Research Catalog

Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits audio collection.

Title
Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits audio collection.
Author
Herskovits, Melville J. (Melville Jean), 1895-1963.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Request Appointment

Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.

Mixed materialUse in library Sc MIRS Herskovits 1986-63Schomburg Center - Moving Image & Recorded Sound

Details

Additional Authors
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.
Summary
The collection consists of 104 audio recordings reflecting their interest in ethnic folk music.
Subjects
Biography (note)
  • Anthropologist; Africanist; founder of the first African Studies program in the United States. Melville J. Herskovits was born in 1895 in Bellefontaine, Ohio. He received his Doctorate in Anthropology in 1923 from Columbia University where he studied with the eminent anthropologist Franz Boas. With his research associate, collaborator and wife Frances, Herskovits embarked on a forty-year study of African cultures on both sides of the Atlantic. In his 1941 landmark work "The Myth of the Negro Past" and in his more than 400 publications, Herskovits refuted many of the popularly-held beliefs regarding the absence of a sound African culture and the question of the continuity of African culture among blacks in the New World. For thirty-five years Herskovits taught at Northwestern University where in 1947 he founded the Program of African Studies, the first of its kind in the United States. He received numerous honors and distinctions throughout his career and served as both President of the American Folklore Society and the African Studies Association. He also chaired committees of the American Coucil of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council among others. Herskovits died in 1963 and in 1970 the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies was established at Northwestern University. Frances Herskovits was her husband's close and constant collaborator. During field trips she obtained data pertaining to the subculture of the women as well as information on some aspects of ritual, art and other major activities. Mrs. Herskovits co-authored several articles and four books with Melville Herskovits, including "Rebel Destiny" (1934), "Suriname Folk-lore" (1936), "Trinidad Village" (1947) and "Dahomean Narrative" (1958). In 1966 she edited "The New World Negro," a collection of papers by Herskovits and in 1973 "Cultural Relativism," another collection of his writings. With a background in literature and French, Mrs. Herskovits taught African literature at Northwestern University for many years. She died in 1972 in Evanston, Illinois.
Linking Entry (note)
  • Forms part of: Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits papers, 1902-1972. Papers can be found in the Manuscript & Rare Books Division (Sc MG 261). Photographs can be found in the Photographs and Prints Division. Art and artifacts can be found in the Art and Artifacts Division
Call Number
Sc MIRS Herskovits 1986-63
OCLC
1195901813
Author
Herskovits, Melville J. (Melville Jean), 1895-1963.
Title
Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits audio collection.
Biography
Anthropologist; Africanist; founder of the first African Studies program in the United States. Melville J. Herskovits was born in 1895 in Bellefontaine, Ohio. He received his Doctorate in Anthropology in 1923 from Columbia University where he studied with the eminent anthropologist Franz Boas. With his research associate, collaborator and wife Frances, Herskovits embarked on a forty-year study of African cultures on both sides of the Atlantic. In his 1941 landmark work "The Myth of the Negro Past" and in his more than 400 publications, Herskovits refuted many of the popularly-held beliefs regarding the absence of a sound African culture and the question of the continuity of African culture among blacks in the New World. For thirty-five years Herskovits taught at Northwestern University where in 1947 he founded the Program of African Studies, the first of its kind in the United States. He received numerous honors and distinctions throughout his career and served as both President of the American Folklore Society and the African Studies Association. He also chaired committees of the American Coucil of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council among others. Herskovits died in 1963 and in 1970 the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies was established at Northwestern University. Frances Herskovits was her husband's close and constant collaborator. During field trips she obtained data pertaining to the subculture of the women as well as information on some aspects of ritual, art and other major activities. Mrs. Herskovits co-authored several articles and four books with Melville Herskovits, including "Rebel Destiny" (1934), "Suriname Folk-lore" (1936), "Trinidad Village" (1947) and "Dahomean Narrative" (1958). In 1966 she edited "The New World Negro," a collection of papers by Herskovits and in 1973 "Cultural Relativism," another collection of his writings. With a background in literature and French, Mrs. Herskovits taught African literature at Northwestern University for many years. She died in 1972 in Evanston, Illinois.
Linking Entry
Forms part of: Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits papers, 1902-1972. Papers can be found in the Manuscript & Rare Books Division (Sc MG 261). Photographs can be found in the Photographs and Prints Division. Art and artifacts can be found in the Art and Artifacts Division,
Connect to:
Request Access to Schomburg Moving Images and Recorded Sound
Added Author
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.
Research Call Number
Sc MIRS Herskovits 1986-63
View in Legacy Catalog