Ruth Fulton Benedict Papers
Description:
Ruth Benedict made significant contributions to the field in her exploration and examination of the role of individuals in relation to larger societies and cultures, and her integration of analysis of personality and individual agency in cultural description. She published her major work, "Patterns of Culture" in 1934, a comparative work that integrated her own work and others. After WW II, Benedict began studies in Europe among refugees and in the United States among refugees and also among New York neighborhoods, pioneering community action anthropology. She developed the concept of synergy and influenced her student, Abraham Maslow, in his psychological work.
The Ruth Benedict Papers (held at the Vassar College Archive, to be open access): Approximately 8,000 pages from the Benedict archive will be made open access and include notes from various field expeditions, including trips with the Pima, Serrano and Zuni throughout the 1930s.
The finding aid can be found here.
Digitized content includes:
Series XI: Native American Subject Files
- Box 79: Mescalero Trip
- Box 80: Pima Mythology
- Box 81: Pima Mythology
- Box 82: Acoma Drawings
- Box 83: Myths Typescript
- Box 84: Myths Typescript
- Box 85: Zuni Notes
- Box 86: Dakota Sioux – Social Organization and Blackfoot Field Trip, 1939
- Box 87: Religion of the North American Indians, Notes
- Box 88: North American Indian Folklore
- Box 89: Southwest Myth Concordance
- Box 90: Southwest Myth Concordance
- Box 91: Southwest Notes
- Box 92: Concordance for Shoshone Folklore Notes
- Box 93: Concordance for Shoshone Folklore Notes
- Box 94: Concordance for Shoshone Folklore Notes
- Box 95: American Indian Mythology Field Notes
- Box 96: Serrano Field Trip Notes
The finding aid can be found here.
Material sourced from the Ruth Fulton Benedict Papers, Vassar College. Copyright © 2016 by Mary Catherine Bateson