From the Archives: The Archbold Expeditions to New Guinea: A preliminary survey of archival materials held at the American Museum of Natural History,New York City

In accounts of the Kanak (Melanesian) opposition to the recruitment of volunteers for the Great War in 1916–17 and of the war that followed in the north of New Caledonia in 1917–18, the involvement of a district grand chef, Téâ Antoine Katélia, was the subject of conflicting testimonies. Drawing extensively upon archival materials dating from before, during and after the war, this paper examines the contested authority of a Kanak chief in the early-20th century and contributes to the local history of the Koné region.