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Dear Dr. Thompson
Matthew C. Harris
Sometime last year I was searching
a certain website for a used copy
of J. Eric S. Thompson’s Maya
Archaeologist. I ended up finding a
pretty good deal on a copy that was
in good condition, only about $7.00
with shipping.
I had the book for maybe a week
before I took off the jacket so that it
would not get messed up any further
in my book bag. Inside the back
flap of the book jacket I discovered
a few pieces of paper with sketches
of what look like Maya imagery, an
article from The New York Times
entitled “How Man Came to the Figure 8.1. Air mail letter addressed to Dr. Vincent Lopez-
Americas” dating to April 23, 1967,
Majano. Unfortunately, the postage cancellation
an air mail letter, and a postcard.
stamp is illegible.
After further inspection I noticed
that the author of the air mail letter and postcard was Sir J. Eric S. Thompson, himself.
The air mail correspondence is addressed to a Dr. Vincent Lopez-Majano of Oak Park, Illinois
(Figure 8.1). The letter is typed, with one word crossed out and corrected by hand. The text is as
follows (Figure 8.2):
. . . . . . Ashdon, S. Walden Essex May 13
Dear Dr. Lopez Majano,
. . . . Very many thanks for your reprints. My reply must be very brief
as I returned from Guatemala only a week ago and leave again for U.S.A. in five days.
I doubt very much that your tripod vessel was of Maya manufacture; it doesn’t fit in any
Maya ceramic conference I know.
Oak Park; When I was a young fellow at Field Museum I had a girl in Oak Park,
but taxi fares took such a bite out of my very small salary of those days that my Scotch
Harris, Matthew C.
2012 Dear Dr. Thompson. In The 2012 Season of the Chan Chich Archaeological Project, edited by Brett A.
Houk, pp. 83–86. Papers of the Chan Chich Archaeological Project, Number 6. Department of Sociology,
Anthropology, and Social Work, Texas Tech University, Lubbock.
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