Louise Marie Robbins papers
name: label: Creator
content: Robbins, Louise M.
place: label: Place
content: Tanzania
label: Place
content: Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)
label: Place
content: Laetoli Site (Tanzania)
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
label: Topic
content: Biological anthropology
label: Topic
content: footprints
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Received from the estate of Louise Robbins through Margaret Bushnell in 1988.
creator: label: Creator
content: Robbins, Louise M.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Louise Robbins was a physical anthropologist trained at Indiana University (M.A., 1963; Ph.D., 1968). She taught at the University of Kentucky, 1967-1971; Mississippi State University, 1971-1974, where she served as the coordinator for anthropology within the Department of Anthropology and Sociology; and at the University of North Carolina at Greenville from 1974 until her death.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 16.5 Linear feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1970 - circa 1980
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.1989-01
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is organized into 2 series: (1) Basic Footprint Data (including footprints and foot outlines, data forms and measurements, and morphological observations; footprint variations;  computer printout sheets; and  miscellany) and (2) Laetoli Material (including textual records; photographs; and slides).
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers are limited to material concerning Robbins's work on footprints. Included are documents resulting from her basic study that involved 550 American individuals and established the various measurements with which she worked. The papers consist of footprints, foot outlines, data forms, notes, and computer printouts. The provided much of the data included in Footprints: Collection, Analysis, and Interpretation, Springfield, Illinois, 1985. 

Robbins was also a student of prehistoric American populations and was interested in ancient footprints found at archeological sites. In 1978-1980, she joined Mary D. Leakey's expeditions to Laetoli, a northern Tanzanian site of early hominid remains estimated to be 3.6 million years old. The site also has many ancient footprint trails of several types of animals, including hominids and other primates, that have been preserved in volcanic ash. It was mainly the hominid footprints that Robbins studied, the results being reported in Leakey and John M. Harris's Laetoli: Pleistocene Site in Northern Tanzania, 1987. 

The second part of the papers consist of notes, charts, and photographs pertaining to the Laetoli footprints and related correspondence and drafts of Robbins's manuscript. The notes and photographs also include material relating to footprints of nonhominid primates and of other animals. Although the photographs mainly include the footprints, a few show general views, specimens, and members of the expeditions. A few of the photographs concern Olduvia rather than Laetoli.

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 National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.