Sylvia Helen Forman Papers

This series constitutes the vast majority of the collection. It includes the research of Sylvia Helen Forman in Ecuador from around 1968 to 1979. She did her fieldwork in rural and urban communities in Andean Ecuador, with a particular focus on the communities of Majipamba (alternative spellings: Machipampa, Majipampa), Vilcabamba, and Riobamba. Her work in Ecuador centered around understanding longevity, fertility, mortality, and overall health outcomes in Ecuadorian Highland communities, especially for Quechua-speaking Indigenous and Mestizo people.

As part of Sylvia Helen Forman’s research in Ecuador, she conducted hundreds of interviews, became engrossed in the local cultures, and learned both Ecuadorian Spanish and the local dialect of Quechua, Hanan. She also worked with various organizations both in Ecuador and the United States, be they governmental organizations, USAID, or other institutions. As part of her work in the region, Forman allied with local agencies to produce and promote sex-ed and family planning materials in both Quechua and Spanish. Part of her research also involved reviewing baptism records from both the colonial era (late 1700s and early 1800s) and then-present Ecuador (late 1960s into early to mid-1970s).

This series constitutes a smaller portion of the collection. It features her professional communications with colleagues at the University of California - Berkeley and at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, as well as in Ecuador, Yugoslavia, the People’s Republic of China, and elsewhere. This series also features correspondence with friends, family members, and others, in relation both to her work and also to her life overall. Occasionally, there is correspondence between other researchers whom Sylvia worked with.

This series constitutes a decent portion of the collection. It features additional materials that Forman consulted while in Ecuador, both academic publications as well as non-academic. In addition to the publications, this series contains Sylvia’s travel documents, such as her passport, international driving license, checks, and more. This series also features cultural materials from Ecuador such as Socialist moralistic comic books, a Catholic radio services flyer, and so on. Lastly, this subseries contains content related to Forman’s death and efforts by friends, family, and colleagues to uphold her legacy and continue her work. Of this content, there are copies of Sylvia’s obituary, correspondence related to memorial services, and copies of her curriculum vitae.