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Facts and Events
| Name |
Dr. Edwin Martin Shook |
| Gender |
Male |
| Birth[1][2][3] |
22 Nov 1911 |
Newton, Catawba, North Carolina, United States |
| Education[3] |
1930 |
Drexel Institute of Technology, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United StatesIntended to become a structural engineer. |
| Graduation[3] |
1930 |
Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United StatesHigh School |
| Education[3] |
1932 |
Columbia Institute of Technology, Washington, District of Columbia, United States |
| Other[3] |
1932 |
United StatesLeft from Philadelphia with three friends for a 10,000 mile camping tour of the US in a Model A Ford. They visited all of the major national parks including Washington, the Shenandoah Valley, Tennessee, New Orleans, Texas, Mexico, San Diego, Tijuana, San Franscisco, Arizona, and Salt Lake City. They also attended the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. |
| Education[3] |
1933 |
George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, United States |
| Employment[3][5] |
1933 |
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, United StatesMember of archeology research team. He was responsible for drafting maps needed by Sylvanus Morley for locating archaeological sites in the Maya Lowlands. |
| Marriage |
9 Oct 1936 |
to Virginia Barr |
| Education[3] |
1937 |
Harvard University, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States |
| Residence[3] |
Abt 1937 |
Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States |
| Employment[5] |
1940 |
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, United StatesArchaeologist |
| Employment[5] |
Abt 1943 |
Guatemala City, Guatemala, GuatemalaThe American FBI enlisted him as agent X-7 to survey blacklisted Germans living in the Guatemalan countryside because of their possible contributions to the Nazi war effort. Most of the Germans had already been already been deported by the Guatemalan government, so there was little work to do. |
| Residence[3] |
Abt 1943 |
Guatemala City, Guatemala, GuatemalaBrought the family from Cambridge to live with him and assist with the war effort. |
| Other[3] |
1947 |
American School of Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala, GuatemalaJoined with other American families in Guatemala to found the school that would later become the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala in 1966. |
| Residence[3] |
1953 |
Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States |
| Employment[3][5] |
1955 |
University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United StatesDirector of the Tikal Project in Petén, Guatemala. |
| Employment[3][5] |
1968 |
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United StatesDirector of the Monte Alto Project on the south Coast of Guatemala. Also sponsored by National Geographic and the Miami Museum of Science. |
| Residence[3] |
1968 |
Antigua, GuatemalaHe and Ginny lived in Guatemala year-round starting in 1968. |
| Residence[3][7] |
1970 |
Santo Domingo Monastery, 3a Calle Oriente No 28 A, Antigua, GuatemalaThey bought the south student dormitory section of this ruined Dominican covenant and restored it. It was built between 1543 and 1580. Today it is part of the five star Hotel Casa Santo Domingo. |
| Employment[3] |
1976 |
Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, Alameda, California, United StatesResearch Associate |
| Education[5][4][3] |
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Honorary Doctorate from the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala |
| Occupation[6][5][4][3] |
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Archeologist |
| Death[4] |
9 Mar 2000 |
Antigua, GuatemalaAt his home |
Noteworthy archeologist who studied Mayan ruins, he was featured in Life Magazine and National Geographic.[4][5][6]
As a teenager he intended to become a professional baseball player. He had a tryout scheduled with the Philadelphia Athletics for the spring of 1030, but an accident that occurred while working on a construction site that tore all the ligaments in his left leg and knee. He then determined he’d become a structural engineer like his father, but the Great Depression ended construction work nation-wide. After a camping tour of the U.S., he thought he’d become a park ranger, but the Depression also dashed any employment opportunities with the National Parks Service. Out of need, he worked for a heating and plumbing contractor in Washington, D.C. and began taking engineering night classes at Columbia Institute of Technology. He took an opportunity as a draftsman at Carnegie Institution of Washington, Division of Historical Research, Section of Aboriginal American History. This led to his career as a Maya archaeologist.[3]
He donated his archives and specialized library in Mesoamerican studies, now the "Virginia Shook" collection, to the Archaeology Department at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, where it is housed in a special section of the university’s Central Library.[5]
The Ancient Mesoamerica Journal of Cambridge University noted that he was “one of the most prodigiously active figures in Mesoamerican archaeology during the twentieth century and may well have worked at more archaeological sites than any other Mesoamerican scholar.”[4]
He has dozens of published papers in academic journals.[3]
Image Gallery
References
- ↑ Letter from Ruth Malaney (Shook).
- ↑ United States. 1920 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication T625)
Place: Walton, Clinton, Virginia, United States, Supervisor's District No. 5, Enumeration District No. 28, Jan 27-28, 1920.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 Edwin M. Shook, and Editor: Horacio Cabezas Carcache. Edwin M. Shook: Incidents in the Life of a Maya Archaeologist. (2800 Monterey Road, San Marino, California 91108, USA: Southwestern Academy Press, 1998).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Cambridge Journals.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc..
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Conversation with Kim and Susan Vajda.
- ↑ Hotel Casa Santo Domingo.
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