Mary Clifton Ayres Fieldnotes and Recordings
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 2022
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Descriptive Summary
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.
Biography
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.
Preferred Citation
Mary Clifton Ayres Fieldnotes and Recordings. MSS 113. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 1986, 2022.
OFF-SITE STORAGE
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS. Box 6 is stored on-site at Geisel Library.
Restrictions
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
Box 1, Folder 1-2
This Side, That Side: Locality and Exogamous Group Definition in Morehead Area, Southwestern Papua (1983) - Dissertation
1980
Box 1, Folder 3
Dissertation illustrations
1980
Box 1, Folder 4
Place Exogamy and the Structure of Marriage Exchange
1982
Box 1, Folder 5
Map of study area
1979-1981
Box 1, Folder 6-8
Volume I - Rouku
1979-1981
Box 1, Folder 9-10
Volume II - Western Villages
1979-1981
Box 1, Folder 11
Volume III - Eastern Villages, Part I
1979-1981
Box 2, Folder 1
Volume III - Eastern Villages, Part II
1979-1981
Box 2, Folder 7
Marriage exchanges
1979-1981
Box 4, Folder 1
Pamphlets and articles about Papua New Guinea
1980
Box 4, Folder 2
Area study - Bensbach, Saru and Trans Fly census divisions, Morehead sub district
1968 August 14
Box 4, Folder 3-4
Census Report, National Science Foundation Reports; Proposals. Includes field reports, articles, and thesis defense
1980-1981
Box 4, Folder 5
Terrain Study, SW Papua and Fly River
1942-1932, 1972
Box 4, Folder 6
Drawings and maps by school children of Morehead District
1980
Box 4, Folder 7
Expedition materials - Includes budget, notes on supplies and recording equipment, researching women in PNG, and passport
1979-1981
Box 4, Folder 8
Publications and maps
1930-1980
Box 4, Folder 9
Morehead District Topographic Maps with place name annotations
1966, 1981
Box 4, Folder 10-11
Patrol Reports, Maps, Vocabulary lists, A.P. Lyons: Journals (copies from the National Archives of Papua New Guinea)
1889-1934
Box 4, Folder 12
Patrol Reports from archives at Morehead Station and Daru
1950-1975
Box 4, Folder 13
Patrol Reports notebooks
1979-1981
Box 4, Folder 14-15
Copies of F. E. Williams Trans-Fly Fieldnotes (from the National Archives of Papua New Guinea)
1926-1932
Box 4, Folder 16
Copies of F. E. Williams Trans-Fly Fieldnotes notebooks
1979-1981
Box 5, Folder 4-5
Professional correspondence - Jan Van Baal, Andrew Strathern, J. Werner and others
1977-1989
Box 5, Folder 6
Ayers, Mary - Outgoing correspondence
1977-1986
Box 5, Folder 7
Personal correspondence from Papua New Guinea
1987-1991
Box 2, Folder 8
Index to cassette tapes recorded in Papua New Guinea
1979-1981
Box 6, Folder 1-19
Listening copies of tapes 1-19
1979-1981
Box 3, Folder 1
Tape 1. Rouku - Tjumbke, Sambui and Daughter Waiambu Crying at Reunion, 1979. Tjiekar - Dance 11/79 (starts on side A)
1979-1981
Box 3, Folder 2
Tape 2. Rouku - Njurna Dance (Practice), 1980. Kauwethethe - Mbesi Dance
1979-1981
Box 3, Folder 3
Tape 3. Fira Dance (Mborembor)
1980
Box 3, Folder 4
Tape 4. Wemenevre Dance (Mborembor), Masu Dance (Mborembor)
1980
Box 3, Folder 5
Tape 5. Place: Savis Dance (Njurna), including Towasi
1980
Box 3, Folder 6
Tape 6. Weni - Tarar Patrol (story), Ausiwewe's Burial - Crying, 1981. Terumbo: Sukipatrol Sarau: Ndunguseri Forak: apc. work
1979-1981
Box 3, Folder 7
Tape 7. Maiti Stories: Fira. Weni - Yethama story
1981
Box 3, Folder 8
Tape 8. Stories: Yethama (continued); Karua, Taiso, Yafra and Yator
1981
Box 3, Folder 9
Tape 9. Maiti: Mbiri Story. Weni: Ndokre Story. Singoi: Kavaryeveu Story
1981
Box 3, Folder 10
Tape 10. Story of "Big Asshole." Story of Kwaikar Mentj
1981
Box 3, Folder 11
Tape 11. Tjeatjermentj Stories
1979-1981
Box 3, Folder 12
Tape 12. Weni tells story; Mibini Stories
1980-1981
Box 3, Folder 13
Tape 13. Paini - Kamunojo Tjokwasi. Mibini Stories
1979-1981
Box 3, Folder 14
Tape 14. Ausi Tjumbke Crying. Mibini Stories
1981
Box 3, Folder 15
Tape 15. Mibini Stories. Gubam Stories
1981
Box 3, Folder 16
Tape 16. Gubam: Brum Story Cont'd from tape 15. Rouku: Tukum Tells Story of Wesarwesar; Abraham: Story of Njurna; Maru Story
1979-1981
Box 3, Folder 17
Tape 17. Mbesi Dance. Karama Dance - Savis. Jimakari Dance - Yetkume
1981
Box 3, Folder 18
Tape 18. Tjiekar - Sambui. Yarma - Wando (songs). A. Taiso - Rouku - Njurna Story
1981
Box 3, Folder 19
Tape 19. Oldmen's Secret Myth Songs - Natjethi. Women's Secret in Itiahon Songs - Tjevet
1981
Box 3, Folder 20
Tape 20. Music from South PNG
1979-1981
