The collection consists of 122 photographs of people and marine life made by Bayer while on the SIM survey of Ifalik Atoll in 1953, as well as 68 aerial photographs of the Atoll. The aerial photographs are stamped on verso as official Navy photographs. Bayer's marine life photographs include underwater images of coral, fish, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Photographs of Ifalik Atoll inhabitants include images of the Atoll's chiefs, as well as a gathering to welcome for visitors from Woleai, and women performing a dance for the Woleai visitors. Several images show the Fan Nap, or public assembly house, and outrigger canoes. SIM team members, including ocean geologist Joshua I. Tracey, and their local assistants, are shown surveying the area and collecting specimens. Included is Bayer's photograph log, which lists the date the photograph was made, its subject, sometimes the time of day, and the camera settings used.
Arrangement note:
The collection is organized into 2 series: 1) The people and marine life on Ifalik Atoll, 2) Aerial photographs of Ifalik Atoll.
Bayer's photographs are numbered according to Bayer's numbering schema, which is [film roll number.item number]. The aerial photographs are numbered according to the Naval photographer's numbering schema.
Biographical/Historical note:
Frederick M. Bayer (1921-2007) was a research zoologist who specialized in the study of Octocorillia (soft corals). He worked at the Smithsonian Institution from 1947-1961 and 1975-1996, and taught at the School of Marine Science at the University of Miami in the interim years. The Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History hired Bayer as a curator in 1947 and immediately sent him to survey marine fauna at the Bikini Atoll. In 1950 the Office of Naval Research sponsored the Scientific Investigations of Micronesia (SIM), a program administered through the Pacific Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Bayer was a member of the SIM team that surveyed the Ifalik Atoll in 1953. [1]
[1] Bayer, Frederick M. Atoll Research Bulletin no. 494, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: 2001.
Geographical Note:
Ifalik Atoll is comprised of several small islets: Falarik, Falalap, Ella, and Elangalap. The atoll forms part of the Caroline Islands archipelago in Yap County of Micronesia.
Related Materials Note:
The Joshua Irving Tracey Jr. papers, accession no. 02-021, in the Smithsonian Institution Archives contains materials relating to the Scientific Investigations of Micronesia, including field notes and photographs from the 1953 survey of Ifalik Atoll.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives also holds records pertaining to Bayer's work as a curator in the National Museum of Natural History.
Separated Materials Note:
The 8 artifacts purchased by Bayer while on Ifalik Atoll form accession no. 2028523 in the Department of Anthropology's ethnology collections at the National Museum of Natural History. The accession includes a conch shell used for signaling, grass skirts, fishhooks, and baskets.
Provenance:
Frederick M. Bayer donated the photographs, along with a collection of artifacts from Ifalik Atoll to the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, in 2003. The photographs were transferred to the archives in 2008.
Photo Lot 2008-20, Frederick M. Bayer photographs from the Scientific Investigations of Micronesia survey of Ifalik Atoll, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
16.5 cu. ft. (2 record storage boxes) (29 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Place:
Japan -- Social life and customs
Africa -- Social life and customs
Micronesia -- Social life and customs
Date:
1942-1946
Descriptive Entry:
This collection includes records concerning the Board's projects, general correspondence, committee and organization work and information concerning specialized data
and special subjects. Postwar regional administration records, geographic reports, country information files, photographs and uncompleted project records are also included,
as are the Board's fiscal, conference, meeting and miscellaneous records.
Historical Note:
The Ethnogeographic Board was established during the Second World War. It was established primarily to act as a clearinghouse for government wartime needs. During the
three and one-half years of its existence (June of 1942 through December of 1945) the board provided ethnogeographic information on the non-European areas of the war, notably
Africa, Micronesia, Melanesia and Indonesia. It aided in the location and mobilization of area and language specialists, especially anthropologists. It was jointly sponsored
by the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council, the National Research Council and the Smithsonian Institution. The Board utilized facilities
and other technical assistance provided by the latter. William Duncan Strong served as the Board's Director from 1942 until 1944 at which time he was succeeded by Henry B.
Collins Jr. The salaries of both men were provided by the Smithsonian.
The original Board consisted of six members and until 1945 met semi-annually as an advisory and policy making body. In addition, five separate committees worked closely
with the Board. These included the Committee on African Anthropology; the Committee on the Anthropology of Oceania; the Joint Committee on the Latin American Studies; the
Intensive Language Program; and the Smithsonian War Committee. A sixth, the Committee on Asiatic Geography, was formed as a result of a Board-sponsored conference. Each committee
remained an independent entity, although theoretically the Board was supposed to integrate the work of all of these committees. The Board received its financial support from
the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and its own sponsoring organizations. Of the latter, the Smithsonian contributed the largest portion.
Five major undertakings were of sufficient magnitude to be designated as projects. The most important of these was the "Survival Project." At the request of the United
States Navy, the Ethnogeographic Board and the staff of the Smithsonian prepared the manual Survival on Land and Sea in 1943. Several editions were published and by
1944 970,000 copies had been printed and distributed to the armed forces in the Pacific Theater.
In September of 1942 the Board sponsored a conference on Bolivian Indians in New Haven. Its purpose was to discuss those factors relevant to the use of Indians as industrial
labor in the mines and to encourage greater agricultural output from this group. A thirty-five page report resulted from this conference and was subsequently distributed by
the Board. Though this project was less extensive than the "Survival" project it was significant because it was designed to serve as a model for other similar projects.
In January of 1944 under the direction of Research Associates Bacon and Fenton a third project was initiated. The subsequent "Survey of Area Studies in American Universities"
was undertaken to analyze the foreign area courses offered at selected universities. A total of 27 universities from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts were included, and
reports on about one-third of these were completed.
In March of that year the Board members discussed the feasibility of writing a history of the Board's activities. It was agreed that such a record was necessary and eventually
Board member Wendell Clark Bennett was designated to draft this account. This fourth project, covering the activities of the Board up to June of 1945, was completed in August
of that year.
In June of 1945 the last major undertaking was initiated. At that time the executive committee considered compiling a list of all war-related documents provided by the
Board. Homer Barnett was assigned late in 1945 to survey those documents concerned with the Pacific Area. This project was combined with the never-completed Pacific Survey
Project under Barnett's direction.
Although not considered a major undertaking, the "World File of Area and Language Specialists List" might better be described as an ongoing Board project. Approximately
5000 names were included on this roster. The sources from which they were gathered were numerous and included the Committee on Latin American Anthropology; the Committee on
Asiatic Geography; the Intensive Language Program; and the Smithsonian War Committee. The lists provided by the Committees on the Anthropology of Africa and Oceania formed
the backbone of this roster. The geographic areas of primary concern included Africa, Indonesia, Melanesia and Micronesia. This roster was used extensively by the government
and other agencies throughout the course of the war.
Besides its own projects, the Board participated in a number of others in conjunction with various organizations and institutions. The Board assisted in the preparation
of a manual entitled "Jungle and Desert Emergencies" with the Air Corps. The Quartermaster General's Office worked with the Board on a "Reconnaissance Report on Concentrated
Rations of Primitive Peoples". Cooperating with the American Council of Learned Societies, the Board aided in the development of a program to train personnel in the Russian
language. Other projects initiated but never completed included the Pacific Survey Project, the Area and Language Notes Project and the Research Committee Project.
Though the Board continued to operate until December of 1945, the first three years of its existence were those of the greatest activity.
The art of Micronesia : the University of Hawaii Art Gallery / essays by Jerome Feldman and Donald H. Rubinstein ; with introduction by Leonard Mason ; sponsored by the University of Hawaii Department of Art and Partners
Océanie, ou, Cinquième partie du monde : revue géographique et ethnographique de la Malaisie, de la Micronésie, de la Polynésie et de Mélanésie : offrant les résultats des voyages et des découvertes de l'auteur et de ses devanciers, ainsi que ses nouvelles classifications et divisions de ces contrées / par M. G.L. Domeny de Rienzi
Title:
Univers océanie
Océanie
Cinquième partie du monde
Author:
Domeny de Rienzi, Grégoire Louis 1789-1843 Search this
Physical description:
3 v., leaves of plates (some folded) : ill., music, ports., maps ; 23 cm
Type:
Books
Pictorial works
Place:
Oceania
Melanesia
Micronesia (Federated States)
Polynesia
Pacific Area
Date:
1836
1838
1836-1838
Topic:
Pacific Islanders--Social life and customs Search this
Tōkyō Daigaku Sōgō Kenkyū Hakubutsukan shozō Mikuroneshia koshashin shiryō katarogu / Intō Michiko = A selection of early photographs taken in Micronesia by Japanese anthropologists / by Michiko Intoh
Title:
Selection of early photographs taken in Micronesia by Japanese anthropologists
Author:
Tōkyō Daigaku Sōgō Kenkyū Hakubutsukan Search this
