Richard O. Marsh papers
name: label: Creator
content: Marsh, Richard O. (Richard Oglesby), 1883-1953
place: label: Place
content: Darien (Panama : Province)
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Marsh papers were donated to the archives by Richard O. Marsh, Jr. in 1997.
creator: label: Creator
content: Marsh, Richard O. (Richard Oglesby), 1883-1953
culture: label: Culture
content: Guna (Kuna)
abstract: label: Summary
content: Richard Oglesby Marsh (1883–1953) was an engineer, American diplomat and amateur ethnologist who participated in several engineering and ethnological expeditions to Panama. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and Human Rights of the Tule People of San Blas and the Darien and was the author of White Indians of Darien and several popular articles on Panama.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Richard O. Marsh (1883-1953) was an engineer, U.S. State Department employee, and ethnologist who made numerous engineering and scientific expeditions around the world. He was the author of The White Indians of Darien [c1934]. The Marsh-Darien expedition of 1924-1925, the focus of this collection, was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution together with the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Rochester, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, the Military Intelligence Division of the U.S. Army, the Canal Zone administration, and the government of Panama.

Chronology

1883 -- Born in Illinois

1901 -- Enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1903 -- Employed by the Army Corps of Engineers in Texas

1905 -- Enrolled in the University of Lausanne, Switzerland

1909 -- Married Helen Cleveland in September

1910 -- Appointed First Secretary of the U.S. legation in Panama in April

1912 -- Secretary, American Embassy, St. Petersburg, Russia

1915 -- Elected mayor of Warsaw, Illinois

1923 -- Returned to Panama as employee of engineer George Goethals in June

1924 -- Headed Marsh-Darien expedition to Panama in January

1925 -- Returned to San Blas, Panama Published "Blond Indians of the Darien Jungle" in The World's Work

1931 -- Traveled to Nicaragua

1933-1935 -- Public Works Administration

1934 -- Published White Indians of Darien (New York: Putnam)

1935-1939 -- Chief engineer, Land Utilization Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture

1941 -- Reconnaissance engineer, U.S. Military, North Africa, in December

1949-1952 -- State Road Department, Florida

1953 -- Died, Vero Beach, Florida, on September 4
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 7 Linear feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1923-1994
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.1997-18
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Marsh Darien expedition of 1924-1925, the focus of this collection, was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution together with the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Rochester, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, the Military Intelligence Division of the U.S. Army, the Canal Zone administration, and the government of Panama. Expedition members included John L. Baer (Smithsonian Institution ethnologist), Paul Benton (Rochester Times-Union reporter), Charles M. Breder, Jr. (New York Aquarium biologist), Raoul Brin (botanist), Charles Charlton (Pathé News cinematographer), Herman L. Fairchild (University of Rochester emeritus geologist), Harry Johnson (taxadermist) Omer Malsbury (Canal Zone Administration), Lieut. Glen Townsend (U.S. Army) and Francisco Pinzón, the expedition cook.

The Marsh Papers include diaries, photographs, correspondence, maps, articles in draft and published form, and miscellaneous papers, chiefly relating to Marsh's experiences as leader of the Marsh Darien expedition to Panama in 1924-1925 and his contacts with the Kuna (also known as Tule). The collection also features materials on the negotiations that took place on the U.S.S. Cleveland with representatives of the U.S. and Panamanian governments and the Kuna Indians during the Kuna uprising of 1925, in which Marsh served as a mediator.

Correspondents include Marsh's wife, Helen Louise Cleveland Marsh; his son Richard O. Marsh, Jr.; and C.L.G. Anderson.

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: Additional material relating to the Marsh Darien Expedition is included in MS 4550 in the National Anthropological Archives. Additional Marsh correspondence is contained in the Aleš Hrdlicka papers. On Marsh's adventures in Panama, see James Howe, A People Who Would Not Kneel: Panama, the United States, and the San Blas Kuna (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998).