Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Henry Field papers
Date(s)
- 1943-1974 (Creation)
- 1943-1945 (Creation)
Extent
36 Boxes
Name of creator
Biographical history
American anthropologist Henry Field studied in England, graduating from Oxford University in 1925. He worked as Assistant Curator of Physical Anthropology in the Field Museum of Natural History, and held the position of Curator, 1934-41. Field participated in several of the Museum's Near East expeditions.
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Field to join his staff as anthropologist and personal advisor. Field became a member of the Special Intelligence Unit of the White House, and director of the "M" project, a study of world population, migration and settlement undertaken to provide data for shaping post-war relocation strategies. Henry Field eventually published the 666 studies following declassification of the files in 1960. He also wrote a history of his experiences, entitled The "M" Project and The Track of Man, Volume 2: The White House Years.
Throughout his career, Field participated in archaeological expeditions in Europe, Africa, Mongolia and southwest Asia. He also led expeditions to Europe, the North Arabian Desert, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He was a member of the University of California African Expedition (1947-48), and the Peabody Museum- Harvard Expedition to the Near East and Pakistan. In 1966 he joined the University of Miami faculty, and edited, wrote and published a number of anthropological studies through his "Field Research Reports."
Field, the recipient of many honors and awards, was a research fellow in physical anthropology at Harvard from 1950-69, and an honorary member of the Glasgow Archaeological Society. He also joined several foreign scientific societies and organizations in the United States and other countries. His publications include the following works on southwest: Useful Plants and Drugs of Iran and Iraq, The Anthropology of Iraq and Bibliographies on South West Asia I-VIII. He also published Contributions to the Anthropology of the Caucasus, The Track of Man, Arabian Desert Tales, Mongolia Diary and Mongolia Today, Trail Blazers and other works.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Henry Field Papers include the page proofs of the "M" project for FDR, a study of world population, migration and settlement undertaken to provide data for shaping post-war relocation strategies. The "M" Project papers contain the 666 studies done under the name as well as the history of the project. Franklin D. Roosevelt conceived the "M" project in 1940. The president believed that "...at the Paris Peace Conference decisions were made without adequate basic information," and intended the "M" Project studies to assist in relocating displaced groups after World War II in order to help prevent future conflicts.
Each of the "M" project studies originally included a brief summary, a longer summary with conclusions and a complete text. Six series including Reports, Translations, Memoranda, Administrative and Special Studies, comprised the final project report.
In the Report Series of the publication, Field includes summaries of reports which deal with population and settlement studies in specific areas as well as more general studies such as "Displacements of Population in Europe" concerning refugee problems created by World War I. (R-53, p. 41) The Translation Series, translated mainly from Russian and Japanese, concerns agriculture, colonization, population, industry and immigration in Russia, Japan and other countries. The Memorandum Series contains data on specific issues; many involve the Jewish population of European countries and others relate to the Palestine and Transjordan areas.The Lecture Series contains lectures given in New York City in 1944 on modern migrations (L1-L6), on immigration laws and policies (L7-L17) and Jewish migration agencies and organizations. Field states that the Administrative Series related primarily to the problems of Nazi Germany and included a section on "Women in Nazi Germany." He identifies the authors, Dr. and Mrs. Kempner, and explains that he did not write summaries for the studies "Since this series is completely out of date..."(p. 325) The summaries of only two studies appear in the Special Series. Both concern immigration problems in Russia. President Truman terminated the "M" Project before the completion of this series.
The Field papers also include manuscripts for three of the Field Research Reports. The first, an "Archaeological Report on North Arabian Desert Flint Implements" relates to a Peabody Field Museum expedition of 1928 and includes numerous prints of expedition photographs. The remaining manuscripts include an introduction to "Contributions to the Ancient History of the USSR..." reporting on a Peabody Museum expedition of 1960 and Field's "Mongolian Tour: A Personal Diary" published as a field research report in 1974.
System of arrangement
Each of the "M" project studies originally included a brief summary, a longer summary with conclusions and a complete text. Six series including Reports, Translations, Memoranda, Administrative and Special Studies, comprised the final project report. The "M" project papers are arranged accordingly.
The Field manuscripts comprise a second series in the collection.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open for research.
Physical access
This collection is kept in an off-campus storage facility. Please contact Special Collections at asc.library@miami.edu with the boxes you are interested in prior to your visit, and allow up to 1 week for delivery of materials.
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Henry Field Papers Finding Aid © 1994 University of Miami. Requests to reproduce or publish materials from this collection should be directed to asc.library@miami.edu.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
- Latin