Floyd Schultz Collection

Floyd Schultz

Floyd Schultz was an avocational archaeologist who grew up in Junction City, Kansas, where his father was stationed at Fort Riley. He began collecting artifacts from local archaeological sites in the 1920s and excavated many sites in the lower valley of the Republican River, primarily in Clay and Geary counties, Kansas. Floyd’s interests, enhanced by the support of his first wife, Adah Jane, and of his second wife, Marguerite, resulted in the recovery and documentation of over 3000 archaeological artifacts. In 1948, Floyd Schultz donated his extensive archaeological collection, and its associated field notes and maps, to the University of Kansas.  

For more information, an inventory or to view the objects in this collection, please email the KU Archaeology Collection Manager, Kara Kelly at kara_kelly@ku.edu.

Scope and Contents

Archaeological and ethnographic materials collected 1918-1949, donated by Floyd Schultz in 1948 to the University of Kansas, which support his own amateur archaeological field research into the Plains Indians of Kansas. Associated documentary films and ethnographic records donated by his widow in 1951. Also included are the master’s thesis materials and original correspondence of Marlin F. Hawley, biographer of Floyd Schultz. 

Biographical Notes

Floyd Schultz was born in Texas in 1881, but grew up in Junction City, Kansas, where his father was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. His interests in history and Native Americans began in childhood and endured throughout his adult life. He began collecting artifacts from local archaeological sites in the 1920s and excavated many sites in the lower valley of the Republican River, primarily in Clay and Geary counties, Kansas. During the 1930s and 1940s, he became interested in living Native American culture, especially that of the Prairie Band of the Potawatomi, who were then living on a reservation in Jackson county, Kansas. Floyd’s interests, enhanced by the support of his first wife, Adah Jane, and his second wife, Marguerite, resulted in the recovery and documentation of over 3000 archaeological artifacts, and in his creation of documentary films of various Potawatomi activities. In 1948, Floyd Schultz donated his extensive archaeological collection, and its associated field notes and maps, to the University of Kansas. Following his death in 1951, his widow Marguerite donated the associated documentary films and ethnographic records to the University of Kansas.   

The collection is divided into three series:

Series 1. Archaeological (3 boxes)

This series contains correspondence, original catalogue ledger and itemized artifact catalogues, master list of site names and locations, site inventories, and site fieldnotes.

Series 2. Ethnographic (1 box)

Correspondence, notebooks, lists of relics and relics dealers, ethnographic notes of Pottawatomie activities. Includes photocopies of subject headings and catalogues for ethnographic films and photographs (see Separated Materials).

Series 3. General (1 box)

Floyd Schultz’s manuscripts and obituary notices of his death. Photocopies of the collection materials assembled by Marlin F. Hawley for his 1991 master’s thesis about Floyd Schultz (including his own research correspondence).