Donald J. Ortner Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Ortner, Donald J.
label: Names
content: Paleopathology Association
label: Names
content: Smithsonian Institution Department of Anthroplogy
label: Names
content: University of Bradford
label: Names
content: Frohlich, Bruno, 1945-
label: Names
content: Putschar, Walter G. J., 1904-1987
place: label: Place
content: Virginia
label: Place
content: England
label: Place
content: Jordan
label: Place
content: Peru
topic: label: Topic
content: Anthropologists -- United States
label: Topic
content: Archaeology
label: Topic
content: Human remains (Archaeology)
label: Topic
content: Excavations (Archaeology) -- Middle East
label: Topic
content: Scurvy
label: Topic
content: Leprosy -- Research
label: Topic
content: Physical anthropology
label: Topic
content: Bāb edh-Dhrā Site (Jordan)
label: Topic
content: Excavations (Archaeology) -- England
label: Topic
content: Forensic anthropology
label: Topic
content: Paleopathology
label: Topic
content: Bronze age
label: Topic
content: Chichester (England)
label: Topic
content: Diseases
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These papers were transferred to the NAA from the Department of Anthropology in 2014.
creator: label: Creator
content: Ortner, Donald J.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Donald J. Ortner Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Donald J. Ortner Papers, dated 1963 to 2013, document his research and professional activities while working in the Division of Physical Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. They primarily deal with his contributions to the field of paleopathology and his work with specimens from Bab edh-Dhra, Jordan and Chichester, England. The bulk of this collection consists of correspondence, files related to Ortner's publications, specimen observations and analysis, and photographs.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Donald J. Ortner was a biological anthropologist in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). By the time of his death, Ortner had served in many positions at the Museum, including Acting Director (1994-1996). His areas of expertise included human paleopathology, human health in medieval England, bioarcheology of the ancient Near East, and the history and evoluton of human infectious diseases. Ortner was a founding member of the Paleopathology Association. 

Ortner was born in 1938 in Stoneham, Massachusetts and arrived at the NMNH in 1963, working primarily with J. Lawrence Angel who had recently started as Curator in the Division of Physical Anthropology. While working at the Museum, Ortner completed his Master's in Anthropology in 1967 and received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1970. His doctoral dissertation was on The Effects of Aging and Disease on the Micromorphology of Human Compact Bone. 

Ortner worked with Walter G. J. Putschar, a pathologist based at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, on a series of short-courses (1971-1974) on paleopathology at the Smithsonian. During the summer of 1974, Putschar and Ortner traveled to Europe (London, Edinburgh, Zurich, Strasbourg, Vienna, Prague) studying and photographing examples of skeletal pathology in museums and other repositories. The result of this research was the book Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains published in 1981, with later editions in 1985 and 2003. 

In 1977, Ortner joined the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain directed by archaeologists Walter E. Rast and R. Thomas Schaub, focusing on the site of Bab edh-Dhra. Ortner studied the tombs and skeletons for data indicating cultural and biological changes, especially urbanization and connection to the development of other "Western civilizations." Ortner participated in two more field seasons in Bab edh-Dhra in 1979 and 1981. From his research at Bab-edh-Dhra, Ortner published many scholarly articles and recreated two tombs for the Hall of Western Civilization at NMNH. 

In 1988, Ortner began his collaboration with the University of Bradford in Bradford, England, teaching short-courses on paleopathology. While a Visiting Professor at the University, he also participated in a project on human health and disease in Medieval England. The project focused on leprosy and syphilis in skeletons from St. James Hospital's leprosarium cemetery in Chichester, Wharram Perry, and Magistrates' Court in Kingston-upon-Hull. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University in 1995.

Donald J. Ortner died on April 29th, 2012 in Maryland. 

Sources consulted:

Ubelaker, D. H. "Obituary: Donald J. Ortner (1938–2012)." American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 149 (2012): 155–156.

Arnoldi, Mary Jo and Ann Kaupp. "Donald J. Ortner, Sr. (1939-2012)." Anthropolog: Newsletter of the Department of Anthropology, Spring 2012: 1-3.

Chronology

1938 -- Born on August 23 in Stoneham, Massachusetts.

1960 -- Received B.A. in Zoology from Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland. 

1963 -- Began working at the Smithsonian Institution.

1967 -- Received M.A. in Anthropology from Syracuse University. 

1969 -- Promoted to Assistant Curator.

1970 -- Received Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.

1971   -- Promoted to Associate Curator.

1971-1975   -- Taught part-time at the University of Maryland.

1974 -- Spent summer with Dr. Walter G. J. Putschar studying pathological specimens in Europe. 

1976 -- Promoted to Curator in the Anthropology Department, National Museum of Natural History. 

1977   -- First field season at Bab edh-Dhra cemetery site in Jordan.

1979 -- Second field season at Bab edh-Dhra cemetery site in Jordan. 

1981 -- Third field season at Bab edh-Dhra cemetery site in Jordan.

1988 -- Began association with the University of Bradford in Bradford, England. 

1988-1992   -- Chairman of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History.

1994-1996  -- Acting Director of the National Museum of Natural History.

1995 -- Awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the University of Bradford. 

1999-2001  --  President of the Paleopathology Association.

2005 -- Received Eve Cockburn Award from the Paleopathology Association in recognition of his contributions in the field of paleopathology.

2012 -- Died on April 29 in Maryland.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 44.37 Linear feet (96 boxes, 3 map-folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1963-2013
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.2014-07
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Maps
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
label: Type
content: Negatives (photographic)
label: Type
content: Manuscripts
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Correspondence
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is arranged in 8 series: Series 1. Correspondence, 1966-2012; Series 2. Subject files, 1965-2013, undated; Series 3. Near Eastern Skeletal Biology Program, 1977-2010, undated; Series 4. Medieval Skeletal Disease Project, 1988-2006, undated; Series 5. Other publications, projects, and research, 1963-2011, undated; Series 6. Professional activities, 1971-2007, undated; Series 7. Biographical and office files, 1963-2011, undated; Series 8. Artwork, 1978, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Overall, Ortner's original organization has been maintained. Some series and subseries were created to call out Ortner's larger projects and to make the collection easier to navigate. Materials within folders retain Ortner's original order, but folder titles have been changed where the original title was abbreviated or not fully descriptive of the contents. The processing archivist rehoused the materials; removed and copied sticky notes; separated oversize and restricted materials; and rehoused negatives, slides, and some photographs. 

Processed and encoded by Alice Griffin, 2016.
bibliography: label: Selected Bibliography
content: 1976 with R. S. Corruccini. "Skeletal Biology of Virginia Indians."  -- American Journal of Physical Anthropology -- , 45(3): 717-722.

1979. "Disease and Mortality in the Early Bronze-Age People of Bab-Edh-Dhra, Jordan."  -- American Journal of Physical Anthropology -- , 51(4): 589-597.

1981 with Walter G. J. Putschar. "Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains."  -- Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology -- , no. 28. 

1982 with Bruno Frohlich. "Excavations of the Early Bronze Age Cemetery at Bâb edh-Dhrâ, Jordan, 1981: A Preliminary Report."  -- Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan -- , 1982: 249-67.

1983. "Biocultural Interaction in Human Adaptation." In  --  How Humans Adapt: A Biocultural Odyssey -- , edited by Donald J. Ortner, 127-145. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

1987. "Archaeological Evidence of Polyarticular Inflammatory Arthritides in North America." In  -- Art, History and Antiquity of Rheumatic Diseases -- , edited by Thierry Appelboom, 92-96. Brussels: Elsevier Librico. 

1992 with Noreen C. Tuross and A. I. Stix. "New Approaches to the Study of Disease in Archaeological New-World Populations."  -- Human Biology -- , 64(3): 337-360.

1994. "Descriptive methodology in paleopathology." In Skeletal biology in the Great Plains, edited by D. Owsley and R. Jantz, 73-80. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

1997 with M. F. Erickson. "Bone changes in the human skull probably resulting from scurvy in infancy and childhood."  -- International Journal of Osteoarchaeology -- , 7(3): 212-220.

1999 with E. H. Kimmerle and M. Diez. "Probable evidence of scurvy in subadults from archeological sites in Peru."  -- American Journal of Physical Anthropology -- , 108(3): 321-331.

2003.  -- Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains -- . 2nd ed. Academic Press.

2008 with Bruno Frohlich.  -- The Early Bronze Age I Tombs and Burials of Bab edh-Dhra, Jordan -- . Vol. 3,  -- Reports of the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain, Jordan Volume 3 -- . New York: AltaMira Press. 

2011. "What skeletons tell us. The story of human paleopathology."  -- Virchows Archiv -- , 459(3): 247-254.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Maps
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Slides (photographs)
label: Genre/Form
content: Negatives (photographic)
label: Genre/Form
content: Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Donald J. Ortner Papers primarily document his projects, research, and correspondence working as a biological anthropologist in the Division of Physical Anthropology of the Department of Anthropology from 1963 until his death in 2012. The bulk of the projects represented relate to his work in paleopathology, such as the Near Eastern skeletal biology program in Jordan and the medieval skeletal disease project in England. The collection consists of notes, research materials, correspondence, data and data analysis, transcripts of specimen observations, maps, blueprints, artwork, negatives, slides, photographs, CD-Roms, floppy discs, and sound cassettes.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The following photo lots depicting Donald J. Ortner can be found at the NAA:

Photo Lot 7D: Photograph of attendees after American Anthropological Association annual meeting, 1965

Photo Lot 7A: Portraits made at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, 1970

Photo Lot 77-45: Photograph of Smithsonian Institution physical anthropologists, circa 1977

Photo Lot 4822: Division of Physical Anthropology collection of photographs of physical anthropologists, undated

Sound recordings of Donald J. Ortner at the NAA:

John Lawrence Angel Papers, Sound Recordings, "How Humans Adapt: A Biocultural Odyssey," November 9, 1981

Other collections at the NAA in which Donald J. Ortner is a correspondent or creator of material:

Records of the Department of Anthropology, 1877-1980

Department of Anthropology Annual Reports, 1920-1983

John Lawrence Angel Papers, 1930s-1980s

Three films that document Ortner's work in Bab edh-Dhra are located in the Human Studies Film Archives (HSFA):

Film number 2000.9.1, The Bones of Bab edh-Dhra, ca.  1970s

Film number 2000.9.3, Bab edh-Dhra Film Project, 1970-1980

Film number 2014.3, City of the Dead, 1978

The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds the original City of the Dead in Accession 05-282, Office of Telecommunications, Productions.