Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Mary Clifton Ayres Fieldnotes and Recordings
- Dates:
- 1966-1991
- Creators:
- Ayres, Mary Clifton
- Abstract:
- Fieldnotes and recordings of Mary Clifton Ayres, ethnographer and professor of anthropology, made during her ethnographic fieldwork (1979-1981) in the Morehead District, Western Province, Papua New Guinea. Ayres' research formed the basis for her doctoral dissertation entitled This Side, That Side: Locality and Exogamous Group Definition in Morehead Area, Southwestern Papua.
- Extent:
- 3 Linear feet (3 archives boxes, 2 card file boxes, and 1 record carton)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
Mary Clifton Ayres Fieldnotes and Recordings. MSS 113. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Ayres Papers contain data collected during anthropological research conducted in the Morehead District, Western Province, Papua New Guinea between October 1979 to October 1981 by Mary Clifton Ayres. The collection includes some secondary materials, writings, correspondence, images, fieldnotes and patrol reports, and tape recordings made in the field.
Arranged in 4 series: 1) WRITINGS, 2) FIELDNOTES & SLIDES, 3) CORRESPONDENCE, and 4) AUDIOCASSETTES.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Mary Clifton Ayres was born on August 17, 1953. She received her B. A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin in 1974, an M.A. in Social Anthropolgy from the University of Chicago in 1978, and earned her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology, also from the University of Chicago in 1983. Her dissertation was entitled This Side, That Side: Locality and Exogamous Group Definition in Morehead Area, Southwestern Papua.
Ayres conducted research in Papua New Guinea from October 1979 through October 1981, with funding from the National Science Foundation. Her fieldsite was in the Morehead area of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. This is the same area in which F. E. Williams, a government anthropologist, conducted fieldwork from 1926-1932. Williams' fieldwork results were published in his book, Papuans of the Transfly (Clarendon, 1936). Williams' work, however, was among Nambu dialect speakers, while Ayres' work concentrated on speakers of the Tonda dialect. Thus, Ayres' work provides an important complement and contrast to Williams' earlier description of the area, as well as providing an important ethnographic description of present-day culture in the Morehead area. In addition to Ayres' original fieldnotes, copies of F. E. Williams Trans-Fly fieldnotes from the National Archives of Papua New Guinea are also contained within the collection.
- Acquisition information:
- Acquired 1986, 2022.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-03-17 21:46:58 +0000 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW TWO TO THREE (2-3) WEEKS FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS. Box 6 is stored on-site at Geisel Library.
Original media formats are restricted. Viewing/listening copies may be available for researchers.
- Preferred citation:
-
Mary Clifton Ayres Fieldnotes and Recordings. MSS 113. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
- Location of this collection:
-
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0175La Jolla, CA 92093-0175, US
- Contact:
- (858) 534-2533