Holmberg, Allan R.

Allan Holmberg was a professor of anthropology at Cornell University from 1948 until his death in 1966. He authored the book Nomads of the Long Bow which was about the Siriono Indians.

From the guide to the Allan R. Holmberg research materials on the Siriono Indians, 1939-1967, (Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library)

The aim of the Cornell-Peru Project was to conduct an experiment in applied anthropology dealing with social and cultural change among the Indian serfs of the Andean hacienda (an agricultural manor) of Vicos, located in the Callejon de Huaylas of Peru. It also was to give training to social scientists in applied field work in anthropology. The Peruvian Indian Institute, a semi-autonomous agency attached to the Ministry of Labor and Indian Affairs, collaborated in this project. Cornell University, under Professor Holmberg's direction, leased the Vicos hacienda for a five year period. During that five year period from 1951-1956, the Vicos community changed from one of serfdom under the rule of a "patron," to that of an autonomous, self-governing and economically viable community. After the five year period, Cornell continued as advisor to the Vicos community and to the Peruvian Ministry of Labor and Indian Affairs until 1965. Another division of the collection, the Cross-Cultural Methodology Project, was composed of the records of a group of social scientists at Cornell University who obtained funds from the Carnegie Foundation of New York to carry out a comparative study of social science methods in different areas of the world. A Peruvian phase of this study was carried out by Professor Rose Goldsen at Vicos, Peru in 1952-1953. Dr. Max Ralis was involved with this study in Thailand and India.

From the description of Allan R. Holmberg collection on Peru, circa 1946-1966. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 63939244

The aim of the Cornell Peru Project was to conduct an experiment in applied anthropology dealing with social and cultural change among the Indian serfs of the Andean hacienda (an agricultural manor) of Vicos, located in the Callejon de Huaylas of Peru. It also was to give training to social scientists in applied field work in anthropology. The Peruvian Indian Institute, a semi-autonomous agency attached to the Ministry of Labor and Indian Affairs, collaborated in this project. Cornell University, under Professor Holmberg's direction, leased the Vicos hacienda for a five year period. During that five year period from 1951-1956, the Vicos community changed from one of serfdom under the rule of a "patron," to that of an autonomous, self-governing and economically viable community. After the five year period, Cornell continued as advisor to the Vicos community and to the Peruvian Ministry of Labor and Indian Affairs until 1965. Another division of the collection, the Cross-Cultural Methodology Project, was composed of the records of a group of social scientists at Cornell University who obtained funds from the Carnegie Foundation of New York to carry out a comparative study of social science methods in different areas of the world. A Peruvian phase of this study was carried out by Professor Rose Goldsen at Vicos, Peru in 1952-1953. Dr. Max Ralis was involved with this study in Thailand and India.

• 1947: Carnegie Corporation of New York five-year grant for establishment of the Cornell University Studies in Culture and Applied Science (CUSCAS) program. Included teaching and research on cultural change in the American Southwest, India, Latin America, and Thailand.
• 1949: Preliminary study of Hacienda Vicos by Mario C. Vazquez.
• 1951: Carnegie Corporation of New York grant to Cornell University for continuation of CUSCAS, including five-year experiment in culture change at Vicos. Contributions also came from Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and the Social Science Research Council. Allan R. Holmberg, Director of the Cornell Peru Project, and Carlos Monge M., Director of the Instituto Indigenista Peruana, arranged for the cooperation of the two institutions.
• 1952: Finalization of the rental of Hacienda Vicos from the Sociedad de Beneficencia Publica de Huaraz. Patronship was jointly held by the Cornell Peru Project and the Instituto Indigenista Peruana, with Holmberg and Monge as co-directors. Holmberg acted as the first Field Director of the Vicos experimental station.
• 1952 - 1953 : William Mangin acted as Field Director of the Vicos experimental station.
• 1953: Cornell Methodology Project in Vicos, funded by a Rockefeller Foundation grant. Directed by Rose K. Goldsen, with assistance from Bryce Ryan and Richard Patch.
• 1953 - 1956 : William Blanchard acted as Field Director of the Vicos experimental station.
• 1954: May Kedney did a private study of the use of visual arts in education in the Vicos school.
• 1954 - 1955 : Cornell Methodology Project in Bang Chan, Thailand, funded by a Rockefeller Foundation grant. Directed by Max Ralis and Robert Textor.
• 1956: Dr. Marshall T. Newman of the Division of Physical Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, conducted growth and maturation studies with Vicos school children. Dr. Fred Allen of the Blood Grouping Laboratory of Boston, Mass., did blood groups studies.
• 1957 - 1962 : Mario C. Vazquez acted as Field Director of the Vicos experimental station.
• 1959 - 1962 : Henry F. Dobyns acted as Research Coordinator of the Cornell Peru Project.
• 1959 - 1964 : Carnegie Corporation of New York grant for Cornell Peru Project.
• 1960 - 1965 : Columbia-Cornell-Harvard-Illinois Summer Field Study Program.
• 1962: Transfer of community title to the Vicosinos finalized. Cost of the sale was 3,256,861 soles, 2 million of which was paid directly by the community. U.S. Peace Corps contract with Cornell University for the training of Peru III volunteers. Directed by Paul L. Doughty.
• 1962 - 1964 : Paul L. Doughty acted as Research Coordinator of the Cornell Peru Project.
• 1963 - 1966 : Comparative Studies of Cultural Change program, funded by a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development (contract AID/csd-296). Included with the Cornell India and Thailand Projects, the Cornell Peru Project with Allan R. Holmberg as Director and Henry F. Dobyns as Associate Director of the Project and Coordinator of the Program. With the death of Holmberg in 1966, Dobyns became Director of the Cornell Peru Project, 1966-1967.
• 1964: Mario C. Vazquez acted as Research Coordinator of the Cornell Peru Project. Andean Indian Community Research and Development program, funded by a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development (contract AID/ia-206). Colquiri, study of nationalized mines in Bolivia, requested by COMIBOL, the state mining corporation.

*Individual studies by graduate students or others supervised wholly or in part by Cornell staff are omitted from this listing but can be found in Cornell Peru Project bibliographies.

From the guide to the Allan R. Holmberg collection on Peru, circa 1946-1966., (Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library)