Guide to the Walter A. Fairservis Papers, 1931-1994

Collection Summary
Biographical Note
Scope and Content Note
Subject Headings
Related Material
Administrative Information
Access and Use
Encoding Information
Arrangement
Series List
Container List

Repository:	Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries
Creator:	Fairservis, Walter Ashlin, 1921-1994
Title:	Walter A. Fairservis Papers
Dates:	1931-1994
Quantity:	10.0 cubic feet (10 boxes)
Abstract:	Correspondence, manuscripts, teaching materials, and other papers related to Fairservis's work as a professor, archaeologist and playwright. Of particular note is his correspondence with his family describing his trips overseas.

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Walter Ashlin Fairservis (1921-1994) was an archaeologist, professor and playwright. He worked for the American Museum of Natural History as well as Vassar College. His mother, Edith Yeager, was an actress. His wife, Jan, was an artist and illustrator.

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Correspondence, manuscripts, teaching materials, and other papers related to Fairservis's work as a professor, archaeologist and playwright. Of particular note is his correspondence with his family describing his trips overseas. Also of note is the material relating to his training in Japanese language and culture for the military; as well as the correspondence from Hoyt Van Buren to Jan Fairservis while he was training for the U.S. Army Air Force.

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This collection has not been fully processed. If research proves difficult at the current level of processing, arrangements may be made to provide further arrangement and description work for the collection. Top

Access

This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Librarywithout any additional restrictions.

Restrictions on Use

Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.

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The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University holds a collection of Fairservis's archaeological research materials.

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Names:

Fairservis, Jan

Organizations:

Vassar College--Faculty

Subjects:

Anthropologists
Anthropology--Study and teaching
Archaeologists
Archaeology--Study and teaching

Places:

Afghanistan--Description and travel
Pakistan--Description and travel

VCL Categories

Anthropology and Anthropologists
Theater, Drama and Film
Travel
Vassar College

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Encoded by Laura Streett, December 2009.

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Preferred Citation

Walter A. Fairservis Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.

Processing Information

Processed by Laura Streett, December 2009.

Acquisition Information

The bulk of the collection was a gift of Jan Fairservis to Vassar College in 2005 (M2006-019). Other materials were transferred from the Peabody Museum in 2007 (M2007-006) after being separated from their collection, which was a 2004 gift of Jan Fairservis. The videotapes were of gift of Teviot Fairservis (M2011-016).

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Series List

Series I. Biography (Boxes 1 and 8)

Series II. Correspondence (Boxes 1-2)

Series III. Teaching Material (Boxes 3 and 8)

Series IV. Writings and Research (Boxes 3-4 and 8)

Series V. Drama and Theater (Boxes 4-6 and 8-10)

Series VI. Edith Yeager Material (Box 6)

Series VII. Japanese Work (Box 7)

Container List

SERIES I. Biography
f. 1.1	Genealogy
f. 1.2	W.A.F. — General
f. 1.3	W.A.F. — Clippings
f. 1.4	W.A.F. — Track in U.S. Army, 1945-1946
f. 1.5	W.A.F. — Michigan Track Team, 1944-1945
f. 1.6 - 1.7	W.A.F. — Athletics
f. 1.8	W.A.F. — Trip on the Mauretania, 1931
f. 1.9	W.A.F. — Mt. Vernon High School Hall of Fame, 1982
Box 8	W.A.F. — Columbia diploma
f. 1.10	W.A.F. — Miscellaneous
f. 1.11 - 1.12	Jan
f. 1.13 - 1.14	Fairservis Family — House Plans
f. 1.15	Fairservis Family — Christmas Cards
f. 1.16 - 1.20	Fairservis Family — Miscellaneous
f. 1.21	Ephemera
f. 8.18	Photographs
Box 8	Undeveloped film
SERIES II. Correspondence
f. 1.22 - 1.26	W.A.F. to Jan, 1947-1976, n.d.
f. 1.27 - 1.28	Jan to W.A.F., 1947-1948
f. 2.1	Jan to W.A.F., 1949-1964, n.d.
f. 2.2 - 2.5	W.A.F. to Edith Yeager, ca. 1939 - 1946, n.d.
f. 2.6 - 2.7	Edith Yeager to W.A.F., 1941-1955, n.d.
f. 2.8	Afghanistan / Pakistan Trip — W.A.F. to Jan, 1949
f. 2.9	Afghanistan / Pakistan Trip — Jan to W.A.F., 1949
f. 2.10	Afghanistan / Pakistan Trip — Jan to Family, 1950 - 1951
f. 2.11	Afghanistan / Pakistan Trip — Family to Jan and W.A.F., 1950 - 1951
f. 2.12	Afghanistan / Pakistan Trip — Edith Yeager W.A.F., 1949 - 1951
f. 2.13	Afghanistan / Pakistan Trip — Miscellaneous correspondence and other items, 1949 - 1951
f. 2.14 - 2.16	Miscellaneous friends and family to W.A.F., 1936 - 1982
f. 2.17	Miscellaneous friends and family to Jan
f. 2.18	Miscellaneous friends and family to Jan and W.A.F.
f. 2.19	Jan to family
f. 2.20	The Sutherland Family
f. 2.21	Fairservis children — to and from
f. 2.22 - 2.23	Hoyt Van Buren to Jan, 1943-1946
f. 2.24	W.A.F. to Miscellaneous
f. 2.25	U.S. Army
f. 2.21	Miscellaneous Professional — W.A.F.
f. 3.1	Miscellaneous Professional — Jan
f. 3.2	Benton, William, 1963-1964
f. 3.3	O'Donnell, C. Donald,
f. 3.4	Lewin, Albert, 1959-1966
f. 3.5	Edith Yeager - Miscellaneous
f. 3.6	"Aunt Norma" to Edith Yeager
f. 3.7	Poultny Bigelow to Edith Yeager, 1945-1952
f. 3.8	Miscellaneous
f. 3.9	Transcripts of WWII letters of Brent Winn, sent to W.A.F. by Janette Winn, 1992
SERIES III. Teaching Material
f. 3.10 - 3.11	Vassar College — Correspondence
f. 3.12 - 3.15	Vassar College — Course Material
f. 8.17	Vassar College — Course Material
f. 3.16	Vassar College — "Projects for Beginning Classes"
f. 3.17	Vassar College — Chinese Program Annual Reports, 1968-1989
f. 3.18 - 3.19	Vassar College — Miscellaneous
f. 3.20	New York University
f. 3.21	University of Washington
f. 3.22	Correspondence from Students
SERIES IV. Writings and Research
f. 3.23	"America vs. the United States"
f. 3.24	"The American Museum of Natural History and I"
f. 3.25 - 3.29	"Barre, A Community in Photographs"
f. 3.30	Black Glaze Analysis
f. 4.1	"Education in the United States," 1994
f. 4.2 - 4.3	Education, Reading and Writing project
f. 4.4 - 4.5	"Collections of children's drawings and early writing examples..."
f. 4.6	"Fever"
f. 4.7	"Josiah" (poem)
f. 8.1	"The Lamp of Ghazni - Ala Al-Din
f. 4.8	Letters to newspapers
f. 4.9	"The Lion"
f. 4.10	"Netsuke"
f. 4.11	"New Ways in the New World," with Jan Fairservis
f. 4.12	"Once We Laughed Together"
f. 4.13	Review of Possehl book
f. 8.2	"The Savior of Kyoto"
f. 4.14	"Tales out of Hell and Heaven"
f. 4.15	The theatre and archaeology
f. 4.16	"Voices of Veterans"
f. 4.17	"Wage Peace"
f. 4.18	Notes on ritual and drama
f. 4.19	Unidentified manuscript
f. 8.3	Unidentified manuscript
f. 4.20	Class notes [?]
f. 4.21	W.A.F.'s library
f. 4.22	Childhood writings and school material
f. 4.23	Miscellaneous
SERIES V. Drama and Theater
f. 4.24	Plays — "Baseball Noh"
f. 4.25	Plays — "Drums at Yale
f. 4.26 - 4.29	Plays — "Edith"
f. 4.30-4.31	Plays — "Forgotten Spirit"
f. 5.1 - 5.7	Plays — "Forgotten Spirit"
f. 8.4	Plays — "The Great Goddess and the Nine Wonders"
f. 5.8	Plays — "The History of the United States..."
f. 8.5	Plays — "The History of the United States..."
f. 8.6	Plays — "The House of [ ? ]"
f. 5.9	Plays — Ikari notes
f. 8.7	Plays — "Josiah"
f. 5.10	Plays — "Kichibi"
f. 5.11 - 5.14	Plays — "The Last Pipes of Arcady"
f. 8.8	Plays — "The Last Pipes of Arcady"
f. 5.15 - 5.16	Plays — "Manifest Destiny"
f. 5.17	Plays — "Mikayo"
f. 5.18 - 5.20	Plays — "Nathan Hale"
f. 5.21	Plays — "Polo Grounds"
f. 8.9	Plays — "Saul"
f. 8.10 - 8.11	Plays — "Snake Story"
f. 5.22	Plays — "The Sword of Tamerlane"
f. 8.12	Plays — "Wagon Train West"
f. 5.23	Plays — "Yamashita, Yamashita"
f. 5.24	Plays — "Voices of Veterans"
f. 5.25	Plays — "The Way of the World"
f. 5.26	Plays — Miscellaneous
f. 5.35	Plays — Miscellaneous notes
f. 5.27 - 5.28	Plays — Unidentified
f. 8.13	Plays — Unidentified
f. 5.29	Plays — Miscellaneous playbills
f. 6.4	Plays — Miscellaneous notes
f. 8.14 - 8.15	Plays — Miscellaneous notes
f. 6.5	Plays — Copyright certificates
f. 5.30	BBC TV — "Buried Treasure"
f. 5.31	Miscellaneous CBS productions
f. 5.32	CBS TV — "Man in the Mist"
f. 5.33-5.34	CBS TV — "Adventure"
f. 5.36	Radio — "The Second Hand"
f. 6.1	Radio — Audition pieces
f. 6.2	Radio? — "The Big Story"
f. 6.3	Radio? — "The Last of the Samuels"
f. 6.6	A.C.T.
f. 6.7	Actors studio
f. 6.8	Arnold, Benedict
f. 6.9	Asian Theatre Journal
f. 6.10	Breese, Gerald
f. 6.11	Calabro, Tony
f. 6.12	Center Spot Players
f. 6.13	Dramatic Publishing Co.
f. 6.14	Drama — Critic's Notices
f. 6.15	East-West Fusion Theatre
f. 6.16	Freydberg, J.
f. 6.17	Gam, Rita
f. 6.18	Ideas — Plays
f. 6.19	Ikaki
f. 6.20	Janney, Ben
f. 6.21	Lewis, Lester
f. 6.22	Long Island University Theatre
f. 6.23	Martin, Elliot
f. 6.24	Miller, Arthur
f. 6.25	Nakemura, Masami
f. 6.26	Opera acting
f. 6.27	Pan-Asian Rep.
f. 6.28	Parlakian, Nishan
f. 6.29	Philips, Jud
f. 6.30	The Pyramid
f. 6.31	Seattle Repertory Theatre
f. 6.32	Sharon Playhouse
f. 6.33	Stage Design — Jan Fairservis
f. 8.16	Straight Wharf Theatre — 1951 season
f. 6.34	Taylor, Clyde
f. 6.35	Theatre — Religious
f. 6.36	Theatre — Sides and scenes
f. 6.37	Theatre Northwest
f. 6.38	Theatre One
f. 6.39	Vassar Theatre
f. 6.40	The Wasp
f. 6.41	Westchester County Civic Opera
f. 6.42	Williams, Annie-Laurie
f. 6.42	Copyrights
f. 6.42	Correspondence — Miscellaneous theatre-related
Boxes 9-10	Videotapes of various performances
SERIES VI. Edith Yeager Material
Box 6	2 notebooks of Yeager writings
Box 6	Yeager writings, including documents from her YMCA service in France in WWI
Box 6	Miscellaneous Yeager material
SERIES VII. Japanese Work
Box 7	Notebooks and other materials from Japanese language course, University of Michigan, 1944
Box 7	Materials from Military Intelligence School, Minneapolis, including modern conversational Japanese exercises and interrogation tests, 1944
Box 7	Propaganda for Japanese consumption
Box 7	Political writings in Japanese
Box 7	Official indictment against Japan and Japanese individuals, International Tribunal Against the Far East, 1945
Box 7	Ken Edge — Book, thoughts on Japan. 1947
Box 7	Captured Japanese diary
Box 7	Russian interrogation of Japanese, 1946