Call Number:

1156

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives

Extent:

2.5 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1960-1965 (bulk) and 1954-2003 (inclusive)

Creator:

Reina, Ruben E., 1924-

Form:

Manuscripts for publication and Photographs

Abstract:

Ruben Reina was born in 1924 in Argentina and educated at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His first appointment was as an Instructor of Anthropology and Sociology at Women's College at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Reina followed this teaching experience with an Assistant Professorship in Anthropology at the University of Puerto Rico for the academic year 1956-1957 and then assumed an Assistant Professorship in the Anthropology Department of the University of Pennsylvania. Ruben E. Reina's fieldwork began while he was an undergraduate with expeditions in the Guatemalan Highlands, Mexico, and a mountain community in North Carolina. Subsequent trips took him to Puerto Rico; Peten, Guatemala; British Honduras; the Yucatan; Argentina; Spain; Brazil; British Guiana; Turkey; Iran(Hasanlu expedition); and Antigua, Zunil, and Coban, Guatemala. Dr. Reina also did extensive ethnohistoric research at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville Spain. The Ruben E. Reina papers consist of two archival boxes of correspondence, field notes, writings, Penn Museum exhibits, photographs and films.

Dr. Ruben E. Reina, born in Argentina in 1924, received his B.A. at the University of Michigan and his M.A. at Michigan State University. He was awarded his Ph.D. by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of North Carolina and served as a Research Assistant at the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill from 1952 until 1954. His first appointment was as an Instructor of Anthropology and Sociology at Women's College at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Reina followed this teaching experience with an Assistant Professorship in Anthropology at the University of Puerto Rico for the academic year 1956-1957 and then assumed an Assistant Professorship in the Anthropology Department of the University of Pennsylvania.

During his tenure as Assistant Professor, Dr. Reina was also Assistant Curator, American Section, at the Penn Museum and Chairman of the Undergraduate Program in Anthropology at the University. He became a Professor in the Anthropology Department in 1967 and assumed the position of Curator of Latin American Ethnology, American Section of the Penn Museum.

Dr. Reina's fieldwork began while he was an undergraduate with expeditions in the Guatemalan Highlands, Mexico, and a mountain community in North Carolina. Subsequent trips took him to Puerto Rico; Peten, Guatemala; British Honduras; the Yucatan; Argentina; Spain; Brazil; British Guiana; Turkey; Iran(Hasanlu expedition); and Antigua, Zunil, and Coban, Guatemala. Dr. Reina also did extensive ethnohistoric research at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville Spain.

The Antigua, Guatemala expeditions were conducted in 1969 and 1970. The expeditions visited the sites of Las Capuchinas, Santo Domingo, San Francisco, Farington, La Colonia, El Manchen, Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda, Centro de la Iglesia, and others, producing artifacts, photographs, and extensive information about pottery creation, production and marketing in the area. Dr. Reina explored the pottery works of the Monteil family, a pottery making dynasty in Antigua.

Reina began publishing his work in 1954. His books include,

The Law of the Saints: A Pokomam Pueblo and Its Community Culture, published by Bobbs-Merrill and, with Robert M. Hill, III, The Traditional Pottery of Guatemala, published by the University of Texas Press. Dr. Reina has received numerous grants to continue his research, most notably from the DiNella Foundation, the Natural Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Philosophical Society.

Dr. Reina was named Curator Emeritus of Ethnology in the American Section of the Penn Museum in 1990, following 34 years as a Curator and Professor. He curated several exhibitions for the Museum including, The Gift of Birds: Featherwork of Native South American Peoples, in 1991. This exhibition explored "featherwork as a medium through which to examine the aesthetic, religious, and social values of the native South American peoples."

During his retirement, Dr. Reina accepted a post as Acting Curator for the North American Collections from 1993 to 1994.

Dr. Reina is also an artist, working in oils, watercolor, acrylic, and ink media. His work has been shown at the Darlington Fine Arts Center.

Ruben E. Reina's fieldwork began while he was an undergraduate with expeditions in the Guatemalan Highlands, Mexico, and a mountain community in North Carolina. Subsequent trips took him to Puerto Rico; Peten, Guatemala; British Honduras; the Yucatan; Argentina; Spain; Brazil; British Guiana; Turkey; Iran(Hasanlu expedition); and Antigua, Zunil, and Coban, Guatemala. Dr. Reina also did extensive ethnohistoric research at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville Spain.

The Antigua, Guatemala expeditions were conducted in 1969 and 1970. The expeditions visited the sites of Las Capuchinas, Santo Domingo, San Francisco, Farington, La Colonia, El Manchen, Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda, Centro de la Iglesia, and others, producing artifacts, photographs, and extensive information about pottery creation, production and marketing in the area. Dr. Reina explored the pottery works of the Monteil family, a pottery making dynasty in Antigua.

Reina began publishing his work in 1954. His books include,

The Law of the Saints: A Pokomam Pueblo and Its Community Culture, published by Bobbs-Merrill and, with Robert M. Hill, III, The Traditional Pottery of Guatemala, published by the University of Texas Press. Dr. Reina has received numerous grants to continue his research, most notably from the DiNella Foundation, the Natural Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Philosophical Society.

The Ruben E. Reina papers are in two archival storage boxes. Included in this collection is correspondence, field notes, writings, exhibits for the Penn Museum, photographs and films. Notes on the films is placed with the writings.

Reina's correspondence fills one folder with additional letters placed in the Penn Museum series as grouped by the creator. Correspondents include Vivian Broman de Morales, Laura R. de Garcia Prendes, Enrique Novella, Francis E, Johnston and Robert R, Dyson spanning the years 1976 to 2003.

The field notes represent observations during expeditions to Guatemala in English and Spanish. They reflect the daily life, rituals, people, farming and language of San Jose and Flores, Guatemala. an unpublished manuscript "Recollections of the Peten" which includes representative photographs comprises the Writings series.

Dr. Reina's exhibits and trips for the Penn Museum comprise the series of the same name. Included are the Textile Exhibit, the Northwest Collection, and correspondence and receipts from Seville, Spain.

The largest series of the collection is devoted to photographs by Dr. Reina depicting daily life and pottery making in Argentina, Guatemala and Antigua. Most photographs are black and white and 8" by 10" in size.