Anthropology and Archaeology
Melvin Gilmore visiting the Arikara in North Dakota, July 1918. Melvin R. Gilmore Papers, Box 5, Loose Photographs - Native American Work
Gilmore, Melvin R. (Melvin Randolph), 1868-1940
- 1905-1938 and undate
- 4.25 linear ft.
Melvin Randolph Gilmore (1868-1940) was one of the preeminent ethnobotanists of his generation, and served as curator of Ethnology and director of the Ethnobotanical Laboratory at the University of Michigan's Museum of Anthropology from 1929 to 1938. He was one of the first researchers to recognize the enormous botanical knowledge of Native Americans and did much of his ethnographic and ethnobotanical field work among the Arikara, the Omaha, and other Native American groups of the American Plains and Prairies. Before coming to the University of Michigan, Gilmore worked for the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Historical Society of North Dakota, and the Heye Foundation's Museum of the American Indian.
Gilmore's papers contain correspondence, topical files, manuscripts, and rich photograph files and field notes from his work among various Native American groups.
