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Mary Elizabeth Smith

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This article is about the philologist. For the gossip columnist, see Liz Smith (journalist). For the aunt of John Lennon, see Mimi Smith.
Mary Elizabeth Smith
Born(1932-08-02)August 2, 1932
Three Rivers, Michigan, U.S.
DiedDecember 10, 2004(2004-12-10) (aged 72)
OccupationPhilologist
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (1977)
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisMixtec Place Signs: A Study of the Lienzos of Zacatepec and Jicayán (1967)
Doctoral advisorGeorge Kubler
Academic work
DisciplineMayan studies
Sub-disciplineMixtec writing
Institutions

Mary Elizabeth Smith (August 2, 1932 – December 10, 2004) was an American philologist. She was a professor at the University of New Mexico and Tulane University, where she was the 1993-1994 Martha and Donald Robertson Chair in Latin American Art, and she was president of the American Society for Ethnohistory from 1980 to 1981. A 1977 Guggenheim Fellow, she studied Mixtec writing and wrote such books as Las Glosas del Códice Colombino (1966), Picture Writing from Ancient Southern Mexico (1973), The Codex Tulane (1991), and The Codex López Ruiz (1998).

Biography

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Mary Elizabeth Smith was born on August 2, 1932, in Three Rivers, Michigan.[1] She obtained her BA from the University of Michigan in 1954.[1] She worked as an assistant for the American Management Association and American Exporter Publications.[1] She later returned to post-secondary education for her graduate studies, getting an MA from Columbia University in 1960 and her PhD from Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences[2] in 1966.[1] Her doctoral dissertation Mixtec Place Signs: A Study of the Lienzos of Zacatepec and Jicayán was supervised by George Kubler.[2]

In 1966, Smith started working at the University of New Mexico as an assistant professor, being promoted to associate professor in 1971 and full professor in 1977.[3] In 1987, she left UNM for Tulane University, and then was the 1993-1994 Martha and Donald Robertson Chair in Latin American Art.[3] She was president of the American Society for Ethnohistory from 1980 to 1981.[3]

Smith studied Mixtec writing, having dedicated at least four decades of her academic career to the field.[4] One recurring theory in her work was the "Nahuatl-speaking corridor" in the western area of La Mixteca, later confirmed by other academics.[4] She and Alfonso Caso co-authored the Mexican Society of Anthropology's 1966 book on the Codex Columbano, with the second commentary of the book, named Las Glosas del Códice Colombino, being by her.[5] In 1973, she wrote Picture Writing from Ancient Southern Mexico.[3] In 1977,[6] she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for "a study of the pictorial manuscripts of the valley of Nochixtlán".[1] In 1991, she and Ross Parmenter co-authored The Codex Tulane, a monograph on a Mixtec manuscript held in Tulane's Latin American Library.[7] She later published another monograph in 1998, The Codex López Ruiz.[4]

Smith died on December 10, 2004.[4] In 2005, Tulane's Middle American Research Institute published a festschrift in her honor, Painted Books and Indigenous Knowledge in Mesoamerica: Manuscript Studies in Honor of Mary Elizabeth Smith by Elizabeth Hill Boone.[8]

Bibliography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Reports of the President and the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 1977. p. 105.
  2. ^ a b Smith, Mary Elizabeth (1967). Mixtec Place Signs: A Study of the Lienzos of Zacatepec and Jicayán (Thesis). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d Smith, Mary Elizabeth (2005). Painted Books and Indigenous Knowledge in Mesoamerica: Manuscript Studies in Honor of Mary Elizabeth Smith. p. 6.
  4. ^ a b c d König, Viola (2005). "Mary E. Smith's interpretation of the Codex Tulane, the Codex López Ruíz, and other documents: Some conclusions on the role of Tlaxiaco in the western part of the Mixteca Alta". Mexicon. 27 (6): 112–115. ISSN 0720-5988. JSTOR 23759830.
  5. ^ a b Robertson, Donald (1969). "Review of Codex Laud (Ms. Laud Misc. 678), Bodleian Library Oxford; Interpretación del Códice Colombino; Las Glosas del Códice Colombino". American Anthropologist. 71 (5): 975–976. ISSN 0002-7294. JSTOR 670125.
  6. ^ "Mary Elizabeth Smith". Guggenheim Fellowships. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
  7. ^ "The Codex Tulane". Middle American Research Institute. Archived from the original on December 3, 2024. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
  8. ^ Palka, Joel W. (2007). "Review of Painted Books and Indigenous Knowledge in Mesoamerica: Manuscript Studies in Honor of Mary Elizabeth Smith". American Anthropologist. 109 (3): 548–549. ISSN 0002-7294. JSTOR 4496734.
  9. ^ Cohodas, Marvin (1975). "Review of Picture Writing from Ancient Southern Mexico: Mixtec Place Signs and Maps". American Indian Quarterly. 2 (4): 371–372. doi:10.2307/1183617. ISSN 0095-182X. JSTOR 1183617.
  10. ^ Dibble, Charles E. (1974). "Review of Picture Writing from Ancient Southern Mexico: Mixtec Place Signs and Maps". The Western Historical Quarterly. 5 (4): 470–471. doi:10.2307/967319. ISSN 0043-3810. JSTOR 967319.
  11. ^ Kubler, George (1974). "Review of Picture Writing from Ancient Southern Mexico: Mixtec Place Signs and Maps". American Anthropologist. 76 (3): 670–672. ISSN 0002-7294. JSTOR 674740.
  12. ^ Dennis, Bryan J. (1993). "Review of The Codex Tulane". Ethnohistory. 40 (4): 643–644. doi:10.2307/482592. ISSN 0014-1801. JSTOR 482592.
  13. ^ König, Viola (2000). "Review of The Codex López Ruiz: A Lost Mixtec Pictorial Manuscript. Vol. 51". Latin American Antiquity. 11 (1): 95–97. doi:10.2307/1571677. ISSN 1045-6635. JSTOR 1571677.
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