Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Biruté Galdikas THE LEAKEY FOUNDATION ORAL HISTORY PROJECT: BIRUTÉ GALDIKAS Interviews conducted by Virginia Morell in 2003 Copyright © 2015 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. 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Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/cite.html It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Biruté Galdikas, “The Leakey Foundation Oral History Project: Biruté Galdikas.” conducted by Virginia Morell in 2003, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2015. iii Table of Contents—Biruté Galdikas Interview 1: August 6, 2003 Audio File 1 1 Louis Leakey: “The Darwin of Human Invention” — Louis Leakey at UCLA — Narrator’s early interest in orangutans and Asia — Tom and Barbara Harrisson — Meeting Louis in Westwood —Louis in the news — Passing a test — Women as astute observers — Louis’s temperament and his relationships — Jane Goodall — A problematic film deal — Robert and Leighton Wilkie’s foundation and its support for orangutan research — Louis as “the key to the universe” — Narrator’s commitment to her work — Gombe and Jane Goodall — Inspiration and commitment Audio File 2 23 Jane’s modesty — Louis as host and inspiring guide in Nairobi — Narrator’s expedition to Indonesia — The challenges of her work with orangutans — Vindication of Louis’s theories — Louis: “Fundamentally African” — Humor, optimism, and struggle — Support for orangutan research — Louis’s belief in women — Alan O’Brien and Edwin S. Munger Audio File 3 39 Louis’s frugality — The Leakey Foundation — Vanne Goodall — Mary Leakey’s relationship with Louis — Calico — Louis’s relationship with Ruth Simpson — His loyalty to Mary — Mary at Olduvai — Louis’s death and legacy — More about Vanne — Meave’s findings in Chad — Louis’s theories of human origins — Narrator’s husband Rod’s relationship to Louis — Louis’s generosity of spirit [End of Interview] 1 Interview 1: August 6, 2003 Begin Audio File 1 01-00:00:10 Morrell: Okay. Biruté Galdikas for the Leakey Foundation Centennial Louis Leakey Oral History Project. Welcome Dr. Galdikas. 01-00:00:20 Galdikas: Thank you. 01-00:00:21 Morrell: Usually what I like to do in these interviews is to ask people how they first came to meet, in this case, Louis Leakey. I believe that was your first contact with the Leakeys overall and we really want to focus quite a bit on— 01-00:00:35 Galdikas: Yes, it was. 01-00:00:35 Morrell: On Louis. 01-00:00:36 Galdikas: Yes, it was. 01-00:00:37 Morrell: And so, you could tell me a little bit about how that first meeting came about and what you knew about Louis before you met him, because I think that you had read a little bit about the work that he’d done in initiating studies of primates in the wild? 01-00:00:52 Galdikas: Right, and actually the first that I remember of Louis Leakey is that of course he was—you know, people called him the Darwin of human evolution, that his discoveries really helped change people’s ideas about human evolution, so I had learned— 01-00:01:19 Morrell: Excuse me, but you heard him referred to as that in your classes? The Darwin of human evolution? 01-00:01:24 Galdikas: Oh, I’m not sure. 01-00:01:25 Morrell: That’s the first time I’ve heard that phrase and it’s a wonderful phrase. 01-00:01:28 Galdikas: Well, I’m not sure where I first heard it, but I certainly learned as a graduate student in anthropology, and I was very young, that Louis Leakey had discovered the oldest—they were called men then, but the oldest humans, and that this was a very important person. I remember taking a class taught by 2 James [R.] Sackett who was a faculty member at UCLA where I was a graduate student, and I remember him drawing two world views of human evolution and that was the Leakey view and then there was everybody else. [laughter] And he was a very important personage and—but more than learning about him, in school and university, I had an experience as an undergraduate, or just when I became a graduate student, you know my memory of exact times and dates is getting a little fuzzy as I get older, but I was just a beginning graduate student, and I think I mention this in my book Reflections of Eden, and I was excavating at a place called Grasshopper and we were excavating the remains of a prehi[storic]— 01-00:02:53 Morrell: This is from Arizona? Grasshopper. 01-00:02:54 Galdikas: New Mexico. 01-00:02:55 Morrell: New Mexico. 01-00:02:55 Galdikas: And I was excavating as part of the Grasshopper field school with my partner, with my pit partner, and she mentioned to me that she had written Mary Leakey and that she had actually gotten a reply. She had wanted to join the Leakeys on their excavations and I remember saying to her, “My goodness, famous scientists actually reply!” And she said, “Yes.” So I guess I remember that because you know as we go through life we gather seeds of information and this was a little kernel of information that must have stayed with me and it made an impression on me. 01-00:03:41 Morrell: Of course it would. That they were accessible. 01-00:03:43 Galdikas: That they were accessible and I guess that little kernel of information probably is what propelled me to go up to Louis Leakey after I heard him talk at UCLA. 01-00:03:54 Morrell: And he had come to give a lecture at the university? One of these big auditorium— 01-00:03:59 Galdikas: Right—well what had happened was— 01-00:04:01 Morrell: —lectures that he used to do. 3 01-00:04:02 Galdikas: Right. What had happened was that one of my professors, Dr. Berger, I think his name was [Clemens] Rainer Berger, I was taking an archaeological dating methods class with him as a graduate student and he mentioned that he had invited Louis Leakey, who was a friend of his, to come and give a lecture to our class. Well, as it turned out, there was so much interest in this lecture that the lecture was moved to a much larger auditorium and I remember that when I came into the auditorium, the auditorium was absolutely full and I was standing at the back of the auditorium and Rainer Berger saw me and said, “There’s a seat up here.” [chuckling] You know, way in the front and I couldn’t see from the back, so there must have been several hundred people at that lecture. So the first time I had seen Louis Leakey, he was very charismatic. He actually seemed very accessible because the way he lectured it was clear he was very good natured. And at this lecture he mentioned the fact during the question and answer period that he had helped Jane Goodall start her study of chimpanzees, that he had helped Dian Fossey start her study of mountain gorillas, and I had never heard of Dian Fossey, although of course—I already knew who Jane Goodall was. And when he said that, then I just knew. I mean sometimes you just have such utter certainty and I knew that he was the person who was going to help me get my study of orangutans going. I mean, it was like I knew—100% certainty. And so after the lecture— 01-00:05:59 Morrell: Had you talked to other people about that? 01-00:06:01 Galdikas: Oh yes I had. 01-00:06:02 Morrell: So Rainer, this Dr. Berger, he knew that you were interested in that? 01-00:06:06 Galdikas: You know I don’t know if Rainer Berger knew.