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Anderson (Arthur J.O.) papers
LSC.2133  
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Table of contents What's This?
  • 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 a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
    We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections. 

    UCLA Catalog Record ID

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9971508783606533 

    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.