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Guide to the Records of the Department of Anthropology, 1901-[ongoing]
CU-23  
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Collection Details
 
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  • Collection Summary
  • Information for Researchers
  • Departmental History
  • Scope and Content

  • Collection Summary

    Collection Title: Records of the Department of Anthropology,
    Date (inclusive): 1901-[ongoing]
    Collection Number: CU-23
    Creator: Department of Anthropology
    Extent: 211 boxes
    Repository: The Bancroft Library. University Archives.
    Berkeley, California 94720-6000
    Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
    Languages Represented: English

    Information for Researchers

    Access

    Collection is open for research, EXCEPT for the student files in Series 6. Only student files of individuals no longer living will be made available.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Records of the Department of Anthropology, CU-23, University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

    Related Collections

    • Title: A.L. Kroeber papers,
      Date: 1869-1972.
      Identifier/Call Number: BANC FILM 2049
    • Title: Robert Harry Lowie papers,
      Date: 1872-1968.
      Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS C-B 927
    • Title: Samuel Alfred Barrett papers,
      Date: 1893-1977.
      Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 86/172c
    • Title: Ethnological Documents of the Department and Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
      Identifier/Call Number: BANC FILM 2216
    • Title: Theodore D. McCown papers,
      Date: [ca. 1931-1966]
      Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 86/3c
    • Title: Robert Fleming Heizer papers,
      Date: 1852-1980.
      Identifier/Call Number: BANC FILM 2106

    Departmental History

    The Department of Anthropology was established by the Regents on September 10, 1901, and the first course, one in North American ethnology, was given in the spring semester of 1902 by Alfred L. Kroeber. An introductory course providing a general survey of anthropology, including physical anthropology, ethology, and archaeology, was introduced in 1905-06.
    The teaching staff of the department increased slowly. By the time of the first World War, there were, in effect two and a half teaching positions. Another was added in 1927 and still another ten years later. One more position was added in 1946 and one in 1948. Since 1958 the department has expanded explosively because of enrollment increases and growing demand for teachers of anthropology and for anthropologists willing to serve in development programs. The department had 24 teaching positions in 1964-65.
    The first master's degree in anthropology was granted in 1904 and the first Ph.D. in 1908. A second Ph.D. was granted in 1911, but the third was not granted until 1926. Since that date, graduate instruction has been a major part of the department's activity, and it has become one of the major suppliers of professional anthropologists in the country.
    The Department of Anthropology grew out of Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst's interest in establishing a program of anthropological research at the University, a program which began in 1899. Mrs. Hearst supported University archaeological expeditions in Egypt, Italy, and Peru and research on archaeology, ethnology, and native languages in California; she provided all funds for salaries, facilities, and research in the department until 1906, when support of anthropology was taken over by the Regents on a much reduced scale. Another outgrowth of Mrs. Hearst's program was the ROBERT H. LOWIE MUSEUM of Anthropology, which has become one of the greatest anthropological museums in the country and constitutes an important asset to the department's teaching program.
    Under the leadership of the department's first chairman, Frederic Ward Putnam, an anthropology library was started, and Pliny Earle Goddard, the second instructor on the staff, was appointed librarian. The library remained small until it was reorganized in 1952. It became a branch of the general library in 1956 and by 1964 contained more than 16,000 volumes.
    After functioning for over half a century in temporary quarters, the department, museum and library were housed permanently in a new building in 1959. The new building is named in honor of Kroeber, whose distinguished career in anthropology was almost entirely identified with the Berkeley department and museum.
    The department has always emphasized research, and particularly field research. It began a program of research publication in 1903, when the first number of the University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology appeared. A second series, Anthropological Records, was established in 1937. The work of the department has, since 1939, been reported regularly in the Annual Report of the Robert H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology.
    In 1948 a University of California Archaeological Survey was organized under the direction of R. F. Heizer to carry out research in the archaeology of California. The survey began publication of a series of reports in its first year of operation. In 1960 the survey was reorganized on a broader geographical basis as the ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH Facility of the department, serving all the department's archaeological programs.
    --John H. Rowe

    from The Centennial Record of the University of California, compiled and edited by Verne A. Stadtman and the Centennial Publications Staff (Berkeley: University of California, 1967)

    Scope and Content

    The bulk of this collection consists of correspondence files maintained by the Department of Anthropology for the period of A.L. Kroeber's career, although it includes others prominent in the department throughout this period. These files reflect the professional and research interests of the department, as evidenced by this departmental correspondence, which includes interoffice memoranda, correspondence with professional colleagues, information from individuals interested primarily in Indian groups in California, including native informants, and simple letters of inquiry about anthropology, objects found, etc. There is often overlap between the correspondence in these departmental files and correspondence in individual's personal papers.
    The collection also includes some early reports and accounts, some correspondence about museum acquisitions, and syllabi and exam questions. Transfers of later material includes personnel rosters, minutes of meetings, visiting scholar and research associate files, budget materials, and student files (which are restricted).
    Indian Informants, Partial List:
    See entries in main body of index under these names for dates and subjects of correspondence.

    See also list of EWG's informants in Kroeber correspondence file, 1954, Box 86
    • Bell, Tony
    • Benjamin, William
    • Bennett, Charlie
    • Benson, William
    • Bigmouth, Parcy
    • Bradford, M.E.
    • Braine, Wm. and Molly
    • Brown, David
    • Brown, Sam
    • Burns, Sam
    • Carpenter, James (Crow)
    • Charlie, Philip
    • Cleanso, Tom
    • Cochise, George
    • Cooney, Jane (Walapai)
    • Cooper, Condrey
    • Costo, Juan M.
    • Cox, Lena
    • Curo, Nocindo
    • Davis, Gilbert
    • Effman, Nicholas
    • Fuller, Wm.
    • Gavin, Eugene
    • Grant, Sampson
    • Green, Charley
    • Gunther, Charles
    • Happy Camp
    • Honga, Mrs. Jacob
    • Horne, Jerry
    • James, Herman W.
    • Johnson, Robert
    • Johnson, Tom
    • Joseph, William - see Uldall
    • Kelly, John
    • Lafonso, Elmer N.
    • Lamecio
    • Makwee, Dick
    • Morongo, Ben
    • Mitchell, Jim Thomas
    • Moore, Ralph
    • Natches, Gilbert (Paiute-Nixon, Nevada) see Ring, Mildred; Severence, C.E.; Severence, Kenfall
    • Neil, Tom (Antler, Shasta County)
    • Numana, Capt. Dave
    • Odoch, Thomas
    • Offield, Mamie
    • Oscar, Lewis
    • Parker, Rupert
    • Sambo, Sargent
    • Sanchez, Leslie
    • Sanderson, Grover
    • Sashavaya, Claude
    • Sebastian, Carl
    • Snooks, Jackson
    • Spott, Robert
    • Stacey, Johnson
    • Suehead, Thompson
    • Talieji, Paul (Walapai)
    • Taxac, John (Eskimo)
    • TeCube, Norman (New Mexico)
    • Thompson, Lucy (Humboldt County)
    • Towndolly, Grant (Upper Soda Springs)
    • Treaties, Many (Blackfoot)
    • Trout, Wutchpic
    • Tripp, Violet (Klamath?)
    • Williams, Tom
    • Yellowtail, Robert