MS 3752 the WEH Stanner Collection FINDING
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STANNER MS 3752 The WEH Stanner Collection FINDING AID Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies September 2006 CONTENTS Page ACCESS ....................................................................................................................... 5 SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE ................................................................................. 5 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ............................................................................................. 6 SERIES DESCRIPTIONS .......................................................................................... 12 Series 1 Manuscripts and publications, c.1932-82 ................................... 12 Series 2 Lecture notes, 1929-38 ............................................................... 66 Series 3 Field notebooks, 1932-70 ........................................................... 67 Series 4 Miscellaneous field notebooks, 1932-77 .................................... 69 Series 5 Field notes, 1932-81 ................................................................... 72 Series 6 Field notes – Malak Malak land claim, c.1978-82 ..................... 77 Series 7 Maps, 1943-78 ............................................................................ 78 Series 8 Ethnobotanical specimans, n.d. .................................................. 84 Series 9 Photographs of Daly River and Port Keats, 1932-59, 1965 ....... 85 Series 10 Photographs - Secret/Sacred, 1932-35, c.1952, 1954 ................. 88 Series 11 Research notes, newspaper clippings, etc., 1931-82 .................. 90 Series 12 Yirrkala Land Claim - Legal papers, 1968-71 ............................ 95 Series 13 Yirrkala Land Claim – Case evidence and critiques of judgment etc., 1959-74............................................................................... 97 Series 14 Yirrkala Land Claim – Book manuscript and associated papers, 1968-75 ...................................................................................... 99 Series 15 Yirrkala Land Claim – Correspondence, legal and government opinions, 1968-73 .................................................................... 101 Series 16 Other land claims, 1973-81 ...................................................... 106 Series 17 Federal land rights legislation and inquiries, 1975-79............. 110 Series 18 Correspondence with anthropologists and others, 1945-82 ..... 111 Series 19 Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies – Foundation of, 1959- 65.............................................................................................. 116 Series 20 Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies – Research proposals and reports, 1963-81 ................................................................ 120 Series 21 Council for Aboriginal Affairs, 1967-80 ................................. 121 Series 22 Department of Aboriginal Affairs, 1973-80 ............................. 126 Series 23 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, 1973 -75, 1979 ............................................................ 127 Series 24 National Museum/National Gallery of Aboriginal Australia, 1969-79 .................................................................................... 127 Series 25 Other institutions, organisations, committees, 1964-80 ........... 129 Series 26 Australian Aborigines – Other papers ...................................... 131 ADDITION, JULY 2002 .......................................................................................... 131 Series 27 East Africa – Field notebooks and research notes, 1938-39 ..... 131 Series 28 East Africa – Miscellaneous notebooks and research notes, c.1938-51 ................................................................................. 132 Series 29 Kitui Kamba – Research notes, 1938-70 .................................. 133 Series 30 Colonial Social Science Research Council, UK – Correspondence and reports, 1946-50 ................................................................ 134 Series 31 East Africa – Maps ................................................................... 135 Series 32 East Africa – Other papers ........................................................ 137 Series 33 South Pacific – Notebooks, research notes etc, 1933-51 .......... 139 Series 34 South Pacific – Reference material ........................................... 139 Series 35 South Pacific Commission, 1947-55 ........................................ 141 Series 36 South Pacific – Subject Files .................................................... 144 Series 37 South Pacific – Author Files ..................................................... 145 Series 38 Other papers, 1937-58 .............................................................. 146 ADDITION, FEBRUARY 2005 ............................................................................... 148 Series 39 Australian Institute of Aboriginal Affairs – Foundation of, 1960-68 .................................................................................... 148 BOX LIST ................................................................................................................. 149 ACCESS Most of collection relating to Australia has restricted access. For details see introduction to each series. Material relating to Africa, Papua-New Guinea and the Pacific that was incorporated into the collection as Addition, July 2002 has open access. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE Date range: 1929-1981 Extent: 17 metres (91 boxes + 2 folio boxes) + 20 map folders. The papers on Aboriginal Australia of William Edward Hanley Stanner were donated to AIATSIS by Mrs Patricia Stanner in 1982. They include transcripts of speeches and broadcasts, articles and books (published and unpublished), field notes and notebooks, correspondence, reports, miscellaneous notes, maps, sketches, photographic prints, ethnobotanical specimens and printed material by other authors. Correspondents include Ronald M. Berndt, H.C. Coombs, A.P. Elkin, Henry Kenneth Fry, Lester Hiatt, John Mulvaney, Nicolas Peterson, Olive Pink, Marie Reay, Henry P. Schapper, T.G.H. Strehlow, Donald F. Thomson, Peter Willis, W.C. Wentworth and others. The ‘WEH Stanner Collection Finding Aid’ describes material in the manuscript collection MS 3752. This includes material relating to Aboriginal Australia donated in 1982, and papers on Africa, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific acquired by the Library in 2002. For a complete listing of material, by and about Stanner, that is held by the Institute see AIATSIS Mura® online catalogue at http://mura.aiatsis.gov.au/. The catalogue includes entries for Stanner’s Aboriginal Australian papers donated prior to 1982 and associated audiotapes, photographic negatives and Aboriginal artwork. For access to any audiovisual material contact the Audiovisual Archive Program at http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/archprod/index.htm. William Stanner was born in Sydney in 1905. Initially planning a career in journalism his interest turned toward anthropology and the Australian Aborigines in particular, after attending a lecture by A.R. Radcliffe-Brown in 1926. Although he undertook fieldwork in East Africa and the Pacific his principal interest was the peoples of Daly River and Port Keats in the Northern Territory. His visits continued there until 1978. The papers document Stanner’s diverse research interests which had relevance to his attempt to construct a new theoretical approach, as expounded in his monograph On Aboriginal Religion, which demanded intensive study of the historical dimension in human affairs and greater precision in comparative analysis. Through his many essays, public lectures and broadcasts (many of which are collected in White Man Got No Dreaming) he was able to influence a wide audience of scholars and concerned citizens on issues relating to the Aborigines. Page 5 of 157 Stanner helped to shape the growth of Australian anthropology through his work with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies from its founding in 1961. The papers reflect his involvement with this and many other organisations such as the Council for Aboriginal Affairs. Until the end of his life much of Stanner’s time was devoted to securing recognition of Aboriginal rights to land. He acted as expert witness and consulted in the 1971 Yirrkala land claim and for various claims subsequently heard by the Aboriginal Land Rights Commissioner, and became a founding member of the Aboriginal Treaty Committee. The various related papers are of a legal nature and include the claim books in question. Stanner’s field notebooks contain many references to music and text recordings of the Murinbata/Muninpatha made in the 1950s. The associated audiotapes and some content cards are located in the Institute’s Audiovisual Archives Program at http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/archprod/index.htm. The printed material on Aboriginal Australia by other authors has been listed in Series 26 of this finding aid and has been incorporated into the Library’s general collections. The files were arranged and labeled by Diane Barwick prior to their being donated to the Library. This arrangement has been retained by the Library, with item titles taken from the original file labels. The material within the items is generally in chronological order. Stanner’s papers on Africa, Papua-New Guinea, the Pacific and other miscellaneous publications were lodged with the Australian National University Library in 1982. In July 2002 these papers were transferred to the AIATSIS Library