Jerome R. Mintz papers
name: label: Creator
content: Mintz, Jerome R.
place: label: Place
content: Andalusia (Spain)
topic: label: Topic
content: Anarchism
label: Topic
content: Anthropology -- teaching
label: Topic
content: Hasidim -- Legends
label: Topic
content: Carnival -- Spain
label: Topic
content: Filmmakers
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This collection was donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Betty Mintz, wife of Jerome Mintz, in 2002.
creator: label: Creator
content: Mintz, Jerome R.
culture: label: Culture
content: Hopi Pueblo
label: Culture
content: Spaniards
label: Culture
content: Jews, Hasidic
setName: label: See more items in
content: Jerome R. Mintz papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Jerome R. Mintz Papers document his career as an educator and ethnographic filmmaker. Mintz's papers relate to his research in Andalusia, Spain, among the Hopi, and on Hasidism. The collection includes audio tapes, correspondence, notes, photographs, publications, and transcriptions. Mitnz's papers also feature course materials from the Jewish studies and anthropology classes he taught at Indiana University.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Jerome R. Mintz was born on March 29, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York. He received an A.B. (1952) in Comparative Literature and an M.A. (1955) in English literature from Brooklyn College. In 1961, he earned his Ph.D. in Folklore at Indiana University.  

As a doctoral student in 1959, he began studying New York's Hasidic community. He interviewed members of different Hasidic courts and collected and analyzed Hasidic tales.  This research formed the basis of his dissertation, which was expanded and published as The Legends of the Hasidim: an Introduction to Hasidic Culture and Oral Tradition in the New World (1968). He also published Hasidic People: A Place in the New World (1992), which is based on his study of social change within the Hasidic community. He received critical acclaim for the book and was honored with the National Jewish Book Award.

Mintz also received international recognition for his work in Andalusia, Spain. In 1965 he began studying Spanish anarchism, focusing on the events surrounding the 1933 uprising in the small rural town of Casas Viejas that resulted in the massacre of innocent villagers. Despite working in Casas Viejas, now Benalup-Casas Viejas, during the reign of Francisco Franco, Mintz was able to gain the trust and friendship of his informants, which included survivors of the failed anarchist uprising. Although much had been written about the event, his book The Anarchists of Casas Viejas (1982) is considered the most comprehensive account and the first to incorporate the perspectives of the campesinos involved. He also published Carnival Song and Society: Gossip, Sexuality, and Creativity in Andalusia (1997) and produced six ethnographic films on tradition and change in rural Andalusia. His films The Shoemaker and Pepe's Family (1980) received first place awards in the Modern Language Association Film Festival, and Romería: Day of the Virgin (1986) was honored by the Society for Visual Anthropology. In 2013, the city council of Benalup-Casas Viejas chose to posthumously honor Mintz for his contributions by renaming the city's cultural center after him. 

In addition to his research on the New York Hasidim and Andalusian campesinos, Mintz studied the oral traditions and history of the Hopi in Arizona. In 1962, in between his field work among the Hasidim, Mintz spent the summer on the Hopi reservation recording interviews with Hopi informants. He planned to analyze the ethnographic data, tales, and histories that he collected but ultimately did not publish on the subject.

Mintz spent most of his academic career at Indiana University. He began teaching at the university in 1962 and joined the anthropology faculty in 1966. He retired in 1995.

After a long battle with leukemia, Mintz passed away on November 22, 1997.

Sources Consulted

Bahloul, Joëlle. 1998. Jerome R. Mintz. Anthropology Newsletter, February.

Carnival NEH Grant, Series 4. Grants, Jerome R. Mintz Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

La casa de cultura de Benalup llevará el nombre de Jerome Mintz. Diario de Cadiz, February 2, 2013. http://www.diariodecadiz.es/article/ocio/1450991/la/casa/cultura/
benalup/llevara/nombre/jerome/mintz.html (accessed February 7, 2013).

Grants (APS and IU), Series 4. Grants, Jerome R. Mintz Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

1930 -- Born March 29 in Brooklyn, New York

1952 -- Earns A.B. from Brooklyn College

1955 -- Earns M.A. from Brooklyn College

1959-61 -- Conducts fieldwork in Hasidic community in New York

1961 -- Earns Ph.D. from Indiana University

1961-62 -- Instructor, Ohio State University

1995 -- Retired from Indiana University

1997 -- Died on November 22

1963 -- Conducts fieldwork in Hasidic community in New York

1964 -- Conducts fieldwork in Hasidic community in New York

1965-1966 -- Conducts fieldwork in Andalusia, Spain

1969-1971 -- Conducts fieldwork in Andalusia, Spain

1972-1978 -- Professor of Folklore and Anthropology, Indiana University

1973 -- Conducts summer fieldwork in Andalusia, Spain

1978 -- Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University

1980 -- His films The Shoemaker and Pepe's Family are awarded first place prizes at MLA Film Festival

1993 -- Received the National Jewish Book Award for Hasidic People: A Place in the New World

1962 -- Began teaching at Indiana University as an assistant professor Conducts fieldwork among Hopi on reservation in Northern Arizona
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 23 Cubic feet (20 linear feet (49 document boxes) plus 70 sound recordings and 10 floppy disks. Of the total extent, 2.5 inches (1 box) is restricted)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1960-1992
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.1998-72
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The papers of Jerome Mintz were received partially organized. The processing archivist kept existing groupings and arrangement and organized the collection into 10 series. The collection was rehoused in archival folders and boxes, and some of the photographs were sleeved in archival envelopes and slide protectors. Original folder titles were retained with titles assigned by the archivist placed within square brackets. Restricted materials were separated and replaced with notes indicating original and new locations. 

The processing archivist would like to thank Patricia McCloy for her assistance in processing the collection.
bibliography: label: Bibliography
content: 1968  -- Legends of the Hasidim, An Introduction to Hasidic Culture and Oral Tradition in the New World -- . Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press

1970  translated and edited with Dan Ben-Amos.  -- In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov -- . Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press

1982  -- The Anarchists of Casas Viejas -- . Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.

1992   -- Hasidic People: A Place in the New World -- . Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press

1997  -- Carnival Song and Society: Gossip, Sexuality, and Creativity in Andalusia -- . New York: Berg
label: Filmography
content: 1978  -- The Shoemaker -- . 16mm, b/w, 34 minutes

1978   -- Pepe's Family -- . 16 mm, b/w, 41 minutes

1986   -- Romería: Day of the Virgin -- . 16mm, color, 62 minutes

1987   -- Carnaval de Pueblo -- . 16mm, color, 65 minutes

1988   -- The Shepherd's Family -- . 16mm, b/w, 30 minutes

1988   -- Perico the Bowlmaker -- . 16mm, b/w, 30 minutes
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This collection consists of the professional papers of Jerome Mintz, documenting his work as an anthropologist, filmmaker, and professor. The collection contains his correspondence, research files, writings, photographs, sound recordings, grant applications, teaching files, and floppy disks.

A significant portion of the collection pertains to his work in Spain, particularly his research on the anarchist uprising in Casas Viejas. There are also materials related to his ethnographic films and his collection of song lyrics from carnivals held in Cadiz Province. His research on Hasidic tales and social change is also represented in this collection as well as interviews from his Hopi fieldwork.

His course files as a professor at Indiana University also form a sizable portion of the collection. He taught a wide range of courses within the folklore, Jewish studies, and anthropology department.

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.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Copies of Mintz's Spanish films and associated photos and sound recordings are at the Human Studies Film Archives. His original Spanish and Hopi sound recordings are at the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University, Bloomington.