Robert Francis Maher papers
name: label: Creator
content: Maher, Robert F. (Robert Francis), 1922-1987
place: label: Place
content: Papua New Guinea
label: Place
content: Philippines
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Robert Maher's wife, Lee Maher, in 1988.
creator: label: Creator
content: Maher, Robert F. (Robert Francis), 1922-1987
culture: label: Culture
content: Purari (Papua New Guinea people)
label: Culture
content: Namau
label: Culture
content: Ifugao (Philippine people)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Robert Francis Maher papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Robert Francis Maher (1922-1987) was an anthropologist with the University of Western Michigan whose work focused on Oceania. The collection documents his field research in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. His field research in Papua New Guinea focused on cultural change in the Purari Delta and the modernist Tommy Kabu Movement (1946-1968). His field research in the Philippines focused on the ethnological and archaelogical history and changes in the Ifugao province. The collection consists of field notes, excavation notes, census data, genealogy charts, grant applications, research files, research proposals, maps, correspondence, manuscripts, sound recordings, and photographs.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Robert F. Maher was born in Eldora, Iowa in 1922. He studied anthropology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and received his B.S. in 1948, his M.A. in 1950, and his Ph.D. in 1958. He was an instructor at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in 1953-1954, and at DePauw University in 1956-1957. He joined the Department of Sociology at Western Michigan University in 1957 and became professor of anthropology there in 1966. In 1967, he became the first chairman of the UWM department of Anthropology. He remained at UWM until he died.

Most of Maher's publications concern his work in Oceania. In 1954-1955, as a Ford Foundation fellow he began research on the Namau, the people of the Purari Delta in Papua New Guinea, concentrating on culture change and, in particular, on the modernist Tommy Kabu Movement. In 1961, he published New Men of Papua: A Study in Cultural Change which earned him the Genevieve Gorst Herfurth Award for outstanding social science. He returned to Papua New Guinea in 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, and 1983, often only staying there for a small amount of time.

In 1960-1961, Maher began a Senior Fulbright Research Grant funded study of the ethnological and archeological history of the Ifugao region of the Philippines. He returned to that area in 1973, 1975, 1978, and 1982. While in Ifugao, Maher conducted cultural studies and excavations in eleven villages and over four agricultural districts including the Banaue, Burnay, and Kiangan districts.

Maher also carried out ethnological and archeological work in the United States. He was a member of the University of Wisconsin Chippewa Reservation Research Project in 1951-1952, and he and his students worked with the Potowatomi of Michigan from 1959 forward. In 1952, he was an assistant director of excavations at the Black Widow site in South Dakota for the River Basin Surveys. He also carried out archeological work in Wisconsin and at Aztalan in the Southwest. Outside the United States, he carried out a survey of villages in Okyama Prefecture in Japan in 1960.

Maher died of cancer in 1987 shortly before he was due to retire after 30 years of teaching. The University of Western Michigan has established an anthropology scholarship in his name.

Sources Consulted:

Solheim, Wilhelm G.
 1967  Robert F. Maher 1922-1987. Asian Perspectives 27(1).

Chronology

1922 -- Born on July 14 in Eldora, Iowa

1948 -- B.S. in Anthropology from the University of Wisconson at Madison

1950 -- M.S. in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison

1953-1954 -- Instructor at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee

1954-1955 -- Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea

1956-1957 -- Instructor at DePauw University

1958 -- Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison

1959-1960 -- Research on the Potawatomi in Michigan

1960 -- Fieldwork in Okayama Prefecture, Japan

1960-1961 -- Fieldwork in the Philippines

1961 -- Published New Men of Papua

1966-1987 -- Professor at Western Michigan University

1973 -- Fieldwork in the Philippines Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea

1974 -- Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea

1975 -- Fieldwork in the Philippines

1976 -- Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea

1978 -- Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea Fieldwork in the Philippines

1982 -- Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea Fieldwork in the Philippines

1983 -- Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea

1987 -- Died of cancer on March 26
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 7 Sound recordings
label: Extent
content: 6.38 Linear feet (13 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1944-1987
label: Date
content: bulk 1954-1987
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.1997-02
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Manuscripts
label: Type
content: Maps
label: Type
content: Field notes
label: Type
content: Genealogical tables
label: Type
content: Correspondence
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is arranged in 6 series:

Series 1: Research, 1944, 1954-1985

Series 2: Correspondence, 1953-1987

Series 3: Writings, 1961-1983

Series 4: Writings by Others, circa 1950s - circa 1980s

Series 5: Sound Recordings, undated

Series 6: Photographs
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Adam Fielding, 2014.

Encoded by Adam Fielding, August 2014.
bibliography: label: Selected Bibliography
content: 1958. Tommy Kabu Movement of the Purari Delta. Oceana 29(2):75-90.

1960. Social Structure and Cultural Change in Papua. American Anthropologist 62:593-602.

1961a. Varieties of Change in Koriki Culture. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 17:26-39.

1961b. New Men of Papua. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

1967. From Cannibal Raid to Copra Kompani: Changing Patterns of Koriki Politics. Ethnology 6(1):309-331.

1973. Archaelogical Investigations in Central Ifugao. Asian Perspectives 16(1):39-70.

1974. Koriki Chieftainship: Hereditary Status and Mana in Papua. Ethnology 13(3):239-246.

1975. The Great Ifugao War: A Study in Archaelogy and Oral History. Asian Perspectives 18(1):64-74.

1978. Ifugao.  -- In --  Studies in Philippines Prehistory. F. Landa Jocano, ed. Pp. 270-305. Quezon City: Institute for Advanced Study, University of the Philippines.

1981. Archaelogical Investigations in the Burnay District of Southeastern Ifugao, Philippines. Asian Perspectives 24(2):223-236.

1984a. Kiyyangan Village of Ifugao Province, Philippines. Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 12(2):116-127.

1984b. The Purari River Delta Societies, Papua New Guinea, after the Tom Kabu Movement. Ethnology 23(3):217-227.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Maps
label: Genre/Form
content: Field notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Genealogical tables
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of Robert F. Maher document his field research in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. His field research in Papua New Guinea focused on cultural change in the Purari Delta and the modernist Tommy Kabu Movement (1946-1968). His field research in the Philippines focused on the ethnological and archaelogical history and changes in the Ifugao province. The collection consists of field notes, excavation notes, census data, genealogy charts, grant applications, research files, research proposals, maps, correspondence, manuscripts, sound recordings, and photographs.

The Papua New Guinea research files primarily consist of Maher's fieldwork diary from 1954-1955. Included with the diary is an annotated partial typescript transcription. Other material includes excavation notes and dwelling information. There is also census material from Tommy Kabu about a work area known as Rabia Camp. The diary describes Maher's time with Tommy Kabu at Rabia Camp and Port Moresby, as well as his time in the Purari Delta.

The Philippines research files include field notes, excavation notes, census data, genealogy charts, and research files. The field notes contain detailed reports on pottery, tools, and agricultural and social aspects of the Ifugao province. The census data chiefly contains undated questionnaires filled out by residents of different Ifugao villages. The research files contain reports along with correspondence. Some of the fieldwork reports, along with census data and genealogy charts, were probably authored by two of Maher's research assistants, Emilio Pagada and Ben Pitpitunge.

The bulk of the correspondence is professional in nature, and primarily concern his work in the Philippines. Included is correspondence with anthropologists Harold C. Conklin, William A. Longacre, Daniel J. Scheans, Richard Shutler, and Wilheim G. Solheim. Also included are letters from Tommy Kabu.

The sound recordings contain 5 magnetic tape reels (3 in.) likely recorded in the Ifugao Provice of the Philippines.

The photographs and slides are unprocessed.