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Morren (George E. B.) Papers
MSS 0802
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: George E. B. Morren Papers
Creator:
Morren, George E. B.
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0802
Physical Description:
10.2 Linear feet
(26 archives boxes, 1 map case folder, 2 flat box folders, 2 tubes, and 4 films)
Physical Description:
4.81 GB
of digital files
Date (inclusive): 1920-2011
Abstract: Papers of George E. B. Morren, American anthropologist who was among the first to use remote sensing satellite technology
for field research before GPS devices were available to consumers. He used their forerunners to investigate human and environmental
change in Papua New Guinea, specifically the Telefomin district of the Sandaun province.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of George Morren, American anthropologist who was among the first to use remote sensing satellite technology for field
research, before GPS devices were available to consumers. He used their forerunners to investigate human and environmental
change in Papua New Guinea, specifically the area of the Miyanmin people living in the Telefomin District of the Sandaun province.
The collection includes letters from Morren's colleagues and professional contacts, field research and topical notes, extensive
photographic documentation of Morren's study of the region, maps, data, and diagrams of the region's ecological changes over
time, and a small selection of writings by Morren and other anthropologists studying the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
The collection is divided into four series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) PAPUA NEW GUINEA FIELD RESEARCH, 3) WRITINGS, and 4) PROFESSIONAL
ACTIVITIES.
George Edward Bradshaw Morren was born in West Brighton, Staten Island in 1939. He graduated from Columbia University in
1960, earning a bachelor's degree in anthropology. After graduation, Morren served in the U.S. Navy until 1963 when he returned
to Columbia for graduate school, earning a PhD in 1974. His thesis, "Settlement Strategies and Hunting in a New Guinea Society,"
was made possible by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant and Graduate Fellowship awarded by the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Morren taught anthropology for several years, first as an assistant professor at State University of New York at Binghampton,
then moving to Rocky Hill, New Jersey where he was professor of anthropology at Cook College (renamed as the School of Environmental
and Biological Sciences), part of Rutgers University for over 40 years. At Rutgers, Dr. Morren helped to develop a new program
in Human Ecology in 1973, held leadership positions as department chair and curriculum coordinator, and made groundbreaking
contributions in the new academic fields of Ecological Anthropology and Human Ecology. In 1976 he co-authored a textbook
Ecology, Energetics, and Human Variability: Elements of Anthropology with Michael Little, and continued to publish scholarly articles relating to his studies on the Miyanmin [Mianmin] people
and ecology of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Morren was an early adopter of remote sensing satellite technology, Earth
Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) later renamed LANDSAT, a predecessor to GPS to investigate sociological and environmental
changes in Papua New Guinea. Morren was granted awards for some of his research, including research funding from The National
Science Foundation from 1991-1994. He retired from teaching in 2009.
In addition to his extensive field research and teaching, Dr. Morren was a member of the American Anthropological Association,
and he also served as Mayor of Rocky Hill, New Jersey from 2005 to 2008 in order to help protect the city from an environmental
disaster.
Morren died on September 29, 2011.
In 2013, Lost Child – Sayon's Journey, an award-¬winning documentary film about the Cambodian genocide was posthumously dedicated
to Morren who, along with his wife, documentary filmmaker Janet Gardner, played a key role in the development of the film.
From 2016 through 2017, The Morris Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate in Morristown, New Jersey presented an exhibit on Morren's
research and his collections of artifacts, natural specimens, and information about his fieldwork.
George E. B. Morren Papers. MSS 802. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquired 2017, 2021-2022
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Selected materials from the collection have been digitized (films and some photographs). There is one folder of born-digital
photographs that may be surrogates of some original materials, described in the container list.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Human ecology -- Papua New Guinea -- Sandaun Province
Mianmin (Papua New Guinean people)
Remote sensing -- Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea -- Sandaun Province
Morren, George E. B. -- Archives