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Burridge (Kenelm) Papers
MSS 0710
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Kenelm Burridge Papers
Creator:
Burridge, Kenelm
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0710
Physical Description:
3.6 Linear feet
(9 archives boxes and 2 map case folders)
Date (inclusive): 1952-2005 (bulk 1952-1977)
Abstract: Papers of anthropologist Kenelm Burridge, with a primary focus on the Tangu people in the Bogia region of the Madang Province
of Papua New Guinea in 1952, and additional materials on Malaya (1954-56) and Catholic missions and missionary impacts on
indigenous peoples in Northwest Australia and Papua New Guinea (1968-1977).
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Kenelm Burridge papers primarily document his anthropological studies of the Tangu people in the Bogia region of the Madang
Province of Papua New Guinea in 1952. Burridge subsequently lived in Malaya between 1954 and 1956, and researched Catholic
missions and missionary impacts on indigenous peoples in Northwest Australia and Papua New Guinea in the late 1960s through
1970s, and the papers include materials from these studies. The collection contains photographs, with a special emphasis on
the Tangu; diaries containing field notes and observations; a small amount of correspondence; maps of Papua New Guinea with
a focus on regions where Burridge lived and worked; and some typescript manuscript drafts.
Arranged in four series: 1) TANGU, PAPUA NEW GUINEA (1952), 2) MALAYA (1954-1956), 3) MISSIONS - NORTHWEST AUSTRALIA AND PNG,
and 4) MISCELLANEOUS.
Kenelm Burridge (1922-2019) was born in Malta on October 31, 1922 to a Maltese mother and British father, and much of his
early childhood was in India. Burridge was eventually sent to the United Kingdom to study at a boarding school. When the Second
World War broke out in 1939, he joined the Royal Navy. During his naval career he served aboard the submarine HMS Splendid;
after the Splendid was attacked and sunk by a German ship, he was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Milan. He later
escaped to nearby Allied forces with the help of locals.
After the war Burridge left the Navy to study at Oxford, where he obtained a B.A. in Law and an M.A. in Anthropology. Burridge
wanted to focus his anthropological studies on the Southwestern Pacific, so acting upon the advice of Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard,
he began his doctoral work at the newly established Australian National University under S. F. Nadal. After completing his
fieldwork in Papua New Guinea in 1952, Burridge obtained ANU's first PhD in 1953.
Burridge was a research fellow for two years at the University of Malaya, and became the chair of anthropology at the University
of Baghdad in 1956, a position he left in 1958 as a result the 14 July Revolution. He then served as an anthropology lecturer
at Oxford before taking up a professorship at the University of British Columbia in 1968. During his time at UBC he published
several works and became ingrained with the community before retiring in 1988. Kenelm Burridge passed away on May 21, 2019
at the age of 97.
Kenelm Burridge Papers. MSS 710. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquired 2009, 2014
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Anthropology -- Papua New Guinea
Ethnology -- Papua New Guinea
Anthropology -- Australia, Northern
Ethnology -- Australia, Northern
Burridge, Kenelm -- Archives