Collection ID: C143
Printable View Printable View
Ead Download EAD

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Smith, Ronald Richard, 1938-
Abstract:
Ronald Richard Smith was a member of the Folklore faculty at Indiana University from 1978-1997. His research centered around traditional music, festivals, movement and dance, and religion within the African Diaspora, with a focus on Caribbean peoples. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at IU, Smith also served as associate dean of the Office of Research and University Graduate School from 1988-1996, headed the IU Ethnomusicology Program, and spent one year as director of the Archives of Traditional Music. This collection consists of Smith's papers and lectures, dissertations of some of his students, correspondence, committee files, and some classroom materials. Prominent in the papers are Smith's files on the Folklore Institute and department, such as teaching files, meeting minutes, and curriculum reviews.
Extent:
2 cubic feet (2 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English
Preferred citation:

[Item], Ronald Richard Smith papers, Collection C143, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

Ronald Richard Smith was born in New York on October 29, 1938. He was one of five children (four boys and one girl) born to Arthur Smith and Lucille Locket Smith. He attended New York's Music and Art High School before going on to study ethnomusicology at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He graduated from Hunter cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in music in 1960. From there he went on to teach music, math, and general science courses in the New York Public School system for ten years. During his time with the New York Public Schools he served as an assistant school principal, conducted two choruses and directed a creative arts program for disadvantaged youth.

Smith also continued his education during this time. He attended classes at Hunter College, Brooklyn College, and the Mannes College of Music, studying music and ethnomusicology. In 1970, he received an IU fellowship to study ethnomusicology under folklorist George H. List, and in 1971 Smith earned his master's degree. Two Ford Foundation fellowships and a year in Panama and Columbia on a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship allowed Smith to continue on towards his doctorate, which he earned from IU in 1976.

After teaching music at Middlebury College and Bowdoin College, Smith joined the IU faculty in 1978. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he served as associate dean of the IU Office of Research and University Graduate School from 1988-1996. He also directed the Archives of Traditional Music from 1981-1982 and the Ethnomusicology Program from 1979-1981, 1983-1984, and 1987-1988. Additionally, Smith was a member of the program faculties of Latin American and Caribbean Studies and African Studies.

Smith was a member of several of the fellowship programs at IU. He directed the Committee for Institutional Cooperation Minorities Fellowship Program (IU Archives Collection C144) and served as a member and chairperson of the Ford Foundation Fellowship Selection Panels in the areas of music, art, communication, folklore, and ethnomusicology.

One of Smith's noteworthy accomplishments during his time at IU was the development of several computer databases that were used in cataloging extensive collections of data in various IU archives. These databases were a product of his work teaching students and faculty how to apply computer-assisted analysis to the study of folk music, literature, and material culture.

Smith's research centered on traditional music, festivals, movement and dance, and religion within the African Diaspora; he was especially interested in Caribbean peoples. His research took him outside of the United States to Panama, Columbia, Spain, Ghana and Malawi. His research projects included the Festival of the Black Christ in Panama, and the history and development of religious brotherhoods for free and slave blacks in Spain. His research was published in various book chapters, articles and reviews.

Smith was a member of the American Musical Instrument Society, the American Folklore Society, the National Council for Black Studies, the American Association for State and Local History, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the Association of African and Afro-American Folklorists, and the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Prof. Smith passed away in Bloomington on June 18, 1997.

Scope and Content:

This collection is organized into four series: Writings and presentations; Correspondence; Indiana University; and Theses and dissertations. The Indiana University series is further organized into three sub-series: Committees and programs; Folklore Department; and Teaching materials. The collection spans the years 1973-1996.

The first series in this collection is entitled Writings and presentations, 1974-1994, and includes papers and articles written by Smith, papers from conferences he attended and participated in, a folder of lectures and presentations that he gave both to his classes and at various conferences, and a diary that he wrote while on a research trip in Africa. The series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Correspondence is the next series in this collection, arranged alphabetically by the surname of the correspondents except in the cases of the "general correspondence" folders and one folder entitled "Elaine" in which a last name could not be discovered. Any individual having at least three pieces of correspondence in this collection received their own folder. Some frequent correspondents are fellow IU folklorists Richard Dorson and W. Edson Richmond. The series spans the years 1974-1995.

The third series in the collection is entitled Indiana University, and it spans the period from 1973-1996. This series is organized into three sub-series: Committees and programs; Folklore department; and Teaching materials. The Committee and programs sub-series spans the years from 1973-1996 and is comprised of records of the various IU committees that Smith served on outside of the Folklore Department. Many of the groups represented here are committees related to minority students on campus. The tenure committee file from this series is restricted. This sub-series is arranged alphabetically. The next sub-series is entitled Folklore department. This series contains records, not including teaching materials, that Smith acquired as a faculty member within the Folklore Department. It includes minutes of meetings, curriculum reviews and graduate studies papers. This sub-series contains records from 1978-1986 arranged alphabetically. Teaching materials is the last sub-series. This sub-series is comprised of records that Smith created for courses taught in the Folklore Department. It includes syllabi, course descriptions, and course information packets. These materials span the years 1977-1993 and are arranged alphabetically.

The last series contains theses and dissertations dating from 1976-1996 written by students in the Folklore Department at Indiana University. At this time, this series is restricted since each folder also contains the reviews that each student received from the review committees, and some include forms for fellowships containing social security numbers. This series is arranged alphabetically.

Acquisition information:
Accession 97/085
Custodial history:

Transferred to the Archives on 4 Sept. 1997 by Ruth Aten at the Folklore Institute.

Processing information:

Processed by Archives staff; revised by Bergis Jules and Rebecca Smith.

Completed in 2007

Arrangement:

Organized into four series: Research and writings; Correspondence; Indiana University; and Theses and dissertations.

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

The Theses and dissertation series is closed to researchers at this time.

Advance notice required for access.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

The donor(s) of this collection have not transferred their copyrights for the materials to the Trustees of Indiana University. For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.

The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials. Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.

Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[Item], Ronald Richard Smith papers, Collection C143, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.

CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
Herman B Wells Library E460
1320 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-7000, United States
CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
CONTACT:
812-855-1127
archives@indiana.edu