Cuneiform Tablet Collection
 

Arrangement and Content

Restrictions

Subject Terms

Related Material

Administrative Information

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Collection Summary 

Background

The South Dakota State University Archives & Hilton M. Briggs Library Special Collections Department was established in Hilton M. Briggs Library on the campus of South Dakota State University in the Fall of 1997. Prior to this, the archives was unorganized and became a resting place for many forgotten papers, photographs, publications, and artifacts.

When Elizabeth B. Scott, former archivist of SDSU Archives & Special Collections, and Crystal Gamradt, Staff Archivist, began sorting the numerous boxes, they discovered a small old, dusty box marked radioactive materials. After some discussion, they decided the box and its contents were most likely not radioactive. When they opened the box they discovered five clay Sumerian cuneiform tablets wrapped in tissue paper, complete with a translation. This translation is typewritten on a brittle, yellowed sheet of paper with the letterhead of Edgar J. Banks of Eustis, Florida. The translation dates the tablets at 2350-2000 BCE. It also included the signature of Edgar J. Banks. (The tablet have been tested by the SDSU Environmental Safety Office and were found to not be radioactive.)

The only record of how these tablets came to be in the archives at South Dakota State University was a letter dated Feb. 19, 1987 sent to Leon Raney, former library director, from Mark J. Halvorson, former Curator of Collections, SD Agricultural Heritage Museum.  The letter indicated that the translation was found in the files of Ralph Johnston, first curator of the museum. This letter also indicated that the cuneiform tablets belong to the library.

Crystal J. Gamradt began to research how these ancient antiquities came to reside at South Dakota State University, if other institutions in the state have cuneiform tablets in their possession, if these other institutions know how the tablets got there, and how these institutions are caring for their tablets.  In her research, she discovered that Edgar J. Banks was a dealer of artifacts. He was very active in the first few decades of the twentieth century and was responsible for most of the small cuneiform collections at universities, historical societies, seminaries, and museums throughout the United States. It was determined that the tablets came to South Dakota State College during the presidential term of Willis E. Johnson (1919-1923).  An index of sales transactions was discovered with the Edgar J. Banks Papers at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. There was a recorded transaction of a price quoted on the purchase Johnson made of $26.00.  The translation found with the tablets at SDSU Archives & Special Collections shows a total price of $18.00, an $8.00 difference.  A search was conducted of the University’s financial records, but no documentation was found that acknowledges either a purchase or a donation of cuneiform tablets.  This is a big assumption, but, since the purchase price is only eight dollars in difference, and the fact that Johnson was president of South Dakota State College at the time of his purchase, one can assume that Johnson is the source for the five cuneiform tablets in SDSU Archives & Special Collections.

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Arrangement and Content

This collection consists of five Sumerian Cuneiform Tablets, one Egyptian Tablet and research and manuscript material.

The Sumerian Cuneiform Tablets are approximately 1.5” x 1.5” in size. They are accompanied by a translation by Edgar J. Banks.

Little is know about the Egyptian Tablet, other than it is labeled as a prescription and was donated to the SD State Agricultural Heritage Museum by Daphne Serles and the tablet was originally owned by Dr. Earl Serles. The Museum transferred the tablet to SDSU Archives in 2003.

The manuscript and research material was created by Crystal J. Gamradt, Staff Archivist at SDSU Archives & Special Collection during her search for the tablets origin and how they came to reside at South Dakota State University. It consists on correspondence, clippings, collected research, CD-ROMS, Power Point Presentations about the tablets, and a manuscript for her paper, “FORGOTTEN PAST—Solving a mystery of forgotten antiquities and finding their significance to the present.”

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Restrictions

Use of Materials

Permission from the University Archivist is required to view the tablets.  The remainder of this collection is open to research without restriction.

Subject Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the subject guide. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the subject guide using these headings.

• Banks, Edgar James

• Cuneiform tablets—Egyptian.

• Cuneiform tablets—Sumerian

• Gamradt, Crystal J.

Related Material

South Dakota State University Archives online Exhibit

SEE http://lib.sdstate.edu/archives/exhibits/Cuneiform.html

Administrative Information

Preferred citation

Cuneiform Tablet Collection, South Dakota State University Archives, South Dakota State University, Brookings, S. D.

Provenance

The Sumerian Cuneiform Tablets were discovered in the Archives stacks in 1999.  See the background information in this finding aid for more information.

The Egyptian Tablet was transferred to SDSU Archives by the SD State Agricultural Heritage Museum in 2003.

The research and manuscript material was donated to the Archives by Crystal J. Gamradt, Staff Archivist, in 2002.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Crystal J. Gamradt on 19 December 2006.

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Email questions or comments to: arcrefs@sdstate.edu

Copyright 2006 by South Dakota State University and SDSU Archives.
Please credit the SDSU Archives if you copy or reproduce material from this page