Robert King Harris and Inus Marie Harris papers
name: label: Creator
content: Harris, Robert King, 1912-1980
label: Creator
content: Harris, Inus Marie, 1912-2006
place: label: Place
content: North America
label: Place
content: Texas -- American Indians
label: Place
content: Texas -- Historic sites
label: Place
content: Texas
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
label: Topic
content: Archaeology -- Texas
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Received from Mrs. Inus Marie Harris in 1983.
creator: label: Creator
content: Harris, Robert King, 1912-1980
label: Creator
content: Harris, Inus Marie, 1912-2006
setName: label: See more items in
content: Robert King Harris and Inus Marie Harris papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of Robert King Harris and Inus Marie Harris,  circa 1909-circa 1981, primarily document the work of amateur archaeologists and spouses Robert King Harris (1912-1981) and Inus Marie Harris (1912-2006) and their collaborators at sites located in Texas as well as other localities in the southern United States. The collection consists of field notes, site reports, data and analysis, manuscript drafts, publications, correspondence, genealogical material, illustrations and maps, photographic prints, negatives, slides, and sound recordings.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: By vocation, Robert (R.) King Harris was a locomotive engineer who worked for the Texas Pacific Railroad Company. By avocation, he was an archeologist with a long-time scientific interest in the work. Harris first developed an interest in archeology as a young boy scout in his native Dallas, Texas. During the 1930s, he became a member of the Texas Archaeological and Paleontological Society and also began to meet informally with other amateur archeologists in Dallas. In 1940, he was one of the founders of the Dallas Archaeological Society and served that organization for many years as the editor of its publication "The Record." In 1939-1941, he was a curator at the Hall of State Museum of the Dallas Historical Society; and in 1966, after his retirement, he assumed duties as the curator of collections of the Department of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University. For many years, he was also an active participant with the series of Caddoan Conferences. In these activities and his archeological work, Harris worked closely with his wife, Inus Marie Harris. As an archeologist, Harris carried out many archeological surveys in Texas and nearby Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In 1941, under the sponsorship of the Dallas Archaeological Society, which he co-founded with INus Marie Harris, he was field foreman of an excavation of burial sites below White Rock Spillway in Dallas County and an excavation of another burial site at the Ragland site on the East Fork of the Trinity River. Again, in 1946, he was field foreman for the excavation of a house site at Bulter Hole site in Collin County, Texas. In 1948-1949, he assisted with the Smithsonian Institution River Basin Survey's work in Whitney, Lavon, and Garza-Little Elm reservoirs. In 1954, he joined Wilson W. Crook in test excavations at the Louis Obschner site near Seagoville and, in 1956, at the well-known Lewisville site in Denton County. He also participated in 1959 in excavations at the Branch site in Lavon Reservoir and, in 1960, directed excavations of a shelter at the Kyle site and the Pearson site in the Iron Bridge Reservoir. In 1962, he worked at the Gilbert site in Rains County, and in 1963, led a survey of Forney Reservoir. In 1965, he was involved in excavations at Glenn Hill site in the same reservoir. In the 1960s and 1970s, Harris also carried out studies of artifacts relating to French trade with Caddoan peoples. Harris was also interested in the travels of early explorers in northeastern Texas including Francisco de Soto and Benard de la Harpe.

Inus Marie Bell Harris (1912-2006) similarly was an avocational archaeologist along with her collaborator and husband, Robert King Harris. Together, Robert King and Inus Marie Harris co-founded the Dallas Archaeological Society along with other local archaeologists in 1936. Inus published several articles (both with Robert King Harris and alone) on topics relating to archaeology and material culture of Texas and its environs. She also contributed to a genaeological volume titled "The Clem Family: 1765-1976" (Falcon Printing Company, 1976). Inus Marie Harris died on April 10, 2006.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 26.5 Linear feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1909-circa 1981
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.1983-27
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged into 13 series: (1) Biographical material, papers about the Harris collection, and personal material, 1963-1980; (2) correspondence, circa 1964 1979; (3) alphabetical subject file, 1963-1981, undated; (4) manuscripts (by Harris and other authors), circa 1960-1978, undated; (5) Texas archeological survey sheets in notebooks, undated; (6) loose survey sheets, 1936-1971, undated; (7) miscellaneous notes, undated; (8) sound recordings, 1975-1981; (9) printed and processed material, 1932-1981; (10) Clem family papers (concerning its early days in Texas), circa 1909-1976; (11) railroad material, 1919-1964; (12) cartographic material (archeological, historical, modern maps of Texas, maps of Texas counties (many annotated to show archeological sites), Texas geological maps, miscellaneous maps outside Texas, United States Geological Survey maps, United States Geological Survey and United States Army Corps of Engineer maps annotated to show archeological sites, maps of dams and reservoirs, aerial photographs of a section of Red River, 1915-1975, undated; and (13) photographs and illustrations, 1935-1981, undated.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was initially processed into a folder-level inventory by Norine Carroll in 2006. From 2022-2023, Molly Kamph re-processed the collection following the previous inventory.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The material of the collection relates to a large collection of archeological specimens which Harris began in 1924 and developed into a 100,000-piece amassment. The collection, ranging in time from the paleoIndigenous to the historic, in part represents Harris's own field work but also incorporates material of other workers. It includes material from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, and Montana. It also includes pieces from Bolivia, Central America, Mexico, and Korea. The material is now among the holdings of the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History (see Related Materials). 

Correspondents include Robert Eugene Bell, Jay C. Blaine, Katy Caver, Claire C. Davison, Robert O. Fay, Dan L. Flores, Jon L. Gibson, Vance Haynes, Lawrence H. Head, Robert Fleming Heizer, Thomas R. Hester, Marsha F. Jackson, Jerome Jacobson, Dan Jank, William K. Jones, Morton B. King, Alex Dony Krieger, Truett Latimer, Robert K. Liu, John Ludwickson, William S. Marmaduke, Roger McVay, K. R. Morgan, Dan F. Morse, Hermes Nye, Dorris L. Olds, Gregory Perino, Stephen Schmidt, Dan Scurlock, S. Alan Skinner, Len Slesick, Robert Lloyd Stephenson, Byron Sudbury, Helen Hornbeck Tanner, Lonn W. Taylor, Ted Thygesen, Marvin E. Tong, Jr., Clarence H. Webb, Mildred Mott Wedel, Frank A. Weir, Fred Wendorf, James H. Word, and Don G. Wyckoff. The collection also includes some material about the family of Inus Marie Harris and their early days in Texas.

Please note that the collection contains images of human remains.

Please also 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: The National Anthropological Archives holds MS 1998-28 Catalog of artifact photographs and descriptions from the R.K. Harris collections.

The Human Studies Film Archives holds the Robert King Harris films (HSFA.1992.07).

The National Museum of Natural History Department of Anthropology holds a collection of artifacts donated by Robert King Harris in accession 350434. 

Southern Methodist University's Fondren Library holds the "The Record, Dallas Archeological Society" collection, which contains many publications written by Robert King Harris and Inus Marie Harris.