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Records of the Puerto Rico Study

Call Number

RISM.RG.3

Dates

1943-1951, inclusive
; 1948-1949, bulk

Creator

Steward, Julian Haynes, 1902-1972

Extent

4 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

Materials are in English and Spanish.

Abstract

The Puerto Rico Project was a comprehensive study conducted by Dr. Julian H. Steward and a select team of anthropologists between 1947 and 1949. The collection includes correspondence, minutes, interviews, reports, journal accounts, fieldwork reports, printed matter, manuscripts, thesis, maps, and ephemera.

Historical Note

The Puerto Rico Project was an in-depth study of the Island's population organized by Dr. Jaime Benitez, chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, with the assistance of Clarence Senior, director of the University's Center of Social Science Investigations. In early 1947, the proposed study was brought to the attention of Dr. Julian Steward, chair of Columbia University's Anthropology Department.

By December 1947 the organization of project goals, research hypotheses and methodology were underway. The fieldwork phase of the project began in February 1948, coinciding with Operation Bootstrap ("Operación Manos a la Obra"), the Puerto Rico government's ambitious plan to industrialize the Island. Dr. Steward chose many of his graduate students to head fieldwork investigations. This core group included noted leaders in the field of anthropology: Sidney Mintz, Eric R. Wolf, Elena Padilla Seda, Robert A. Manners, John Murra, Raymond Scheele and others. Students from the Universities of Puerto Rico and Chicago also assisted in the study to gain professional training.

In contrast to previous anthropological studies that investigated communities as isolated units, the Puerto Rico Project not only assessed the impact of industrialization among rural communities, but it also produced an analysis of the relationship between those communities and the Island through oral history, labor studies, and comparative surveys of sociocultural patterns.

Fieldwork activities concluded in August 1949, followed by a year of supplemental library research. A preliminary report was published in 1951. Funding from the University of Puerto Rico, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the Research Board of the University of Illinois helped to facilitate completion of the final report, published as The People of Puerto Rico: A Study in Social Anthropology.

Sources:

Shimkin, Demetri B. "Julian H. Steward: A Contributor to Fact and Theory in Cultural Anthropology," Process and Patterns in Culture: Essays in Honor of Julian H. Steward. Robert A. Manners, ed. Steward, Julian H., et al, eds. "Preface." The People of Puerto Rico: A Study in Social Anthropology. A Social Science Research Center Study, College of Social Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, University of Illinois Press, 1956 (located at the Reed Foundation). Material from the collection was also used to compose the finding aid.

Arrangement

The Puerto Rico Study Collection has been organized chronologically and arranged into the following series:

  1. I. Correspondence
  2. II. Minutes
  3. III. Interviews
  4. IV. Journal Entries
  5. V. Project Reports
  6. VI. Draft Manuscript Papers
  7. VII. Miscellaneous Papers
  8. VIII. Maps

Scope and Contents

The records of the Puerto Rico Project comprise 4.0 linear feet and span the years 1943 to 1951. The bulk of the records, generated between 1947 and 1949, represent a unique, cooperative effort in modern anthropology. The collection includes bilingual correspondence, conference papers, minutes, interviews, journal entries, fieldwork reports, manuscripts, clippings, printed matter, miscellaneous papers, and maps. Descriptive details are included in the scope and content note for each series.

Although the collection represents a small portion of a comprehensive study, the records provide critical insight into the impact of industrialization on the Island's cultural history, demography, land use patterns, economics, race relations, migration, and family kinship structure. The records also highlight the influence of external economic and political forces.

Although critical gaps occur between Nov - Jun 1948, Jun 1949 - 1950, and during the final phase of the Project, Series I details the Project's development and highlights the relationships of the fieldwork team. Series II provides insight into the research structure of the Project with particular emphasis on the development of hypotheses and fieldwork methodology. Although there is some overlap between Series III and Series IV, the records in both series detail day-to-day life in Puerto Rico during the transitional period. Series V consists of field data submitted by and circulated among members of the fieldwork team. These reports helped shape and guide the research methodology.

Although Series VI is incomplete, it sheds light on the way in which the final report was organized. Series VII includes notes, political flyers, brochures and some photographs. A unique set of local and regional maps of Puerto Rico, published prior to the Project, comprise Series VIII.

Two items, formerly housed in RISM's Library for Caribbean Research (LCR), have been appended to the collection. Report on the Selection of a Community for Anthropological Study, a thesis written by Irene Caro, documents fieldwork in Puerto Rico and contains a valuable glossary of common terms in the Spanish language. The second document, Canamelar: The Subculture of a Rural Sugar Plantation Proletariat, written by Sidney Mintz, appears to be a chapter of a larger, unidentified manuscript.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the:
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2646
Fax: (212) 995-4225
E-mail: university-archives@nyu.edu

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, Date(s) (if known); The Records of the Puerto Rico Project; RISM RG 3; box number; folder number;
Research Institute for the Study of Man CollectionNew York University ArchivesElmer Holmes Bobst Library70 Washington Square SouthNew York, NY 10012

Location of Materials

Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please request materials at least two business days prior to your research visit to coordinate access.

Provenance

The Records of the Puerto Rico Project were generated by a team of professional anthropologists under the direction of Dr. Julian H. Steward, chair of the anthropology department at Columbia University. Dr. Steward and other members of the team were professional associates of Dr. Vera D. Rubin, founder and director of the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) and may have transferred the collection to RISM headquarters.

Separated Material

No materials have been removed from the collection.

Related Material at the Reed Foundation

The Vera D. Rubin Papers, RISM RG 1

Collection processed by

Emilyn L. Brown. Inventory prepared by Katie Ehrlich and Stephanie Schmeling, September 2010.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 17:57:05 -0400.
Language: Description is in English.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from puertoricoproject.doc

Repository

New York University Archives
Research Institute for the Study of Man
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012