The collection contains correspondence, department minutes, articles, papers, and other material pertaining to Susan Kent, a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University. The collection also includes research material from Dr. Kent's site visits to Africa and her work on the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project.
The collection is organized into three series: Series I: ODU Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice; Series II: Research Materials; and Series III: Miscellaneous.
Open to researchers without restrictions.
Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from Special Collections and University Archives, and the holder of the copyright, if not Old Dominion University Libraries.
The family of Susan Kent
Gift. Accession #A2003-4
[Identification of item], Box [insert number], Folder [insert number and title], Dr. Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
The collection was processed and finding aid created by Mel Frizzell, Special Collections Assistant, in 2004.
Susan Kent was born in 1952. In 1977, she took part in a New Mexico State University archaeological dig called the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project. In 1980, she received her Ph.D. For her doctoral dissertation, she studied spatial patterning of the Navajo Indians, Spanish Americans, and rural and urban Euro-Americans. In the early 1980's she studied the Pueblo II Mesa Verde Anasazi in southwestern Colorado. From 1985-86 she served as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Kentucky. Later in 1986, she joined the Old Dominion University (ODU) faculty to teach anthropology. At the time she arrived at ODU, she had five years of teaching experience, and an excellent record of scholarship and publication. In 1996, Kent was named a full professor. In 1999, she received the Charles O. and Elisabeth C. Burgess Faculty Research and Creativity Award. Also that year, she was elected to the American Anthropology Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology. As of February 2000, she was editor of the Archaeology Division column for the American Anthropological Association newsletter; on the Steering Committee of Build Form and Culture Research Association, and belonged to eight national and international professional associations. Also, in 2000, she was named an eminent scholar of anthropology at ODU for her consistent record of outstanding scholarly publications and her international reputation in the field of anthropology. Her works have appeared in journals published in Japan, Botswana, England, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia. In 2001, she received the Distinguished Scholar in Anthropology award from the Virginia Social Sciences Association. Kent was elected to the executive board of the American Anthropological Association for a three-year term that began in November 2002. In early 2003, she was elected as a member to the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society. This is only a partial list of her many involvements and achievements. Kent was an expert on hunters and gatherers. As part of her ethnographic fieldwork, she studied numerous people including the Navajo and Tulalip Indians, Euro-Americans, and Spanish-speaking Americans. Her most extensive and long-term work was her field research in Botswana. Every summer from 1987 to 1995, and then again in 1997 and 2000, Kent spent considerable time studying the Bushmen and Bakgalagadi (Bantu-speakers) in the Kalahari Desert. The Bushmen, also known as Basarwa and San are a formerly nomadic people. In recent decades, they have been encouraged by government incentives to discard their nomadic lifestyle and settle. Incentives have included free food and drilling wells so these people no longer need to move about in search of these necessities. Special topics of interest for Kent were the use of space, gender roles, ethnoarchaeology, and health issues in these people. With regard to health issues, she was particularly interested in anemia and hemoglobin levels in hunter-gatherer peoples. While studying the Bushmen, she surveyed their dietary practices and monitored medical examinations of these people. In the field of archaeology, she excavated sites that range in date from Paleo-Indian societies to historic twentieth century sites of Native Americans. During the summers of 1998 and 1999, she surveyed and excavated African Stone Age sites including the Caledon River Valley in South Africa. Kent was author, editor, or co-author of at least 10 books, and numerous scholarly papers. She published over sixty book chapters. Susan Kent died on April 13, 2003 in Milwaukee, where she was attending the Annual Meeting of the American Archaeological Association. A memorial service was held for her at ODU on April 29, 2003.
This series includes blank exams and study guides for classes taught by Dr. Kent; instructors guides and study modules; an annual report; executive committee minutes; and department financial material.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 1, Annual Report, 1985-1986, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 2, Exams and Study Guides, 1992-2000, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 3, Executive Committee Minutes, 1990 September 18, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 4, Evaluation Letters, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 5, Receipts and Invoices, 1995-2001, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 6, Tenure, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
This series includes research material created by Dr. Kent. Included in the series are notes, maps, and data related to Dr. Kent's work with the Basarwa (Bushmen) and Bakgalagadi in Botswana, the Ozette Indian Village in Washington, and her work on the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project.
This sub-series includes Dr. Kent's field notes and inventories from her expeditions with the Basarwa (Bushmen) and Bakgalagadi in Kutse, Botswana as well as her published papers on the subject.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 7, Bushmen, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 8, Items Left at Abandoned Pigmy Camps, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 9, Notes I, 1988 June-July, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 10, Notes II, 1988 June-July, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 11, Notes, 1989 December-1990 January, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 12, Notes, 1990-1993, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 13, Notes, 1991 June, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 14, Notes, 1989 May-June, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 1, Folder 15, Notes, 1992 May-June, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 2, Folder 1, Notes, 1993 May-June, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 2, Folder 2, Notes, 1995, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 2, Folder 3, Notes: Hut/Site Diagrams and Measurements, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 2, Folder 4, Notes: Miscellaneous I, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 2, Folder 5, Notes: Miscellaneous II, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
This sub-series contains anthropology papers on various topics, including a 1975 paper by Dr. Kent titled "An Analysis of Northwest Coast Combs with Special Emphasis on those from Ozette."
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 1, "An Analysis of Northwest Catacombs with Special Emphasis on Those From Ozette", 1975, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 2, Food and Nutrition, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 3, Navajo Indian Irrigation Project - Block II Maps, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 4, Navajo Indian Irrigation Project - Site 20, 1977 August, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 5, Navajo Indian Irrigation Project--Site 31, 1977 October, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 6, Navajo Indian Irrigation Project--Site 32, 1977 October, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
This sub-series contains additional inventories, maps, pictures, and inventories from the 1977 Navajo Indian Irrigation Project, surveys and SAS computer data.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 7, Gender Computer Raw Data and Surveys 1994, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 8, "Nancy" Computer Raw Data, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 9, Race Computer Modeling--Simulation, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
This series includes general correspondence and travel information collected by Dr. Kent.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 10, Chobe Game Lodge, Kasane, Botswana, undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 11, "Concluding Discussion: The Role of Actualism Studies", undated, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 12, Itinerary, Mali Archaeological Tour, 1996 April 17, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.
[Identification of item and date], Box 3, Folder 13, Professional and Personal Correspondence, 1987-2002, Susan Kent Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.