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Bateson (Gregory) Papers
MS.098
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Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Gregory Bateson papers
Creator:
Bateson, Gregory, 1904-1980
Identifier/Call Number: MS.098
Physical Description:
93.6 Linear Feet
114 boxes, 1 portfolio pamphlet
Date (inclusive): 1882-1985
Abstract: This collection contains
correspondence, manuscripts, notebooks, octopus and cetacean observation materials,
marginalia, published and unpublished articles and reprints.
Physical Location: Stored in Special Collections and
Archives.
Language of Material:
English .
Collection open for research. Audiovisual media is unavailable until reformatted. Contact
Special Collections in advance for information regarding access.
Property rights for this collection reside with the University of California. Copyright
resides with Bateson's heirs, and is managed by the Bateson Idea Group (BIG)
(batesonideagroup.org). UCSC Special Collections and Archives requires written permission
from the copyright holder to allow reproduction of this material, including photography in
the reading room. Permission must be sent to speccoll@library.ucsc.edu in advance. For more
information on copyright or to order a reproduction, please visit
guides.library.ucsc.edu/speccoll/reproduction-publication.
Gregory Bateson papers. MS 98. Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
University of California, Santa Cruz.
Gift of Lois Bateson & Mary Catherine Bateson.
| May 9, 1904 | Born in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire, England. Third son of William Bateson (b. Aug. 8, 1861) and Caroline Beatrice Durham Bateson (b. 1870?). Brothers, John Bateson (b. April 22, 1898 - d. 1918) and Martin Bateson (b. 1899 - d. April 22, 1922). Grandson of William H. Bateson, Master of St. John's College, Cambridge and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and Anna Aitken Bateson. |
| 1913-1917 | Student, Warden House School, Upper Deal, Kent, England |
| 1917-1921 | Student, Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, England |
| 1918 | Death of brother, John Bateson |
| April 22, 1922 | Suicide of brother, Martin Bateson |
| January - September 1922 | Studies French & Botany at the University of Geneva and in Canton de Valais |
| 1922-1926 | Student, Cambridge University |
| Foundation Scholar, 1924 | |
| Entrance Scholar, St. John's College, 1922 | |
| Anthropological Tripos, Pt.I, First class honors, 1926 | |
| Natural Science Tripos, First Class Honors, 1924 | |
| B.A., Natural Science, 1925 | |
| December 1924 - June 1925 | Expedition to Galapagos, engaged in research on Geospizae for British Museum Bird Department and collection of pelagic Coelenterates under William Beebe, Arcturus Expedition |
| 1925-1926 | Anthropological Tripos, Pt.II under A.C. Haddon, Cambridge University; Classes in Social Psychology under F. C. Barlett and J. MacCurdy, Cambridge University |
| February 8, 1926 | Death of father, William Bateson. |
| 1926-1928 | Anthony Wilkin Student, Cambridge University; Strathcoma Student, St. John's College, Cambridge |
| September 1926 | Study in Germany |
| January 1927 - January 1928 | Anthropological field work in New Britain among the Baining of the Gazelle Peninsula |
| April - July 1928 | Teacher, Melanesian Linguistics, Sydney University |
| October 1928 - January 1930 | Anthropological field work among the Sulka of the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain and the Iatmul of New Guinea |
| 1930 | M.A., Anthropology, Cambridge University; Classes under Malinoski at London School of Economics |
| 1931-1937 | Research Fellow, St. John's College, Cambridge |
| January 1932 - Summer 1933 | Anthropological field work among the Iatmul of New Guinea |
| 1933-1935 | Worked on Naven at St. John's College, Cambridge |
| In Ireland with Waddington | |
| Visit to U.S., lecturing at Columbia University and the University of Chicago | |
| Experimental Psychology under F. C. Bartlett | |
| January 1936 - March 1938 | Anthropological field work with Margaret Mead in Bali |
| March 1936 | Married Margaret Mead (b. December 1916 - d. November 1978) in Singapore |
| December 1936 | Publication of Naven |
| 1937 | Elected William Wyse Scholar in Social Anthropology, Cambridge University (resigned 1945) |
| April 1938 - February 1939 | Anthropological field work with wife, Margaret Mead among the Iatmul of New Guinea |
| February - March 1939 | Anthropological field work with wife, Margaret Mead in Bali |
| September 1939 - January 1940 | Voluntary work in England: analysis of radio broadcasts (Nazi) under Bartlett; and work with Mass Observation with T. Harrison, analyzing public opinion questionnaires |
| December 8, 1939 | Birth of daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson |
| January 1940-September 1942 | Analysis of Balinese and Iatmul material in collaboration with Margaret Mead, as guest of Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History |
| October 1940-1942 | Secretary of the Committee for National Morale and the Council for Intercultural Relations (later Institute for Intercultural Studies) |
| Secretary for the Council on Human Relations for first few months | |
| Worked for the Committee for National Morale. | |
| Secretary of the Conference on Methods in Philosophy and the Sciences | |
| Member of the Executive Committee of the Conference on Methods in Philosophy and the Sciences | |
| May 1941 | Death of mother, Caroline Beatrice Durham Bateson |
| May 1942 | Macy conference on Cerebral Inhibition |
| September 1942 - June 1943 | Film Analyst, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York |
| December 1942 | Publication of Balinese Character: A Photographic Analysis with Margaret Mead |
| January 1943 - January 1944 | Teacher of Melanesian Pidgin English, Naval School of Military Government & Administration, Columbia University |
| July 1943 - November 1945 | Staff planner and Regional Specialist for Southeast Asia, U.S. Office of Strategic Services; overseas in Ceylon, India, Burma & China |
| November 1945 - September 1946 | Research into Balinese culture conducted at the American Museum of Natural History |
| March 1946 | First Macy Conference on Feedback Mechanisms and Circular Causal Systems in Biological and Social Sciences |
| September 1946 - June 1947 | New York Academy of Sciences Conference on Teleological Mechanisms |
| Guggenheim Fellow | |
| Visiting Professor of Anthropology, New School for Social Research, NY | |
| Meeting on Teleological Mechanisms in Society | |
| 1947-1948 | Associate in Columbia University Seminar in "Contents and Methods of the Social Sciences" |
| Visiting Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusett | |
| September 1948 - October 1949 | Research Associate with Dr. Jurgen Ruesch at the Langley Porter Clinic, University of California Medical School, San Francisco, CA |
| November 1949 - 1963 | Ethnologist, Veterans Administration Hospital, Palo Alto, CA |
| October 23, 1950 | Divorced from Margaret Mead |
| 1950 | Married Elizabeth Sumner |
| 1951 | Birth of son, John Bateson |
| 1951 - 1963 | Visiting Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University, CA |
| Publication of Communication: The Social Matrix of Psychiatry by Jurgen Ruesch, Gregory Bateson | |
| 1952-1954 | Director, Rockefeller Foundation grant research project on the Role of Paradoxes of Abstraction in Communication |
| 1954-1959 | Director, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation grant research project on Schizophrenic Communication |
| 1956 | Becomes naturalized U.S. citizen |
| Begins work on The Natural History of an Interview project | |
| 1957 | Divorced from second wife, Elizabeth Sumner |
| 1958 | Navan re-issued with new preface and epilogue |
| 1959-1962 | Began work with octopus |
| Publication of Perceval's Narrative | |
| Frieda Fromm-Reichmann Award for Research in Schizophrenia | |
| Visiting Professor, California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA | |
| Principal Investigator, Research in Family Psychotherapy, funded by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Foundations' Fund for Research in Psychiatry | |
| 1961 | Married third wife, Lois Cammack |
| 1963-1964 | Associate Director, Communication Research Institute, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands |
| Career Development Award, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) | |
| 1965-1972 | Publication of Steps to an Ecology of Mind |
| Associate Director, Oceanic Institute, Waimanalo, Hawaii | |
| Visiting Professor of Anthropology, University of Hawaii | |
| Professor & Director, International Honors Program, International School of America, traveling around the world | |
| April 13, 1969 | Birth of daughter, Nora Bateson |
| 1972-1978 | Visiting Senior Lecturer, University of California, Santa Cruz |
| Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | |
| Appointed to Board of Regents of the University of California | |
| November 15, 1978 | Death of Margaret Mead |
| 1978-1980 | Scholar in residence, Esalen Institute |
| Worked on Where Angels Fear to Tread | |
| Publication of Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity | |
| July 4, 1980 | Dies at the Zen Center, San Francisco, CA. |
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, notebooks, octopus and cetacean
observation materials, marginalia, published and unpublished articles and reprints.
The collection is arranged in eight series and five sub-series.
Correspondence (Series I) includes roughly 11,000 letters, approximately 4000 of which are
by Gregory Bateson. Included is inter-office memoranda and correspondence from John Lilly
Communication Research Institute and the Oceanic Institute, Hawaii as well as publication
correspondence. Also is correspondence relating to Bateson's service on the UC Board of
Regents, professional societies, journals, funding sources and conferences chaired by
Bateson.
Writings (Series II) is divided into six sub-series: Article Manuscripts; Book Manuscripts;
Octopus & Cetacean Observation materials; Notebooks; Bibliography of Published Articles;
and Reprints. Article Manuscripts includes holograph manuscripts, drafts, typescripts and
carbons of published and unpublished articles, support documents and copies of the published
articles. Also included are unedited transcriptions of tape recordings. Book manuscripts
(Subseries 2) contains book manuscripts, proofs, notes, correspondence, and materials
relating to five of Bateson's books,
Steps to an Ecology of Mind,
Where Angels Fear to Tread,
Mind and Nature,
Naven: A
Survey of the Problems suggested by a Composite Picture of the Culture of a New Guinea
Tribe drawn from Three Points of View
and unpublished material.
The author's personal book collection has been cataloged separately and is avaialable via
the UCSC Library catalog. Some films have been reformatted and are available via the UCSC
Library catalog. See: Trance and Dance in Bali (DVD8886); An evening with Gregory Bateson
and Kenneth Burke: Asilomar 1979 (DVD2670); The nature of play. Part one, River otters
(DVD2719); Interactions and communication in three families (DVD2669); First Five Days in
the Life of a New Guinea Baby (VT688); Childhood Rivalry in Bali and New Guinea (VT2437);
Couch Scene (DVD2671)
- MS 113, Bateson Family Papers, ca. 1835-1942
- MS 206, Mark Engels Papers, ca. 1933-1987
- MS 297, David Lipset Papers, 1943-1982
- MS Coll 2, Bateson Family Papers, 1829-1940, American Philosophical Society, 105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3386
- #03361 Margaret Mead papers and South Pacific Ethnographic Archives, 1838-1996 (bulk 1911-1978), Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Anthropologists -- United States --
Archives
Ethnologists -- United States --
Archives
Bateson, Gregory, 1904-1980
Bateson, Lois Cammack, 1928-
Bateson, Mary Catherine