Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin, the namesake of the archives, was a pioneer in her field of ethnohistory and founded the American Society for Ethnohistory in 1954, according to an IU release.
Wheeler-Voegelin was also the first woman to receive a doctorate in anthropology from Yale University. She taught anthropology, history and folklore at IU from 1943 to 1969.
She became editor of the American Society for Enthnohistory journal, Ethnohistory, in 1954 and served in her role until 1964, according to the release.
The archives will be a collection of documents, scholarly papers and other materials that encompass roughly 350 years of history of American Indians in the Midwest.
It was announced that the archives would be named after Wheeler-Voegelin at the American Society of Ethnohistory’s annual meeting that concluded Oct. 12 in Indianapolis, which was co-hosted by IU, according to the release.
April Sievert is the director of the Glenn Black Laboratory and senior lecturer in the Department of Anthropology in the College of Arts and ?Sciences.
“We are pleased to recognize the remarkable contributions of Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin, who effectively established the field of ethnohistory 60 years ago at Indiana University,” Slievert said in the release. “The Great Lakes and Ohio Valley Ethnohistory Collection is an astonishing compilation that links historic and legal documents. We are working to improve access with electronic finding aids and a digitization initiative to make it easier for scholars and the public to use the materials.”
The Great Lakes and Ohio Valley Ethnohistory Collection is the centerpiece of the archives. The collection comprises materials collected by Wheeler-Voegelin and her colleagues in the 1950s, according to the University.
The collection was compiled to provide evidence for land claims lawsuits in the Indian Claims Commission and cover both the history and land use of American Indian tribes in the region from 1613 to the late 1900s.
The archives are housed in the James Kellar Library of the Glenn Black Laboratory.
Kathrine Schulze
