Finding Aid for Julian H. Steward Papers, 1842-1976 | University of Illinois Archives

Title: Julian H. Steward Papers, 1842-1976

ID: 15/2/21

Primary Creator: Steward, Julian Haynes (1902-1972)

Extent: 18.8 cubic feet

Arrangement: By correspondent (chronological and alphabetical thereunder), subject, project, publications, department.

Subjects: American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, Anthropology, Baptists, Boston, Massachusetts, Cape Horn, Carrier Indians, Chile - History and Geography, Cross Cultural Research, Cultural Anthropology, Ecology, Ethnography, Evolution, Faculty Papers, Ford Foundation, Genealogy, Great Basin, Human Ecology, Indian Affairs, Bureau of, Indian Land Claims, Indians of North America -- Music, Melbourne, Australia, Music -- Japan - Education, Music -- South American Indians, National Academy of Sciences (NAS), New York City, Paiute Indians, Petroglyphs, Photography, Puerto Rico - Religion and Sociology, Religions, Primitive, Sailing Ships, Sailors, San Francisco, California, Shoshoni Indians, Social Science Research Council, Sweden - Religion and Sociology, Telluride Association, Utah, Ute Indians

Formats/Genres: Papers

Languages: English

Papers of Julian Haynes Steward (1902-72), professor of anthropology (1952-72), including correspondence, reports, manuscripts, reviews, publications, government documents, minutes, newsletters, directories, conference programs, research proposals and applications, student records and evaluations, lecture notes, diaries, field notes, drawings, maps, charts and photographs concerning personal, business and professional activities of faculty, friends and family; foundations and academic organizations supporting anthropological fieldwork in North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia; petroglyphs; cultural ecology and evolution; human ecology; cultural anthropology theory; multilinear evolution; ethnography; indigenous religions; cross cultural regularities; North and South American indigenous cultures; Ute, Paiute Carrier and Shoshone peoples; Southwestern United States archaeology and ethnology; Utah, Great Basin; Puerto Rico; travels and teaching in Japan as Director of the Kyoto American Studies Seminar (1956-57); world trip (1957-58); Indian claims commission hearings (ca. 1950-55) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (1936-37); American Association for the Advancement of Science; Telluride Association; teaching and supervision of graduate and field research in University of Illinois Sociology and Anthropology Departments (1952-69) and faculty positions at the Universities of Michigan (1928-30), Utah (1930-33), California at Berkeley (1933-34) and Columbia (1946-52) and as Associate Anthropologist in the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution (1935-46). Correspondents include Ralph L. Beals, Robert F. Heizer, Alfred Kroeber, Margaret Mead, George P. Murdock, Leslie White, Gordon K. Willey, Eric Wolf and Emma Schroeder (genealogy and sailing journals).

Julian Haynes Steward (1902-1972) was professor of anthropology (1952-72) and acting head of the Department of Anthropology (1959-60) at the University of Illinois Urban-Champaign (UIUC). He was highly influential in the twentieth-century field of anthropology, known for establishing the cultural ecology paradigm as well as for developing a scientific theory of culture change.

Steward was born in Washington, DC, in 1902. He earned a bachelor's degree in zoology and geology in 1925 before earning a master's degree (1926) and a doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley (1929). His research interests centered on subsistence, the dynamic interaction of man, environment, technology, social structure, and the organization of work. He coined the term cultural ecology, establishing it as a methodology for understanding how humans adapt to a wide variety of environments. He also adopted a cross-cultural, multi-linear approach to discerning laws of culture and cultural change. Steward held teaching and administrative positions at a number of American universities, including the University of Michigan (1928-30), University of Utah (1930-33), and UC Berkley (1933-34). In 1935, he accepted a position as associate anthropologist in the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution where he stayed until 1946 aside from a brief transfer to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During this time, he published his study Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups (1938) explicating his cultural ecology paradigm. He also conceived and edited the Smithsonian series Handbook of South American Indians (1940-47) and served as founding director of the Institute for Social Anthropology (1943-46). In 1946, Steward returned to academia serving on the anthropology faculties of Columbia University (1946-52) and UIUC (1952-72). At UIUC, he undertook a large-scale comparative analysis of modernization in eleven traditional societies. The results of this research were published as Contemporary Change in Traditional Societies (vols. Iâ??III, 1967-68).

Steward was the recipient of the Viking Fund Medal from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research in 1952. He died on February 6, 1972, in Urbana, Illinois.

Sources:

"Institute for Social Anthropology Created," Smithsonian, accessed April 16, 2020, https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_731.

Wikipedia, s.v. "Cultural ecology," accessed April 16, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_ecology#History.

Wikipedia, s.v. "Handbook of South American Indians," accessed April 16, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handbook_of_South_American_Indians.

Wikipedia, s.v. "Julian H. Steward," accessed on April 16, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Steward.

Julian Steward, New World Encyclopedia, accessed January 21, 2021, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Julian_Steward.

Robert A. Manners, "Julian Haynes Steward 1902-1972," American Anthropologist 75, 1973 (pp. 886-903), accessed January 21, 2021, https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1525/aa.1973.75.3.02a00180.

American Association for the Advancement of Sciences
Anthropology
Baptists
Boston, Massachusetts
Cape Horn
Carrier Indians
Chile - History and Geography
Cross Cultural Research
Cultural Anthropology
Ecology
Ethnography
Evolution
Faculty Papers
Ford Foundation
Genealogy
Great Basin
Human Ecology
Indian Affairs, Bureau of
Indian Land Claims
Indians of North America -- Music
Melbourne, Australia
Music -- Japan - Education
Music -- South American Indians
National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
New York City
Paiute Indians
Petroglyphs
Photography
Puerto Rico - Religion and Sociology
Religions, Primitive
Sailing Ships
Sailors
San Francisco, California
Shoshoni Indians
Social Science Research Council
Sweden - Religion and Sociology
Telluride Association
Utah
Ute Indians

Repository: University of Illinois Archives

Accruals: 1/27/1976; 4/24/78; 1/7/2008; 6/30/2008

Other Note: 48 Pages

URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/1502021.pdf

PDF finding aid for Julian H. Steward Papers (15/2/21)