This series contains notes, correspondence, and publications related to La Barre's work with the Aymara, Uru, and Chipaya. The materials primarily relate to the Aymara.
Arrangement:
This series is arranged in 3 sub-series: (3.1) South American Correspondence, 1937-1959; (3.2) Field Notes, 1937-1938; (3.3) Manuscripts, circa 1948-1949
Collection Restrictions:
Some of the materials in the collection are covered by copyright as of April 1976.
Access to the Raoul Weston La Barre papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
The Raoul Weston La Barre papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
This sub-series contains four spiral-bound notebooks which contain notes on vocabulary and linguistics, with some material in prose form and in the vernacular, and 3x5 noteslips of bibliographic and research notes which represent much of the material La Barre used in his early studies of the Aymara. In addition to the main body of notes, there is also a bibliography and a number of special subgroups. There is also some material on the Uru and Chipaya of Bolivia.
Arrangement:
Research notes are arranged alphabetically by subject and bibliographic notes by author.
Collection Restrictions:
Some of the materials in the collection are covered by copyright as of April 1976.
Access to the Raoul Weston La Barre papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
The Raoul Weston La Barre papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The majority of the Kiowa photographs were taken on La Barre's two field trips to Oklahoma in 1935 and 1936. Many are of Indians whom La Barre had met and with whom he attended peyote meetings. There are no photographs of actual peyote meetings. There are some photographs of the Santa Fe Lab group. Other subjects covered include ceremonial altars, ashes and other paraphernalia as well as ceremonial structures. Included with the ceremonial structures are photographs of the museum-meeting room of the Native American Church in El Reno, Oklahoma. Most photographs are also presented or referred to with captions in the scrapbook, "Kiowa Indian Snapshots, 1935, Santa Fe Laboratory of Anthropology" (in this series, Box 13) and in "The Peyote Cult," La Barre's doctoral dissertation (Series 2, Box 6). Numbers following photograph captions in the box list refer to corresponding photographs in the thesis copy of "The Peyote Cult."
The scrapbook, in addition to the 1935 photographs from the Santa Fe Lab field trip to the Kiowa, also contains pictures from the 1936 Yale Institute of Human Relations and American Museum of Natural History peyote field trip. Most of the photos have captions. Subjects include portraits of Indians in Oklahoma whom La Barre knew, members of the field trips, and various objects of the peyote ritual.
The last box in this series contains photographs dated from 1937 to 1938, arranged by subject of the Aymara and Uru of Bolivia which were taken by La Barre or a member of his party. Included are a few photographs of Amazon (Bororo) Indians given to La Barre.
The Aymara pictures deal with a number of cultural aspects with an emphasis on festivals and dancing. There are a number of portraits of Indians, none identified. Other subjects addressed include agriculture, boats and fishing, habitations and markets. Religious processions are included under ceremonials. There are three sheets of contact prints which have not been sorted by subject as well as twenty-two color negatives depicting objects in the La Barre Aymara Collection at Duke University. The Uru photographs also cover cultural aspects of their life, but are fewer in number and more limited in scope than the Aymara pictures.
Collection Restrictions:
Some of the materials in the collection are covered by copyright as of April 1976.
Access to the Raoul Weston La Barre papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
The Raoul Weston La Barre papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Raoul Weston La Barre was an anthropologist and ethnologist who is best known for his work with ethnobotany, his work on Native American religion, and for applying psychiatric and psychoanalytic theories to ethnography. This collection primarily contains materials relating to his 1935-1936 field work in Oklahoma and 1937-1938 field work in Bolivia, but also contains materials relating to his interest in the use of peyote and other hallucinogenic drugs which dates through the 1960s.
Scope and Contents:
This collection reflects part of the work and study of Raoul Weston La Barre, anthropologist and ethnologist. Included are field notes, research noteslips, correspondence, bound and unbound manuscripts, a scrapbook, materials on ethnobotany, photographs, special subject files, and miscellany consisting of publications, processed material and clippings.
The collection is divided into three broad subject areas. The Kiowa Studies and Peyote Studies relate to La Barre's field trips to Oklahoma in 1935 and 1936 and his study of peyotism and the ethnography of the Kiowa Indians. Considerable material relates to the Native American Church. The field notes are the result of interviews with informants among the Kiowas and have never been published. There is also some material on Kiowa linguistics. Related photographs (in Boxes 12 and 13) include portraits of Indians, many of whom were active in the Native American Church and peyotism.
Other Peyote Studies materials represent La Barre's interest in peyote and drug use during the 1960s. Much of this material relates to the Kiowa-Peyote Materials but with less emphasis on the Kiowa and more emphasis on hallucinogenic drugs. Some attention is paid to legal aspects of religious use of peyote.
The Aymara Studies relate to La Barre's field trip to Bolivia, 1937-1938. Most of the material pertains to the culture of the Aymara, with some lesser emphasis on the Uru and the Chipaya. Aymara linguistics, folklore and ethnobotany are included. Related photographs (in Box 14) cover a cross section of the cultures with an emphasis on the festivals and dancing of the Aymara.
The correspondence throughout the entire collection deals mainly with the editing and publication of La Barre's various manuscripts. Very little correspondence is of a professional nature. Among correspondents whose letters are included are Richard E. Schultes, Donald Collier, John Collier, Leslie Spier, William Bascom, Heinrich Kluver, Julian H. Steward, Morris Opler, Elsie Clues Parsons, Alfred Wilson, Alfred Metraux, Sol Tax, and G. P. Murdock.
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:
This collection is arranged in 5 series: (1) Kiowa Studies, 1935; (2) Peyote Studies, 1937-1970; (3) Aymara Studies, 1937-1959; (4) Photographs, 1934-1938; (5) La Barre Term Papers, 1934-1935
Biographical Note:
Raoul Weston La Barre was born on December 13, 1911, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1933 and his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1937. He is best known for his work with ethnobotany, his work on Native American religion, and for applying psychiatric and psychoanalytic theories to ethnography.
He conducted field work among the Kiowas in Oklahoma under the auspices of the Santa Fe Laboratory of Anthropology in 1935. In 1936, he conducted field research among Plains Indians in Oklahoma with R. E. Schultes for the Yale Institute of Human Relations. This work primarily concerned the Native American Church and the use of peyote and formed the basis for his 1937 dissertation thesis, "The Peyote Cult," as well as his 1938 book of the same name. His interest in the use of peyote and other hallucinogenic drugs continued throughout his career. He earned a Sterling Fellowship at Yale in 1937, which allowed him to conduct field work among the Aymaras and Urus in Bolivia from 1937 to 1938.
La Barre went to the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, on a postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Science Research Council in 1938. While there, he was trained in psychoanalysis and conducted research. When he completed the fellowship in 1939, he gained a teaching position at Rutgers University, where he remained until 1943.
During World War II, he worked as a Community Analyst for the War Relocation Authority in Utah and was trained as a parachustist. He also served on the staff of Field Marshal Montgomery. In the later stages of the war, he conducted field research in China and India (1943-1945). Finally, he worked with the Atlantic Fleet until his discharge from the naval reserve in 1946.
After leaving the military, La Barre took a position at Duke University, where he taught anthropology from 1946 until his retirement in 1977. During his tenure at Duke, he also taught courses in psychiatry at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine (1956-1969). He became a James B. Duke Professor of Anthropology at Duke University (an endowed chair) in 1970.
His best-known works are The Peyote Cult (first published in 1938, reaching its 5th edition in 1989), which studied the use of peyote in the Native American Church, and The Ghost Dance: Origins of Religion (1970), which explored the birth of religions through a psychoanalytic lens.
La Barre died on March 13, 1996, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Chronology
1911 -- Born December 13, Uniontown, Pennsylvania
1933 -- A. B. Princeton University
1935 -- Santa Fe Laboratory of Anthropology—Field work among Kiowas, Oklahoma
1936 -- Yale Institute of Human Relations—Field work among Plains Indians, Oklahoma, with R. E. Schultes
1937 -- Ph.D. (Anthropology), Yale University
1937-1938 -- Sterling Fellowship—Field work among the Aymara and Uru, Bolivia
1938-1939 -- Research, the Menninger Clinic, Topeka, Kansas
1939 -- Married Maurine Boie, July 9
1939-1943 -- Instructor, Rutgers University
1943 -- Community analyst, War Relocation Authority, Topaz, Utah
1943-1945 -- Field work, China and India
1946-1970 -- Professor, Duke University
1956-1959 -- Professor, University of Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
1959-1969 -- Visiting Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
1970-1977 -- James B. Duke Professor of Anthropology at Duke University
1996 -- Died March 13, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Related Materials:
Weston La Barre papers, University Archives, Duke University, https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/ualabarre/
Provenance:
The papers of Raoul Weston La Barre were received by the National Anthropological Archives in 1975 as a donation from Mr. La Barre.
Restrictions:
Some of the materials in the collection are covered by copyright as of April 1976.
Access to the Raoul Weston La Barre papers requires an appointment.
This photograph was taken by Dr. Simon Ottenberg while conducting field research at Afikpo village-group, southeastern Nigeria, from December 1951 to March 1953.
Original title reads, "Women soaking cassava to get the prussic acid out, rainy season, just off the main Mgbom Village farm path, near the Uru palm grove." [Ottenberg field research notes, O Series, December 1951-March 1953].
"For each village there are six land sections, one farmed each year, usually in rotation, successively going out from the settlement in one direction from it. The farmland nearest the village, called ebo, is outside of this six-block system and can be used at will. Both ebo and this distant land are also controlled by matrilineal and patrilineal descent groups and sometimes wards. The right to use land of a major patrilineage is open to any male lineage member who is an initiate of the village secret society. A man may share some of its land with his wives, giving them poorer land to plant cassava, and letting them plant vegetable crops among his yams." [Ottenberg, 1968: Double Descent in an African Society; The Afikpo Village-Group, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1968].
Local Numbers:
O-237/1951-1953
EEPA 2000-070208
General:
Title source: Dr. Simon Ottenberg, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Other Archival Materials:
Simon Ottenberg Papers are located at the National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
This photograph was taken by Dr. Simon Ottenberg while conducting field research at Afikpo village-group, southeastern Nigeria, from December 1951 to March 1953.
Original title reads, "Women soaking cassava to get the prussic acid out, rainy season, just off the main Mgbom Village farm path, near the Uru palm grove." [Ottenberg field research notes, O Series, December 1951-March 1953].
"For each village there are six land sections, one farmed each year, usually in rotation, successively going out from the settlement in one direction from it. The farmland nearest the village, called ebo, is outside of this six-block system and can be used at will. Both ebo and this distant land are also controlled by matrilineal and patrilineal descent groups and sometimes wards. The right to use land of a major patrilineage is open to any male lineage member who is an initiate of the village secret society. A man may share some of its land with his wives, giving them poorer land to plant cassava, and letting them plant vegetable crops among his yams." [Ottenberg, 1968: Double Descent in an African Society; The Afikpo Village-Group, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1968].
Local Numbers:
O-238/1951-1953
EEPA 2000-070209
General:
Title source: Dr. Simon Ottenberg, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Other Archival Materials:
Simon Ottenberg Papers are located at the National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program; digitization of the collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Interview created as part of the research for the Anacostia Community Museum's "A Right to the City" exhibition.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
