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Ayres (Mary Clifton) Fieldnotes and Recordings
MSS 0113
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Mary Clifton Ayres Fieldnotes and Recordings
Creator:
Ayres, Mary Clifton
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0113
Physical Description:
3 Linear feet
(3 archives boxes, 2 card file boxes, and 1 record carton)
Date (inclusive): 1966-1991
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.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
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.
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.
Mary Clifton Ayres Fieldnotes and Recordings. MSS 113. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquired 1986, 2022.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK 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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ethnology -- Papua New Guinea -- Morehead River Region
Ethnology -- Papua New Guinea -- Western Province
Ayres, Mary Clifton -- Archives