Harold Scheffler Papers

CORRESPONDENCE

Scope and Content of Series

Series 1) CORRESPONDENCE: Includes letters from anthropologists John Barnes, William Davenport and Murray Groves; the ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, and two of Scheffler's graduate students, Matthew Cooper and Frances Harwood. There are also letters from government offices in the Solomon Islands, the National Science Foundation and Yale University related to Scheffler's research and travel. Arranged alphabetically.

Box 1, Folder 1

Alexander Turnbull Library 1960 - 1966

Box 1, Folder 2

B - Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 3

British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Western Pacific High Commission 1966 - 1967

Box 1, Folder 4

Caughey, John L. 1966

Box 1, Folder 5

Cooper, Matthew 1966 - 1971

Box 1, Folder 6

Davenport, William 1959 - 1966

Box 1, Folder 7

E - Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 8

G - Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 9

Groves, Murray 1963

Box 1, Folder 10

H - Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 11

Harwood, Frances H. 1966 - 1968

Box 1, Folder 12-13

K - L - Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 14

Lomax, Alan 1963 May 9

General note

Includes list, "Materials on Tapes Recorded by H. W. Scheffler in Western British Solomon Islands." See also SERIES 8A.

Box 1, Folder 15-16

M - N - Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 17

National Science Foundation 1966

Box 1, Folder 18

O - Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 19

Page, Bill 1966 - 1967

Box 1, Folder 20-21

R - S - Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 22

Tippett, Alan R. 1966

Box 1, Folder 23

Y - Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 24

Yale University 1966 - 1967

Box 1, Folder 25

Unidentified correspondents

WRITINGS BY SCHEFFLER

Scope and Content of Series

Series 2) WRITINGS BY SCHEFFLER: Manuscripts of Scheffler's journal articles and published works related to the Solomon Islands, including a typescript of his dissertation entitled Kindred and Kin Groups in Choiseul Island Social Structure (1963) and drafts for articles on kinship, land tenure and separatist church movements. Also included are proposals for research grant applications to fund his fieldwork and analysis. Arranged alphabetically by title.

Box 1, Folder 26

Ambilateral Kin Groups - Typescript undated

Box 1, Folder 27

Baniata Kinship Terminology - Incomplete typescript and handwritten notes undated

Box 1, Folder 28

Break-Away Churches in the Solomon Islands - Manuscript with typescript notes undated

Box 1, Folder 29

Choiseul manuscript

General note

Figures: numbered and captioned prints of Baukolo and Voza villages, showing structures, people and activities, burial urns (dolos) and shrines, shell money (kesa) counting, and music making with pan pipes. Also includes loose prints.

Box 1, Folder 30

For Conflict Book - Single handwritten page undated

Box 1, Folder 31

Fulbright Grant Application material - Includes draft curriculum vitae, statement giving educational background and summary of proposed analysis and write-up of dissertation 1959

Kindred and Kin Groups in Choiseul Island Social Structure

Box 1, Folder 32

Dissertation, chapters 1 - 3 March 1963

General note

See also SERIES 3B, draft introduction and outline for dissertation in "Residential Histories" notebook.

Box 1, Folder 33

Dissertation, chapters 4 - 7 March 1963

Box 1, Folder 34

Abstract of dissertation

Box 1, Folder 35

Kindred and Kin Groups in Simbo Island Social Structure 1962

Box 1, Folder 36

Political Finance in Melanesia: Big Men and Disks of Shell 1965

Revitalization Movements in the British Solomons

Box 2, Folder 1

Application for research grant 1966

General note

Includes an "Accounts" notebook for 1967.

Box 2, Folder 2

Correspondence 1966 - 1968

Box 2, Folder 3

Requests for funding to the National Science Foundation 1966 - 1969

Separatist Church in the Solomons

Box 2, Folder 4

Draft and notes undated

Box 2, Folder 5

Notes for a talk 1969 May 5

Box 2, Folder 6

Social Consequences of Peace: Choiseul Island 1963

Solomon Islands: Seeking a New Land Custom - In Land Tenure in the Pacific, edited by Ron Crocombe

Box 2, Folder 7

Annotated typescript draft and copy. Includes cover letter to Crocombe 1965, 1971

Box 2, Folder 8

Research notes on land tenure cases in Choiseul, including notecards with manuscript maps 1971

Oversize FB-269, Folder 1

Research maps 1971

Box 2, Folder 9

Research material includes correspondence, copies of legal documents and reports 1971

Box 2, Folder 10

Theoretical Implications - Typescript undated

Box 2, Folder 11

Unidentified comments on papers

Box 2, Folder 12

Unidentified notes on kinship and languages

CHOISEUL ISLAND FIELDWORK

Scope and Content of Series

Series 3) CHOISEUL ISLAND FIELDWORK: Scheffler's dissertation field work, including field notes and typescript summaries. Arranged in five subseries: A) Diaries, B) Field Notes, C) Genealogies and Kinship Charts, D) Varisi Language Material and E) Maps.

A) Diaries (1958-1961): Scheffler's day-to-day, handwritten entries describing places visited, contacts made, conversations with informants, new words or usages, and records of expenses during his fieldwork on Choiseul.

B) Field Notes: Notebooks with dated handwritten entries of ethnographic information from informants, typescript notes that organize, synthesize and summarize the field data on land tenure in the notebooks, and typed notecards with field data classified according to the Human Relations Area Files coding system. The notecards also include a sociological census of Choiseul Island, notes on cases brought before the native courts, notes on readings and a bibliography.

C) Genealogies and Kinship Charts: Notebooks and charts with lineage names, relationships and explanations of terminology.

D) Varisi Language Material: Comparative word lists, a dictionary, descriptions of grammatical forms, and several examples of text. Varisi is one of the six languages on Choiseul Island and spoken by many groups outside the Varisi District.

E) Maps: Seven blueprint drainage maps with Scheffler's (?) annotations of topographical features, villages and trails.

Diaries

Box 2, Folder 13

No. 1 1958 October 13 - 1959 April 22

Box 2, Folder 14

No. 2 1959 April 24 - August 30

Box 3, Folder 1

No. 3 1959 September 1 - December 1, and 1960 April

Box 3, Folder 2

No. 4 1959 December 13 - 1960 March 12

Box 3, Folder 3

Daily journal, Choiseul 1961 February 17 - April 8

Field Notes

Box 3, Folder 4

Analysis notebook 1960 October 27 - 1962 November 6

Choiseul field notes

Box 3, Folder 5

Book 1 November 21, 1958 - April 18, 1959

Box 3, Folder 6

Book 2 April 20 - July 8, 1959

Box 3, Folder 7

Book 3 July 13 - October 21, 1959

Box 3, Folder 8

Book 4 - General notes, Varisi side November 5 - November 22, 1959

Box 3, Folder 9

Book 5 - General notes, Varisi side November 23, 1959 - January 5, 1960

Box 4, Folder 1

Book 5 - Second trip February 18 - April 5, 1961

Box 4, Folder 2-3

Field notes - Choiseul Island, British Solomon Islands Protectorate [Versions 1 & 2] 1958 November - 1960 March

Box 4, Folder 4

Household census data, Choiseul No. 1 - Notebook undated

Box 5, Folder 1

Human relations area files classification of field notes - Notecard file undated

General note

Also includes "Sociological Census - Choiseul Island," "Native Court Cases," notes on readings and a bibliography.

Box 6, Folder 1-2

Land tenure field notes. Choiseul Island, British Solomon Island Protectorate 1958 - 1960

Box 6, Folder 3

Native court records - Notebook with cases from Choiseul, British Solomon Islands Protectorate 1950-1960

Box 6, Folder 4

Notebook no. 1 - Native courts and councils, Western Solomons 1954-1958

Box 6, Folder 5

Plant names, in local language, with descriptions and how they are used undated

Box 6, Folder 6

Residential histories, Choiseul - Includes draft introduction and outline of Scheffler's dissertation, with working title "Some Aspects of Choiseul Social Structure: Group Formation and Operation in an Ambilateral Society" undated

General note

See also Series 2, WRITINGS, "Kindred and Kin Groups in Choiseul Island Social Structure."

Box 6, Folder 7-8

Social structure field notes, typed 1958 November - 1960 March

Genealogies and Kinship

Choiseul notebooks

Box 6, Folder 9

No. 1 1958 November 26 - 1959 March 27

Box 6, Folder 10

No. 2 1959 April 6 - November 4

Box 6, Folder 11

No. 3. Varisi Side 1959 November 16 - December 16

Box 6, Folder 12

No. 4 1959 December 17 - 26

Oversize FB-269, Folder 2

Lineages and genealogies, Choiseul - Charts

Oversize MC-035-08

Maximal lineages - Genealogies. Varisi Language District, Choiseul

Box 7, Folder 3

Personal genealogies, Choiseul - Typed sheets. Includes typed list of equipment and handwritten notes 1959 May 5-6

Oversize MC-035-09

Skeleton genealogies of villages with maps, Choiseul

Varisi Language Material

Box 7, Folder 5-6

Choiseul languages: Varisi, Taula, Babatana - Comparative word lists with English translations

Box 7, Folder 7

Lexicostatistical comparisons - Word lists. Choiseul Island languages and dialects and those of several other islands 1959 - 1960

Box 7, Folder 8

Lexicostatistical comparisons, Varisi and Babatana with English - Typescript in English with equivalents in Choiseul languages

Box 7, Folder 9

Linguistic notes, Choiseul undated

Box 7, Folder 10

Texts, Choiseul - Notebook 1961 February - April

Box 7, Folder 11

Varisi Dictionary. Book No. 1. Notebook from Varisi Dictionary of William [?] ca. 1953

Varisi language

Box 7, Folder 12

Grammar - Notebook and notecards undated

Box 7, Folder 13

Workbook undated

Box 7, Folder 14

Translated texts - English typescript word lists and typescript Varisi texts with interlineal English translations, dated October 31 - November 29, 1959. Also includes two handwritten texts, Varisi and English 1959 October 31 - November 29

Box 8, Folder 1

Choiseul - Typescript in English with handwritten Varisi equivalents. Includes word lists and phrases

Box 8, Folder 2

Choiseul Island, British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Collected by H. Scheffler - Typescript, English and Varisi 1958 - 1961

Box 8, Folder 3

Notes and worksheets undated

Maps

Oversize MC-035-10

Choiseul maps - Seven blueprint maps indicating drainage systems, topographical features, villages and trails

RENDOVA ISLAND FIELDWORK

Scope and Content of Series

Series 4: RENDOVA ISLAND FIELDWORK: Scheffler's fieldwork and study of revitalization movements. Arranged in five subseries: A) Diaries, B) Field Notes, C) Genealogies and Kinship Charts, D) Baniata Language Material and E) Maps.

A) Diaries (1967-1968): Rendova diaries contain travel accounts, observations on the Christian Fellowship Church, its leader Silas Eto (Holy Mama) and Frances Harwood's field work.

B) Notebooks: Census data and genealogical information collected on the Baniata side and Rouro.

C) Genealogies and Kinship Charts

D) Baniata Language Materials: Typescript comparative word lists, descriptions of grammatical forms, exercises and a vocabulary compiled by Arthur Capell.

E) Maps: Two commercial maps of Rendova Island (ca. 1965) with annotations, and one commercial map of the Solomon Islands group (1951).

Diaries

Box 8, Folder 5

No. 1 1967 July 7 - October 29

Box 8, Folder 6

No. 2 1967 November 9 - 1968 February 20

Field Notes

Box 8, Folder 7

History of the Succession of Baniata Chiefs (according to John Kari, et al.) 1967

Box 8, Folder 8

Rendova Census, Baniata side 1967

Box 8, Folder 9

Rendova Census, Rouro, Book 2 1967

Box 8, Folder 10

Rendova Notes No. 1 1967 July 26 - November 23

Box 9, Folder 1

Rendova Notes No. 2 ca. 1967

Genealogies and Kinship

Oversize FB-269, Folder 3

Miscellaneous genealogies 1967

Baniata Language Material

Box 9, Folder 3

Miscellaneous handwritten word lists and notes undated

Box 9, Folder 4

Rendova Island, British Solomon Islands - Typescript word lists, English/Baniata 1967 - 1968

Box 9, Folder 5

Rendova Island, British Solomons. Section 1, Basic Vocabulary (Entire Swadesh Test List) - Typescript, English/Baniata 1967 - 1968

Box 9, Folder 6

Typescript with enumeration, noun class relationships, pronouns, and simple declarative sentences undated

Box 9, Folder 7

Word list and paradigms, [Version 1] - Typescript, Baniata/Roviana

General note

Includes printed pages from the Baniata Language of Rendova Island, by W. H. L. Waterhouse, 1927 [?].

Box 9, Folder 8

Word list and paradigms, [Version 2] - Typescript word lists, English/Baniata/Roviana

Box 9, Folder 9

Baniata language notes 1967 July 15

Box 9, Folder 10

Baniata language workbook undated

Box 9, Folder 11

Baniata vocabulary compiled by Arthur Capell undated

Maps

Oversize MC-035-11

Rendova Island and British Solomon Islands - Annotated by Scheffler 1951 - 1965

MISCELLANEOUS FIELDWORK

Scope and Content of Series

Series 5) MISCELLANEOUS FIELDWORK: Notebooks with general observations and bibliographies on the Solomon Islands, the specific island of Simbo (1960) and Ambrym Island in Vanuatu.

Box 9, Folder 12

Ambryn [Ambrym, Vanuatu], Book 1. Genealogies, etc. 1968 April 28 - May 5

Box 10, Folder 1

Bibliographic Notes No. 1. Choiseul and Western Solomons undated

Box 10, Folder 2

Notes on Hocart's M.S. Roviana and Simbo - Notebook with typescript and handwritten notes undated

Box 10, Folder 3

Simbo Genealogies, No. 1. Simbo Island, British Solomon Islands Protectorate 1960 March 30 - April 5

Box 10, Folder 4

Simbo Notes No. 1 1960 March 26 - May 5

Box 10, Folder 5

Solomon Islands Copra Production (No Plantation) - Handwritten notes with production figures 1962-1966

Box 10, Folder 6

Solomon Islands Notes and Bibliography - Expense notebooks for fieldwork on Choiseul and Rendova. Includes loose handwritten notes

WRITINGS OF OTHERS

Scope and Content of Series

Series 6) WRITINGS OF OTHERS: Materials primarily relating to separatist church movements, including Frances Harwood's research on the Christian Fellowship Church, an instance of a schismatic church in Melanesia. Also included are handwritten notes, largely related to Ambrym Island, made by British anthropologist Bernard Deacon (1903-1927) and typescript copies of Deacon's notes made by Camilla Wedgwood.

Box 10, Folder 7

Capell, Arthur. "Lexicostatistical Study of the Languages of Choiseul Island, British Solomon Islands" 1968

Box 10, Folder 8

Christian Fellowship Church. Birth and baptismal records for villages of Baniata and Hopono 1914 - 1964

Box 10, Folder 9

Cooper, Matthew. "Ethics in a Melanesian Society," undated

General note

Includes typescript version, "Langalanga Ethics," paper presented at the 68th Annual Meeting, American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, November 21, 1969.

Box 10, Folder 10

Deacon, Bernard. New Hebrides [Ambrym, Vanuatu] notes 1926 - 1927

General note

Includes Scheffler's provenance note: "Typescript and handwritten notes once held by Camilla Wedgwood and given to Harold Scheffler by E. P. Elkin in Sydney, Australia, in the 1970s."

Box 10, Folder 11

Eto, Silas. "Holy Mama's Autobiography" 1967

General note

Includes copy of a handwritten version in the Roviana language and typescript English translation.

Harwood, Frances

"The Christian Fellowship Church"

Box 11, Folder 1

Typescript histories provided by informants ca. 1967 - 1968

Box 11, Folder 2

Typescript notes, interviews and correspondence 1966 - 1968

Box 11, Folder 3

"The Christian Fellowship Church: A Revitalization Movement in Melanesia" - Typescript presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Seattle, Washington 1968 November

Box 11, Folder 4

"Research Proposal for Fieldwork on New Georgia, British Solomon Islands Protectorate" - Typescript 1966

General note

See also SERIES 2: Revitalization Movements in the British Solomons.

Box 11, Folder 5

Tanavalu, Levi. "Voza Village, Tepazaka District, Choiseul Island" - Typescript undated

Tuza, Esau

Box 11, Folder 6

"The Demolition of Christian Church Buildings by Ancestors: A Personal Observation of ..." 1981

Box 11, Folder 7

"Life, an Attitude to Living: A Cultural Viewpoint from the Solomon Islands" 1981

Box 11, Folder 8

"Overseas Church and the Christian Fellowship Church" - Typescript undated

PHOTOGRAPHS

Scope and Content of Series

Series 7) PHOTOGRAPHS. Arranged according to periods of fieldwork in two subseries: A) 1958-1961 and B) 1967-1968. Many of the images in this series have been digitized, and can be viewed through links in the container list, or by clicking the link below.

Items available online

A) 1958-1961: Slides and black-and-white photographic prints taken between 1958 and 1961 on Choiseul Island, but also on side trips to Papua New Guinea, Norfolk Island and Simbo Island. The images document village life in Voza, Scheffler's base on Choiseul; shell money (kesa) and its surrounding rituals; war making; music making; and, people. The Simbo Island images depict skull houses and shrines.

B) 1967-1968: Images documenting the religious revitalization movements and activities on Rendova, Choiseul, and New Georgia Islands, especially Paradise (Menakasapa) village and the Christian Fellowship Church and its leader, Silas Eto.

1958-1961

Box 11, Folder 9

Choiseul. Activities and portraits 1958 - 1961

General note

Includes construction, counting shell money (kesa), fishing, music making, urns (dolos) for burial.

Gizo