J. Lawrence Angel was educated in the classics in his native England and at The Choate School in Connecticut. He studied anthropology at Harvard University (A.B., 1936; Ph.D., 1942). He was an instructor at the University of California at Berkeley in 1941-1942 and at the University of Minnesota in 1942-1943. In 1943-1962, he was on the staff of the Daniel Baugh Institute of Anatomy at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, starting as an assistant and rsising to a professor. In 1962, he became the curator for physical anthropology in the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Anthropology and continued in that position until he died. Angel was also a research associate with the University Museum of the University of of Pennsylvania, 1946-1962; civil consultant in surgical anatomy of the United States Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, 1957-1962; visiting professor of anatomy, Howard University, 1962-1986; and professorial lecturer at the George Washington University, 1962-1986. He was also a lecturer in forensic pathology at the department of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, and visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley in 1962.
Angel summarized his research interests as (1) human social biology, involving the "interrrelations of health, disease, body build, longevity, genetic mixture and variability with each other, with climate and ecology, and with level of culture, nutrition and achievement as seen in history, in evolution, or clinically"; (2) palaeodemography as related to the rise and decline of disease (falciparum malaria)"; and (3) "relation of structure to function and to genetic determinants as seen in form of joints and in density, mineral historology and muscularity of bones, or in process of 'arthritic' change in relation to aging."
The single most enduring interest in Angel's career was the pre- and proto-history of the population of Greece and nearby areas of the eastern Mediterranean. Beginning in 1937, Angel made repeated trips to the region, only highlights of which are provided here. In 1938, he studied skeletal material from Troy which W.T. Semple, of the University of Cincinnati had deposited in the Archaeological Museum at Istanbul. In 1938, he studied skeletal material mostly excavated in the area of Corinth. He worked at the Cyprus Museum in 1949, studying skulls from Vasa and skeletal material from Bamboula. During that year, he also studied living people at a Cypriote village. In 1952, he worked with Carleton S. Coon on skeletal material from Hotu Cave. In 1954, he studied materials from the Agora excavations and from Eleusis. During the same year, he also visited the British Museum and many sites in Greece studying Myceanean skeletons excavated by George E. Mylonas, John Papadimitrious, and A.J.B. Wace. In 1954, he again studied skeletal material excavated at Bamboula and, in 1957, skeletons from Eleusis. In 1965, he studied human bones from twenty-two sites in Greece and Turkey that dated from the paleolithic to moderntimes, including material from a Bryan Mawr College excavation at Elmali, an excavation at Karatas-Semeyuk in Lycia, and collections in the Archaeological Museum of Ankara and in the museum at Verroia in Macedonia. In 1969, he worked on material from Kephala, and in 1972, skeletons from Asine in Greece. In 1984, he studied upper paleolithic skeletons from Wadi Kubbaniya.
Angel also carried out work on American populations--prehistoric, historic, and contemporary. In 1944, he worked on skeletal remains from excavations at Tranquillity, California, that were deposited in the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania and in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley. In the same year, he was one of several researchers involved in an endocrinological, anthropological, and psychological study ofobesity initiatec by the Jefferson School of Medicine.
The first hase of the study lasted until 1948 and was followed by restudy of the subjects in 1954-1957. Around 1959-1961, with Carl Seltzer, he was involved in a study of the relation between constitution and health of students at Harvard University and Johns Hopkins Unviersity, Angel primarily taking care of the work in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he studied skeletal material from Matin's Hundred and other sites of colonia Virginia which resulted, in part, in comparisons with the modern American population. In the 1980s, with Jennifer O. Kelly, he worked on skeletons of African American slaves from Catoctin Furnace, Maryland, and on remains of free African American from the First African Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
Angle was highly regarded for his keen seight and other senses which he used with great effect in examining human remains. Consequently, he was frequently sought as a consultant and regularly carried out forensic work for the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement authorities. In addition, military authorities, archeologists involved in both the study of history and prehistory, and museum people sent him specimens for examination. At the Smithsonian, he not only used and improved the excellent skeletal collection, he had the opportunity to exmaine the bones of Smithsonian benefactor James Smithson and was involved ine arly studies connected with the return of American Indian skeltal materials to appropriate receipents.
Active with several professional organizations, Angel was president of the Philadelphia Anthropological Society in 1956-1958 and associate editor of the American Anthropologist. In 1952-1956, he was the secretary-treasurer of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and, in 1959-1960, vice president of that organization. In 1952-1956, he was an association editor of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. He was president of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology in 1980-1985. For his active professional life, he received the Pomerance Medal of the Archaeological Institute of American in 1983 and the distinguished service medal of the American Anthropological Association in 1986.
(1) Miscellaneous personal papers, 1933-1986; (2) correspondence, 1936-1986; (3) research in the eastern Mediterranean, 1936-1986; (4) anthropology of chronic disease, 1943-1965; (5) Harvard University-Johns Hopkins University Hospital anthropology study, 1959-1964; (6) five generation study, 1962-1985; (7) skull thickness project, 1968-1976; (8) biological and cultureal microdifferential among rural populations of Yugoslavia, 1981-1986; (9) First African Baptist Church, Philadelphia, 1983-1987; (10) other research projects (bone density change, Catoctin Furnace site, Virginia colonial sites), 1945-1986; (11) education, 1940-1986; (12) legal matters, 1962-1986; (13) reference materials, 1930-1986; (14) writing of J. Lawrence Angel, 1932-1988; (15) Smithsonian Department of Anthropology, Division of Physical Anthropology, 1961-1968; (16) professional organizations and meetings, 1942-1987; (17) writings by other authors, 1950-1985; (18) grants, 1951-1962; (19) miscellany, 1937-1985; (20) photographs, 1936-1986
The John Lawrence Angel papers are open for research. Access to some materials is restricted to maintain privacy or confidentiality.
Access to the John Lawrence Angel papers requires an appointment.
Angel began his undergraduate studies at Harvard University in the classics, following in the footsteps of his American mother (who trained as a classicist and was the daughter of a Yale University professor of Greek) and his British father, who was a sculptor. While still an undergraduate, Angel came under the influence of Clyde Kluckhohn, Carleton S. Coon, and Earnest A. Hooton, and his interest turned to anthropology. The combination of anatomy and classicist training developed into a life-long interest and work in the social biology of the peoples of Greece and the Near East.
In addition to his work in Greece and the Near East, the papers include Angel's studies of American populations of colonial peoples and slaves; his forensic anthropology analyses of skeletal remains for law enforcement groups and the United States military; his studies of obesity and other diseases and the possible genetic link behind them; Angel's analysis of the skeletal remains of James Smithson; his involvement in early reburial issues concerning American Indians, particularly the return of the remains of Captain Jack and other Modocs; and Angel's concern and involvement in civil liberty matters and in community affairs.
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.
Additional materials in the National Anthropological Archives relating to Angel are in the papers of Marcus Solomon Goldstein, Raoul Weston LaBarre, and Waldo Rudolph and Mildred Mott Wedel; the records of the American Anthropological Association, the Central States Anthropological Society, the River Basin Surveys, and the Department of Anthropology of the United States National Museum/National Museum of Natural History; Photographic Lots 7D (photograph taken at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association at Denver in 1965) and 77-45 (group portrait of Smithsonian physical anthropologists); and MS 4822 (photographs of anthropologists in the Division of Physical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology of the United States National Museum/National Museum of Natural History). There are also materials on Angel in the non-archival reference file maintained by the NAA. The names used for ethnic groups were selected to maintain consistency among the archival holdings and are used without regard to modern preferences.
The majority of the Angel papers were arranged and foldered under subject headings when they were received. His arrangement was maintained for the bulk of the papers and the labels used for the new folders were usually taken from the original folder.
Angel contracted hepatitis following coronary by-pass surgery in 1982 and died of the effects four years later. His papers were obtained by the National Anthropological Archives shortly thereafter. Some papers were obtained as the result of a bequest by Angel's wife, Margaret. The papers date from 1930 to 1987.
John Lawrence Angel papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Contact the repository for terms of use.