Finding aid to the Dian Fossey papers

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2020-10-17

Finding aid written in English

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History

Young Library
4 Tyler Drive
Northampton, MA, 01063

specialcollections@smith.edu
https://libraries.smith.edu/special-collections/about/sophia-smith-collection-womens-history
 Finding aid to the Dian Fossey papers

Table Of Contents
Summary Information .............................................................................................................................. 3
Conditions Governing Access ............................................................................................................. 3
Biographical Note ............................................................................................................................... 3
Preferred Citation ................................................................................................................................ 3
Related Materials ................................................................................................................................. 3
Scope and Contents ............................................................................................................................. 4
Conditions Governing Use .................................................................................................................. 4
Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Immediate Source of Acquisition ........................................................................................................ 4
Administrative Information ...................................................................................................................... 4

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 Finding aid to the Dian Fossey papers

Summary Information

Repository: Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History

Source: Coil, Stacey
Source: Schwartzel, Betty
Creator: Fossey, Dian
Title: Dian Fossey papers
Identifier: SSC-MS-00386
Date: 1964-1990
Physical 0.5 linear feet (2 boxes.)
Description:
Language of English
Materials:
Container Box 1: [Barcode: 310183630351434] (Mixed Materials)
Information:

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith
College Special Collections.

Conditions Governing Access

Until we move into New Neilson in early 2021, collections are stored in multiple locations and may take
up to 48 hours to retrieve. Researchers are strongly encouraged to contact Special Collections
(specialcollections@smith.edu) at least a week in advance of any planned visits so that boxes may be
retrieved for them in a timely manner.

Biographical Note
Born in 1932 in San Francisco, Dian Fossey was raised by her well-to-do mother and step-father, Hazel
and Richard Price (her parents were divorced). Fossey studied animal husbandry at the University of
California at Davis for two years and graduated from San Jose State in 1955 with a degree in occupational
therapy. For eleven years, she worked in a children's hospital in Louisville, KY. In 1963, she went to
Africa, and by 1966, she lived there permanently. She became Louis Leakey's"gorilla girl,"and eventually
was sponsored by the National Geographic Society, setting up camp in Zaire (then the Congo) and later
Rwanda. She worked on a Ph.D. at Cambridge in the 1970s. She fought poachers in and around her base
camp, Karisohe, and amidst increasingly tense relations between the local tribe and Fossey regarding the
mountain gorillas, on Christmas Eve of 1985, she was found murdered. The case was never solved.

Preferred Citation
Dian Fossey papers, Sophia Smith Collection, SSC-MS-00386, Smith College Special Collections,
Northampton, Mass.

Related Materials
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 Finding aid to the Dian Fossey papers

Dian Fossey Archives at Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Atlanta. Additioal papers at McMaster
University Libraries, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The records of the Digit Fund are in Colorado.

Scope and Contents

The Dian Fossey Papers include personal correspondence; legal, financial, and medical records as well as
published articles by and about Fossey.

Conditions Governing Use

To the extent that she owns copyright, Betty Schwartzel has assigned the copyright in her works to Smith
College; however, copyright in other items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. For
reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no
permission to cite or publish is required. For instances which may regard materials in the collection not
created by Betty Schwartzel, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials'
copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith
College Special Collections to move forward with their use.

Overview
The collection documents the professional and personal life of Dian Fossey, a scientist studying gorillas
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire).

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated to the Smith College Special Collections in 1999 by Betty Schwartzel.

Administrative Information

Publication Statement
Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History

Young Library
4 Tyler Drive
Northampton, MA, 01063

specialcollections@smith.edu
https://libraries.smith.edu/special-collections/about/sophia-smith-collection-womens-history

Controlled Access Headings

Apes -- Behavior -- Research
Fossey, Dian
Galdihas, Birute Marija Filomena
Goodall, Jane
Gorillas -- Behavior
Mammals -- Behavior
Medical records
Primatologists -- United States

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 Finding aid to the Dian Fossey papers

Women in higher education

Women in science
Women primatologists -- United States
Women scientists -- United States
articles
correspondence
financial records
legal documents

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