Research Catalog

Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits papers

Title
  1. Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits papers, 1902-1972.
Supplementary content
  1. Finding Aid
Author
  1. Herskovits, Melville J. (Melville Jean), 1895-1963.

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Details

Additional authors
  1. Armstrong, Robert Plant.
  2. Campbell, Donald Thomas, 1916-
  3. Drake, St. Clair.
  4. Fernandez, James W.
  5. Lévi-Strauss, Claude.
  6. Messenger, Jon C. (John Cowan), 1920-
  7. Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976.
  8. Szwed, John F., 1936-
  9. White, Walter, 1893-1955.
  10. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
  11. Beacon Press.
  12. University of Chicago. Press.
  13. Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
  14. American Society For African Culture (2nd : 1959 Jun. 26-29 : New York, N.Y.)
  15. Congresso Internacional de Americanists (31st : 1954 : Sao Paulo, Brazil)
  16. Inter-African Conference On Social Sciences (1955 Aug.-Sept : Bakavu, Belgian Congo)
  17. International Conference of Africanists (1st : 1962 : Accra, Ghana)
  18. International Social Science Council (1961 Sept. 12-15 : Paris, France)
  19. Social Science Research Council (1962 Apr. 13-14 : New York, N.Y.)
Description
  1. 43.6 lin. ft. (106 boxes)
Summary
  1. The Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits papers document the personal lives and professional careers of Melville J. Herskovits, his wife Frances S. Herskovits. There are also papers for their daughter Jean F. Herskovits.
Donor/Sponsor
  1. Schomburg NEH Automated Access to Special Collections Project.
Subject
  1. Black people > Trinidad and Tobago
  2. Black people > Suriname
  3. Black people > Nigeria
  4. Black people > Haiti
  5. Black people > Ghana
  6. Black people > Brazil
  7. Black people > Benin
  8. Rites and ceremonies > Brazil
  9. Umbanda > Brazil
  10. American Society of African Culture (2nd : 1959 Jun. 26-29 : New York, N.Y.)
  11. Black people > Trinidad and Tobago > Social life and customs
  12. Black people > Trinidad and Tobago > Religion
  13. Black people > Suriname > Social life and customs
  14. Black people > Suriname > Religion
  15. Black people > Suriname > Music
  16. Black people > Nigeria > Social life and customs
  17. Black people > Nigeria > Religion
  18. Black people > Nigeria > Music
  19. Black people > Haiti > Social life and customs
  20. Black people > Haiti > Religion
  21. Black people > Haiti > Music
  22. Black people > Ghana > Social life and customs
  23. Black people > Ghana > Religion
  24. Black people > Ghana > Music
  25. Black people > Funeral customs and rites
  26. Black people > Cultural assimilation
  27. Black people > Brazil > Social life and customs
  28. Black people > Brazil > Religion
  29. Black people > Brazil > Music
  30. Black people > Brazil > Bahia (State)
  31. Black people > Benin > Social life and customs
  32. Black people > Benin > Religion
  33. Black people > Benin > Music
  34. Anansi (Legendary character)
  35. Proverbs, Haitian
  36. Ethnology > Methodology
  37. Africa, Central > Description and travel
  38. Ethnology > Benin
  39. Rites and ceremonies > Haiti
  40. Rites and ceremonies > Brazil > Bahia (State)
  41. Ethnology > Africa
  42. Anthropology > Research > Brazil
  43. Rites and ceremonies > Surinam
  44. Mythology, West African
  45. Congresso Internacional de Americanists (31st : 1954 : Sao Paulo, Brazil)
  46. Ethnology > Suriname
  47. Anthropologists > Diaries
  48. Africa, West > Civilization
  49. Folklore > Benin
  50. Ethnology > Africa, Sub-Saharan
  51. Rites and ceremonies > Trinidad and Tobago
  52. Herskovits, Frances S
  53. Haiti > Social life and customs
  54. Ashanti (African people) > Music
  55. Benin > Social life and customs
  56. Anthropology > Research > Benin
  57. Black race
  58. Anthropology teachers > United States
  59. International Conference of Africanists (1st : 1962 : Accra, Ghana)
  60. Congo (Democratic Republic) > Description and travel > 1951-1980
  61. Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
  62. Africa > Description and travel
  63. Cults > Suriname
  64. Funeral rites and ceremonies > Haiti
  65. Vodou > Haiti
  66. Anthropology > Research > Trinidad and Tobago
  67. Marriage customs and rites > Benin
  68. Ethnology > Nigeria
  69. Suriname > Languages
  70. Anthropologists' spouses > United States
  71. Anthropology > Research > Haiti
  72. Proverbs, Black > Trinidad and Tobago
  73. West African literature (English)
  74. African literature (English)
  75. Benin > Religion
  76. Trinidad and Tobago > Civilization > African influences
  77. Suriname > Civilization > African influences
  78. Inter-African Conference On Social Sciences (1955 Aug.-Sept : Bakavu, Belgian Congo)
  79. Anthropologists > Manuscripts
  80. Benin > Civilization
  81. Bahia (Brazil : State) > Civilization
  82. Folklore > Surinam
  83. Obeah (Cult) > Surinam
  84. Anthropology > Research > Nigeria
  85. Anthropology > Research > Africa, West
  86. Authors, African
  87. Funeral rites and ceremonies > Benin
  88. Africa, West > Description and travel
  89. Haiti > Civilization > African influences
  90. Bahia (Brazil : State) > Religious life and customs
  91. Brazil > Civilization > African influences
  92. Acculturation
  93. Herskovits, Jean
  94. International Social Science Council Meeting (1961)
  95. Maroons > Suriname
  96. African literature (French)
  97. Winti (Cult)
  98. Haiti > Religion
  99. Cults > Brazil
  100. Ethnology > Trinidad and Tobago
  101. Rites and ceremonies > Benin
  102. Orisha religion
  103. Anthropologists > United States
  104. Anthropology > Research > Surinam
  105. Africa, Sub-Saharan > Civilization
  106. Funeral rites and ceremonies > Africa, West
  107. Anthropology > Research > Ghana
  108. Herskovits, Melville J (Melville Jean), 1895-1963
  109. Obeah (Cult) > Trinidad and Tobago
  110. Ethnology > Haiti
  111. Africa, Sub-Saharan > Economic conditions
  112. Saramacca (Surinamese people)
  113. Creole dialects, English > Suriname
  114. Marriage customs and rites > Africa, West
  115. Suriname > Description and travel
  116. Ethnology > Ghana
  117. Sambas
  118. Ethnology > Brazil
Call number
  1. Sc MG 261
Note
  1. Art and artifacts have been transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division, Photographs have been transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division and Recordings have been transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division and are described separately.
Access (note)
  1. Boxes 28, 30, 31 (folder 189) and 70 (folder 703) are closed until 2024.
Source (note)
  1. Herskovits, Jean
Location of other archival materials (note)
  1. Northwestern University Archives
Biography (note)
  1. Anthropologist; Africanist; founder of the first African Studies program in the United States.
Provenance (note)
  1. Portions of the collection were on loan to the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, the National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC and in private storage in Orlando, Florida. The entire collection was acquired by the Schomburg Center in 1986.
Processing action (note)
  1. Processed
  2. Cataloged
Author
  1. Herskovits, Melville J. (Melville Jean), 1895-1963.
Title
  1. Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits papers, 1902-1972.
Access
  1. Boxes 28, 30, 31 (folder 189) and 70 (folder 703) are closed until 2024.
Biography
  1. Anthropologist; Africanist; founder of the first African Studies program in the United States. Melville J. Herskovits was born in 1895 in Bellefontaine, Ohio. He received his Doctorate in Anthropology in 1923 from Columbia University where he studied with the eminent anthropologist Franz Boas.
  2. With his research associate, collaborator and wife Frances, Herskovits embarked on a forty-year study of African cultures on both sides of the Atlantic. In his 1941 landmark work "The Myth of the Negro Past" and in his more than 400 publications, Herskovits refuted many of the popularly-held beliefs regarding the absence of a sound African culture and the question of the continuity of African culture among blacks in the New World.
  3. For thirty-five years Herskovits taught at Northwestern University where in 1947 he founded the Program of African Studies, the first of its kind in the United States. He received numerous honors and distinctions throughout his career and served as both President of the American Folklore Society and the African Studies Association. He also chaired committees of the American Coucil of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council among others. Herskovits died in 1963 and in 1970 the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies was established at Northwestern University.
  4. Frances Herskovits was her husband's close and constant collaborator. During field trips she obtained data pertaining to the subculture of the women as well as information on some aspects of ritual, art and other major activities. Mrs. Herskovits co-authored several articles and four books with Melville Herskovits, including "Rebel Destiny" (1934), "Suriname Folk-lore" (1936), "Trinidad Village" (1947) and "Dahomean Narrative" (1958). In 1966 she edited "The New World Negro," a collection of papers by Herskovits and in 1973 "Cultural Relativism," another collection of his writings. With a background in literature and French, Mrs. Herskovits taught African literature at Northwestern University for many years. She died in 1972 in Evanston, Illinois.
Provenance
  1. Portions of the collection were on loan to the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, the National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC and in private storage in Orlando, Florida. The entire collection was acquired by the Schomburg Center in 1986.
Location of other archival materials
  1. Northwestern University Archives, University Library, 1935 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201 United States Program of African Records (35/13).
  2. Northwestern University Archives, University Library, 1935 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201 United States Melville J. Herskovits Papers (35/6).
Connect to:
  1. Finding Aid
Added author
  1. Armstrong, Robert Plant.
  2. Campbell, Donald Thomas, 1916-
  3. Drake, St. Clair.
  4. Fernandez, James W.
  5. Lévi-Strauss, Claude.
  6. Messenger, Jon C. (John Cowan), 1920-
  7. Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976.
  8. Szwed, John F., 1936-
  9. White, Walter, 1893-1955.
  10. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
  11. Beacon Press.
  12. University of Chicago. Press.
  13. Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
  14. American Society For African Culture (2nd : 1959 Jun. 26-29 : New York, N.Y.)
  15. Congresso Internacional de Americanists (31st : 1954 : Sao Paulo, Brazil)
  16. Inter-African Conference On Social Sciences (1955 Aug.-Sept : Bakavu, Belgian Congo)
  17. International Conference of Africanists (1st : 1962 : Accra, Ghana)
  18. International Social Science Council (1961 Sept. 12-15 : Paris, France)
  19. Social Science Research Council (1962 Apr. 13-14 : New York, N.Y.)
Research call number
  1. Sc MG 261
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