Mardith Schuetz-Miller collection

Mardith Schuetz-Miller (née Keithy) was born on November 13, 1929 to Thomas Graves Keithy and Amy Miller Keithy in Springfield, Missouri. She began her studies in anthropology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where she graduated with Honors with a BA in Anthropology-Sociology in 1950. In the two decades following, she served as Curator for Texas Technological University in Lubbock, Texas (1952-1954) and Curator of Anthropology and Oriental Cultures for the Witte Museum in San Antonio (1954-1969). During this time, she also gained experience as a field archaeologist working on various prehistoric and Colonial Spanish sites in South and West Texas, and doing contract work for the National Park Service. Schuetz-Miller also began contributing articles to various publications, such as the Witte Museum Quarterly and the Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society. She also published monographs for the Texas State Building Commission and Texas Historical Survey, indicating a growing interest in the archaeological history of the Southwest. All of this experience laid the groundwork for future research concerning Spanish Borderlands history and archaeology.

In 1970, Schuetz-Miller went on to earn her MA in Anthropology-Sociology at Trinity University in San Antonio; during her graduate coursework, she taught courses at Trinity on Archaeology of the Americas. Upon its completion, she became the owner and director of the San Antonio Archaeological Laboratory. It was at this time that she also began working as a consultant for various committees and associations related to Texan history, such as the Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Association and the Bexar County Texas Historical Site Survey Committee. Additionally, while pursuing her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, she taught courses at San Antonio College on General Anthropology and General Sociology. Schuetz-Miller completed her PhD in American Civilization in 1980; her dissertation was titled “The Indians of the San Antonio missions, 1718-1821,” and set the stage for a career of research in the American Southwest and Spanish Borderlands.

Following the completion of her PhD, Schuetz-Miller taught at the University of Arizona from 1981-1987. She taught various courses on the History of the Spanish Borderlands, including one on its architectural history, and served as the Acting Director of the Southwest Center from 1981-1983. While working at the University, she continued her work as a field archaeologist, consultant, and contract worker for the National Park Service at sites in both Arizona, Texas, and Guam. She has been an invited lecturer on various topics related to Spanish Borderlands architecture and preservation, giving talks for several different institutions including the Society for Architectural History, the Smithsonian, and University of California Monterey. She has published articles extensively in many different journals, including the Journal of the Southwest, and has published books, such as La Salle, the Mississippi, and the Gulf; Pre-Euclidian Geometry in the Design of Mission Churches of the Spanish Borderlands; and The Symbolism of Ancient Sacred Architecture in Eurasia and The Symbolism of Ancient Sacred Architecture in the Indo-Pacific. Her awards include induction into Phi Kappa Phi (1979), the San Antonio Conservation Society Award (1970, 1978), Commendations from Texas Old Missions and Forts Restorations Association and Texas State Historical Commission, and the Dwight L. Smith Award, from the Western History Association for her book Militia on the Northern Frontier of New Spain (1998).

Sources:

Mardith Schuetz-Miller Papers, 1954-1983, Col 12592, DRT Collection.

Mardith Schuetz-Miller collection, Alexander Architectural Archives, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin