Institution: Ohio State University
Collection Title: John W. Bennett Papers
Date (inclusive): 1915-2005
Collection Identifier: Spec.rare.cms.119
Repository (location info): Ohio State University, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Columbus, OH
Finding Aid link: https://library.osu.edu/finding-aids/rarebooks/JWB1.php
Website link: https://library.osu.edu/rbml

RBMVE Biographical Note: John W. Bennett participated in the 1937 RBMVE as an archaeology assistant. Bennett was a student at Beloit College and documented his experiences in through correspondence with family and friends, photographs, and watercolors.
Scope and Content: From finding aid listed above: “This collection includes his professional and personal papers, correspondence, publications, and an extensive archive of his photography. Bennett took photographs throughout his life and travels, and the collection reflects this. It also includes many family photos from several generations, including from his wife’s side of the family (from whom he and his family were largely estranged). In searching the guide for any particular subject, it is recommended you use the “find” function on your browser, as materials on any one topic may be scattered throughout the collection. These materials are arranged primarily in the way that Bennett used them.”

There is additional RBMVE documentation by Bennett in the collection at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, Museum of Northern Arizona, as well as in family collections held by his two sons, John and James Bennett.”

Container List or Summary of RBMVE-related Material:
Box 22, Folder 202: Notebook with father’s name on cover, but with “JWB’s Navaho Vocabulary for Rainbow Bridge Expedition”
Box 22, Folder 204: RBMV 1937 Expedition: RBMVE 1937 transcription; poster from Fowler RBMVE exhibition; flyer for Honoring the Dead publication; copy of portion of oral history by Watson Smith; Letters between JWB and Andy Christenson; letters between JWB and Ellen Horn University of Arizona staff; photocopy of Beals, Brainerd, and Smith 1945 publication; obituary of Brainerd from American Antiquity; hard copy reprint of Ansel Hall’s obituary from American Antiquity, Vol 29, no. 2 1963 by Watson Smith

Box 28, Folder 232: Correspondence: letters JWB himself and Beals; letters with JWB’s friend Stan

Box 48, Folder 475: Photo Binder “also possibly contains photos taken in Montreal, Canada and the American SW…”

Box 59, Folder 613: Draft of JWB Personal History with aid of Laura Cochrane. c. 2004
Box 59, Folder 623: “Black and White photographs [taken in the American Southwest during an Archaeological project?]:[ca. Late 1930s – early 1940s?].”
Box 59, Folder 627: “Photographs of JWBs early research expeditions taken in the American Southwest [as well as Illinois?]: ca. 1930s.”

Box 61, Folder 683: Negative of a photo of Tsegi Canyon: Date unknown.

Box 62, Folder 702: Photographs of JWB and others at an excavation site in [the American Southwest?]: [ca. Late 1930s?].

Box 80, Folder 1015: Docs pertaining to the 1937 RBMVE; folder 1: two audio cassette tapes of 1937 account; folder 2: transcription of 1937 account; folder 4: notes on Beals Monograph; Letter from Ellen Horn; folder 5: Letters between JWB and Watson Smith, Notebook containing JWB’s “black and white negatives of photographs of the RBMVE, contact prints with handwritten documentation, and [a] set of 46 5×7 black and white prints of the best negatives for [JWBs] records.”

Box 96: Box labeled “JWB[:] Early Archaeological Trips and Expeditions[:]…”: Binder, Archival box labeled, “JWB[:] Early Archeological Trips and Expeditions[:] Negative and Print File for 4×5 and 2 1/4 x 4 1/4 Negs.”
Box 141: Items removed from box because of flammability; 100 ft of 16mm Kodak Safety Film labeled “Rainbow Bridge”; 100 ft of 16mm Kodak Safety Film labeled “Rainbow Bridge color (flood)”

Box 147, Folder 1477: “Personal,” An Interview with John W. Bennett 1994

Box 158, Folder 1600: JWB’s letters and postcards to Amron Katz, 1935-1939
Box 158, Folder 1606: Letters between JWB and Ralph Beals

Box 159, Folder 1614: Letters from JWB and his parents

Box 160, Folder 1616: Letters from JWB to his parents, 1935-1940

Box 161, Folder 1625: Correspondence received by JWB 1932-1940