Marianne L. Stoller Collection
PU-Mu. 1181
- Creator(s)
- Date(s)
-
[inclusive] 1951-1953
- Call Number
- PU-Mu. 1181
- Physical Description
- Extent: 0.5 Linear Feet
- Language(s)
-
eng
In 1951-1953, Marianne L. Stoller (1929-2015) traveled to New Zealand, Fiji, and Tahiti to study contemporary Polynesian arts and crafts. She then enrolled as a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1954 to 1956 she was also an Assistant in the American Section of the Penn Museum. She joined the Anthropology Department of Colorado College in 1969, and later changed her field of study to the southwestern United States. Most of Stoller's records are at Colorado College. The records in the Penn Museum Archives consist of notes on carvers, 35mm color slides, and three reels of motion picture film footage from her time in the Pacific.
Marianne L. Stoller was born in 1929 in Alamosa, CO and died in 2015. Stoller started her college career at Adams State College where she earned her B.A. in Art in 1949. Stoller studied for her M.A. at the University of Denver, where she became a Fulbright Scholar from 1951-1953. The scholarship allowed her to first travel to New Zealand to study at Auckland University College to research Māori art and crafts. Then, Stoller went to Tahiti from July to December of 1952 as a member of the Peabody Museum of Salem Expedition. She studied contemporary Tahitian arts and crafts. Stoller graduated from the University with a master's degree in anthropology in 1955.
Stoller applied to the University of Pennsylvania in 1953 to continue specializing in Polynesian arts and culture. From 1954 to 1956, she was also employed by the Penn Museum as a Student Assistant in the American Section. Before completing her degree, she moved back west in 1969, to join the Anthropology Department of Colorado College as an adjunct professor. She eventually came back to the University of Pennsylvania to finish her Ph.D. in 1979 and was promoted to associate professor at Colorado College the same year, where she later changed her field of study towards Southwestern, United States.
Stoller's impact at Colorado College was quite significant starting in 1980 when Stoller assisted in the founding of Colorado College's Southwest Studies program, which was the first regional interdisciplinary program within the United States. The remainder of her years at the College continued to focus on Southwest studies in which she led summer digs in the 1980s and 1990s, chaired the Anthropology Department twice, and served as a director for the Southwest Studies summer institutes, before retiring in 1998. Stoller would continue to be an active figure within the anthropological and ethnohistorical community after her retirement, receiving numerous awards and acknowledgments for her work in the field.
The Marianne L. Stoller papers were acquired in 2017 from her daughter, Moana Kutsche, after Stoller's death. The papers consist of one manuscript box of textual records (c. 0.5 linear feet), as well as photographic materials from her Polynesian research. The rest of her papers were given to Colorado College. The collection consists of two series: New Zealand and Tahiti. The New Zealand material consists of thirteen folders, dated from 1951 to 1953, from Stoller's work with the Māori and her research in New Zealand. The remaining five folders make up the Tahiti material, which consist of correspondence to various people about Tahiti, reports of Stoller's field work, drawings, and notes of her research on the island, as well as Stoller's travel documents.
The photographic material is a combination of color and black- and- white 35mm slides have been individually numbered (452200 to 452552) and catalogued in the Museum's collections database. The slides were taken by Stoller in New Zealand, Fiji, and Tahiti. The 8mm color film reels show scenes of Stoller's travels and have also been numbered (FS8- to FS8- ) and catalogued individually.
Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,
Finding Aid Author:
Use Restrictions:
Collections Inventory
New Zealand
| Book A (1a) | box 1 |
| Book B (1b) | box 1 |
| Book B (1c) | box 1 |
| Notes on Māori carvers – Index cards | box 1 |
| Inventory – Māori material culture | box 1 |
| Māori carved Meeting houses | box 1 |
| Summary & Final Report – Fulbright | box 1 |
| M.A. Thesis – Outline & Notes | box 1 |
| Modern Māori Art (typed MS) | box 1 |
| Black Out Cult (typed MS) | box 1 |
| Folktales | box 1 |
| Map & Newspaper Clippings | box 1 |
| Photographs | box 1 |
Tahiti
| Correspondence | box 1 |
| Summary Report on Field Work | box 1 |
| Drawings & Notes | box 1 |
| Survey of Anthropological Literature | box 1 |
| Travel Documents and Tags | box 1 |
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