Guide to the Papers of Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (as filmed by the AJCP), 18 February 1878-16 September 1906

Summary

Collection number:

M2803

Creator:

Tylor, Edward Burnett, Sir

Extent:

124 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Citation items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Correspondence and other papers relating to anthropological research in Australia and the Pacific, and Tylor's work at the University Museum, Oxford. Principal correspondents are Rev. Lorimer Fison, A.W. Howitt, Andrew Lang and Sir Baldwin Spencer.

Biographical / Historical:

Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917) was born at London into a Quaker family. He was educated at Grove House, Tottenham. At the age of 16 he entered his father's brass foundry, but in 1855 signs of tuberculosis led him to make a trip to America. In Cuba he met an ethnologist, Henry Christy, and their travels on horseback in Mexico aroused his interest in anthropology. He published an account of his travels in 1861.

Back in England Tyler immersed himself in ethnological, linguistic and archaeological literature and began to search for the origins of culture. He studied the origin of language, drawing on the work of Max Muller, and developed his theory of animism, the earliest religion of primitive peoples. His broad approach is evident in the title of his most substantial publication: Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom (2 vols., 1871). In the next ten tears he gave lectures, wrote many articles for journals and encyclopaedias on anthropological subjects, and produced the first introductory textbook, Anthropology; an introduction to the study of man and civilization (1881).

Tyler's work as a writer and organiser helped establish anthropology as a legitimate field of scholarly inquiry. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1871, awarded a doctorate by Oxford University in 1875, became keeper of the Oxford Museum in 1883, and the first professor of anthropology at Oxford in 1896. He was knighted in 1912.

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn17712] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Existence and Location of Originals:

Pitt Rivers Museum. Oxford University, England. For more information see Sir Edward Burnett Tylor at the Pitt Rivers Museum.(https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/tylor-papers)

Conditions Governing Access:

Available for Access.

Conditions Governing Use:

Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Citation items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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