Restrictions on Access
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Preferred Citation
Processing Information
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography/History
Scope and Content
Organization and Arrangement
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Arthur J.O. Anderson papers
Creator:
Anderson, Arthur J. O.
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2133
Physical Description:
58 Linear Feet
(53 record cartons, 3 document boxes, 1 oversize flat box, 1 telescope box)
Date (inclusive): 1892-1998
Abstract: Arthur James Outram Anderson was a professor and researcher whose specializations included the American Southwest, Mesoamerica,
and the Nahuatl language. Anderson's most significant work that defined his professional career was his collaboration with
colleague Charles E. Dibble, of the University of Utah, on their English translation of the Aztec language Florentine Codex.
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, publications, typescripts, scrapbooks, maps, photographs, slides,
microfilm, negatives and notes related to his work as a professor, researcher, editor and translator.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are primarily in English, some materials in Spanish, Portuguese, German and Nahuatl.
Restrictions on Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
This collection was a gift of Elizabeth F. Klotz, 1999.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Arthur J. O. Anderson papers (Collection Number 2133). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Processing Information
This collection was originally processed in 2012 by Chris Salvano. Kelly Besser, with assistance from Megan Hahn Fraser, completed
processing in 2013. This collection was minimally processed to facilitate access. Most materials are in their original folders
and retain the creator's folder titles and organization.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
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processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
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UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography/History
Arthur James Outram Anderson was born in Phoenix, Arizona on November 26, 1907 and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico before he
returned to the United States for his college and graduate education. He received a B.A. in English from San Diego State College
in 1930, an M.A. in Anthropology from Claremont Colleges in 1931, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Southern
California in 1940.
During his professional career, Anderson worked as a professor and researcher largely in the field of Anthropology. He taught
at Occidental College, Eastern New Mexico, and San Diego State University, among other schools, and served as director of
the Roosevelt County Museum in New Mexico and curator of history and director of publications at the Museum of New Mexico
in Santa Fe. His specializations included the American Southwest, Mesoamerica, and the Nahuatl language.
The most significant work that defined his professional career was Anderson's collaboration with colleague Charles E. Dibble,
of the University of Utah, on their English translation of the Aztec language Florentine Codex. The Florentine Codex is a
16th century Nahuatl language document written by Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, a Spanish missionary who documented contemporary
Aztec life in conquest-era Mexico. Sahagun's work, also known by the title
Historia general de las cosas de Nueva Espana, was drafted between the years 1545 and 1590 and documented Aztec rituals, customs, language, and society during the Spanish
conquest of Mexico.
Anderson and Dibble were the first anthropologists to translate and publish the primary resource codex from Nahuatl to English,
a major translation project that spanned more than 30 years, from 1948-1982. In recognition of their achievement, the President
of Mexico conferred upon them, the Order of the Aztec Eagle, with rank of Commander in 1981 and then in 1984, the King of
Spain conferred upon them, the Order of Isabel la Católica, with the rank of Knight Commander.
Anderson's other major publications include:
Anderson, Arthur J. O.
Grammatical examples, exercises, & review: for use with Rules of the Aztec language. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1973.
Anderson, Arthur J. O.
Rules of the Aztec language: classicial Nahuatl grammar. A Translation by Arthur J. O. Anderson, with modifications, of Francisco Xavier Clavijer's Reglas de la lengua mexicana.
Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1973.
Clavijero, Francesco Saverio.
Reglas de la lengua Mexicana con un vocabulario. Edición, introdución, paleografía y notas de Arthur J. O. Anderson; prefacio de Miguel León-Portillo. Mexico: Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, 1974.
In addition to Anderson's collaboration with Charles Dibble, his bibliography includes joint publications with James Lockhart,
Frances Berdan, Susan Schroeder, Barry Sell, Wayne Ruwet, Spencer Rogers and Thelma D. Sullivan. When Sullivan died, leaving
her translation of Sahagun's Primeros Memoriales unfinished, Anderson completed it for her.
In addition, Anderson served as the Editor of
El Palacio, the journal of The School of American Research and the Archaeological Society of New Mexico, from 1947-1957, and also served
as the Associate Editor of the New Mexico Historical Review from 1946-1957.
In 1975 Anderson retired as professor emeritus from San Diego State University, where he served as a professor since 1961,
and died on June 3, 1996.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, publications, typescripts, scrapbooks, maps, photographs, slides,
microfilm, negatives and notes related to the career of Arthur J. O. Anderson. It includes materials related to Anderson's
teaching and research on the Florentine Codex; Nahuatl language and grammar; Fray Bernardino de Sahagun; his service as the
Editor of El Palacio and as the Associate Editor of the New Mexico Historical Review; monographs and serials from his research
library; and material related to Anderson's receipt of Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle in 1981 and Spain's Order of Isabel
la Católica in 1984.
Organization and Arrangement
The collection maintains the creator's original order. Boxes 1-33 comprise Anderson's personal papers and boxes 34-58 contain
his research library.