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Gene Field Foster collection, 1952-1988

MS-287 

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Bartlett, Katharine Foster, Gene Field Museum of Northern Arizona United States. National Park Service
Title:	Gene Field Foster collection,
Inclusive Dates:	1952-1988
Quantity:	13.1 in. textual material, 1 book, 11 diaries, 7 appointment books, 1 desk calendar, 2 bound manuscripts, 1 notebook, 1 3-ring binder, 1305 photographic images (1003 color 6x6cm safety film transparencies, 155 black & white prints, 91 safety negatives, 54 color 35mm slides, 2 postcards), 23 maps (13 black & white topographic maps, 9 color topographic maps, 1 hand-drawn map), 87 draft book plates, 18 drawings, 16 CDs
Identification:	MS-287
Repository:	Museum of Northern Arizona 3101 N. Fort Valley Rd. Flagstaff, AZ 86001 928-774-5211 ext. 256 or 269 library@mna.mus.az.us

Biographical Note

Gene (sometimes spelled Jean) Field Foster (17 January 1917-24 February 1983) was born in Tomahawk, Wisconsin to Elmer David and Ruth Gray (Field) Foster, just as Elmer was leaving for service in World War I. Gene’s mother named her after her own father, poet and journalist Eugene Field, and decided to use the masculine spelling of the name.

When Gene’s father returned from the war, he worked at a lumber mill. He then entered into the lumber business with his brother, Herman, creating Foster Brothers Lumber Company. After his brother’s death, Elmer changed the name to simply Foster Lumber Company. He passed his carpentry knowledge on to his daughter, who would use those skills all her life.

Early on, Gene’s artistic talent became obvious, and she attended the prestigious Chicago Institute of Art in the mid-1930s. After graduation, Gene moved to New York, New York and worked for ad agencies creating drawings and established an ad agency of her own. She also learned the art of photography from a professional photographer while in New York, another artistic skill that would come in handy for Gene in Arizona.

During World War II, Gene worked in a cold munitions plant in Connecticut. The conditions were miserable, and she developed pneumonia. She would never really fully recover, and her illness would affect her health for the rest of her life. She was encouraged to move west by her doctors, and in the 1940s moved to Prescott, Arizona. In Prescott, she supported herself by utilizing her carpentry skills and by 1946 could afford to buy some land and build a house. At some time in the late 1940s, Gene moved to Sedona and opened her own carpentry shop.

About 1950, Gene was asked by a friend to ferry boats for a river trip through Glen Canyon. She ended up not going on the trip, but when she saw the film upon her friend’s return she was astounded by the natural beauty of the canyon and became determined to document it.

Also around this time, Gene was employed by Museum of Northern Arizona founders Harold and Mary-Russell Colton to build some frames. Through the Coltons, Gene met Katharine Bartlett, with whom she developed a deep friendship that would last for 30 years. They moved in together, Katharine moving into Gene’s house in Sedona. After a few months of commuting to the Museum, they moved to Flagstaff. Gene sold her carpentry shop in Sedona and her Prescott property, and found work in Flagstaff. In 1954, Gene and Katharine bought a lot of land in the Mount Elden subdivision in the northwest part of Flagstaff, and Gene built the house mostly herself, although that was not the original plan. By the end of construction, she was exhausted and diagnosed with advanced hepatitis, which left her bedridden for several months.

Gene had begun recording archaeological sites in Glen Canyon during river trips in 1952. In 1957, when it became clear that contracts for the Museum to conduct salvage archaeology surveys as part of the Glen Canyon Project would be awarded through the National Park Service, Gene was hired to make additional surveys in lower Glen Canyon. Three river trips were made between April and October 1957 with a volunteer crew that included Katharine Bartlett and Museum research associate David Brugge. When the NPS Glen Canyon Project got underway, however, Gene was not involved in the Museum’s fieldwork. As a result of this and the Museum’s decision to not publish her Glen Canyon report, her work in the Canyon has largely been forgotten.

In the early 1960s, Gene was contracted by Grand Canyon National Park to create a painting of the Tusayan Ruins for a museum exhibit. The large tempura canvas was displayed in a small museum adjacent to the Ruins.

Another research interest of Gene’s was the study of birds in Flagstaff, especially the population of piñon jays. She set up a feeding station in her backyard and instituted a banding program, hiring neighborhood kids to document the behavior of the birds. She worked closely with graduate students at Northern Arizona University, helping them with research for their theses and dissertations pertaining to the piñon jay.

Gene passed away at age 66 due to complications from pneumonia, probably exacerbated by her lifelong habit of smoking, and is buried in Wisconsin.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of correspondence, diaries, printed materials, financial documents, photographic material, research notes, unpublished manuscripts, and maps documenting Gene’s life as an artist, archaeologist, and ornithologist. It includes personal business records, photographic images of the Southwest, records of the bird feeding and banding programs she started in Flagstaff, and information and images regarding her salvage archaeology work in Glen Canyon prior to the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Conditions Governing Use

Unpublished and published manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Related Material

The Museum of Northern Arizona Archives hold the following related manuscript collections:

There are also resources about Glen Canyon available in the Museum of Northern Arizona Harold S. Colton Memorial Library. For information pertaining to the Museum’s involvement in salvage archaeology in Glen Canyon in particular, see:

Other institutions with holdings pertaining to Glen Canyon:

Materials found in this collection were used in the publication of:

Gene also published short articles in Museum of Northern Arizona’s Plateau based on her fieldwork and research in Glen Canyon:

MS-287 Katharine Bartlett collection

Controlled Access Terms

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Gene Field Foster collection, MS-287  [Box Number]. Museum of Northern Arizona. Flagstaff, Arizona.

Acquisition Information

An accession (#MS 287 ) was donated by Katharine Bartlett in 1986. Additional materials collected by Susan Olberding were transferred from the Katharine Bartlett collection (MS-257) in 2012 due to their creation by Gene and focus on Gene’s research interests and activities. Additional information pertaining to this transfer is available upon request.

Processing Information

Processed in September of 2012.

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