United States. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Survey Staff (Yale University) card file, 1942

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Summary

Creators:
United States. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Survey Staff (Yale University)
Abstract:
Project to compile anthropological information on peoples of the Pacific Islands and East Asia. Notes, photographs, and extracts from printed sources, relating to the people of the Bonin and Izu Islands, the Carolines, Hokkaido, the Kuriles, the Marianas, the Marshalls, Micronesia, Burma, Siam, Indonesia, Nauru, the Ryukyus, and Formosa. Compiled in preparation for Allied military government administration in these areas.
Extent:
39 oversize boxes (15.6 Linear Feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], United States Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Survey Staff (Yale University) card file, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

The survey file has been divided into island groups as follows:

I. Bonun and Izu Islands

II. Carolines

Eastern Carolines

East Central Carolines

Western Carolines

West Central Carolines

III. Hokkaido

IV. Kuriles

V. Marianas

VI. Marshalls

VII. Micronesia

VIII. Nauru

IX. Ryukyus

X. Formosa (Taiwan)

Bibliography Section, Formosa (Taiwan)

Geographical Section, Formosa (Taiwan)

Topical Section, Formosa (Taiwan)

Burma, Siam and Indonesia

The group is indicated in the upper right hand corner of the card. The cards for most island groups are coded by numbers by country following the numeric codes in the Outline of Cultural Materials: A working Manual Prepared for Emergency use by the Cross-Cultural Survey and the Strategic Index of the Americas, Volume II, Yale Anthropological Studies. A copy is available at the Hoover Institution.

In the upper left hand corner of each card appear three or four numbers (i.e. 1453) which are always underscored or checked by pencil. This is the survey number. The first two numerals (i.e. 14) indicate the major classification. Each major classification is then subdivided into minor classed by the third numeral, (i.e. 5). The minor classes may then be subdivided into sub-minor classes, indicated by the forth numeral (i.e. 3) 1453 would then be filed as class 14, minor group 5, sub-minor group 3. A sub-minor group is not always given.

Above the survey number is a source citation to the book number, author's name, and page number. Cards were filed by survey number, and within each survey number by book. For filing purposes, the author's name is ignored.

In the O.N.I./Cross Cultural Survey Files is a Data File Guide. This document contains an explanation of the subject matter of each major classification and its corresponding sub-divisions.

Island groups I-VII are explained in the Yale University Index. Group IX, the Ryukyus, uses the same basic system as Groups I through VIII except that the fourth numeral, for sub-minor groups, is not used in the survey number.

Group X, Formosa (Taiwan) is based on a different classification system due to its complexity and size. The original Index and Outline was devised for a body of materials concerning primitive societies. It served its purpose well in supporting research and publication on Micronesia, and was used in preparing the Civil Affairs Handbook for the Ryukyus. It was inadequate for filing data descriptive of the complex social and economic organization of contemporary Formosa.

The Formosa files at Columbia University were thereby recast. One set was organized under geographic headings, with topical subdivisions subordinate to the geographic divisions. A duplicate set was organized under topical headings, with geographic subdivisions wherever this could be done appropriately.

A substantial collection of photographs and photo-negatives is interfiled at appropriate places throughout these sets.

One set of Formosa materials at the Hoover Institution is set up under geographic headings, with topical subdivisions; the other is arranged under topical headings with geographic subdivision. Two set of materials for each of the other areas continue to be arranged according to the numerical Index of the original Cross Cultural Survey processing.

Note: In the course of repeated transfers between 1944 and 1955 the files were seriously disarranged. Persons using the files are requested to call attention to misfiled items.

The arrangement of the Formosa data files at the Hoover Institute does not follow the numerical index system prepared at New Haven by the Cross Cultural Survey staff. The original Index and Outline was devised for a body of materials concerning primitive societies. It served its purpose well in supporting research and publication on Micronesia, and was used in preparing the Civil Affairs Handbook for the Ryukyus. It was inadequate for filing data descriptive of the complex social and economic organization of contemporary Formosa.

The Formosa files at Columbia University were thereby recast. One set was organized under geographic headings, with topical subdivisions subordinate to the geographic divisions. A duplicate set was organized under topical headings, with geographic subdivisions wherever this could be done appropriately.

The present Index Guide represents the arrangement of materials within the Topical File.

Note: In the course of repeated transfers between 1944 and 1955 the files were seriously disarranged. Persons using the files are requested to call attention to misfiled items.

More detailed information on Codes is available at the Hoover Institution

Formosa/Taiwan Data Set Codes
  1. 1100. Geography
  2. 1200. Maps and Mapping
  3. 1300. Natural Resources
  4. 1400. History
  5. 1500. Who's Who
  6. 2000. Population, Customs, and Characteristics
  7. 2100. Population, Customs, and Characteristics
  8. 2200. Languages, Dialects, Signs, Gestures
  9. 2300. Living Conditions, Relief and Welfare
  10. 2400. Health and Sanitation
  11. 2500. Education
  12. 2600. Religion
  13. 2700. Press
  14. 2800. Propaganda and Censorship
  15. 2900. Societies and Associations
  16. 3000. Colonial Policy and Foreign Relations
  17. 3100. Taiwan Government - General
  18. 3200. Provincial Government
  19. 3300. Local Government
  20. 3400. Civil Rights and Political Movements
  21. 3500. Property and Contract
  22. 3600. Law
  23. 3700. Police and Law Enforcement
  24. 3800. Courts and Judiciary
  25. 4000. Economics: General
  26. 4100. Agriculture
  27. 4200. Fishing and Marine Products
  28. 4300. Forest Products
  29. 4400. Mining and Metallurgy
  30. 4500. Manufacture and Industry
  31. 4600. Motive Power and Utilities
  32. 4700. Transportation
  33. 4800. Railroad Transportation
  34. 4900. Land Transportation (other than Railroad)
  35. 5000. Water Transportation
  36. 5100. Air Transportation (civil and military)
  37. 5200. Communications
  38. 5300. Labor
  39. 5400. Trade and Commerce
  40. 5500. Finance
  41. 5600. War and National Defense
  42. 5700. Civil Affairs: Data and Problems

Simplified Data File Guide based on the Outline of Cultural Materials: A Working Manual Prepared for Emergency Use by the Cross-Cultural Survey and the Strategic Index of the Americas, Yale University, circa 1943. More detailed information on Codes is available at the Hoover Institution.

Ryukyu Islands Data Codes
  1. 10. Basic Data
  2. 11. History
  3. 12. Local and Regional Culture
  4. 13. Language
  5. 14. Communications
  6. 15. Resources
  7. 16. Technology and Manufactures
  8. 17. Capital
  9. 18. Housing and Community Organization
  10. 19. Food
  11. 20. Drink, Narcotics, and Stimulants
  12. 21. Dress and Adornment
  13. 22. Living Conditions and Routine
  14. 23. Labor Supply and Organization
  15. 24. Divisions of Labor and Specialization
  16. 25. Trade and Marketing
  17. 26. Finance - including Insurance
  18. 27. Transportation - including Warehousing
  19. 28. Population Movements, Travel
  20. 29. Recreation
  21. 30. Aesthetics - Art and Literature
  22. 31. Numbers and Measures
  23. 32. Education - Lore and Learning
  24. 33. Attitudes toward Nature
  25. 34. Religion
  26. 35. Ethics
  27. 36. Communal Attitudes
  28. 37. Social Structure
  29. 38. Family Organization
  30. 39. Kinship System
  31. 40. Social Organization
  32. 41. Government
  33. 42. Law and Social Control
  34. 43. Ingroup Conflict
  35. 44. War and Peace
  36. 45. Human Organism
  37. 46. Sex
  38. 47. Reproduction
  39. 48. Infancy
  40. 49. Childhood
  41. 50. Youth
  42. 51. Marriage
  43. 52. Adulthood
  44. 53. Old Age
  45. 54. Sickness
  46. 55. Death
Biographical / historical:

These data files were developed on behalf of the Chief of Naval Operations Cross Cultural Survey Staff at Yale University. They were donated by the Navy Department to the Hoover Institution in November 1955.

From this raw data, a series of Civil Affairs Handbooks were prepared at the School of Naval Administration at Columbia University, in the period of 1943-1945, to be used by military government organizations moving into the areas surrendered by the Japanese.

For a working project outline the Cross Cultural Survey staff adapted an index and outline guide that had been set up for processing anthropological data concerning indigenous cultures of the Americas. A highly trained staff reviewed materials in western languages and some in Japanese. Abstracts and condensations of useful information were put on 5x8 inch slips and filed according to a numerical key to the Cross Cultural Survey outline.

Five sets of the files were established, with one each at Yale University, Columbia University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Fifth Naval District Intelligence Office (New York), and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations at Washington.

Two research units were established at Columbia University. Under the direction of Commander George P. Murdock, one unit prepared Civil Affairs Handbooks for the Japanese mandated islands, the Ryukyus, and the Izu and Bonin Islands. The other, under the direction of Lieutenant George H. Kerr, prepared ten Handbooks (one covering the Formosa as a unit, one each for eight administrative subdivisions, and one Economic Supplement, done in cooperation with the Department of Commerce). Contributions were made to other agencies preparing Handbooks concerning Fisheries and Agriculture in Formosa. Materials were assembled for a Handbook on the aboriginal people of Formosa, but this was not completed before the military decision to bypass Formosa was made, and the intensive Formosa research and training program was abandoned.

In 1946 one set of Formosa materials was transferred from the Navy Department (Washington) through the Department of State to the American Consulate in Taipei. The Smithsonian set is reportedly at the Library of Congress. Two sets of Formosa materials used at Columbia in preparing the Navy Handbooks series are now in the Hoover Institution together with duplicate sets of material on Micronesia, the Ryukyus, and other areas.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 1955.
Arrangement:

Arranged by country following the numeric codes in the Outline of Cultural Materials: A working Manual Prepared for Emergency use by the Cross-Cultural Survey and the Strategic Index of the Americas, Volume II, Yale Anthropological Studies

Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], United States Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Survey Staff (Yale University) card file, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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