Library Guides: Anthropology Research Guide: Primary Sources

Using the Bancroft Archives

The Bancroft holds old manuscripts, letters, fieldnotes, and historic records. Some are online in Calisphere, but to view other items in person:

1. Use the catalog to write down book titles and call numbers before you go to the Bancroft. Finding aids in the catalog or on the Online Archive of California show you what's in each collection.

2. Read the access rules so that you know to bring quarters for lockers, the rules on cameras and photocopies, and to register with two forms of ID!

3. If you want to view something stored offsite at NRLF, request it online at least 3 days in advance.

4. Need more primary sources? See our guide on Finding Historical Primary Sources or contact a librarian.

Anthropologists' Papers in the Bancroft Library

The Bancroft archives hold fieldnotes and letters from prominent anthropologists who worked at Berkeley or studied the American West, such as the people below. Use the finding aids or contact the Bancroft reference services to learn more.

Samuel Barrett: California Indian basketry.
William Bascom: West African art and folklore.
Burton Benedict: labor in Mauritius and the Seychelles. Oral history online.
Gerald Berreman: papers and class notes on India.
Grace Buzaljko: papers from work for the Department of Anthropology.
Elizabeth Colson: restricted papers on Zambia; oral history online.
Sherburne Cook: tribal rolls, and maps of American Indians.
J Desmond Clark: rock art in Ethiopia; oral history is online.
Alan Dundes: folkloristics, bathroom graffiti and football.
Anna Gayton: the Yokut Indians.
Edward Gifford: letters with Edward Sapir on kinship and linguistics.
Nelson Graburn: tourism, Japan, and the anthropology museum.
George Foster: aid, medical anthropology, and Mexico; oral history online.
Mary Foster: oral history on anthropology and language is online.
Phoebe Hearst: letters to family, friends, and philanthropy. Letters are online.
Robert Heizer: archaeology of California, Nevada, Mayan sites.
Pamela Israel: cards and audio of linguistics in Guatemala and Ecuador.
Alfred Kroeber: Ishi, California Indians, Mexico and Peru, plus family photos and papers, photos of Indian artifacts.
Theodora Kroeber: oral history from her work alongside Alfred.
Margaret Langdon: California and Mexican languages.
Robert Lowie: western American Indians, photos from Berkeley and the field.
Katharine Luomala: class notes from doctorate at Berkeley, annotations by Kroeber.
David Mandelbaum: Plains Cree and Chippewa, plus photos of India.
Theodore McCown: excavations in the Middle East, Africa, India, and California.
C. Hart Merriam: botany and Indian plant names as well as California Indians.
Lila O'Neale: drawings of historic textiles in Peru.
Edward Palmer: California and Mexican tribes.
Herbert Phillips: anthropologists' involvement with Thai counterinsurgency programs.
A. L. Pinart: linguistics of Arizona Indians.
John Rowe: lecture notes and Berkeley anthropology department records.
Vincent Sarich: human variation, mammals, and primates.
William Shack: Gurage of Ethiopia; book on Montmartre.
Leslie Spier: Plains and Klamath Indians, teaching visuals for Basin Plateau Indians.
Sherwood Washburn: primate anatomy and canine teeth from Ceylon, Thailand, Borneo, and Rhodesia.

You can also learn more from the historic Anthropology Emeritus Lecture Series.

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Anthropology Research Guide: Primary Sources

Using the Bancroft Archives

Anthropologists' Papers in the Bancroft Library