Bookmark this page or copy and paste URL to Email message

Vorsila L. Bohrer papers, 1930's-2014 (bulk 1940's-2000)

MS 47

Biographical Note

Although an early press release called her a “personable…feminine ranger-naturalist,” Vorsila Laurene Bohrer later was celebrated as a “stellar example” of a scholar who merged the diverse disciplines of botany and anthropology. She received the Byron S. Cummings Award in 1993 and the Fryxell Award in 1997. In mid-career, after witnessing the emergence of the field of ethnobotany “from the low visibility of a pioneer discipline,” she wrote that ethnobotany was “flying high.” Bohrer was born in Chicago on January 22, 1931 and was raised along with her brother Byron in Prospect Heights, Illinois. In 1947 she made her first visit to the Southwest as a participant in the Senior Girl Scout Archaeological Tour planned by Bertha Dutton, Curator of Ethnology at the School of American Research. These summer field schools were important training for future archaeologists. In 1949 Bohrer was a runner-up in the Westinghouse Science Scholarship context with her “Basketmaker 3 Diorama.” She later graduated from the University of Arizona with a double B. A. major in anthropology and botany in 1953. Bohrer’s lifetime nickname “Rambler” was acquired during her participation in the University of Arizona’s student hiking club, The Ramblers. In Tucson, one of her professors was Dr. Kittie F. Parker, who specialized in Southwest flora. For her master’s degree, Bohrer attended the University of Michigan where she was mentored by Volney H. Jones, a pioneer and innovator in the field of ethnobotany. Jones built an ethnobotany collection currently ranked as the largest in North America. After graduating in 1954, Bohrer worked as a naturalist and continued her work at the Ethnobotanical Laboratory at the University of Michigan. For three years, she was the Assistant Curator of Ethnology at the Museum of New Mexico, and briefly taught at Hanover College in Indiana. Sporadically during the 1950s and 1960s Bohrer continued as an advisor for the Girl Scout Council on the Navajo Nation. Part of the time her traveling office was a GMC stepside V8 pickup with camper which she drove all over the reservation. She returned to the University of Arizona to complete her Ph.D. in anthropology in 1968. During this period, she did field work with Emil Haury at Snaketown. The palynological research for her dissertation on the Hay Hollow site was supported by Paul S. Martin of the Chicago Natural History Museum. In 1969, Bohrer moved to Boston where she taught biology at the University of Massachusetts and worked as a technical assistant at the Harvard Botanical Museum. There she assisted legendary “jungle botanist” Richard Evans Schultes. In the late 1970s, Bohrer taught at the University of Arizona and at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. She founded her own consulting firm, Southwest Ethnobotanical Enterprises and studied plants in the Southwestern Salado, Hohokam and Anasazi cultural areas including Tonto National Monument, Point of Pines, Salmon Ruin, Fresnal Shelter, Grasshopper, and La Ciudad. During this period, she carried on an extensive correspondence with fellow ethnobotanist, Karen R. Adams. These letters occupy two full boxes. Bohrer still lives in Portales, New Mexico.

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of the personal and professional papers of Vorsila L. Bohrer, an ethnobotanist specializing in the cultures of the American Southwest. Although some materials document her childhood, the bulk of materials dates frin the 1960s to 1990s, with extensive files related to her archaeological projects. In these records are field notes, laboratory pollen analysis worksheets, species observations, and pollen reference samples. Of special note are the extensive files of correspondence with herbaria and colleagues from the 1950s to 1990s. Also included are rough drafts and manuscripts for the many publications Bohrer produced in the fields of archaeobotanical analysis, palynological research, comparisons of worldwide vegetation patterns with primate plant use, harvest methods of early agriculture, and shared maize traditions.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Restrictions

The donor has placed no special restrictions on access.

Access to materials containing student grades or recommendations is restricted in accordance with student confidentiality law, but may be granted under special circumstances at the discretion of the Archivist.

Access to specific information about the nature and location of archaeological resources may be restricted pursuant to the United States Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA) and Arizona Revised Statues, Title 39-125. ARPA includes a specific exemption from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requirements for information about the nature and location of archaeological resources (16 U.S. Code 470hh: Confidentiality of information concerning the nature and location of archaeological resources).

Copyright

Copyright to the papers of Vorsila L. Bohrer is held by the Arizona Board of Regents and is administered by the Arizona State Museum.

For permission to reproduce images including photographs in this collection please consult the ASM staff.

The Arizona State Museum may not own copyright to all parts of this collection. It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright, which may be the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors. The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, Arizona State Museum, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.

Related Material

Access Terms

Administrative Information

Credit Line

Vorsila L. Bohrer Papers (MS 47). Arizona State Museum Library and Archives.

Processing Note

The Vorsila L. Bohrer Papers were donated by Bohrer and arrived at ASM in 2017. The collection was given the accession number AP-2018-229. Prior to their arrival the materials had been arranged, boxed, and given a preliminary inventory by an expert team of friends and colleagues in New Mexico working with the donor. Mollie Toll, Pamela McBride, and Willow Roberts Powers (a certified archivist) were knowledgeable about Southwest ethnobotany, and especially familiar with the Puerco River Project. Their input informed the descriptions of materials in the Bohrer Papers. In 2018, Amy Rule, archivist at ASM, completed the work necessary to open the Bohrer Papers to research. While retaining the arrangement established by the New Mexico team, she expanded the box inventory and added detailed folder-level descriptions of materials. She removed newsprint and replaced it with copies, labeled the boxes, and prepared a finding aid to be encoded and added to the Arizona Archives Online website at a later date.

Container List

Please contact the Arizona State Museum Library and Archives for access to the complete, item level finding aid for the Vorsila L. Bohrer papers (MS 47). Research inquiries may be directed to larc@email.arizona.edu or (520) 621-4695.