Beloit College and Alonzo and Dorothy Pond collection
name: label: Creator
content: Pond, Alonzo W. (Alonzo William), 1894-1986
label: Creator
content: Beloit College
label: Creator
content: Pond, Dorothy L.
place: label: Place
content: Algeria
label: Place
content: Mimbres River Valley (N.M.)
label: Place
content: France
topic: label: Topic
content: Excavations (Archaeology)
label: Topic
content: Archeology -- New Mexico -- Mimbres Valley
label: Topic
content: Camels
label: Topic
content: Berbers
label: Topic
content: Mimbres culture
label: Topic
content: Fieldwork
label: Topic
content: Animal husbandry
label: Topic
content: Aurignacian culture
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The rolls of 35mm nitrate negatives were donated by Alonzo Pond (by way of the Wisconsin Historical Society, where they had been stored) and the rolls of 35mm prints (which were most likely used by Pond during his lectures) and all other films were donated by Beloit College.

Accession 1987.1.1, North Africa Prehistory Expedition, was donated by the University of Minnesota, Department of Anthropology.

The audio materials were recorded by the HSFA.
creator: label: Creator
content: Pond, Alonzo W. (Alonzo William), 1894-1986
label: Creator
content: Beloit College
label: Creator
content: Pond, Dorothy L.
culture: label: Culture
content: Kabyles
label: Culture
content: Tuaregs
setName: label: See more items in
content: Beloit College and Alonzo and Dorothy Pond collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Alonzo Pond was an archaeologist who worked for 6 years (1925-1931) as an Assistant Curator at the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College. This collection contains films and supplementary materials concerning the excavations that he led in Northern Africa, Algeria, and New Mexico while he served in this position.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note- Alonzo Pond
content: Alonzo W. Pond was born on June 18, 1894, in Janesville, Wisconsin. He received his B.S. at Beloit College in 1920 after taking two years off (1917-1919) to serve as an ambulance driver for the American Field Service in France during World War I. He was a member of the first class of the American School in Europe for Prehistory at the University of Paris (1921-1922). On his return to the United States, he began work on his M.A. at the University of Chicago. However, his studies were interupted when the Logan Museum of Anthropology sent him to Europe to purchase objects for their collection. He became an Associate Curator for the Logan Museum and, in that capacity, led three expeditions to Algeria and Northern Africa between 1925 and 1930. He received his M.A. from the University of Chicago in 1928. In addition to the expeditions that he led for the Logan Museum, he served as the archaeologist for Roy Chapman Andrews' third Asiatic Expedition in 1928 and led the Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition in 1933. During the Great Depression, he worked for the U.S. Park Service (1934-1935) as the archaeologist at Jamestown Island, Virginia, and Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, and for the Civilian Conservation Corps (1935-1937), acting as superintendent of the camp at Interstate Park, Wisconsin.

With his family, he developed and managed the newly discovered Cave of the Mounds in Wisconsin from 1940 to 1945. He then served as an information specialist with the Arctic, Desert, Tropic Information Center (ADTIC) at Maxwell Airforce Base in Alabama from 1949 to 1958. While with ADTIC, he was involved in 4 desert survival and reconnaissance flights in the Sahara (to Timbuktu) and Mid-East deserts. After his retirement, he and his family opened and operated the Wisonsin Gardens in Minocqua, Wisconsin.

Pond wrote popular and scientific articles on travel, archaeology, ethnology, geography and natural history in local, state, and national newspapers and magazines, especially Wisconsin Tales and Trails, the New York Times, Life Magazine, Natural History Magazine, and American Legion Magazine. His books include A Contribution to the Study of Prehistoric Man in Algeria (1928); Primitive Methods of Working Stone: Based on Experiments of H. L. Skavlem (1930); Interstate Park and Dalles of St. Croix (1936); Prehistoric Habitation Sites in Sahara and N. Africa (1937); Guide Book to Cave of the Mounds (1941); Limestone Caverns, an educational movie produced by Coronet Productions (1941); Afoot in the Desert (1951, Revised 1956); Climate and Weather in Central Gobi of Mongolia (1951, Revised 1954); Sun, Sand and Survival, a survival training film produced by U.S. Air Force (1954); The Survival Book (1959); The Desert World (1962); Deserts, Silent Lands of the World (1965); Caverns of the World (1968); Survival in Sun and Sand (1969); Andrews, Gobi Explorer (1972); Dr. Kate and the Million Penny Parades (1974); and Paul Bunyan's Cookbook (1977).

Pond died on December 25, 1986, in Minocqua, Wisconsin.

Sources Consulted

Register of the Alonzo W. and Dorothy L. Pond Papers, 1869-1989 (bulk 1913-1986), Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections. Accessed August 10, 2020. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00762

Chronology

1894 -- Born June 18 in Janesville, Wisconsin

1917-1919 -- Drove an ambulance for the American Field Service in France during World War I

1920 -- Received B.S. at Beloit College

1921-1922 -- Studied at the American School in Europe for Prehistory

1925-1931 -- Assistant Curator at Logan Museum of Anthropology

1925-1926 -- Led the Logan Sahara Expedition

1926 -- Married Dorothy Long on July 20

1926-1927 -- Led Logan African Expedition

1928 -- Received M.A. from University of Chicago Archaeologist with Roy Chapman Andrews' third Asiatic Expedition

1929-1930 -- Led Logan African Expedition

1933 -- Led Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition

1934-1935 -- Served as archaeologist for U.S. National Park Service at Jamestown Island, Virginia, and Mammoth Cave, Kentucky

1935-1937 -- Served as superintendent of Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Interstate Park, Wisconsin

1940-1945 -- Managed the Cave of the Mounds near Madison, Wisconsin

1949-1958 -- Worked as an information specialist with the Arctic, Desert, Tropic Information Center (ADTIC) at the Maxwell Airforce Base in Alabama

1958-1968 -- Owned and operated Wisconsin Gardens in Minocqua, Wisconsin with his wife

1986 -- Died at home on December 25 in Minocqua, Wisconsin
label: Biographical Note- Dorothy Pond
content: Dorothy Pond was born Dorothy Long in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, in 1900. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for Economics. Dorothy and Alonzo were pen pals on his 1925 expedition and married soon after his return. She served as the camp director on Beloit College's 1930 Algerian Expedition as well as on many other of Alonzo's excavations. Her account of her experiences in Algeria, If Women Have Courage: Among Shepherds, Sheiks, and Scientists in Algeria, was published posthumously in 2014. A manuscript draft of this is included in the collection.

Dorothy Pond died in November 1987 in Minocqua, Wisconsin.

Sources Consulted

Beloit Digital Archives. "Members of the Expedition." Beloit College's 1930 Expedition to Algeria. Accessed August 18, 2020. http://beloitdigitalarchives.com/cms/exhibits/show/1930-expedition/people

Higgins, Jim. "Dorothy L. Pond's 'If Women Have Courage' Recounts Wisconsinite's Adventure." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Accessed August 18, 2020. http://archive.jsonline.com/entertainment/books/dorothy-l-ponds-if-women-have-courage-recounts-wisconsinites-adventure-b99416733z1-287337471.html/

Chronology

1900 -- Born on August 26th in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

1926 -- Married Alonzo Pond on July 20

1930 -- Served as camp director for the Logan African Expedition

1958-1968 -- Owned and operated Wisconsin Gardens in Minocqua, Wisconsin, with her husband

1987 -- Died in November in Minocqua, Wisconsin
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 31 Film reels (circa 19,230 feet, 16mm and 35mm)
label: Extent
content: 0.63 Linear feet (2 boxes)
label: Extent
content: 19 Sound tapes (1/4" audio tape)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1922-circa 2003
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: HSFA.1982.05
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
label: Type
content: Sound tapes
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is arranged in 2 series: (1) Films, 1925-circa 1930; (2) Supplementary Materials, 1922-circa 2003
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by HSFA Staff

Encoded by Katherine Christensen, October 2020
bibliography: label: Selected Bibliography- Alonzo Pond
content: 1925.  -- Magdalenian carvings at Beloit College -- . Washington, D.C.: Archaeological Institute of America, 1925.

1928.  -- A Contribution to the Study of Prehistoric Man in Algeria, North Africa: Being a Description of Some Excavations in the Habitation Site at Mechta el Arbi, Constantine, Algeria -- . Logan Museum Bulletin vol. 1, no. 2. Beloit, Wisconsin: The Logan Museum, Beloit College, 1928.

1930.  -- Primitive Methods of Working Stone: Based on Experiments of Halvor L. Skavlem -- . Logan Museum Bulletin vol. 2, no. 1. Beloit, Wisconsin: The Logan Museum, Beloit College, 1930.

1938. With Louis Chapuis, Alfred S. Romer, and Frank C. Baker.  -- Prehistoric Habitation Sites in the Sahara and North Africa -- . Beloit, Wisconsin: The Logan Museum, Beloit College, 1938.

1962.  -- The Desert World -- . New York: T. Nelson, 1962.

1969.  -- Caverns of the World -- . New York: W.W. Norton, 1969.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This collection contains motion picture film and supplementary documents (audio recordings, correspondence, and manuscripts) relating primarily to the Beloit College/Logan Museum of Anthropology excavations in Northern Africa and Algeria led by Alonzo Pond. There are additional films relating to the Logan Museum's excavation in the Mimbres River Valley, New Mexico, and their purchase of an Aurignacian necklace.

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Reliving the Past: Alonzo Pond and the 1930 Logan African Expedition; George L. Waite "Desert Sheiks" lantern slides, 1930 (NAA.PhotoLot.2010-12 in SOVA); Alonzo W. and Dorothy L. Pond Papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society; George L. Waite collections at the Wisconsin State Historical Society; Alonzo W. Pond papers at Beloit College; Alonzo William Pond collection at the American Museum of Natural History Archives. Expeditionary objects are in the collection of the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College and The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.