John M. Goggin Papers

John M. Goggin was born in Chicago in 1916. He moved to Miami at an early age with his family, where much of his childhood was spent in the Everglades developing his love for natural history and anthropology. He studied for a short while at University of Florida and then transferred to the University of New Mexico, where he majored in anthropology and began field work in the Southwest. His first publication was made while he was still an undergraduate. It dealt with the greater Southwest area and southern Florida. He received his B.A. from New Mexico University in 1938, and remained in the Southwest for some time serving as the curator at Colorado State Monument. He went on to complete his graduate work at Yale, receiving his M.A in 1946 and his Ph.D in 1948. Later that year, Goggin accepted a job at the University of Florida where he would work until his death in 1963 at the age of 46.

Goggin's career included work in archaeology, ethnology, and cultural anthropology. As a professor at the University of Florida, he continued his field work in Florida, Mexico, and throughout the Caribbean. His findings contributed important collections to the Yale Peabody Museum, the Florida State Museum (now the Florida Museum of Natural History), and other institutions. One of his most important contributions was his application of the concept of pottery typologies and seriation to the study of additional kinds of archaeological and historical artifacts. He was also the first to develop a time - space chart for Florida archaeology, as well as the first to describe and name cultural traditions amongst Indian tribes in Florida. He was a founder of the Florida Anthropological Society and editor of its journal and was an active member of the Eastern States Archaeological Federation. He was also responsible for establishing the department of Anthropology at UF and for creating an underwater archaeology program at UF. His work on Spanish olive jars and majolicas laid the groundwork for future historical archaeology of the Spanish circum - Caribbean.

In addition to his archaeological work, Goggin dedicated much of his time to the study of the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Florida Seminole, including studies of language, arts, and other aspects of culture. He taught classes in all fields of anthropology.

Goggin published many books and articles. Some of his major works include: Space and Time Perspective in Northern St. Johns Archeology, Florida; Indian and Spanish Selected Writings; Spanish Majolica in the New World: Types of the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries; The Spanish Olive Jar: An Introductory Study; and Excavations on Upper Matecumbe Key, Florida.

Sources: Goggin, John M. 1917 - 1963. "Vita," Box 1; Weisman, Brent Richards, Pioneer in Space and Time: John Mann Goggin and the Development of Florida Archaeology. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 2002.