert F. Gilder, Ales Hrdlicka, 1909 Box 4. Folder 6. "The Harvest" Murien Box 4. Folder 7. "Frontier Tall Talk, "W. F. Thompson Box 4. Folder 8. "Fred H. Sterns: A Pioneer in the Pursuit of Plains Prehistory" David M. Gradwohl, 1978 Box 4. Folder 9. "Symposium on River Valley Archeology," J. O. Brew Box 4. Folder 10. "Symposium on Salvage Archaeology" John M. Corbett, 1961 Box 4. Folder 11. "Intro to Diario de Pedro de Rivera," V. A. Robles Box 4. Folder 12. ArticlesItem 1. "New Notes on the Dakota Earth Lodge," James H. Howard Item 2. "An Omaha Medicine Packet," James H. Howard Item 3. "House Types of the Over Focus, South Dakota," Wesley R. Hurt, Jr Item 4. "Animal Bone and Plains Archeology," Donald H. Lehmer Item 5. "Pottery Types from the Dodd Site, Oahe Reservoir, South Dakota," Donald J. Lehmer Item 6. "A Folsom Fluted Point from Marshall County, Kansas," J. M. Shippee Item 7. "Archeological Work at the Kansas Monument Site" Carlyle S. Smith, 1949 Item 8. "Pottery Types from the Talking Crow Site, Fort Randall Reservoir, South Dakota," Carlyle S. Smith Item 9. "A Plainview Point found in Marshall County, Kansas," Ralph S. Solecki Item 10. "A Note on the McKean Lanceolate Point," Richard P. Wheeler Item 11. "Plains Ceramic Analysis: A Check-List of Features and Descriptive Terms," Richard P. Wheeler Item 12. "Suggestions on the Butchering Technique of the Inhabitants of the Dodd and Phillips Ranch Sites in the Oahe Reservoir Area," Theodore E. White Item 13. "Suggestions for Facilitating the Identification of Animal Bone from Archeological Sites," Theodore E. White Item 14. "The Square Earth Lodges of the Central Great Plains," W. Raymond Wood Box 4. Folder 13. ArticlesItem 1. "Comments on Hyde, 1050, Indians of the High Plains," A. H. Schroeder Item 2. "Linguistic Isomorphisms" Thomas Storer, 1952 Item 3. "The Physique of the Ancient Hawaiians" Vaughan MacCaughey, 1917 Series : Subject FilesBox 4. Folder 14. Programs, American Anthropology Association, 1949, 1951 Box 4. Folder 15. Notes, Aksarben Box 4. Folder 16. Notes, Ash Hollow Box 4. Folder 17. Charts, correspondence, Ash Hollow, 1946-1947, 1975 Box 4. Folder 18. Dismal River Aspect Box 4. Folder 19-20. Research, early maps and travels Box 5. Folder 1. Research, early maps and travels Box 5. Folder 2. Research, early Western travels Box 5. Folder 3. Indian trade silver Box 5. Folder 4. Keith Focus Box 5. Folder 5. La Roche Focus Box 5. Folder 6. Lower Loup Focus Box 5. Folder 7. Loup River Box 5. Folder 8. "Rev. Marquette," by F.H.Sterns Box 5. Folder 9. Missouri River Basin SurveysItem 1. "Harlan County Reservoir, Nebraska," 1947, Mar. Item 2. "Republican River Sub-basin, Nebraska, Kansas, & Colorado," 1947, July Box 5. Folder 10. Editorial Notes on the Mitchell & Brandon Sites (Wesley Hurt) Box 5. Folder 11. Correspondence, publications, National Order of Omphalopsychites Box 5. Folder 12. National Parks Service Contract, 1965 Box 5. Folder 13. Proceedings, Nebraska Academy of Sciences, 1946-1947 Box 5. Folder 14. Proceedings, Plains Conference for Archeology, 1949 Box 5. Folder 15. Redbird Focus Box 5. Folder 16. Valley Focus Box 5. Folder 17. Radio script, "Your University Speaks," 1946, undated Box 5. Folder 18. Oral history interview questions Box 5. Folder 19. Obituary, newspaper clippings, 1940-1964 Box 5. Folder 20. Photographs, Champe, family, friends Box 5. Folder 21. Finding aids, Nebraska State Historical Society
Related Material and Resources: Additional Champe materials are held at the Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, Nebraska.



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