Showing 36 results

Eastwood, Bairnsdale, Victoria. Dated 16 January 1904 - His book ['The Native Tribes of South East Australia'] is finished, with [Lorimer] Fison's help; he and his daughter [Mary?] are going to Lake Tigers [Lake Tyers?] to get some photos of some old Kumai [Kurnai] men; Fison is in poor health; does not wish to burden Frazer with having to read the proofs of his book, as previously suggested.

Trinity College, Cambridge. Dated 23rd May 1910 - Thanks him for his copy of 'Totemism and Exogamy', grieves that [Lorimer] Fison and [A. W.] Howitt have not lived to read it; had a visit from [John] Roscoe; and discusses ways he has supported Roscoe's candidature: he reminded [Lord] Crewe of Frazer's application for Roscoe, and wrote to Sir Kenneth Muir Mackenzie recommending Roscoe; notes that he knows the Chancellor [Lord Loreburn], but thinks it more effective to approach Muir Mackenzie.

Highgarth, Gloucester - Received his letter [raising points in his review of GB], and admits that he was working from faulty memory as well; discusses religion vs magic in Australia, quoting [Alfred] Howitt who quotes [Samuel] Gason; has no wish for controversy with Frazer; 'mildly protests' that he did not question the authenticity of the Acts of St Dasius gratuitously, if it is established then the Abruzzian custom mentioned by Canon Pullen to Grant Allen, for which [Edward] Clodd got into hot water for repeating would be corroborated; doesn't think it would be wise to memorialize the Queensland Government to publish [Henry] Roth's collections, suggest [Alfred] Haddon phrase it in the most general terms.

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.

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'

Highgarth, Gloucester. Dated 31 March, 1901 - Received his letter [raising points in his review of GB], and admits that he was working from faulty memory as well; discusses religion vs magic in Australia, quoting [Alfred] Howitt who quotes [Samuel] Gason; has no wish for controversy with Frazer; 'mildly protests' that he did not question the authenticity of the Acts of St Dasius gratuitously, if it is established then the Abruzzian custom mentioned by Canon Pullen to Grant Allen, for which [Edward] Clodd got into hot water for repeating would be corroborated; doesn't think it would be wise to memorialize the Queensland Government to publish [Henry] Roth's collections, suggest [Alfred] Haddon phrase it in the most general terms.

Inch-ma-home, Cambridge. Dated 2 April, 1901 - Agrees with his view of avoiding controversy; thanks him for the reminder of the cases of prayer among the Dieri [reported by Alfred Howitt], and for his distinction between religion and worship; does not think, and neither does [Franz] Cumont that there is reason to doubt the Acts of St Dasius; admits he has not read Grant Allen's 'The Evolution of the Idea of God'; obtained information on the survivals of paganism from Miss Roma Lister, who helped [Charles] Leland collect folklore; offers notes to counter [Andrew] Lang's 'last tirade against me in the "Fortnightly"', including an exaggeration of a disagreement with [Theodor] Nöldeke, but is inclined to think Lang right in saying that the Crucifixion even on Frazer's theory would not have contributed to the deification of Christ and will strike that out in a new edition, and asks his opinion.

Trinity College, Cambridge - Thanks him for his copy of 'Totemism and Exogamy', grieves that [Lorimer] Fison and [A. W.] Howitt have not lived to read it; had a visit from [John] Roscoe; and discusses ways he has supported Roscoe's candidature: he reminded [Lord] Crewe of Frazer's application for Roscoe, and wrote to Sir Kenneth Muir Mackenzie recommending Roscoe; notes that he knows the Chancellor [Lord Loreburn], but thinks it more effective to approach Muir Mackenzie.

Trinity College, Cambridge. Dated 22 September, 1901 - Agrees that they should get [George McCall] Theal's authority for South African totemism, asks Hartland to write as he abhors correspondence, especially with a stranger; has had letters from Baldwin Spencer on the totemism of the Kaitish, and his [and Alfred Howitt's] dislike of [Andrew] Lang's use of Howitt's statements; Frazer believes that [Henry] Roth feels the same way about Lang's use of his writings; Frazer has not read Lang's book but has found him obtuse on the subject of Spencer and Gillen's writings, and [E. B.] Tylor went so far as to suggest to George Macmillan that the chapter of 'intichima ceremonies' be curtailed, to which Frazer strenously objected; benefited from his visit to Wiesbaden to see [Hermann] Pagenstecher about his eyes; thanks him for the [F. B.] Jevons articles on the science of religion, finds that the discovery that totemism is probably not a religion but a system of magic has badly affected his argument, was aware of the blows he was giving Jevons' arguments when he wrote his articles on totemism.

Highgate [recte Highgarth], Gloucester. Dated 23 September, 1901 - 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 16 December, 1901 - Returns [George] Theal's letters, and thinks South African totemism squares with the Wilken-Tylor theory, not his own; has more letters from Baldwin Spencer about the totemism of new tribes; [Alfred] Howitt has sent him a chapter of his forthcoming book dealing with burial of the dead; [Otto] Siebert has given Howitt stories about the Mura-Muras among the Dieri.

Xerox photocopies of over 240 letters, many of them of originals housed in other institutions. The letters are written by Frazer to multiple recipients with a few exceptions: eight are written by Lilly Frazer (to Miss Buckley, Sir Edmund Gosse, Bronisław Malinowski, and W. H. D. Rouse); one is from Henry Jackson to Frazer and five more are from others to others (two from Macmillan & Co. to Hermann Diels, one from Sir Francis Galton to Sir Clements Markham forwarding a letter from Frazer, one unrelated letter from John Sampson to Francis Jenkinson, and one memo from Otto Stapf to Sir David Prain). Five letters include covering letters from the institutions providing the copies. In addition, there are copies of a typescript draft of Frazer's article 'Our Debt to France', the draft of an address on the founding of the Frazer lectureships, and a translation of an article.

Recipients, with the number of letters present if more than five: Aksel Andersson, Terence Armstrong, Spencer Baird, Andrew Bennett, Arthur Bigge (Lord Stamfordham), Miss Buckley (of the Loeb Classical Library), Sir Ernest Budge, John Bullbrook, Francis Burkitt, Edward Clodd, Francis Cornford (16 letters), Otto Crusius, Sir Edwin Deller (6 letters), Hermann Diels (10 letters), Samson Eitrem, S. J. Evis, Jesse Fewkes, Douglas Freshfield, Sir Francis Galton (14 letters), Ernest Gardner, Charles-Marie Garnier (6 letters), Sir Edmund Gosse (42 letters), A. C. Haddon, Sir William Hardy (6 letters), Carl Lehmann-Haupt, C. W. Hobley, A. W. Howitt (7 letters), Mary Howitt, Henry Jackson, Francis Jenkinson (8 letters), Oskar Kallas, Sir Arthur Keith, William F. J. Knight, John Mackay, Bronisław Malinowski (9 letters), William Maxwell, A. G. W. Murray, G. G. A. Murray, Sir John Myres, Theodor Nöldeke, Karl Pearson, Sir David Prain (8 letters), Edward Rapson, A. G. Ross, Sir William Rothenstein, W. H. D. Rouse, Gustave Rudler, Charles Edward Sayle, Solomon Schechter (7 letters), Douglas Sladen, William Thalbitzer, Sir J. J. Thomson (21 letters), Sir D'Arcy Thompson, Hermann Usener, Sir Emery Walker, and Alfred Rayney Waller (6 letters).

Manuscript draft in Frazer's hand, with corrections, of a speech given 9 Dec. 1903, using information from as yet unpublished material by Spencer, Gillen and A. W. Howitt.

Leningrad, 28, ul.Voinova 44-a, kv.16, USSR - He has sent a copy of his book 'From the Archives of Lewis H. Morgan' and wonders what Frazer thinks of it; knows of Frazer's friendship with Fison and Howitt and how highly he thinks of Morgan.

Trinity College, Cambridge - Thanks him for 'Sir Roger de Coverley'; before Frazer was an undergraduate he had a high opinion of his learning and literary gifts and finds the book completely justifies that estimate; especially liked his appreciation of Robertson Smith, Howitt and Fison.

Accompanied by the envelope.

Melbourne - 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'.

Commissioners of Audit, Victoria. Melbourne. Dated 5 September 1899 - His daughter [Mary] agrees to Frazer's use of extracts from her work; discusses totemism, thinks the Intichiuma ceremonies were more widespread in Australia than now; Mrs Langen-Parker [Catherine Eliza Stow, who wrote using the name K. Langloh Parker?] lived where the Kamularoi class names existed; their old men who are sources, including William Berak, are now dying off.

Finch Street, East Malvern, Melbourne. Dated 25 February, 1901 - Thanks him for the GB, which arrived in the mail, and for the mention of his daughter [Mary]'s work on Australian folklore and legends which they still hope to see printed; will see [Baldwin] Spencer before he heads to Central Australia, and [Lorimer] Fison as well; hopes to be able to devote a year to the completion of his work on the organization of native tribes.

Melbourne - [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'.

Finch Street, East Malvern, Melbourne. Dated 17 October, 1901 - He has gone through one of his chapters [of his work for his book 'Native Tribes of South East Australia'?] relating to the 'Mura-Muras' with [Lorimer] Fison and has made numerous changes after getting further information from Rev. Otto Siebert; so far the book is about 600 pages; has seen Andrew Lang's remarks on Frazer's work, and doesn't think his inferences are warranted; his daughter [Mary] has prepared a paper for the Folk Lore Society on some legends of the Dieri tribe; is looking forward to [Baldwin] Spencer's return from his expedition in January.

Melbourne - 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.

Dated April 10 [1902] - Sends [Alfred] Howitt's note to Fison dated 7 April, 1902 [transcribed] which describes where he is in his work and his plan to send the chapter on the Great and Local organisation to Frazer; regrets being absent when Spencer and Gillen returned.

Clovelly, Metung, Victoria. Dated 22 April, 1902 - Is sending a copy of a chapter of his book and asks for his comments; is living in a cottage at the Gippsland Lakes, and is happy to think he has a duplicate if fire strikes his cottage; hopes to finish 'Native Tribes of South Eastern Australia' by the end of this year; hears that [Baldwin] Spencer is looking well after his return from his expedition; is waiting for [Andrew] Lang's 'Magic and Realism' before saying anything; a recent letter from Lang did not mention the dispute with E. S. Hartland.

Clovelly, Metung. Dated 3 September, 1902 - Is sending the draft of the chapter on Tribe Government, and another on the Terms of Relationship, will turn to Medicine Men and Magic soon [for his book 'The Native Tribes of South East Australia']; has been slowed by the death of his son-in-law [Godfrey Howitt Anderson] and winding up his affairs, and he is also helping his younger son [Alfred Gilbert], who has an extensive dairying operation.

Clovelly, Metung, Victoria. Dated 11 October, 1902 - Is sending a draft of a chapter on Medicine Men, and has two others ready to send [for his book 'Native Tribes of South East Australia']; [Baldwin] Spencer writes that he is troubled by the financial condition of the University [of Melbourne?]; comments on the economic crisis, which he has foreseen and is glad that it has come, that it may inaugurate a better system.

Clovelly, Metung. Dated 12 March, 1904 - Is coming to London with his daughter May; suggests [Baldwin] Spencer knows more about the ceremony of circumcision and subincision, and the knocking out the tooth is in his chapter on Ceremonies of Initiation; did not pay attention to totemism before, but has found a survival in the Kurnai, and is annoyed he did not learn it before, but totems are not prominent in their society.

Hotel Pension Beauregard, Pegli Nr. Geneva Ital. Dated 2 October 1904 - His Index is with Macmillan and he asks Frazer to add his notes on the segmentation of the undivided commune in Chapter V [of his book 'Native Tribes of South East Australia']; describes travelling in Italy near Mt Blanc, is going to Venice, Ravenna, Florence, Rome and Naples where they will embark for home.

Clovelly, Metung, Victoria. Dated 2 April, 1906 - Thanks him for 'Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship'; has been busy as Chairman of a Royal Commission in the Coal Industry but will take notice of [Andrew] Lang's 'Search of the Totem', has a reply ready to send off as to the 'pirrauru', the undivided commune, his attack on Frazer and himself, and other matters; [Baldwin] Spencer will join in when he has time; asks Frazer to help distribute 500 copies of his letter to members of Anthropological societies, journals and newspaper; May is in Melbourne with him and they express their thanks for their kindness during their visit to Cambridge; [Lorimer] Fison is slightly better but unable to do any mental work; Spencer is well but Howitt fears he is overworking himself.