This collection includes the correspondence and
administrative files of Dr. Bryant Bannister during his tenure at the Laboratory
of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, and additional personal files of
Dr. Bannister's including, research interests and colleague collaboration,
writings and professional papers, thesis and dissertation, conference or
business trips, and lecture class notes and syllabi from teaching while at the
University of Arizona
Identification:
MS 508
Language:
English.
Repository:
University of Arizona Special Collections
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://www.library.arizona.edu/speccol/
Biographical Note
Dr. Bryant Bannister is emeritus director (1964-1982) of the Laboratory of
Tree-Ring Research and emeritus professor (1959-1989) of dendrochronology and
archaeology at the University of Arizona. He was born in Phoenix, Arizona on
Dec. 2, 1926 and received his B.A. from Yale University in 1948, his M.A. in
1953 and his Ph. D. in 1960 both from the University of Arizona. He studied
under A. E. Douglass, the first director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring
Research, serving as his assistant through most of the 1950’s. He met Emil
Walter Haury, a noted Southwest archaeologist and director (1938-1964) of the
Arizona State Museum as an undergraduate at the Point of Pines Field School in
the summer 1948 and continued his graduate studies under his direction. He
married Betty Stanaway on August 22, 1951 and they have two children, Nancy Beth
and Frances Kimball.
Dr. Bannister is the fourth director (1964-1981) of the Laboratory of
Tree-Ring Research, founded in 1937 by Douglass, astronomer Edwin Francis
Carpenter (1898-1963), and Emil W. Haury. During his tenure as director, he was
instrumental in supervising the updating of the entire Southwestern tree-ring
chronology. He also served as associate/assistant and acting dean of the UA
College of Earth Sciences between 1971-1982.
Dr. Bannister's subject specialties were archaeological tree-ring dating in
the US and the Southwest and dendrochronology worldwide. He began his teaching
career in dendrochronology, the science of dating annual growth layers in woody
plants, in 1959, and was an assistant professor from 1960-1964, associate
professor in 1964, and full professor from 1965 until his retirement in
1992.
His publications include his M.A. thesis, Tree-Ring
Analysis As Applied to the Dating of Kin Kletso Ruin, Chaco Canyon, New
Mexico, (1953) and his Ph.D. dissertation, Tree-Ring Dating of Archaeological Sites in the Chaco Canyon Region, New
Mexico (1959). He co-authored the tree-ring dating publications issued by
the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research that covered Arizona, New Mexico and parts
of Utah, including:
Tree-Ring Dates from Arizona E: Chinle, de Chelly, Red
Rock Area (1966)
Tree-Ring Dates from Arizona N-Q, Verde, Show Low, St.
Johns Area (1966)
Tree-Ring Dates from Arizona K: Puerco-Wide Ruin-Ganado
Area (1966)
Tree-Ring Dates from Arizona J: Hopi Mesas Area
(1967)
Tree-Ring Dates from Arizona C-D, Eastern Grand Canyon,
Tsegi Canyon, Kayenta Area (1968)
Tree-Ring Dates from Utah, S-W, Southern Utah Area
(1969)
Tree-Ring Dates from New Mexico A, G-H:
Shiprock-Zuni-Mt. Taylor Area (1970)
Tree-Ring Dates from New Mexico M-N, S, Z, Southwestern
New Mexico Area (1970)
Tree-Ring Dates from Arizona U-W: Gila-Salt Rivers Area
(1971)
He also wrote chapters in books, articles for the Laboratory Bulletin of Tree-Ring Research, the Tree-Ring Bulletin, the American Journal of
Archaeology, the American Antiquity, other
journals and proceedings, and numerous reviews and editorials.
Dr. Bannister is a fellow in the American Anthropological Association and the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the Society of
American Archaeology, the Tree-Ring Society and its editor of their Bulletin from 1958-1969, a member of the Arizona Academy
of Science, Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Mu Epsilon, the Society of Sigma Xi (Arizona
chapter president 1968-1969), and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Scope and Content
This collection contains the papers of Dr. Bryant Bannister from 1934 to
2009, bulk from 1950-1990, when he served as director of the University of
Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and professor at the UA. It includes
administrative files and correspondence, grants submitted, subject material on
his research interests, sabbaticals, correspondence and documentation of work
with other colleagues, lecture notes and syllabi from his teaching profession in
dendrochronology and archaeology, original manuscripts of his publications,
including his dissertation and thesis, travels and personal biographical
material.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the
owner of the copyright (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, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made
by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Series IV contains folders on Dr. Bannister’s research interests including, collaborative work with colleagues, noted under the colleague, and specific subjects.
box
folder
5
13
A. E. Douglass Films
5
14
Archaeological Survey of Sonora, Mexico Expedition
Audio tape 1. Ferguson, UCLC lecture at the International Conference
on the Application of Science to Medieval Archaeology. Recorded on DeJUR magnetic tape for dictating and transcribing
machines (DeJUR- Amsco Corporation, Long Island City 1, New York) Audio tape 2. "Used tape Bannister." Recorded on Scotch 3M 290-1/4-600-LL. Contents and date
unknown, October 27,
1967
