Description: Demitri Boris Shimkin was a professor of Anthropology and Geography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1960-1985). He completed his Bachelor's degree in Anthropology in 1936 and in 1939 received a Ph.D. in Anthropology, both from the University of California at Berkeley. Shimkin served in the U.S. Army on the War Department General Staff, the Military Intelligence Division (1941-1947) and he taught at the National War College, the Army War College and the Navy War College (1946-1947). Shimkin worked as a Research Associate at Harvard University's Russian Research Center (1948-1953). He also served as a Social Science Analyst to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1953-1960). Professor Shimkin primarily researched diverse groups in Russia, Siberia, the Americas, and Africa. He served as an American Anthropological Association Representative for the National Research Council (1964-1967). Additionally, he was a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at Kemerovo State University (Soviet Union, 1984), and a Fellow for the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (1970-1971). After his retirement in 1985, he was a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at UIUC.
Demitri Shimkin's papers includes personal materials, correspondence, meeting minutes, publications, speeches, course materials, student recommendations, manuscripts, research notes and proposals, reports, reprints, maps, photos, computer data tape, and audiotapes; his research and scholarly ties with the Soviet Union and Siberia; African-Americans, Native Americans (Shoshone); military service activities, including teaching and consulting for the U. S. Army War College, the National War College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. The collection includes notes, papers and publications of Edith Shimkin, and Helen Tauby Shimkin. Also included is a guide to Demitri B. Shimkin papers at the University of Wyoming. The additional Holmes County Health Research Program materials from the March 2016 accession are restricted for use until.
In a third accession (March 2026), family materials regarding son Alexander (Alec, 1944-1972) were added, documenting his engagement in the civil rights movement as well as his Vietnam volunteer service, journalism, and death in the Vietnam War. Based on these files, the documentary film, Soldier’s Bones, by Kasper Verkaik and the book, Finding Fathers and Sons, by Gary Sorock (also covering Sorock’s family) are supposed to be forthcoming in 2026.
The first accession materials (1993, 1997) are organized by subject and chronological or alphabetically thereunder. The second accession (March 2016) is arranged into three series: Series 1, Personal Materials, 1937-2001, arranged chronologically with one undated item listed at the beginning of the series; Series 2, Research Materials, 1956-1992, organized into two groups: research materials, arranged alphabetically, and Holmes County Health Research Program, arranged by report cards, interview surveys, and statistical analysis printouts; and Series 3: Publications, 1938-1993, arranged chronologically with undated publications listed at the beginning of the series. The third accession (March 2026) consists of Series 4: Alexander (Alec) Shimkin Papers, 1947-2025.
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