Skip to main content

Robert Anderson photograph collection

 Collection
Identifier: P0342

Scope and Contents

Robert Anderson was an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah. The bulk of this cultural anthropologist's collection centers on Cheyenne Indians, Ute Indians and the Willow, or Sun, and Bear Dances. Subjects also included in the collection are African and Middle Eastern tribes such as Nuers, Bedouins, Gulf Eskimo Indians, and Nootka Indians. The majority of the photographs in the collection are not identified.

Dates

  • circa 1950-1987

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Conditions Governing Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Biographical Note

Robert Anderson was born on 17 February 1914, in Bessemer, Michigan. Growing up in Marquette, Anderson worked part-time for the Marquette Mining Journal, reporting for the daily newspaper on Saturday and over summer vacations during high school. Following graduation from Northern Michigan College in 1937, Anderson taught high school for two years and was commencing graduate work in anthropology when the Second World War began.

Anderson was drafted in 1942, and the Army took advantage of his journalism and writing experience by assigning him to the Stauffer survey of American soldiers in Alaska, a project which yielded the multi-volume The American Soldier. Anderson also edited The News, the newsletter of the Percy Jones Hospital Center at Ft. Custer, Michigan.

After his discharge from the Army in 1945, Anderson went back to school, receiving his M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1947, a year that also saw his marriage to Alma Fassett. Anderson continued his graduate work at Columbia University, but returned to Michigan in 1948 to study under noted anthropologist Leslie White. In 1951, after extensive research that yielded a dissertation on the Cheyenne Indians, Anderson received his Ph.D. in anthropology.

Anderson began his career as a college professor in 1951 at Florida State University. Three years later he accepted the post of Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, where he would serve for the next thirty five years. In 1956, Anderson was made Associate Professor, and in 1963 he achieved the rank of Professor of Anthropology. In 1960, Anderson began lecturing in psychiatry, becoming an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry in 1970. In 1976, Anderson published a textbook, The Cultural Context: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, noted for a mature approach in an introductory work. Having built a reputation as an excellent lecturer and erudite scholar, he received the first College of Social and Behavioral Science Superior Teaching Award in 1980.

After a distinguished career, Robert Anderson retired from the University of Utah on 1 July 1989. He died on 17 August 1989.

Extent

750 Photographic Prints

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Robert Anderson photograph collection contains photos from this cultural anthropologist include Sun Dance and Bear Dance ceremonies, Ute Indians, Cheyenne Indians, Nootka Indians, Gulf Eskimos, African and Bedouin tribes, Sumerian Period architecture and sculpture. Many photos were used in Anderson's The Cultural Context.

Arrangement

Collection arranged by topic and photographer.

Separated Materials

Manuscript materials were transferred to the Robert Anderson papers (MS 0573).

Processing Information

Processed by Mary Ann Curtis in 2000.
Title
Guide to the Robert Anderson photograph collection
Author
Finding aid prepared by Mary Ann Curtis.
Date
2000
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections Repository

Contact:
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863