Scope and Contents Note
This notebook contains journal and fieldnote entries from July 4 to August 14, 1955, written by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas while doing research with her family among the G/ui and Ju/’hoansi, !Kung speaking San hunter-gatherers in Namibia and Botswana. This was the 4th of 8 expeditions the Marshall family made in 1950-1961 to study the lifeways of African peoples living in and around the Kalahari Desert. It contains details about their interactions and conversations with people they encountered, as well as information about their journey, camping, weather, landscape, and animals. It includes small sketches of people, clothing, homes, and maps. It also contains an itinerary and pages of notes made in conjunction with photographs of child behavior taken by Daniel Blitz (See Laurence K. and Lorna J. Marshall photograph collection, 2001.29). At the end appear notes on writing strategies and an outline for Elizabeth’s publication, The Harmless People, which is based largely on observations made in this journal and during earlier expeditions in 1951 and 1952-53. Because the expedition ran from April 18- September 2, 1955, it is possible that other journals existed but are not in this collection. The journal also bears evidence of notes written by the author after the expedition.
Dates
- Creation: July 4, 1955 - August 14, 1955
Creator
- Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall, 1931- (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Unrestricted
Conditions Governing Use
To request permission to include text from archival collections in a publication, please fill out the Media and Permission Request Form.
Extent
.2 linear feet (1 folder)Biographical Sketch
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (1931-) is an author of fiction and non-fiction. Her first book, The Harmless People (1959), was a travelogue based on her family’s ethnographic studies of the Ju/’hoansi, !Kung language speaking hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari in north-eastern Namibia. She was born in 1931 to Lorna Jean McLean Marshall (1898-2002) and Laurence Kennedy Marshall (1889-1980). She attended Smith College, graduated from Radcliffe College in 1954, married Stephen Thomas in 1956, and had two children. She continued to write about her family’s time in Africa in The Old Way: A Story of the First People (2006), and in A Million Years with You: A Memoir of a Life Observed (2013). A nature enthusiast, she authored books and articles about animals, including the best-selling The Hidden Life of Dogs (2010).
Sources
- Barbash, Ilisa. Where the Roads All End: Photography and Anthropology in the Kalahari. Peabody Museum Press, 2016.
- Bolotnikova, Marina N. A New Way of Being in the World Harvard Magazine, September -October, 2019. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2019/09/elizabeth-marshall-thomas
- McCarthy, Susan. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas at salon.com.
- Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall. Author’s website: https://elizabethmarshallthomas.net
Physical Location
Peabody Museum Archives
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These papers are a gift of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas , December 2003
General note
Collections records may contain language, reflecting past collecting practices and methods of analysis, that is no longer acceptable. The Peabody Museum is committed to addressing the problem of offensive and discriminatory language present in its database. Our museum staff are continually updating these records, adding to and improving content. We welcome your feedback and any questions or concerns you may want to share.
Processed by:
Beth Bayley, Simmons College archives intern, 2004. This finding aid was revised in 2023 as part of the Institute of Museum and Library Services Marshall Family Archives digitization grant [MA-245387- OMS-20], with work by Ilisa Barbash, Elise Riley, and Katherine Satriano.
Creator
- Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall, 1931- (Person)
- Title
- Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall. Journal of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, 1955 : A Finding Aid
- Author
- Peabody Museum Archives
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- pea00037
Repository Details
Part of the Peabody Museum Archives Repository
Papers in the Peabody Museum Archives consist of primary source materials that document the Museum’s archaeological and ethnographic research and fieldwork since its founding in 1866. More than 2,800 feet of archival paper collections contain documents, papers, manuscripts, correspondence, data, field notes, maps, plans, and other historical records that represent diverse peoples from around the world, and which were created or collected by the Museum, its individual affiliates, or related entities. The collections also document the history or provenience, as well as the creation of, many of the Museum’s archaeological and ethnographic collections.