‘Miserable San Damian—But What Treasures!’: The Life of Aleš Hrdlička's Peruvian Collection

This article examines the lives of artefacts collected by physical anthropologist Ale? Hrdli?ka during his expeditions to Peru. In 1910 and 1913, Hrdli?ka travelled to the Andean nation to gather materials that could shed light on the peopling of the Americas, health and disease in pre-Columbian societies, and the purported racial ‘types' of the region. The study focuses on cultural artefacts the scientist acquired, beginning with these materials’ collection as specimens meant to reveal the racial prehistory of the Andes, and continuing with their classification, display, and exchange as museum objects at the Smithsonian Institution. My analysis of Hrdli?ka's Peruvian collection draws attention not only to how scientific representations of Peru and the Andes have shifted over time, but also to the way in which a focus on museum objects can elucidate changing notions about the cultural agency of prehistoric populations and their present-day descendants.     

The Folk

FOLKLORIST OF THE COAL FIELDS: GEORGE KORSON'S LIFE AND WORK. By ANGUS K. GILLESPIE. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park and London, 1980. Pp. 200. £10.20. 271 00255 7. Reviewed by J. D. A. Widdowson.

THE CRAFT OF RALPH ELLISON. By ROBERT F. O'MEALLY. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Mass.-London, 1980. Pp. 212. £8.40. 0 674 17548 4. Reviewed by J. D. A. Widdowson.

ROSC: REVIEW OF SCOTTISH CULTURE 1 (1984), Edited by ALEXANDER FENTON with HUGH CHEAPE and ROSALIND K. MARSHALL. John Donald Publishers Ltd. and National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. Edinburgh, vii + 104 pp. Illustrated, £5.00. Reviewed by W. F. H. Nicolaisen.

RESEARCH IN RITUAL STUDIES: A PROGRAMMATIC ESSAY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY. By RONALD L. GRIMES. The American Theological Library Association and Scarecrow Press. Metuchen N.J., and London, 1985. 177pp. $15. 0 8108 1762 4. (ATLA Bibliography Series No. 14). Reviewed by Susan Drury.

KINTYRE: THE HIDDEN PAST. By ANGUS MARTIN. John Donald Publishers Ltd., Edinburgh, 1984. xii + 232 pp., illus. £12.00 p.b. Reviewed by W. F. H. Nicolaisen.

NATIVE AMERICAN FOLKLORE, 1879 to 1979. An Annotated Bibliography. Compiled by WILLIAM M. CLEMENTS and FRANCES M. PALPEZZI. Swallow Press (Ohio University Press), Athens Ohio, London, Chicago, 1984. 247pp. 0-8040-0831-6672. £29.65. Reviewed by Robert Turpin.

ENZYKLOPÄDIE DES MÄRCHENS. Editor K. RANKE. Volume ii Fascicle 5. Berlin, New York (Walter de Gruyter), 1979. Cols. 1186-1444. Volume iii. 1981. 1446 Cols. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.     

Literary Influences on Tradition.

WILL-ERICH PEUCKERT. GABALIA. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin, 1967. 578 pp. Reviewed by W. F. H. Nicolaisen.

STUDIES IN FOLK LIFE. Essays in honour of Iorwerth C. Peate. Edited by Geraint Jenkins. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969. Pp. xvii, 344. 46 Plates and 4 maps and 55 line drawings. £4 4s. Reviewed by Michael M. Rix.

ORAL EPICS OF CENTRAL ASIA. By Nora K. Chadwick and Victor Zhirmunsky. Cambridge University Press. 1969. Pp. 366. 75s. Reviewed by E. O. James.

So LEBEN SIE NOCH HEUTE. BETRACHTUNGEN ZUM VOLKSMÄRCHEN. MAX LÜTHI. Göttingen (Vandenhoeck &; Ruprecht) 1969. Pp. 130. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

THE DAWN OF TIME. Australian Aboriginal Myths in Paintings by Ainslie Roberts, with text by CHARLES P. MOUNTFORD. 1969. Angus and Robertson. 25s. (and Rigby Limited, Adelade). Reviewed by Roger Lancelyn Green.