H. Arlo Nimmo papers
name: label: Creator
content: Nimmo, Harry
place: label: Place
content: Tawitawi (Philippines)
topic: label: Topic
content: Sama languages
label: Topic
content: Language and languages -- Documentation
label: Topic
content: Ethnology -- Philippines
label: Topic
content: Music
label: Topic
content: Kinship
label: Topic
content: Fishing
label: Topic
content: Rites and ceremonies
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by H. Arlo Nimmo.
creator: label: Creator
content: Nimmo, Harry
culture: label: Culture
content: Filipinos
label: Culture
content: Tausug (Philippine people)
label: Culture
content: Bajau (Southeast Asian people)
setName: label: See more items in
content: H. Arlo Nimmo papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of H. Arlo Nimmo document his field research among the Bajau (also known as Sama Dilaut) in Tawi-Tawi Province in the southern Philippines in 1963, 1965-1967, 1977, 1982, and 1997. The collection consists of correspondence, field journals, censuses, genealogies, kinship charts, transcripts of songs, unpublished manuscripts, card files, photographs, sound recordings, and maps. Nimmo's initial research focused on social change, but he collected data about other aspects of Bajau culture, including social organization, kinship, religion, fishing, boats, boat-building, art, and music.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Harry Arlo Nimmo was a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at California State University East Bay at Hayward. He earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from University of Hawaii in 1969. As a graduate student, he conducted six months of field research among the Bajau (also known as Sama Dilaut) of Tawi-Tawi, Philippines in 1963 and another eighteen months in 1965-67. He returned to conduct more field research in Tawi-Tawi in 1977, 1982, and 1997. As a result of civil strife, massive immigration, and economic changes following his field research in the 1960s, the Bajau culture (as studied and documented by Nimmo) no longer exists in Tawi-Tawi. In addition to his master's thesis, Social Organization of the Tawi-Tawi Badjaw (1965), and his dissertation, The Structure of Bajau Society (1969), Nimmo has published extensively on his Bajau research. 

Nimmo died in 2021.

Selected Bibliography

1965 -- Social Organization of the Tawi-Tawi Badjaw. Ethnology IV (4): 421- 439.

1966 -- Themes in Badjaw Dreams. Philippine Sociological Review XIV (1): 49-56.

1968 -- The Bajau of Sulu Fiction and Fact. Philippine Studies XVI (4): 771-775. Songs of the Sulu Sea. ETC. XXV (4): 489-494. Reflections on Bajau History. Philippine Studies XVI (1): 32-59.

1970 -- Bajau Sex and Reproduction. Ethnology IX (3): 251-262. Posong, Trickster of Sulu. Western Folklore XXIX (3): 185-191.

1971 -- Bajau: Gentle Boat-Dwellers of the Philippines. Nomads of the World. Washington, D. C.: National Geographic Society.

1972 -- The Bajau of the Philippines. Ethnocentrism Series. HRAFlex Book OA8-001. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files. The Sea People of Sulu. San Francisco: The Chandler Press. You will remember us because we have sung for you. Philippine Studies XX (2): 299-322.

1973 -- A Tribe of Ancient Mariners Comes Ashore. Natural History 82 (10): 334-45.

1975 -- The Shamans of Sulu. Asian and Pacific Quarterly VII (1): 1-9.

1976 -- A Functional Interpretation of Bajau Songs. Directions in Pacific Traditional Literature, edited by Adrienne L. Kaeppler and H. Arlo Nimmo. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.

1977 -- The Bajau of Sulu. Filipino Heritage I: 261-265.

1978 -- The Relativity of Sexual Deviance: A Sulu Example. Papers in Anthropology XIX (1): 91-98.

1984 -- Bajau. Muslim Peoples I: 75-80. Edited by Richard V. Weekes. Westport: Greenwood Press.

1986 -- Recent Population Movements in the Sulu Archipelago: Implications to Sama Culture History. Archipel 32: 25-38.

1990 -- The Boats of the Tawi-Tawi Bajau, Sulu Archipelago, Philippines. Asian Perspectives 29 (1): 51-88. Religious Beliefs of the Tawi-Tawi Bajau. Philippine Studies 38(1): 3-17. Religious Rituals of the Tawi-Tawi Bajau. Philippine Studies 38 (2): 166-198.

1994 -- The Songs of Salanda. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

2001 -- Magosaha: An Ethnography of the Tawi-Tawi Sama Dilaut. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.

2005 -- Silungan Baltapa. The Voyage to Heaven of a Sama Hero. (Co-authored with Nicole Revel, Alain Martenot, Gèrard Rixhon, Talib Lim Sangogot, and Olivier Tourny.) Paris: Geuthner.

2010 -- The H. Arlo Nimmo and Tarabasa Idji Collection. Voices from Sulu. Edited by Gerard Rixhon. Quezon City: The Ateneo de Manila University Press.

2012 -- A very far place: tales of Tawi-tawi. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Linear feet (6 document boxes, 5 card file boxes, 1 binder box, 1 flip-top box plus 16 sound reels; and 12 maps (6 of which are duplicates))
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1965-1967
label: Date
content: 1963
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.2009-17
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Chants
label: Type
content: Stories
label: Type
content: Songs
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Maps
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is arranged into 6 series: (1) Correspondence; (2) Research Data; (3) Unpublished Manuscripts; (4) Maps; (5) Photographs; (6) Sound Recordings.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection arrived at the National Anthropological Archives through multiple deposits.  All accretions were described and organized by H. Arlo Nimmo before they were transferred to the National Anthropological Archives.  For the most part, his original organization has been retained.  A few folders filed under "miscellaneous" were moved and filed with other related materials.  Nimmo's folder titles have also been retained and his descriptions have been incorporated into this finding aid. Series 5: Photographs were processed separately.

Photographs processed by Gina Rappaport in 2015.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Chants
label: Genre/Form
content: Stories
label: Genre/Form
content: Songs
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence
label: Genre/Form
content: Maps
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Slides (photographs)
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of H. Arlo Nimmo document his field research among the Bajau (also known as Sama Dilaut) in Tawi-Tawi Province in the southern Philippines in 1963, 1965-1967, 1977, 1982, and 1997. The collection consists of correspondence, field journals, censuses, genealogies, kinship charts, transcripts of songs, unpublished manuscripts, card files, photographs, sound recordings, and maps. Nimmo's initial research focused on social change, but he collected data about other aspects of Bajau culture, including social organization, kinship, religion, fishing, boats, boat-building, art, and music.

Also in the collection are recordings of his 2001 interviews with Gerard Rixhon, an Oblates of Mary Immaculate priest, stationed in Tawi-Tawi and Jolo from 1953 to 1974.  In addition, the collection contains materials regarding the Bajau from Don Hart and Rony Bautista.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: 8 mm color film (and DVD copy) of Tungkalong shot by Nimmo in 1963 was transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives.  See HSFA.2011.02