Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Related Material
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Arrangement
- Series List
- Container List
Collection Summary
| Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
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| Creator: | Fairservis, Walter Ashlin, 1921-1994 |
| Title: | Walter A. Fairservis Papers |
| Dates: | 1931-1994 |
| Quantity: | 10 cubic feet (10 boxes) |
| Abstract: | Correspondence, manuscripts, teaching materials, publications, and other papers related to Fairservis's work as a professor, archaeologist, author, and playwright. Of particular note is his correspondence with his family describing his trips overseas. |
Biographical Note
Walter Ashlin Fairservis, Jr. (1921-1994) was an American archaeologist, professor, author, and playwright. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. to Walter A. Fairservis and actress Edith Yeager, Fairservis traveled the country with his mother and worked as a child actor and peformer. During the Second World War, Fairservis served as a lieutenant in Army Intelligence and served in Japan as a member of General Douglas MacArthur's occupation staff. After the war, Fairservis attended Columbia University, where he received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees. He began his archaelogical work with American Museum of Natural History in 1949 on an expedition to the Quetta Valley in Pakistan. He went on to director a number of other expeditions, and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Fairservis joined the Vassar College faculty in 1969 as professor of anthropology. Before his retirement in 1993, he would serve as both Chair of the Anthropology Department and Director of the Asian Studies Program. In 1983, he founded the nonprofit East-West Fusion Theater in his home of Sharon, CT. His wife, Jan (Sutherland) Fairservis, was an artist and illustrator.
He died in 1994, at the age of 73.
TopScope and Content Note
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, teaching materials, and other papers related to Fairservis's work as a professor, archaeologist, author, 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.
TopArrangement
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.TopAccess and Use
Access
This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without 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.
Subject Headings
Names:
- Fairservis, Jan
Organizations:
- American Museum of Natural History
- Military Intelligence Service Language School (U.S.)
- United States. War Department. Military Intelligence Service. Pacific Unit
- Vassar College--Faculty
Subjects:
- Anthropologists
- Anthropology--Study and teaching
- Archaeologists
- Archaeology--Study and teaching
- Theater—Japan
- World War, 1939-1945—Japan
Places:
- Afghanistan--Description and travel
- Pakistan--Description and travel
Document Types:
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Notebooks
- Photographs
- Printed ephemera
VCL Categories:
- Anthropology and Anthropologists
- East Asia, South Asia, and India
- Theater, Drama and Film
- Travel
- Vassar College
- War and War Crimes
Encoding Information
Encoded by Laura Streett, December 2009.
Updated by Emma Gronbeck, November 2025.
TopAdministrative Information
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 the 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. Some materials from this accession were later returned to the Peabody Museum in 2010.
The videotapes were of gift of Teviot Fairservis (M2011-016).
Series List
Series I. Biographical Material, 1931-1982 (Boxes 1 and 8) |
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Series II. Correspondence, 1939-1992 (Boxes 1-2) |
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Series III. Teaching Material, 1968-1989 (Boxes 3 and 8) |
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Series IV. Writings and Research, 1994, undated (Boxes 3-4 and 8) |
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Series V. Drama and Theater, undated (Boxes 4-6 and 8-10) |
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Series VI. Edith Yeager Papers, undated (Box 6) |
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Series VII. Japanese Work for the U.S. Military, 1944-1947 (Box 7) |
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Container List
Return to the Table of Contents
Details
Correspondence, manuscripts, teaching
materials, publications, and other papers related to Fairservis's work as a professor,
archaeologist, author, and playwright. Of particular note is his correspondence with his
family describing his trips overseas.
