8 Prints (halftone (including one newspaper clipping))
124 Prints (circa, silver gelatin, albumen, and platinum)
50 Copy prints (circa)
3 copper printing plates
1 Color print
1 Print (wood engraving)
3 Copy negatives (glass)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Prints
Copy prints
Color prints
Copy negatives
Photographs
Date:
circa 1860s-1970
Scope and Contents note:
This collection is an artificial collection of photographs, copper plates, and a few notes, all of which depict or relate to anthropologists, many of which were associated with the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Included are portraits of Franz Boas, Q. M. Bond, Arno B. Cammerer, Frank Hamilton Cushing, Edwin Hamilton Davis, J. Woodbridge Davis, Frances Densmore, James Owen Dorsey, Philip Drucker, Jesse Walter Fewkes (including photographs of his home by Frances Densmore), Albert Samuel Gatschet, James A. Geary, De Lancey W. Gill, George Brown Goode, Horatio Hale, Henry Wetherbee Henshaw, John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt, John K. Hillers, William Henry Holmes, William Henry Jackson, Eugene Irving Knez, Alfred Louis Kroeber, Pere Albert Lacomb, Augustus Le Plongeon, James Mooney, Lewis Henry Morgan, Carl Oschsicanes, James Constantine Pilling, John Wesley Powell, Frau Signe Rink, Frank Harold Hanna Roberts, Jr., Charles C. Royce, Robert Lloyd Stephenson, James Stevenson, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Julian Haynes Steward, Steward Struever, James Gilchrist Swan, John Reed Swanton, Edwin P. Upham, Wilcomb E. Washburn, and Gordon Randolph Willey. Groups depicted include the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1936; the De Soto Commission; officers of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1885; a 1920 expedition group to Hawikuk; staff of the Great Lakes Division, United States Geological Survey, in Salt Lake City, 1882; a group at Moundville, Alabama, 1932; the University of Nebraska archeological field party, 1920; the Pecos conference, 1927; John Wesley Powell with Wild Hank, Kentucky Mountain Bill, and Jesus Aloiso; and the United States Geological Survey staff, ca. 1894.
Among photographers represented are Vernon Orlando Bailey, Blackston Studios of New York, Dana of New York, Frances Densmore, Gene Garrett, C. W. Gilbert, De Lancey W. Gill, John K. Hillers, William H. Jackson, Kets Kemethy, Paul Koby, David McDonough, H. C. Phillips, Rice of Washington, D. C., and J. A. Shuck of El Reno, Oklahoma.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 33
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Four photographs with negatives by Matilda Coxe Stevenson have been relocated to Photo Lot 23.
This collection includes photographs that have been removed from other collections in the National Anthropological Archives, including MS 4970, MS 4851, MS 4780, MS 4250, MS 4751, MS 4516, MS 4860, MS 4695, MS 4970, and MS 4558.
See others in:
Portraits of anthropologists, 1860s-1960s
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Copy prints of original photographs held by the American Philosophical Society, National Geographic Society, and National Archives cannot be copied. Copies may be obtained from these repositories.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot 33, Portraits of anthropologists, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
This collection contains the professional papers of Conrad M. Arensberg, anthropologist, university professor, and anthropological consultant. Included are correspondence; published and unpublished writings; research materials, including notes, correspondence, diaries, charts, drafts, interviews, research plans, reports, project proposals, and bibliographic cards; speeches; pamphlets; articles from newspapers and periodicals; course materials, including bibliographies, lecture notes, reading lists, assignments, exams, project proposals, and syllabi; curriculum vitae; date books; scholarly papers and publications of other scholars; and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains the professional papers of Conrad M. Arensberg, anthropologist, university professor, and anthropological consultant. Included are correspondence; published and unpublished writings; research materials, including notes, correspondence, diaries, charts, drafts, interviews, research plans, reports, project proposals, and bibliographic cards; speeches; pamphlets; articles from newspapers and periodicals; course materials, including bibliographies, lecture notes, reading lists, assignments, exams, project proposals, and syllabi; curriculum vitae; date books; scholarly papers and publications of other scholars; and photographs.
The materials in this collection document Arensberg's career as a university professor, his relationships with colleagues across a spectrum of disciplines, and his contributions to the field of anthropology. As a respected member of the anthropological community, Arensberg received a voluminous amount of correspondence from his peers, who often included copies of their most recent papers. He kept many of these works, which, along with his annotations, can be found throughout the collection. It appears he used these papers in a variety of ways, including as resources for his classes or as reference materials. Arensberg's own work is reflected in his writings and research files. Arensberg's Ireland research, despite its importance to his career and to the field of anthropology as a whole, has a minimal presence in the collection. Located in Series 3. Research Files, the subseries containing Arensberg's Ireland material primarily consists of photocopies of his correspondence, field notes, and diaries during this time. His role as a professor, rather than as a researcher or writer, is the most well-represented in the collection. Arensberg formed lasting relationships with many of his students, as evidenced by his continued correspondence with many of them long after their years at Columbia.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 8 series:
Series 1) Correspondence, 1933-1994
Series 2) Writings, 1936-1983
Series 3) Research files, 1931-1984
Series 4) Professional activities, 1933-1990
Series 5) Teaching files, 1938-1983
Series 6) Biographical files, 1946-1997
Series 7) Subject files, 1934-1979
Series 8) Photographs, undated
Biographical Note:
Conrad M. Arensberg was born on September 12, 1910 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Academically inclined from a young age, he graduated first in his class at Shadyside Academy in Pittsburgh. His early success earned him admittance to Harvard College. Arensberg studied anthropology and graduated summa cum laude in 1931.
As a graduate student at Harvard University, Arensberg was asked to join a project being conducted in Ireland by Harvard's Anthropology Department. Alongside W. Lloyd Warner and Solon T. Kimball, Arensberg spent three years studying rural Irish life in County Clare. This research resulted in his doctoral dissertation, "A Study in Rural Life in Ireland as Determined by the Functions and Morphology of the Family," which was later published as The Irish Countryman in 1937. His work was groundbreaking in the field of anthropology, and his study of County Clare "became a model for other community studies... requiring that researchers study a target culture from the inside, making meticulous notes on everything they saw, heard or experienced." Arensberg reshaped the way that anthropologists approached fieldwork and opened doors for the study of modern industrial societies.
Arensberg had a long teaching career. He first became a university professor in 1938 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and remained a professor for the rest of his life, teaching at MIT, Brooklyn College, Barnard College, Columbia University, the University of Florida, and the University of Virginia. At Columbia, Arensberg worked alongside such notable anthropologists as Margaret Mead, Charles Wagley, and Marvin Harris.
Arensberg officially retired in 1979, but he continued to collaborate with his colleagues, counsel past students, and participate in professional associations until his death. He passed away on February 10, 1997 in Hazlet, New Jersey.
Curriculum Vitae—Amended Posthumously. Series 6. Biographical Files. Conrad M. Arensberg papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. 1997. "Conrad Arensberg, 86, Dies; Hands-On Anthropologist." New York Times, February 16: 51.
Chronology
1910 September 12 -- Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1931 -- B.A. from Harvard College
1932-1934 -- Traveled to Ireland to study rural life in County Clare as part of the Harvard Irish Mission
1933-1936 -- Junior Fellow, The Society of Fellows, Harvard University
1933-1994 -- Member and Fellow, American Anthropological Association
1934 -- Ph.D. in Anthropology from Harvard University
1937 -- Published The Irish Countryman, the result of his work in Ireland
1938-1940 -- Occasional consultant, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of American Ethnology
1938-1941 -- Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1940 -- Founded (with others) the Society for Applied Anthropology
1941-1946 -- Associate Professor and Chairman, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Brooklyn College
1943-1946 -- Captain, Major, AUS, Military Intelligence Service
1946-1952 -- Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairman (until 1949) Department of Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University
1951-1952 -- Research Director, UNESCO, Institute for the Social Sciences, Cologne, Germany
1951-1952 -- Editor, Point Four Manual, American Anthropological Association
1952-1953 -- Associate Professor of Anthropology, The Graduate Faculty of Political Science, Columbia University
1953-1970 -- Professor of Anthropology, Chairman (1956-1959), Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
1962-1978 -- Co-Director (with Alan Lomax) of Columbia University's Cross-Cultural Surveys of Social Structure and Expressive Behavior
1970-1979 -- Buttenwieser Professor of Human Relations, Columbia University
1979-1997 -- Buttenwieser Professor Emeritus of Human Relations, Columbia University
1980 -- President, American Anthropological Association
1991 -- First recipient, "Conrad M. Arensberg Award" of the Society for the Anthropology of Work
1997 February 10 -- Died in Hazlet, New Jersey
Related Materials:
Arensberg is listed as a correspondent in the following collections at the Smithsonian Institution's National Anthropological Archives: John Lawrence Angel papers; Papers of Carleton Stevens Coon; Ethel Cutler Freeman papers; Frederica de Laguna papers; Ruth Landes papers; William Duncan Strong papers.
For oral history interviews with Arensberg, see the following collections:
-The Smithsonian Institution's Human Studies Film Archives "Video Dialogues in Anthropology: Conrad Arensberg and Lambros Comitas, 1989." In this video oral history conducted by anthropologist Lambros Comitas, Arensberg comments on his training in anthropology, the individuals who were influential in his career, and the geographical areas where he conducted his fieldwork.
-The National Anthropological Archives Manuscript (MS) 2009-15. May Mayko Ebihara conducted this oral history interview with Arensberg on March 7, 1984 as part of a larger oral history project with anthropologists.
For more concerning Arensberg's work with interaction theory, see the Frederick L.W. Richardson papers at the National Anthropological Archives. Richardson worked closely with Eliot Chapple and Conrad Arensberg on theories concerning human interaction.
For correspondence and other information related to Arensberg's Ireland research, see:
Solon Toothaker Kimball Papers, Special Collections, Teachers College, Columbia University; and Solon Toothaker Kimball Papers, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Additional materials concerning Arensberg's research and personal life can be found among the papers of his wife, anthropologist Vivian "Kelly" Garrison. See the Vivian E. Garrison papers at the National Anthropological Archives.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Vivian E. Garrison Arensberg in 2011.
Restrictions:
The Conrad M. Arensberg papers are open for research.
Files containing Arensberg's students' grades have been restricted, as have his students' and colleagues' grant and fellowships applications. For preservation reasons, the computer disk containing digital correspondence files from Joel Halpern is restricted.
Access to the Conrad M. Arensberg papers requires an appointment.
Conrad M. Arensberg papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The papers of Conrad M. Arensberg were processed with the assistance of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program grant awarded to Vivian E. Garrison Arensberg.
Video oral history of anthropologist Conrad Arensberg conducted by anthropologist Lambros Comitas. Dr. Arensberg, the first anthropologist to do fieldwork on the European continent, comments on his training in anthropology, the individuals who were influential in his career, and the geographical areas where he conducted his fieldwork.
Legacy Keywords: Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 ; Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. ; Malinowski, Bronislaw ; Steward, Julian Haynes, 1902-1972 ; Universities Columbia University ; Anthropology applied anthropology ; War World War II ; Anthropology community studies ; Special Collections ; Ireland ; Europe ; China ; Special Collections
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1989.10.19
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Video Dialogues in Anthropology, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Video oral history of anthropologist Dr. George Foster conducted by anthropologist Charles Wagley. Dr. Foster discusses the people and events that were influential in his career and comments on his extensive fieldwork in Mexico.
Legacy Keywords: Caso, Alfonso ; Clark, Margaret ; Coborubias, Miguel ; Herskovits, Melville J. 1895-1963 (Melville Jean), ; Krever, Jack ; Kroeber, A. L. 1876-1960 (Alfred Louis), ; Lattice, Margaret ; Linton, Ralph ; Lowie, Robert ; Martinez del Rio, Pablo ; Jimenez Moreno, Roberto ; Steward, Julian Haynes, 1902-1972 ; Vitlauer, Roberto ; Willy, Gordon ; Universities Northwestern University ; Universities University of California-Berkeley ; Institute Smithsonian Institution ; Special Collections
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1989.10.9
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Video Dialogues in Anthropology, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Video oral history of anthropolgist Walter Goldschmidt conducted by anthropologist Charles Wagley. Dr. Goldschmidt discusses the people and events that were influential in his career, his contemporaries at the University of California-Berkeley and Columbia University, his work in East Africa, and his term as president of the American Anthropolgical Association.
Legacy Keywords: Cohen, Andrew ; Devereux, George ; Fisher, Lloyd ; Gifford ; Kroeber, A. L. 1876-1960 (Alfred Louis), ; Lowie, Robert ; Olsen, Ronald ; O'Neill, Lila ; Radin, Paul, 1883-1959 ; Steward, Julian Haynes, 1902-1972 ; Thomas, Dorothy Swane ; Wilson, M.L. ; Universities University of California-Berkeley ; Universities Columbia University ; Associations American Anthropological Association ; East Africa ; Special Collections
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1989.10.6
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Video Dialogues in Anthropology, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indian Personality, Education and Administration Research Project Search this
Saint Mary's University (Halifax, N.S.). Institute of Human Values Search this
United States. Office of Indian Affairs Search this
Extent:
73 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Place:
Fiji
Iceland
Guam
Germany
Date:
1834-1964
Summary:
The records of the American Ethnological Society (AES) document its activities from its founding in 1842 through the mid-1960s. The American Ethnological Society is the oldest anthropological association in America. It has been interested in publishing and promoting study of different cultures in the Americas from its founding in 1842 to the present. Materials include correspondence, reports, and financial records relating to the administrative functions of the organization.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the American Ethnological Society (AES) document its activities from its founding in 1842 through the mid-1960s.
The early years of the AES (1840s to 1880) are documented through correspondence, newspaper clippings, and proceedings. The bulk of the collection relates to the administrative functions of the AES from its reorganization in 1906 through 1965 including changes to the constitution and the elections of officers. The offices of Secretary-Treasurer and Editor are well documented through correspondence and reports. There is also a significant amount of correspondence to and from members, financial records, and information on the AES‟ interactions with other organizations such as the American Anthropological Association and the New York Academy of Sciences.
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:
The material is arranged in the following series: (1) Early records, 1834-1886; (2) AES Meetings, 1910-1964; (3) Reports of the officers, 1925-1964; (4) Election records: Officer lists, constitutions, and amendments, 1917-1959; (5) Office correspondence, 1924-1956; (6) Membership records, 1862-1960; (6) Publication records, 1934-1962; (7) Financial records, 1902-1962; (8) Miscellany, 1860-1957.
Historical Note:
The American Ethnological Society is the oldest anthropological association in America. It has been interested in publishing and promoting study of different cultures in the Americas from its founding in 1842 to the present.
The American Ethnological Society was founded in 1842 by Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and founder of New York University. Early members were doctors, lawyers, businessmen and included Henry Schoolcraft, William Prescott and Theodore Dwight. Meetings were usually held at the home of the President and accounts of missionaries and explorers, who were "corresponding" members, were read. Local papers frequently covered these meetings. The Society published three periodicals in its early years including Transactions which first appeared in 1845. Interest in the Society declined after the Civil War. In 1906 a group of professional anthropologists led by Franz Boas joined the Society and reorganized it, adding the Office of Editor. Since then, the Society has been very active and has had a strong publications program, beginning with a linguistic series begun by Franz Boas. The Society holds annual meetings, usually in the spring at which prominent anthropologists present their findings. In addition to Franz Boas, the Society has included among its members such famous anthropologists as Ruth Benedict, E. Adamson Hoebel, Margaret Mead and Ward Goodenough.
Provenance:
The treasurer's records dating from 1916 to 1924 were transferred to the archives by the American Museum of Natural History. All other records came to the archives from the American Ethnological Society.
Restrictions:
The American Ethnological Society records are open for research.
Access to the American Ethnological Society records requires an appointment. Advance notice must be given to view materials stored off-site.
Correspondence of the officers of the Society – files are more complete for some years than
others. The bulk of the material relates to the office of Secretary-Treasurer and concerns issues
such as publications and membership.
Arrangement:
Arranged chronologically.
Collection Restrictions:
The American Ethnological Society records are open for research.
Access to the American Ethnological Society records requires an appointment. Advance notice must be given to view materials stored off-site.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
American Ethnological Society records, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Financial records and statements from various years. Majority of the records are from the years 1950 – 1960. Records include bank statements, checkbooks, cancelled checks, mortgage held on property in Ogden, Utah and records of AT&T stock held by the Society.
Arrangement:
Arranged chronologically.
Collection Restrictions:
The American Ethnological Society records are open for research.
Access to the American Ethnological Society records requires an appointment. Advance notice must be given to view materials stored off-site.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
American Ethnological Society records, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Miscellaneous reports of the Society including correspondence with and publications of other
associations such as the American Anthropological Association and the New York Academy of
Sciences.
Collection Restrictions:
The American Ethnological Society records are open for research.
Access to the American Ethnological Society records requires an appointment. Advance notice must be given to view materials stored off-site.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
American Ethnological Society records, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Correspondence and voting records pertaining to constitutions and amendments to the
constitution (1917, 1952, 1959). Election materials including ballots, lists and correspondence on
nominations.
Arrangement:
Arranged chronologically.
Collection Restrictions:
The American Ethnological Society records are open for research.
Access to the American Ethnological Society records requires an appointment. Advance notice must be given to view materials stored off-site.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
American Ethnological Society records, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Mintz, Sidney W. (Sidney Wilfred), 1922-2015 Search this
Creator:
Murra, John V. (John Victor), 1916-2006 Search this
Extent:
42.5 Linear feet ((88 boxes and 1 map case folder) )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Diaries
Correspondence
Notes
Date:
1927-1998
Summary:
The Papers of John Victor Murra document his personal and professional life through audiovisual materials, correspondence, diaries, graduate school notes, lectures, photocopies of archival materials, photographs, published materials collected by Murra, reading and research notes and his own writings. The materials span more than 70 years. The collection includes materials relating to Murra's immigration to the United States and later lawsuit for naturalization, his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Chicago, his experiences in the Spanish Civil War and in Ecuador during the Second World War as Don Collier's assistant, his teaching career at a number of colleges and universities in the United States and abroad including the University of Puerto Rico, Vassar College, Yale University, and Cornell University, and his research interests such as the fieldwork projects he directed at Hunuco and Lake Titicaca. The bulk of his correspondence may be found in Series I - Correspondence which mostly consists of his communications with former classmates from the University of Chicago, colleagues in the United States and abroad, and former students. Series IV - Biographical and Series VII - Graduate School and Teaching contain a significant amount of material pertaining to Murra's studies at the University of Chicago and his lawsuit for naturalization. Correspondence and newspaper editorials from F. C. Cole and Robert Redfield as well as oral history transcripts of Murra's personal reminiscences are among the items found in these series. For many years, Murra also kept personal diaries, originally intended as records of his dreams, which form Series III - Dream Archives. Although this collection is primarily textual in nature, there are also a photograph and an audio-visual series. The later includes recordings of Murra's Lewis Henry Morgan lectures. The occasional photograph also appears throughout other series.
Scope and Contents:
The Papers of John Victor Murra document his personal and professional life through audiovisual materials, correspondence, diaries, graduate school notes, lectures, photocopies of archival materials, photographs, published materials collected by Murra, reading and research notes and his own writings. The materials span more than 70 years.
The collection includes materials relating to Murra's immigration to the United States and later lawsuit for naturalization, his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Chicago, his experiences in the Spanish Civil War and in Ecuador during the Second World War as Don Collier's assistant, his teaching career at a number of colleges and universities in the United States and abroad including the University of Puerto Rico, Vassar College, Yale University, and Cornell University, and his research interests such as the fieldwork projects he directed at Huánuco and Lake Titicaca.
Murra is a polyglot and a prolific correspondent, two elements which are reflected throughout the collection. English, French, Spanish and Romanian are the predominant languages used in his correspondence, but there are also letters in German, Italian and Russian. The bulk of his correspondence may be found in Series I --Correspondence which mostly consists of his communications with former classmates from the University of Chicago, colleagues in the United States and abroad, and former students. Series IV --Biographical and Series VII --Graduate School and Teaching contain a significant amount of material pertaining to Murra's studies at the University of Chicago and his lawsuit for naturalization. Correspondence and newspaper editorials from F. C. Cole and Robert Redfield as well as oral history transcripts of Murra's personal reminiscences are among the items found in these series. For many years, Murra also kept personal diaries, originally intended as records of his dreams, which form Series III --Dream Archives. Although this collection is primarily textual in nature, there are also a photograph and an audio-visual series. The later includes recordings of Murra's Lewis Henry Morgan lectures. The occasional photograph also appears throughout other series.
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:
Arranged in 12 series and 1 accretion: (I) Correspondence (1927-1998, 2004) [Bulk 1950-1990], (II) Chronological Correspondence (1953-1991), (III) Dream Archives [Diaries] (1951-1996) [Bulk: 1951-1983], (IV) Biographical (1937-1995), (V) Subject and Publications (1922-1996), (VI) Archival Documents, (VII) Graduate School and Teaching (1936-1992) [Bulk: 1936-1982], (VIII) J. V. M. Publications (1959-1993), (IX) Photographs (1937-1988), (X) Audio Visual Materials (1964-1998), (XI) Maps, (XII) Artwork, Accretions.
Biographical Note:
John Victor Murra was born Isak Lipschitz on August 24, 1916 in Odessa, Ukraine. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Bucharest, Romania where he passed his baccalaureate examinations in 1933. Following high school, he worked as an apprentice in paper factories in Romania and Croatia.
In December 1934, Murra immigrated to Chicago, Illinois, where his uncle lived, to escape the worsening political turmoil in Romania. Shortly after his arrival in the United States, Murra enrolled at the University of Chicago where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1936. He then enlisted in the International Brigade and served as an infantry corporal in the 58th battalion, 15th brigade in the Spanish Republican Army. At the end of the Spanish Civil War, he spent almost six months (February-June 1939) in refugee internment camps, most notably the camp at Argèles-sur-Mer, France. In 1939, Murra returned to Chicago to continue his studies and it was about this time that he started to use the name Murra in official documents. He completed his Master of Arts degree in Anthropology at the University of Chicago in 1942.
The war injuries sustained by Murra during the Spanish Civil War exempted him from military service during the Second World War. Between 1941 and 1942, Murra traveled to Ecuador as the assistant to Donald Collier, Conservator at the Field Museum of Chicago, on an archaeological project sponsored by the Institute of Andean Research. His work with Collier ultimately led him to contribute to the Handbook of South American Indians. Between 1942 and 1943, he worked as an interviewer for John Dollard and Ruth Benedict in their work for the United States Department of War to survey Abraham Lincoln Brigade veterans. In 1943, Murra was appointed Instructor in Anthropology at the University of Chicago to fill in for Fred Eggan, who entered military service. In addition to instructing at the University of Chicago during the mid-1940s, Murra also served as editor on the topic of anthropology for the Encyclopedia Britannica (1945-1946).
The decade or so following the Second World War was often extremely frustrating for Murra as he pursued his quest for American citizenship. In 1946, the U.S. government denied his applications for naturalization and travel papers on the grounds that he had served in the Spanish Republican Army. Consequently, Murra was unable to accept a fellowship from the Social Science Research Council that would have funded his travel to Ecuador to pursue his doctoral research. Although he finally won his lawsuit for citizenship in 1950, Murra did not receive a passport until 1956 and was ultimately forced to change thesis topics in order to continue his doctoral studies without field work. To support himself during this difficult period, Murra taught at several American institutions—most notably at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras (1947-1950) and Vassar College (1950-1961), and supervised a number of field work programs in the Caribbean for Columbia University, Vassar College, Yale University and the University of Montreal. He also served briefly as a regional specialist on African land tenure for the United Nations.
In 1955, Murra defended his Ph.D. dissertation, The Economic Organization of the Inca State and he was awarded a Ph.D. in Anthropology the following year from the University of Chicago. Shortly thereafter he took a sabbatical from Vassar College to teach in Peru (1958-1960) at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima and pursue research at the archives of Cuzco.
In the 1960s, Murra turned his attention towards pursuing research interests and cultivating the anthropological training of South American graduate students. He left Vassar College in 1961 and spent time teaching as a visiting professor, first for the Organization of American States at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología y Historia, Mexico (1961) and then at Yale University (1962). Murra received in 1963 a three-year National Science Foundation grant for his well known study of Huánuco, Peru. During his fieldwork for this project, he continued to teach at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru (1965-1966) and the Universidad de Chile (1965). He also worked to improve the educational opportunities for South American students by supporting efforts to establish a graduate school at the Universidad de La Plata. Upon returning to the United States, Murra was a National Academy of Sciences postdoctoral associate at the Smithsonian Institution (1966-1967).
From 1968 to 1982, Murra served as Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University. He continued to travel extensively to archives in Spain and South America during this period and held a number of academic posts at other institutions including Yale University (1970-1971), the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University (1974-1975), l'Université Paris X Nanterre (1975-1976), the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico (1977) and John Hopkins University (1981). He also served as the president of the American Society of Ethnohistory (1970-1971), the American Ethnological Society (1972-1973), and the Institute of Andean Research (1977-1983). Murra's efforts to cultivate educational opportunities for South American graduate students and promote international dialogue among students from different nationalities produced three well known programs: the comparative seminar on the Andes and Mesoamerica that he organized with Angel Palerm (1972), the Lake Titicaca field project he ran with Luis G. Lumbrebas (1973) and the Otoño Andino held at Cornell University (1977). In 1969, he received the honor of being the Lewis Henry Morgan Lecturer at the University of Rochester.
Following his retirement from Cornell University (1982), Murra served as a consultant to the Banco Nacional de Bolivia at the Museo Nacional de Etnografía, La Paz (1982-1983). He received a Guggenheim Fellowship (1983-1984), that enabled him to pursue research at the Archivo Nacional and the Academia de la Historia in Madrid and the Archivo General de Indias in Seville. During his time in Spain, he also taught at the Universities of Madrid and Seville and at the Institut Catalá d'Antropologi in Barcelonia (1985-1986). The following year, he was a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun, Peru. He then pursued research at the Instituto de Antropologia de Buenos Aires (1988-1989) and then returned to Spain, where he was a fellow at the Archivo de Indias (1990-1991). In 1993, the Universidad de Barcelona awarded him the honor of Doctor Honoris Causa.
Murra was married and divorced twice; neither marriage produced any children. He first married Virginia Miller in 1936; the date of their divorce is unknown. His second marriage to Elizabeth "Tommy" Sawyer lasted thirteen years (1945-1958).
Bibliography of Selected Publications
1943 -- Survey and Excavations in Southern Ecuador. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, Publication 528, Anthropological series volume 35, May 15, 1943. Co-authored with Donald Collier.
1948 -- "The Cayapa and Colorado" in the Handbook of South American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office
1951 -- Soviet Linguistic Controversy, translated from the Soviet Press. New York: King's Crown Press. Co-authored with Robert M. Hankin and Fred Holling.
1956 -- The Economic Organization of the Inca State. Chicago: University of Chicago.
1962 -- Cloth and its Functions in the Inca State.
1964 -- Visita hecha a la Provincia de Chucuito por Garci Diez de San Miguel en el año 1567. Lima: Casa de la Cultura del Perú. Co-authored with Waldemar Espinoza Soriano and Frey Pedro Gutiérrez Flores.
1966 -- New Data on Retainer and Servile Populations in Tawantinsuyu.
1967 -- Visita de la provincia de León de Huánuco en 1562. Iñigo Ortiz de Zúñiga, visitador. Huánuco, Peru: Universidad Nacional Hermilio Valdizán, Facultad de Letras y Educación. Contains articles by several authors.
1970 -- Current Research and Prospects in Andean Ethnohistory. Ithaca: Cornell University.
1975 -- Formaciones económicas y políticas del mundo andino. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.
1976 -- American Anthropology, the Early Years. St. Paul: West Publishing Co. Edited for the American Ethnological Society
1978 -- La organización económica del Estado inca. México: Siglo Veintiuno. Murra's Ph.D. thesis translated from English to Spanish by Daniel R. Wagner.
1980 -- Formazioni economiche e politiche nel mondo andino: saggi di etnostoria. Torino: Giulio Einaudi. Primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno Guamán Poma de Ayala (Waman Puma). Co-authored with Rolena Adorno and Jorge L. Urioste. Republished in 1987. The Economic Organization of the Inca State. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press.
1981 -- The "Vertical Control" of a Maximum of Ecologic Tiers in the Economies of Andean Societies. The Mit'a Obligations of Ethnic groups to the Inka State. Las etnocategorías de un Khipu estatal.
1983 -- Los Olleros del Inka: Hacia una Historia y Arqueología del Qollasuyu. La Paz: Centrol de Investigaciones Históricas.
1986 -- Anthropological History of Andean Polities. New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited with Nathan Wachtel and Jacques Revel. Originally published in French in 1978 as Anthropologie historique des sociétés andines by Editions de la Maison des science de l'homme in Paris.
1987 -- La teoría de la complementariedad vertical eco-simbiótica. La Paz: Hisbol. Co-authored with Ramiro Condarco Morales. Civilizatie inca: organizarea economica a statului incas. Bucharest: Editura Stiintifica si Enciclopedica. Murra's Ph.D. thesis translated from English to Romanian by Murra's sister, Ata Iosifescu.
1991 -- Visita de los valles de Sonqo en los yunka de coca de La Paz (1568-1570). Madrid: Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana: Quinto Centenario: Instituo de Estudios Fiscales.
1996 -- Las cartas de Arguedas. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Fondo Editorial. Co-authored with Mercedes López-Baralt.
1999 -- Historia general de América Latina / 1. Las sociedades originales. Madrid: Editorial Trotta. Co-authored with Teresa Rojas Rabiela.
2002 -- El mundo andino: población, medio ambiente y economía. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peuanos: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
2000 -- Nispa ninchis/decimos diciendo : conversaciones con John Murra. Lima: IEP –Instituto de Estudios Peruanos and IAR – Institute of Andean Research. Edited by Victoria Castro, Carlos Aldunate and Jorge Hidalgo Los esfuerzos de Sísifo, coversaciones sobre las ciencias sociales en América Latina. Heredia, Costa Rica: EUNA. A collection of interviews of John Victor Murra and others conducted by Fernando Calderón.
Related Materials:
National Anthropological Archives holds additional materials related to Murra in the American Ethnological Society records, the American Society for Ethnohistory records, and the Handbook of South American Indians records.
The New York University Libraries, Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives holds materials related to Murra in Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archive (ALBA), John Dollard Research Files for Fear and Courage under Battle Conditions, and James Lardner Papers.
The Truman Presidential Museum and Library holds Records on the President's Committee on Civil Rights Record Group 220.
\:
In 2008, the VHS videos in the collection were transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives. Additional videotapes were sent to the NAA and transferred to HSFA.
Provenance:
The John Victor Murra papers came to the National Anthropological Archives in several installments over three decades. David Block of Cornell University assisted Murra in selecting and identifying materials for the installment of the collection which arrived at the Smithsonian Institution in September 2003.
Restrictions:
The John Victor Murra papers are open for research. Some materials are restricted for privacy reasons.
Access to the John Victor Murra papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Diaries
Correspondence -- 1927-1998
Notes
Citation:
John Victor Murra papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
