Showing 68 results

Woodside, Cove, Dumbartonshire - Thanks him for his kind words about her father Baldwin Spencer in the 'Times'; had a letter from her father dated 22 April, asks if Frazer would like to see any notes her father made on his last expedition, and give advice on what to do with them.

Accompanied by the envelope.

Woodside, Cove, Dumbartonshire - Has received official word that Baldwin Spencer died of angina pectoris; will let him know about his notes when she hears more, thanks Frazer for offering to place his letters from Baldwin at their disposal, wonders if there is a book in them.

Accompanied by the envelope.

Woodside, Cove, Dumbartonshire - Baldwin Spencer's daughter writes that she has had a letter from her father's secretary Miss Hamilton, who was with him when he died, and who was then shipwrecked so that she could not contact the family; relates Hamilton's notes of the final days with Spencer, and that she is bringing back all his papers, which Young would like Frazer to look at.

Accompanied by the envelope.

Woodside, Cove, Dumbartonshire - Thinks Elsie Malinowski could give some interesting notes about her father Baldwin Spencer's time in Darwin; thanks the Frazers for their time and for helping with the project to publish the letters, would be happy to come to an arrangement with Macmillans.

Accompanied by the envelope.

Woodside, Cove, Dumbartonshire - Encloses a letter from her mother [Baldwin Spencer's widow, letter is not present]; has heard from Sir Arthur Keith, who says that Mr Balfour of the Pitt Rivers Museum is the person to contact about the small collection.

Fairlawn, Bearsden, Dumbartonshire - Will send him some typed transcripts of extracts of letters from her father Spencer Baldwin to her aunt, to aid him in his memoir of Baldwin.

Accompanied by the envelope.

Fairlawn, Bearsden, Dumbartonshire - Is very grateful to Frazer for his proposal for a book of letters [published as 'Spencer's Scientific Correspondence with Sir J. G. Frazer and Others'] and is grateful to Marett for agreeing to edit it; is hoping to see Marett in Oxford next week.

Accompanied by the envelope.

'Kinawanua' Gordon N.S.W. Dated November 13th 1912 - Will talk to Prof. [Baldwin] Spencer about the Arunta people; encloses a note [not transcribed] about the belief of sympathetic magic, and something further he took from a woman named Mrs Atkinson about and unidentified practice; would like the Frazers to come when the British Association for the Advancement of Science comes to Australia in 1914.

Fairlawn, Bearsden, Dumbartonshire - Is sorry to hear of Frazer's eyesight troubles; is happy to have her name and her father's [Sir Baldwin Spencer] appear; will give a copy to Mr Thomson, working in Northern Queensland [possibly Donald Thomson]; was in France in October, empathises with Mary Stuart's feelings on leaving France for Scotland.

Royal Society, Burlington House, London, W. - Asks to be forgiven for long silence, has been in Central Australia; is home revising and extending 'Native Tribes' under another name; was unhappy with the questioning of the [Churinga?] and Alchera beliefs in view of Strehlow's work, and went back to the Arunta to check it, still feels they were right; arranges to meet.

Accompanied by an envelope with a precis in Frazer's hand.

Royal Society - Will send him 'Arunta' when it is published, has been frustrated by delays; thanks him for 'The Gorgon's Head' and 'Man, God and Immortality'; is pleased he likes the dedication [in 'The Arunta'].

Accompanied by the envelope.

Royal Society - Finished off all the proofs before going away on holiday, sends a proof of the dedication to the 'Master' [not present], thinks the book ['The Arunta'] will be published in November.

Accompanied by the envelope.

Photograph of Spencer and a young boy [his grandson] on the steps of a building, in front of a doorway.

With stationery for Woodside, Cove, Dunbartonshire around it. It is likely this is the photograph Dorothy Young refers to in her letter of 6 September 1929 to Lady Frazer [FRAZ/33/461].

4 Tintern Avenue, Toorak, Melbourne - Thanks him for his kind words about Baldwin Spencer, wishes Baldwin had taken Frazer's advice and not gone [to Tierra del Fuego]; has an idea of publishing a book of tributes to Spencer. In a postscript of 9 September, she has heard from her daughter Mrs Young that she has written him about little matters and approves of all she has done.

Woodside, Cove, Dunbartonshire - Thanks him for his introduction to ['Spencer's Last Journey']; would like to see them in London.

Accompanied by the envelope.

Highgarth, Gloucester - Doesn't feel they have enough evidence to say what the origin of totemism is; doesn't see a clear line between magic and religion; mentions Baldwin Spencer's letter which points in favour of Frazer's theory; asks if he has read [Jesse] Fewkes' article on the Owakülti Altar at Sichomovi Pueblo; agrees with Frazer about [Andrew] Lang's use of [Alfred] Howitt and [Henry] Roth; is surprised to hear the story about [E. B.] Tylor wishing to supress a chapter in Spencer and Gillen's book; agrees with Frazer about [Frank] Jevons' difficulty because he generalized too soon; will write to [George] Theal.

Trinity College, Cambridge. Dated 17 December 1904 - Thanks him for the notice of the new Spencer and Gillen book ['The Northern Tribes of Central Australia'], but notes that on every point he is 'as far from the truth as it is possible to be'; is publishing an article on the beginning of totemism in 'Fortnightly' he urges Marett to read; assures him of his friendship.

St Keyne's, Cambridge. Dated 11 March 1909 - Is glad to hear that Oxford is planning an anthropological expedition to Western Australia, raised £200 from Sir John Murray for such a plan, suggests that Marett invite the University of Liverpool and J. M. Mackay in particular to fund this and future expeditions; thinks the leader should be [Baldwin] Spencer joined by [Francis] Gillen.

St Keyne's, Cambridge. Dated 4 April 1909 - Continuing the discussion about an anthropological expedition to Western Australia, funds probably haven't been raised at the University of Liverpool, as Sir Robert [recte Rubert] Boyce and [John] Garstang are abroad; A. R. Brown would like to join the expedition, Frazer likes that he is interested in marriage and the classificatory system, as that is what he would like to learn most about; [Baldwin] Spencer would have to approve this, thinks that Spencer should lead, and [Francis] Gillen should go too.

St Keyne's, Cambridge. Dated 13 November 1909 - Discusses the terminology of totemism, and encloses proofsheets to answer some of his questions more fully [not transcribed]; would rather that the Western Australian expedition is done by Spencer and Gillen, and thinks it a mistake to get Spencer to go without Gillen; if Spencer cannot go, then he is willing to give Sir John Murray's £200 to an expedition of [Radcliffe] Brown and [Francis Howe Seymour?] Knowles.

Hotel Palais d'Orsay, Paris. Dated 4 April, 1932 - Thanks him for [Sir Walter] Spencer's 'Correspondence', his 'Faith, Hope and Charity in Primitive Religion' and for offering to dedicate the second volume to him; notes that Spencer's criticism of Frazer's theory of circumcision and subincision is persuasive and should he ever publish a new edition, would warn readers of this fact; thanks him for putting in a good word at St. Andrew's [re: the honorary doctorate?]; has enjoyed meeting their French friends in Paris: [Lucien] Lévy-Bruhl, [Marcel] Mauss, [Paul] Painlevé; [Paul] Rivet is due to return from Indo-China. With a typescript footnote identifying the volume dedicated to Frazer, and quoting the dedication.

Melbourne. Dated June 29, 1906 - A long 12 page letter: has been extremely busy at the University of Melbourne, recasting courses of study and instituting new ones, and arranging the Jubilee; describes a holiday on the Tasman glacier in New Zealand; [A. W.] Howitt is much exercised by [Andrew] Lang's publications and thinks him 'entirely unreliable and unscrupulous' in handling evidence; has looked at Howitt's papers and stands by what he sent to Frazer; thinks that Lang put [N. W.] Thomas in touch with [Carl] Strehlow the missionary so that he would quote him as a source, which he had not done, disapproves of Strehlow's use of 'altjira' for 'god'; will ignore for now the article by Lang in the [Journal of the Anthropological Institute] seems to be an attack on Spencer's address on totemism; discusses the ignorance of the cause of pregancy as noted in Frazer's articles in 'Fortnightly' ['The Beginnings of Religion and Totemism among the Australian Aborigines'?], pointing out that the 'savage' is a most logically minded individual and that it is natural to think that as not all sexual intercourse results in pregnancy, that they are not related matters; disagrees entirely with Lang's statement that encountering a group made up solely of women and children would astonish 'Australian savages'; Lang appears to especially dislike his and [Francis] Gillen's work; discusses Frazer's theory of conceptional totemism, and agrees with him that exogamy forms no part of totemism; wishes it were possible to call back to life extinct tribes and begin the study of them anew, 'the incompetent observer, such as [Samuel] Gason, does anthropology much harm'.

Melbourne. Dated Sept. 25, 29, 1908 - Has been going through [A. W.] Howitt's letters but doesn't think his notes are ready for publication as he still had research to do, and was working to show that exogamy was the rule, which he doesn't think needs proving again, despite R. H. Matthews' [recte Mathews] papers to the contrary; Matthews has been in communication with miners and cattle people in Central Australia who have a profound contempt for the natives and are unreliable sources of information. The letter continues, dated Sept. 29. He has received the letter Frazer wrote Miss Howitt about the inadvisability of reprinting Howitt's old papers, and he agrees; is interested to hear he is leaving Liverpool for Cambridge, remembers a longing he had at first to be back amongst old places, given he was in a modern town where nothing dated back more than fifty years; has been too busy for anthropological work but hopes to try Western Australia, as Central Australia and the Macdonnel Ranges are now 'spoilt'; Strehlow's papers are to be published, edited by [Moritz] von Leonhardi, 'a very uneducated man'; [Andrew] Lang has endeavored in van to draw him, and Matthews is now exploting his and [Francis] Gilllen's field as he had Howitt's; misses Howitt, as he has no one to discuss anthropologic matters with, as Gillen only comes over once every two years.

Melbourne. Dated Sept. 7, 1906 - [A. W.] Howitt has shown him a letter from Professor Rhys in which he notes that often in fairy stories all the fairies are women, and believes that this must be a very primitive idea; notes that [Andrew] Lang has ridiculed the idea of 'savages' not being astonished at a community of women; believes that the old folk custom of women who go to shrines to become fertile and the saying that babies came from the parsley bed are based on the same essential idea of conception as the Arunta; he has told Howitt that it is 'his sacred ethnologic duty to punch, pound and pulverize [Lang] until he hasn't a whole bone in his body'

7 Coptic St. W.C. 3 August, 1904 - Dennett's MS has yet to be revised as he is away; is puzzled by the Wilyaru Ceremony in [Spencer and Gillen's book 'The Northern Tribes of Central Australia']; encloses a transcript from an author who is now dead, 'Buléon, Sous le Ciel d'Afrique, Abbeville, 1896, 8. Refers referring to the Nkomis of Cape Lopez, Portuguese West Africa. p. 90' about an initiation ceremony in which the life of the initiate is linked to that of a wild animal.

Linden, Wellington, Somerset. Dated September 6, 1898 - Has received his letter and says that he needs to look at his books before he can say more about George Wilken's paper on Animal and Plant Souls as compared to Frazer's 'Golden Bough'; has been writing to Macmillan about compressing [Baldwin] Spencer's book.

The Museum House, Oxford. Dated September 15, 1898 - Regrets raising the Baldwin Spencer question [of compressing part of Spencer and Gillen's book, 'The Native Tribes of Central Australia'] as it is so late in the process.

The Museum House, Oxford. Dated October 8, 1898 - Continues to discuss the correct attribution of a theory of totemism to Wilken's 'Animism'; thinks the Spencer book ['The Native Tribes of Central Australia'] must go through as it began.

Inch-ma-home, Cambridge. Dated 18 March, 1901 - Thanks him for his letter; have returned from Italy; Baldwin Spencer says the expedition with [Francis] Gillen has been delayed due to drought and Frazer asks [Andrew] Lang to pray for rain; has a paper from E. Tregear on animistic notions of the Maoris re: the sweet potato.

15 letters and two cards, accompanied by a clipping of Frazer's obituary.

Item 35: Dated 15 Dec. [no year]. Thanks him for his testimonial, and while the Aberdeen position is filled, he will endeavour to deserve the kind words in his future work.
Item 36: 23 June 1913 Congratulates him on the Oxford degree, will be sending a new and enlarged ‘Psyche’ and Part VI of the new G.B. to show that he has not been squandering his time or the trust placed in him.
Item 37: 25 June 1914 Thanks him for the congratulations; it is hard to be finished with the work, like the parting of an old friend; was grieved at the death of W. Aldis Wright, happy in his successor.
Item 38: 1 July 1908 Congratulates him on his new honour; asks if he has heard anything more of the Lorimer Fison business; visiting William Wyse.
Item 39: Letter to Sir Henry Cholmondeley Jackson, 26 Feb 1922. Thanks him for the copy of ‘Totemism’ which had belonged to his father; his father’s death has left a ‘sad blank’ at Trinity; wonders if his father had a chance to see his ‘Apollodorus’.
Item 40: 25 Oct 1887 Replies to Jackson’s criticisms and disagrees about the line between consummation and subsequent intercourse, and discusses the limitation of the effusion of blood as well, the value of virginity, and related matters.
Item 41: 27 Oct 1887 more of the same discussion.
Item 42: 9 Nov 1887 sends a copy of ‘Totemism’, sends a theory.
Item 43: 9 Nov 1887 a moment’s discussion with Robertson Smith has shown him the error in a theory.
Item 44: 1 May 1888 Refers to evidence from Samuel Gason on the prohibition of sexual intercourse.
Item 45: 22 Aug 1888 a long letter; discusses the comparison of metaphysics and superstition; asks him to save the letter for Robertson Smith.
Item 46: 24 Aug 1888 thanks him for being a sounding board for his theories, mentions that Robertson Smith is a stern utilitarian whom he does not dare to mention ghosts and spirits to.
Item 47: 18 Apr 1904 Asks his advice about Manchester.
Item 48: 2 May 1904 gives his reason for declining Manchester, encloses a letter from Baldwin Spencer criticising his circumcision theory.
Item marked as 'with 35-48': Undated Thanks him for the letter and cutting, is interested in the different motives and train of thought that influences men in different stages of culture; thinks McLennan treated savages as if they were influenced only by what we consider rational motives
Item marked as 'with 35-48': Undated, Friday asks him to put his last letter in the fire and that he should stick to facts, mentions an East Indian tradition that people leave their souls at home when they go out to fight.
Item marked as 'with 35-48': Card, undated about rules armies have about hair or feces falling into enemy hands where they can make magic with it
Item marked as 'with 35-48': Card undated refers to an article in Anthropological Journal discussing totem clans and rules for burying them in a certain direction.
Item marked as 'with 35-48': The Times obituary for Frazer