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Cook (Edwin) Papers
MSS 0187
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Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Edwin Cook Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0187
Physical Description:
19 Linear feet
(32 archives boxes, 15 card file boxes, 1 flat box, 1 map case folder)
Date (inclusive): 1944 - 1990 (bulk 1964-1973)
Abstract: Papers of Edwin Aubrey Cook (1932-1984), American anthropologist, professor, and specialist in Manga culture in Papua New
Guinea. Cook devoted his career to anthropological work, focusing on kinship and social structure of the Manga tribe in Papua
New Guinea. The bulk of the collection is comprised of manuscripts, reprints and audio recordings relating largely to Cook
and Susan Pflanz-Cook's anthropological studies of native New Guinea society.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of Edwin Aubrey Cook (1932-1984), American anthropologist, professor, and specialist in Manga culture in Papua New
Guinea. Cook devoted his career to anthropological work, focusing on kinship and social structure of the Manga tribe in Papua
New Guinea. The bulk of the collection is comprised of manuscripts, reprints and audio recordings relating largely to Cook
and Susan Pflanz-Cook's anthropological studies of native New Guinea society. The collection is arranged in two major accessions.
Accession Processed in 1995
Anthropological investigations in Papua New Guinea, including manuscripts, reprints, publications, photographs, genealogy
charts, notecards, data punch cards, maps, and sound recordings created between 1944 and 1984.
Arranged in five series: 1) SUBJECT FILES, 2) WRITINGS, 3) SOUND RECORDINGS, 4) PHOTOGRAPHS, and 5) WRITINGS OF OTHERS.
Accession Processed in 2006
Edwin Cook's research from Papua New Guinea during the trips he made in 1961-1963 and 1971-1972 (with Pflanz-Cook); some materials
from his 1950s graduate work; and his last trip to Papua New Guinea in 1981 (also with Pflanz-Cook). The materials include
daily notebooks, typed notecards, slides and prints, and manuscripts.
Arranged in eight series: 6) MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS, 7) CORRESPONDENCE, 8) FIELD NOTES, 9) WRITINGS, 10) WRITINGS OF OTHERS,
11) SUBJECT FILES, 12) PHOTOGRAPHS, and 13) SUSAN PFLANZ-COOK MATERIALS.
Edwin Aubrey Cook, American anthropologist, was born in 1932. He attended the University of Arizona, where his interest in
anthropology was stimulated by the guidance of Professor Edward H. Spicer. After graduating with high distinction and honors
in 1959, Cook went on to graduate study at Yale University and was further influenced by Professors Floyd G. Lounsbury, Harold
W. Scheffler, and Leopold J. Pospisil. While working with Pospisil, Cook developed an interest in New Guinea. Cook conducted
field work in the Jimi River District of the Western Highlands District (now Province) of Papua New Guinea from 1961 through
1963, with support from the National Institutes of Mental Health and the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Cook's dissertation,
Manga Social Organization, was presented in 1967.
Cook made a total of four visits to the Manga tribe, with his final visit being completed in the summer of 1981. His research
interests encompassed many aspects of the Manga tribe's transition into the modern world, from first contact in 1956 to the
problems of post-independence. He was particularly interested in problems of social structure and kinship. His interest in
this area is reflected in the book,
Blood and Semen: Kinship Systems of Highland New Guinea (1980), which he coedited with Denise O'Brien.
Cook taught anthropology at the University of Hawaii (1966-68), the University of California at Davis (1968-70), Southern
Illinois University at Carbondale (1971-78), and at Florida State University (1978-1984). He was an active member of the Association
for Social Anthropology in Oceania, as well as serving as the book review and articles editor in social/cultural anthropology
for
American Anthropologist from 1974 through 1978.
Cook died in Tallahassee, Florida, on April 24, 1984. He was married to anthropologist Susan Pflanz-Cook.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Edwin Cook Papers, MSS 187. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Original sound recordings and negatives are restricted. Researchers may request user copies in advance of their visit.
Acquired 1990-91, 2005.
Selected materials from this collection have been digitized and can be viewed through links in the container list.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Social structure -- Papua New Guinea -- Western Highlands Province
Ethnology -- Papua New Guinea -- Western Highlands Province
Thematic Apperception Test
Kinship -- Papua New Guinea -- Western Highlands Province
Narak (Papua New Guinean people)
Papua New Guinea -- Western Highlands Province -- Social life and customs
Cook, Edwin A. -- Archives