The Philleo Nash papers attest to Nash's interest in anthropology, not only research and teaching but also in its application to public service. His papers can be separated into four main areas: undergraduate and graduate education, research, teaching, and public service. Files contain class notes from Nash's undergraduate and graduate studies as well as papers by well-known professors lecturing at the University of Chicago including Ralph Linton, Robert Redfield, and R.A. Radcliffe-Brown. The bulk of his research was conducted in the Pacific Northwest where he studied the Klamath-Modoc culture on the reservation, focusing on revivalism and socio-political organization (1935-1937). Other research included archeology at two sites, a study of the Toronto Jewish community, and a continuing interest in minority issues. Nash taugh at the University of Toronto (1937- 1941) and at American University in Washington, D.C. (1971-1977). Teaching files contain lecture notes from his work at the University of Toronto. Public service files include correspondence from the period when he was Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin (1959-1961) as well as reports and photos from the years as Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1961-1966). Other public service and business positions are not represented in these files.
Scope and Contents:
The Philleo Nash Papers attest to Nash's interest in anthropology, not only research and teaching but also in its application to public service. His papers can be separated into four main areas: undergraduate and graduate education, research, teaching, and public service. Files contain class notes from Nash's undergraduate and graduate studies as well as papers by well-known professors lecturing at the University of Chicago including Ralph Linton, Robert Redfield, and R.A. Radcliffe-Brown. The bulk of his research was conducted in the Pacific Northwest where he studied the Klamath-Modoc culture on the reservation, focusing on revivalism and socio-political organization (1935-1937). Other research included archeology at two sites, a study of the Toronto Jewish community, and a continuing interest in minority issues. Nash taugh at the University of Toronto (1937-1941) and at American University in Washington, D.C. (1971-1977). Teaching files contain lecture notes from his work at the University of Toronto. Public service files include correspondence from the period when he was Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin (1959-1961) as well as reports and photos from the years as Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1961-1966). Other public service and business positions are not represented in these files.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Philleo Nash was born on October 25, 1909, in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. He studied at the University of Wisconsin, taking a year off to study music at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. On his return to the University of Wisconsin, Nash completed his undergraduate degree in anthropology (1932) and went on to the University of Chicago for a Ph.D. in anthropology (1937). His doctoral dissertation explored the concepts of revivalism and social change with a focus on the Klamath Ghost Dance activities of the 1870s.
Nash held positions in teaching as well as in government and his family business. He was a lecturer in anthropology at the University of Toronto (1937-1941). He also lectured at the University of Wisconsin (1941-1942) and at American University in Washington, D.C. (1971-1977).
From 1942 to 1953, Nash served in various positions in the federal government, first in the Office of War Information and later as Assistant to President Truman, focusing on minority affairs and as liaison to the Department of the Interior. During this period in Washington, Nash also acted as President of the Georgetown Day School (1945-1952), where he was one of the founders of this racially integrated cooperative school. In 1953, Nash returned to Wisconsin where his interest in politics continued, and he became Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1959 to 1961. In 1961, he returned to Washington, DC as U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a position he held until 1966.
Following his work as Commissioner, Nash remained in Washington where he acted as a consultant in applied anthropology and held offices in various associations including hte Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA), the American Anthropological Association (AAA), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). During all the years of professional responsibilities, Nash also held positions in the family business, Biron Cranberry Company. He returned to Wisconsin in 1977 to be President and Manager of the Company.
Throughout his life Nash was active in various associations for science and anthropology. He was awarded the AAA's Distinguished Service Award in 1984. In 1986, the SfAA presented him with the Bronislaw Malinowski Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship and long term commitment in applying the social sciences to contemporary issues.
Philleo Nash died in 1987. Some years before his death Nash sent his archaeological research material from the Pound Village Site (1938-1939) to Toronto and his research material from the DuBay Village Site (1940) to the Milwaukee Public Museum. According to the terms of his will, his government and political papers are housed at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.
Reference: Landman, Ruth H. and Katherine S. Halpern (eds.). Applied Anthropologist and Public Servant: the Life and Work of Philleo Nash. NAPA Bulletin #7. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association, 1989.
Related Materials:
According to the terms of his will, Nash's government and political papers are housed at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.
Restrictions:
The Philleo Nash papers are open for research.
Access to the Philleo Nash papers requires an appointment.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
Hick's Camp (California)
Argentina
Peru
Mexico
Date:
1919 - 1970
Summary:
The Beals papers in the National Anthropological Archives include field notes, correspondence, printed materials, copies of historical documents, drafts and final manuscripts of writings, photographs, and cartographic materials. Most relate to research projects and sometimes include materials of colleagues and assistants. Especially notable is the abundant material regarding Oaxaca markets. There are some materials relating to aspects of Beals's career other than his research but they are generally widely distributed throughout the collection. Materials relating to events that happened to occur at the time of certain field work are often interfiled with the material relating to that certain field work.
There are also some personal materials included. Conspicuously missing from the papers are notes on Beals's archeological work, which he has retained. There are relatively few materials relating to his teaching career, although some of the letters exchanged with Alfred Louis Kroeber concern the establishment of anthropology at the University of California at Los Angeles; and correspondence with students in the field concerns teaching as well as research activities. A typesript of notes on the Nisenan are at the Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. Some of the letters concern Elsie Clews Parsons and Carlos Castenada.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional and personal life of Ralph L. Beals (1901-1985), author, anthropologist and professor at the University of California. Included are his research files, correspondence, grant proposals, notes, charts, census material, maps, newspaper clippings, appointment calendars, drafts of published and unpublished writings, photographs and card files.
The bulk of the material relate to his research. Major projects documented in the collection include his studies of a Tarascan community; Mexican students in the United States; indigenous market systems in Oaxaca markets; economic systems in Nayón, Ecuador; land utilization by California Indians; and conditions in Hicks Camp in Southern California. The collection also contains his early research in Mexico during the 1930s as well as a study of kinship relationships undertaken by Beals' students during his residency as visiting professor at the University of Buenos Aires in 1962. Absent from the papers are notes from Beals' archeological work in Cobra Head Wash in Arizona.
A portion of the collection also reflects Beals' literary efforts beginning in the 1920s until later in his life. Throughout his adult lifetime Beals had been actively involved with the publishing world, constantly editing, reviewing, revising, rewriting and submitting for publication articles, speeches, lectures, essays, scholarly papers, and textbooks, in addition to contributing to various symposia, scientific associations and journals.
While there is little material regarding his faculty work at UCLA, some of his professional activities are documented in the collection. Of particular interest is his investigation for the American Anthropological Association into the ethics surrounding the use of anthropologists by government security agencies. The collection also contains files pertaining to his work with international professional societies and universities in Latin America and his service as editor of Acta America, the journal for the now defunct InterAmerican Society for Anthropology. His correspondence documents the development and demise of the organization.
The correspondence series is arranged both alphabetically and chronologically. Correspondents whose letters are included are Ellen Waterbury, Ronald Waterbury, Charlotte Stolmaker, Keith A. Dixon, Clark Kerr, R.G. Sproul, George Kennedy, and William Madsen. Correspondence listed chronologically (1928-78) has not been processed. A cursory review reveals that this includes a great deal of information on Beals' days at the University of California: personal and personnel papers and records, vitae, awards and commendations, salaries, positions held, etc. Some of the letters in the series concern Elsie Clews Parsons and Carlos Castenada.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Arrangement:
Organization
2. (1) Correspondence, 1928-1980
3. (2) Research proposals, 1936-1977
4. (3) Acta Americana materials, 1942-1963
5. (4) Early Mexican and California studies, 1930-1932, 1936
6. (5) Tarascan project materials, 1939-1941
7. (6) Social science in Latin Amerian materials, 1948-1949
9. (8) Cross-cultural education study materials, 1952-1957
10. (9) California Indians materials, 1945-1955
11. (10) Study of markets in Oaxaca materials, 1938-1973 (most 1960s)
12. (11) Research and ethics materials, 1965-1968
13. (12) Miscellaneous field materials (Hicks Camp and Argentine kinship), 1946-1952, 1963
14. (13) Manuscripts of writings and lectures, 1919-1977
15. (14) Miscellany, 1929-1970
16. (15) Photographs, card files, notebooks, and oversized materials, 1930s-1960s
Biographical Note:
Ralph Leon Beals trained in anthropology at the University of California (Ph.D., 1930) under Robert Lowie, Edward W. Gifford, and Alfred L. Kroeber. After a brief period with the National Park Service, he became an instructor at Berkeley and, in 1936, as an anthropologist, joined the Department of Psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles. He eventually organized the UCLA Department of Anthropology and Sociology and served as its chairman in 1941-1948. He was chairman of the UCLA Department of Anthropology in 1964-1965. In 1969, he became a professor emeritus of the university.
Beals' research focused on California, the American Southwest, and Latin America, especially Mexico. During the summer of 1929, he carried out an ethnological survey of the Southern Maidu (Nisenan), working under Kroeber and partly supported by Bureau of American Ethnology Cooperative Ethnological Research funds. In 1937-1938, he was on the Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition under the direction of Ansel F. Hall and excavated an archeological site in Cobra Head Wash in Arizona. In 1948-1949, he investigated conditions at Hicks Camp, a Mexican settlement in southern California; and, in 1945-1955, he headed a project for the United States Department of Justice to study traditional land utilization by California Indians. The study related to Indian land claims cases.
Beals' involvement in Mexico goes back to a youthful tramp through Sonora and Sinaloa in 1918-1919 that included a long sojourn with a Mexican family. In 1930-1932, Beals worked with the Yaqui and Mayo; in 1932, with Elsie Clews Parsons, he worked with the Cora and Huichol found at Tepic, Nayarit; and, in 1933, with the western Mixe of Oaxaca. With these groups and with the tribes of northern Mexico in general, he concerned himself with both the ethnography of exiting cultures and the reconstruction of the cultures at the time of contact with Europeans. Given the currents of anthropology, a family background of social concern, his historical interest in cultures long influenced by Europeans, and his observation of rapid change and strong modern economic influences among Indian tribes, Beals came to treat largely with social anthropology, problems of acculturation, and studies useful in applied aspects of anthropology.
In 1938, with Daniel F. Rubín de la Borbolla, Alfonso Caso, John M. Cooper, and Alfred L. Kroeber, Beals took part in a comprehensive multidiscipline study of the Tarascans to help formulate government policies and programs. Beals and several collaborators and assistants carried out ethnographic and social anthropological studies at Cherán. In 1948-1949, Beals studied the economic systems of Nayón, Ecuador, a Quechua village, and cultural and social changes accompanying the shift from a subsistence to marketplace economy. In Buenos Aires in 1963, he collected kinship data from students at the Institute of Sociology. In 1965, he began a detailed study of the large traditional market system of eastern Oaxaca in Mexico. Over a five-year period, many scholars and students assisted Beals.
Beals had active ties with many organizations and gave some extraordinary service. During 1942-1943, he directed a cooperative social science program between Latin American institutions and the Smithsonian Institution, establishing the InterAmerican Society for Anthropology and Geography. From 1943-1948, he edited the Society's journal Acta Americana, initially fulfilling official obligations but, after 1944 and his return to teaching, donating his time for the work. In 1944-1951, he was a collaborator with the Smithsonian's Institute for Social Anthropology.
As a member of the Social Science Research Council from 1946-1962, Beals undertook to study conditions in Latin American social science. In 1952, for the Council's Committee on Cross-Cultural Education, he and Norman D. Humphrey investigated the experiences of Mexican students in the United States. He also served the American Anthropological Association as a member of its executive council from 1947-1949, vice president in 1949, and president in 1950. In 1965, the AAA, concerned with the use of anthropologists by government security agencies, asked Beals to study the ethics involved. Prepared in cooperation with many research scholars, Beals report became the basis for the work of the AAA's ethics committee.
Beals had many other organizational ties and responsibilities. He served as American technical advisor at the First Inter-American Indianists Conference at Patzcuarol, Mexico, in 1939; chairman of the Social Science Research Council Cross-Cultural Education Committee from 1953 to 1960; member of the Society for American Archaeology executive committee from 1954 to 1957; and president of the Southwest Anthropological Association in 1958. He was an editor with the Handbook of Latin American Studies, American Anthropologist, and Notes on Latin American Studies.
Chronology of the life of Ralph Leon Beals
July 19, 1901 -- Born in Pasadena California
1923 -- Married Dorothy Manchester
1926 -- B.A. University of California, Berkeley
1930 -- Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley
1933-1935 -- Museum technician, National Park Service
1935 -- Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
1936-1938 -- Instructor, University of California, Los Angeles
1937-1941 -- Assistant Professor
1941-1947 -- Associate Professor
1942-1943 -- Director of Latin American Ethnic Studies, Smithsonian Institution
1947-1969 -- Professor of Anthropology
1944-1951 -- Collaborator, Institute of Social Anthropology
1962 -- Visiting Professor, University of Buenos Aires
1969- -- Professor Emeritus
Ralph Leon Beals was trained in anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley under Robert H. Lowie, Edward W. Gifford, and, especially, Alfred Louis Kroeber. After a brief period of work for the National Park Service following graduation, he became an instructor in anthropology at Berkeley and, in 1936, as an anthropologist, joined the Department of Psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles. There he organized the Department of Anthropology and Sociology and served as its chairman in 1941-1948. He was also chairman of the UCLA Department of Anthropology in 1964-1965. In 1969, he became an professor emertius of the university.
Beals's research has focused primarily on California, the American Southwest, and Latin America, especially Mexico. In California, he carried out an ethnological survey of the Southern Maidu (Nisenan) during the summer of 1929, working under Kroeber and supported in part by funds from the Bureau of American Ethnology's Cooperative Ethnological Research program. In 1937-1938, he was a member of the Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition under the direction of Ansel F. Hall and excavated an archeological site in Cobra Head Wash in Arizona. In 1948-1949, he studied conditions at Hicks Camp, a Mexican settlement in southern California, and in 1945-1955 Beals headed a project for the
United States Department of Justice to study traditional land utilization by California Indians. The study was related to Indian land claims cases.
Beals's involvement in Mexico can be traced to a 1918-1919 tramp through Sonora and Sinaloa that included a rather long sojourn with a Mexican family. In his later academic interest in the area, he was at the forefront of a movement of American anthropologists and geographers to fill some of the gaps in the ethnographic and archeological knowledge about northern Mexico, of interest largely because it lay in the way of possible influences passing between the American Southwest and the highly developed cultures of Mesoamerica. In 1930-1932, Beals worked among he Yaqui and Mayo; in 1932, with Elsie Clews Parsons , he worked among the Cora and Huichol found at Tepic, Nayarit; and, in 1933,
among the western Mixe of Oaxaca. With these groups and with the tribes of northern Mexico in general, he concerned himself with both the ethnography of contemporary cultures and the reconstruction of the cultures at the time of contact with Whites. Given the current of anthropology of the time, a family background of social concern, his historical interest in cultures with a long history of influence by Europeans, and his witness of rapid change and strong modern economic influences among Indian tribes, Beals came to treat largely with social anthropology, problems of acculturation, and studies useful in applied aspects of anthropology.
In 1938, Beals took part with Daniel Rubin de la Borbolla, Alfonso Caso, John Montgomery Cooper, and Alfred Louis Kroeber in planning a multidisciplinary study of the Tarascans, a project which aimed at a comprehensive examination useful in formulating government policies and programs. Under its auspices, Beals and several collaborators and assistants carried out ethnographic and social anthroplogical studies at Cheran. In 1948-1949, he studied the economic systems of the Quechua village of Nayon, Peru, and cultural and social changes accompanying the shift from a subsistence to a marketplace economy. In 1963, he collected kinship data from students at the Institute of Sociology in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1965, he began a detaile.
study of the large, traditional market system of eastern Oaxaca in Mexico. In this latter work, Beals was assisted by many scholars and students over a five-year period.
Beals has had active ties with many organizations concerned with anthropology and the social sciences and to some he has given extraordinary service. During 1942-1943, he was in charge of a program of cooperating in the social sciences between institutions in Latin American and the Smithsonian Institution. In that capacity, he was charged with the establishment of the Inter-American Society for Anthropology and Geography. From 1943-1948, he edited the Society's journal Acta Americana, intially fulfilling official obligations but, after 1944 and his return to teaching, donating his time for the work. He was a collaborator with the Smithsonian's Institute for Social Anthropology in 1944-1951.
A member of the Social Science Research Council from 1946-1962, Beals undertook a study on its behalf of conditions in Latin American social science. In 1952. he carried out a project with Norman D. Humphrey for the Council's Committee on Cross-Cultural Education that involved an investigation of the experiences of Mexican students who were studying in the United States. He also served the American Anthropological Association as a member of its executive council from 1947-1949, vice president in 1949, and president in 1950. In 1965, the AAA, concerned with the use of anthropologists by government security agencies, asked Beals to study the ethics involved in anthropological research and related problems that result from government and.
and other organizational affiliations. Beals's report, prepared with cooperation from many research scholars, became the basis for the work of the AAA's ethics committee.
Beals has had many other organizational ties and responsibilities. He served as technical advisor for the United States delegation to the First Inter-American Indianists Conference at Patzcuarol, Mexico, in 1939; chairman of the Cross-Cultural Education Committee of the Social Science Research council from 1953 to 1960; member of the executive committee of the Society for American Archaeology from 1954 to 1957; and president of the Southwest Anthropological Association in 1958. He also served on several other committees and had editorial duties with the Handbook of Latin American Studies, American Anthropologist, adnNotes on Latin American Studies. He has been honored with several honorary professorhsips at Latin American universities.
Restrictions:
The Ralph Leon Beals papers are open for research. At Ralph Beals' request, his 1930-1933 correspondence were restricted until 2000. These include letters to and from his wife while he was in the field, several letters to his children, and one letter to his mother-in-law. Beals supplied edited copies of the restricted letters for public access. The restrictions have since been lifted, and the edited copies have been retained with the original letters. His field assistants' materials have been restricted for the lifetime of the creators.
Access to the Ralph Leon Beals papers requires an appointment.
Some materials concerning the operations of the University of North Carolina Department of Anthropology are restricted.
Collection Rights:
Honigmann used pseudonyms when referring to his informants in publications. Irma Honigmann has requested that researchers refrain from publishing their names.
Collection Citation:
John Joseph Honigmann Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The Robert Moody Laughlin papers are open for research.
Electronic media is currently restricted due to preservation concerns.
Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the National Anthropological Film Collection may not be played.
Access to the Robert Moody Laughlin papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Robert Moody Laughlin papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the the Arcadia Fund.
