Chimpanzee Collaboration: The Gardners and Jane Goodall

contributed by Emily Gainer, Assistant Processing Archivist/Special Collections Librarian.

Through thorough record-keeping, the R. Allen and Beatrix T. Gardner papers document two studies relating to teaching American Sign Language (ASL) to five cross-fostered chimpanzees over 15 years. Yet, the papers also document the humans involved in the Gardners’ lives and research. One of these stories is that of Jane Goodall, primatologist and anthropologist, who is considered the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees.