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ALEXANDER SPOEHR
August 23, 1 913-June 11, 1992
BY D O U GLA S O L IVE R
AMONG PERSONS TRAINED TO become scientists, there are
some who excel in carrying out, en c! publishing, origi-
nal en c! significant research, some who educate en c! inspire
as teachers, some who provicle en c! supervise opportunities
for fellow scientists to concluct en c! publish their research,
some who donate much of their time en c! energy to the
benefit of their whole profession, en c! some who devote
much of their time en c! talents to serving the wicler com-
munity, local or national. There are, however, only a few
anthropologists who have succeeclec! in two or three such
roles en c! only two or three, in my memory, who have suc-
ceeclec! in all five, one of those was Alexancler Spoehr.
First, a chronology of ATex's seventy-eight years of life.
He was born on August 23, 1913, in Tucson, Arizona. His
father, Herman Augustus, was a biochemist en c! plant physi-
ologist en c! a staff member of the Carnegie Institute. His
mother, Florence knee Mann), was a writer en c! a translator
of Danish en c! German. Herman's forebears were Danish
en c! German, Florence's were Austrian.
In 1920 the Spoehrs moved to Palo Alto, California, where
Alex attenclec! public schools en c! then Stanford, but after
two and a half years at Stanford he transferred to the Uni
295
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B I O G RA P H I C A L
EMOIRS
varsity of Chicago. There he earnec! an A.B. in economics
but transferred to anthropology for graduate work, persuaclec!
by lecture courses with Fay-Cooper Cole en c! A. R. Racicliffe-
Brown. These latter, along with Manuel Anciracle, Robert
Redfield, and Fred Eggan, were singled out by him as his
most influential mentors. Although his principal interest
was, en c! remained, social anthropology, he gainer! experi-
ence in archeology cluring three summers of fielc~work-
one at the Kincaic! (Illinois) mounds en c! two in southwest
Colorado. Uncler the supervision of Fret! Eggan, he carrier!
out his dissertation research among southeastern U.S. Incli-
ans, focusing on social change. In Oklahoma this involves!
salvage ethnography among some dispersed rural families,
in Floricia it was a functioning community of Seminoles.
In January 1940 Alex joiner! the staff of Chicago's Fielc!
Museum as assistant curator of American ethnology en c!
archeology. In this position he hac! much to clo with the
design en c! installation of a new exhibition hall labeler! "In-
clians Before Columbus," which was a raclical departure from
the previous practice of most U.S. museums of anthropol-
ogy of stuffing their cases with artifacts, of storing them
mainly for study by scholars. The new purpose, based on
Rene cl'Harnoncourt's exhibition, "Indian Art of North
America," at New York's Museum of Moclern Art, was more
wiclely ant! specifically eclucational the presentation of
objects in their visual cultural contexts. For Alex a most
fortunate bonus from work on the Fielc! Museum project
was its employment of Anne Harcling, a taTentec! exhibit
designer who hac! worker! with cl'Harnoncourt on the New
York exhibit, Alex en c! Anne were marries! in 1941. From
this marriage were born two chiTciren: ATexancler Harcling
en c! Helene (Dinsciale) the former was to become acimin-
istratively associated with native Hawaiian support organiza-
tions, the latter, an artist, now resides in Vermont.
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ALEXANDER SPOEHR
297
During Woric! War II, en c! after short tours of duty in the
U.S. Marine Corps Reserve en c! the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Alex was commissioner! in 1942 as a lieutenant
in the Naval Reserve, where he server! in air combat intelli
gence en c! mainly in air-sea rescue operations in the west
ern sea frontier en c! central Pacific areas. His experiences
in the Marshall, Gilbert, en c! Caroline isTancis lee! him to
shift his anthropological interests from North America to
the Pacific a change that lee! to his appointment as cura-
tor of oceanic ethnology (inclucling Southeast Asia) when
he returnee! to the Fielc! Museum in 1946. During the next
eight years, he supervises! reorganization of the museum's
huge collection of Oceania objects, both for exhibiting en c!
studying, en c! undertook two sessions of fieldwork: a socio-
logical stucly of Majuro (Marshall Islancis) en c! archeologi-
cal en c! ethnological researches in the Marianas en c! Palau.
Also, cluring this chapter of his professional life he clic!
much teaching one term at Harvarc! en c! regularly at the
University of Chicago.
In January 1953 he mover! to Honolulu to become clirec-
tor of the Bernice Pauhi Bishop Museum, the position hav-
ing become vacant through the death of its part-Maori di-
rector, Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa). During the next
nine years, Alex succeeded not only in rehabilitating that
famous institution financially, organizationally, and scien-
tifically en c! in improving its public eclucational function
and community support, but he also served as member and
sometime chairman of the Pacific Science Bo arc! (NRC),
provided office space and other facilities for headquarters
of the Pacific Science Association, served as one of two U.S.
commissioners of the South Pacific Commission, en c! taught
for one semester at Yale (like his Bishop Museum precleces-
sors he hell! an ex officio professorship there).
In ~ 962, responding to the challenge of howling en c!
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B I O G RA P H I C A L
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pioneering a new, larger, en c! potentially more wiclely influ-
ential organization, Alex resigner! his museum job en c! ac-
ceptec! the chancellorship of the Honolulu-basec! Center
for Cultural en c! Technical Interchange Between East en c!
West (subsequently abbreviatec! as the East-West Center).
Two years later, however, he resigner! because of power ri-
vairies among the center's sponsors, but only after he hac!
planner! its initial structure en c! programs en c! hac! recruitec!
some 1,500 persons to participate in those programs.
As to be expected for a person of his qualifications, Alex
was soon offerer! high administrative positions in several
mainland institutions, but he chose instead to accept a pro-
fessorship in anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh, a
position he hell! until retirement. While thus engages! he
was coeditor (with G. P. Murclock) of the journal Ethnology,
servec! a term as president of the American Anthropologi-
cal Association as well as on several national scientific com-
mittees (e.g., NRC, NSF, Smithsonian), en c! was an outside
member of the Harvarc! Overseers' Visiting Committee to
the Peabody Museum en c! Department of Anthropology. In
aciclition, he inclulgec! his wish to return to research by un-
dertaking archeological and ethnological surveys and in-
tensive studies in the Philippines, which resulted in two
book-length monographs and eight journal articles. Mean-
while, he was electec! to the National Academy of Sciences
in 1972.
In 1978, at age sixty-five, Alex retired from Pittsburgh
and returned to the famiTy's home in Honolulu, reportedly
to rest. "Rest" consistec! of observational stucly of the tool-
using techniques of {apanese-American carpenters ant!
archival research on the history of the Hucison's Bay Com-
pany in nineteenth-century Hawaii, the writing and publi-
cation of several journal articles, and service on several
committees en c! trustee boards (e.g., of the Bishop Mu
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ALEXANDER SPOEHR
299
scum, the Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Council, the
Hawaiian Historical Society). He was in the process of un-
clertaking more archival research in Hawaii's fine libraries
when, in 1990, his wife, Anne, suffered a crippling stroke,
which requires! his ciaily full-time efforts en c! which uncloubt-
ecIly contributes! to the heart attack from which he cliec! on
June Il. 1992 just two weeks before the cleath of Anne.
So much for the chronology of Alex's extraorclinarily full
en c! multifacetec! career. It remains now to describe how
valuable it was scientifically en c! societally.
I begin with his associations with museums. During his
employment at Chicago's Fielc! Museum, Alex undertook,
as mentionec! earlier, to remocle! en c! install some of the
museum's vast, en c! largely storagecI, American Indian col-
lection into a public-orientec! exhibition. That undertaking
was, however, interruptec! by his lengthy war service, mainly
in Micronesia, which servec! to shift his anthropological in-
terests to their peoples and, at war's end, to have his Fielc!
Museum position changer! to curatorship of Oceanic Eth-
nology with responsibility over one of the very largest en c!
most important collections of native Pacific objects in the
woricI.
During the following seven years, in addition to carrying
out thatjob (with extraordinary success in preserving, clocu-
menting, en c! exhibiting the collection), Alex engages! in
field! research in the Marshall en c! Mariana islancis en c! joiner!
forces with Fred Eggan to develop a program of ethnologi-
cal research in the Philippines. However, just as that pro-
gram was getting uncler way, he receiver! a job offer that he
clescribec! as "too exciting to resist" namely, to become
director of HonoluTu's Bishop Museum.
The Bishop Museum was founclec! in ~ SS9 by Charles
Bishop in memory of his wife, Bernice Pauhi, last of the
Kamehameha line of Hawaiian rulers. The museum hac!
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B I O G RA P H I C A L
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achieved an international reputation for its researches and
publications on Pacific biology and anthropology but had
made only token attempts to exhibit its rich collections,
and had permitted access to its unique archival resources
to onIv a few scholars. During his nine-vear directorship,
, a ,
Alex changed all that and did much else besides.
He ended the museum's isolation by inviting the general
public to become members of an association that was to
participate influentially in the planning and operation of
the museum's activities. Additionally, he originated an ex-
tensive and informative exhibition program, including pe-
riodically new displays in the museum itself, portable "Mu-
seums in Miniature" for traveling display among the several
Hawaiian Islands, and support of a liaison teacher with the
island government's education department to serve the public
schools in matters respecting the museum's collections and
activities. Other public educational endeavors initiated were
the establishment of a planetarium and a bookshop that
offered for sale not only the museum's own publications
but also a very large inventory of books and pamphlets on
Pacific science.
Another of ATex's firsts consisted of fund-raising. Previ-
ously, the museum and its meagerly paid staff survived mainly
on the small proceeds of its original grant, having received
only small grants from local foundations and occasional
ones from wealthy philanthropists, including some who gave
for personally accompanied expeditions. In contrast, Alex
went out actively in search of funds. He began by seeking,
and receiving, the museum's first grant from the Hawaiian
Territorial Government a sum of $25,000 to improve fa-
cilities for the care of the museum's collections. Even more
important than that money itself was the precedent set, it
having been the beginning of a continuing and growing
source of government support for the museum.
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ALEXANDER SPOEHR
301
Those en c! other monies that Alex succeeclec! in obtain-
ing for the museum servec! not only to preserve en c! in-
crease its collections, to enlarge en c! better compensate its
staff, en c! to wiclen greatly its eclucational reach but also
most importantly in the eyes of many scientists to provide
sponsorship for more research throughout the Pacific. The
largest-scare example of the latter was the Tri-Institutional
Pacific Program (TRIPP), which was initiates! in 1953 with
a Carnegie Corporation grant of $100,000 for anthropo-
Togical en c! linguistic research. Uncler general oversight of
a steering committee consisting of Spoehr, Murclock (Yale),
Leonarc! Mason (anc! the president of the University of Ha-
waii), en c! Haroic! l. Coolicige (NRC), more than a score of
experienced scholars anthropologists, linguists, historians,
en c! political scientists carrier! out field! studies in places
extending from Palau en c! New Britain to the Society en c!
Marshall islancis.
Other research programs initiated or sponsored by Spoehr
were the YaTe-Bishop Museum fellowships, a survey of the
insects of Micronesia, the zoogeography of Pacific insects,
several Hawaiian archeological cligs, the natural en c! cul-
tural history of the Honaunau (Hawaii IsTancI) City of Ref-
uge, en c! the Sulu Sea Expedition (in collaboration with
the Philippines National Museum) for studies in zoology,
history, en c! anthropology.
In addition to the above, Alex managed the day-to-day
operations of the continually growing museum organiza-
tion with great success. In the words of one Tong-time staff
member who worker! at the museum before, cluring, en c!
after Alex's directorship:
Dr. Spoehr was not only a scientist and scholar, he was a gentle person who
was a most unabrasive leader, with the ability to delegate authority and at
the same time the intelligence to stay in the background, provide support
when asked for and await results. He was seldom disappointed. His ability
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B I O G RA P H I C A L
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to empower his staff in this way was the key to transforming the Museum's
program in a very short time.
Also, he fount! or macle time to befrienc! en c! assist the
increasing number of scientists passing through Honolulu
en route to researches elsewhere. An c! with the gracious
help of his wife, Anne, he establishec! friencITy en c! benefi-
cial relations with many of Honolulu's most influential com-
munity leaclers.
In view of ATex's unique combination of regional knowI-
ecige, administrative ability, professional expertise, en c! so-
cial-relational skills, it is not surprising that he was invites!
to become the first heat! that is, chancellor of the newly
createc! Honolulu-basec! East-West Center. The iclea for such
a center was inspirer! by a few internationally minclec! fac-
ulty members of the University of Hawaii en c! was macle
possible, in 1960, by means of a grant-in-ale! agreement, to
be funclec! by Congress, between the U.S. Department of
State en c! the University of Hawaii. Its states! objective was
"the increase en c! improvement of mutual unclerstancling
among the countries of the Asian-Pacific area en c! the Uniter!
States," with emphasis on the interchange of "persons, knowI-
ecige, en c! icleas" a daunting challenge even to someone
as hitherto successful as Alex Spoehr, who nevertheless ac-
cepted, later explaining: "After nine years at the Bishop
Museum I felt I was growing stale at the job, and succumb-
ing to a sense of adventure en c! with the blessing of my
wife, I acceptec! the University of Hawaii Regents' offer en c!
assumer! my duties in January 1962."
Unfortunately for the flecigling center, but fortunately
for anthropology, this chapter of ATex's life did not last
long. He resigned the chancellorship, to become effective
at the enc! of 1963. Some of his reasons for resigning may
never be known, the most obvious ones incluclec! increasing
tensions among the Center's three controlling bellies (i.e.,
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ALEXANDER SPOEHR
303
the University of Hawaii, U.S. Department of State, and
U.S. Congress) concerning goals, priorities, and, derivatively,
the budgeting of funds plus the perceived wish of some
University of Hawaii administrators and faculty to exercise
stronger and more direct control of the center's programs.
.
. .. . .. .. . . . ~. . . .
concerning tne latter, Alex nlmselt was outspokenly in ta-
vor of expanding the center's academic ties to include other
Asian-Pacific-orientea universities on the U.S. mainland and
to some leading universities in the Pacific and Asia as well-
a predictably unwelcome proposal to some members of the
University of Hawaii. Auaing to those complications were
the circumstances that the university itself was subject to
political pressures from Hawaii's governor and legislature
and that congressional control of the center was solit among
r , ·,,
1 0
tour separate committees. In other wows, this stew had so
many cooks, each with his own recipe, that its chancellor,
the one responsible for preparing it, was permitted only to
heat and stir.
Nevertheless, under ATex's brief chancellorship, the cen-
ter became fully operational and structured in a way that
might have become hi~hIv Productive had not each suc
-
.. , ~ . . . . ..
~1
ceealng set ot leaders changed its course.
After this "challenging" but frustrating interlude, Alex
and his wife needed, and took, a lengthy vacation through
the South Pacific, and then returnee to Honolulu to plan
what he labeled the next "chapter" in their lives, which
turned out to be a teaching position at the University of
Pittsburgh.
Throughout his career, Alex had taught often at the Uni-
versity of Chicago and occasionally at Harvard and Yale
and, upon leaving the East-West Center, he received other
offers to teach. In the end he chose Pittsburgh, attracted
partly by its promising innovations and partly by the pres-
ence on its faculty of two close friends, G. P. Burdock and
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B I O G RA P H I C A L
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John Gillin. During his stay there, he taught a full schecluTe
of courses en c! engages! in several other activities listec! ear-
lier. In 1978, at age sixty-five, he retiree! from Pittsburgh.
Because his principal duty there was teaching, it is perti-
nent to assess his performance through the eyes of one of
his most successful students, Richarc! Scaglion:
.
Spoehr offered a wide variety of seminar courses, all of which were both
comprehensive and extraordinarily well-organized. His area course on the
Pacific, for example, included the geology, ecology, prehistory, history,
and contemporary politics, as well as the ethnography and ethnology of the
region, thus reflecting [his] own wide-ranging interests and expertise. Ever
responsible to both student needs and contemporary directions, I remem-
ber how, on at least two occasions, he offered new seminar courses in
direct response to student requests (the courses were "Maritime Adapta-
tions" and "History of Anthropology".
That he was greatly respected by students is evidenced by the fact
that even [up to 1995] he had supervised more Ph.D. theses than any other
faculty member in the history of the Department.
Alex's fifteen years of retirement may have been "restful"
In comparison with the thirty-eight "working" years of his
professional life, but they were anything but leisured. (From
his house on the green hills above Honolulu, he enjoyed! a
wicle view of the Pacific, but I doubt that he ever sat on its
beaches.) Among the many public services he performed
were a term as a trustee of the Bishop Museum, member-
ship on the Scientific en c! Statistical Committee of the Western
Pacific Regional Fisheries Council, a consultancy to the newly
founded Hawaii Maritime Center, plus very active member-
ship in the Hawaiian Historical Society, including member-
ship on its Boarc! of Trustees en c! a term as its president.
"Retirement" also proviclec! Alex with more time for re-
search en c! writing, inclucling an observational stucly of the
tool-using techniques of local carpenters of Japanese cle-
scent en c! archival research on the nineteenth-century ac
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ALEXANDER SPOEHR
305
tivities of the Hucison's Bay Company in Hawaii. Other re-
search projects were being planner! when his wife's paralyz-
ing illness requires! him to lay them aside.
Mention has aireacly been macle of some of the previous
outside organizations en c! causes in which this otherwise
fully employed man played voluntary, often leadership, roles.
Perhaps most notable of these were the South Pacific Com
mission, the Pacific Science Association,anc! the American
Anthropological Association (AAA). Limitations of space
prevent a fuller description of that sicle of his life, but his
service to the AAA deserves special mention.
The perioc! of Alex's presidency of the AAA, in 1965, has
been correctly characterizec! as the most crucial one of its
history. The crisis arose when it became publicly known
that a young anthropologist had been employed in a cIan-
clestine CIA operation, known as Project Camelot, in politi-
cally riven Chile. Social scientists throughout the Uniter!
States became concernec! by the clisclosure, many of them
homing that members of their profession ought not to en-
gage in politically motivates! activities that contraclictec! what
they consiclerec! to be their moral responsibilities towarc!
the peoples they studied. The AAA was especially concerned,
en c! angrily cliviclecI, over the issue until Spoehr, then the
association's president, commissioner! a respecter! senior
member, Ralph Beals, to investigate the matter en c! submit
a report. Spoehr's initiative en c! the finclings of that report
resultec! eventually in a cocle of ethics being acloptec! by the
association a document that cloubtless contributed, nation-
wicle, to a more ethically principles! policy concerning the
cIanclestine use of academics in government work in peace-
time.
There remains to alit! some comments about Alex's prin-
cipal research publications. In all he individually authored,
coauthored, eclitecI, or prefacer! some Il4 items, inclucling
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B I O G RA P H I C A L
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short ethnographic or archeological reports, theoretical eth-
nological pieces, substantial ethnographic monographs, bib-
liographic surveys, en c! book reviews. Of these the most
noteworthy are the monographs baser! on his own wicle-
ranging field! researches. For an evaluation of these I have
consulted! anthropologists more familiar than myself with
their subject matters, beginning with that of his clisserta-
tion research ~ ~ 941, ~ 942, ~ 944, ~ 947) . The following is a
paraphrase of remarks by William Sturtevant of the
Smithsonian Institution, who macle a more recent stucly of
those Indians, the Floricia Seminole, observer! by Alex in
~ 938-39:
Spoehr was the first real anthropologist to study the Florida Seminole, his
work among the Oklahoma Seminole was pioneering too, but others had
been there before him. His field work in Florida was not lengthy, but he
did manage to collect a good deal of very valuable data under very difficult
circumstances. [The Seminole did not like to be "studied"; Sturtevant had
some problems even in the 1950s.] The fact that Spoehr followed his Florida
work with the study in Oklahoma was innovative, and may have been sug-
gested by his mentor Eggan, who would do comparative kinship studies
too. Spoehr's kinship data from Florida [were] valuable compared with
[those] from Oklahoma, and since there was almost 100 years of fairly
complete isolation between the two groups, it made an interesting study to
see changes in terminology.
The major publication to result from Alex's study of Majuro
(Marshall Islands) is listed in the Selected Bibliography
(1949,1~. About this I quote from Robert Kiste, director of
the Center for Pacific Islanc! Studies of the University of
Hawaii, who has carrier! out intensive ethnographic fielcI-
work in the Marshalis:
Spoehr provided excellent description and analysis of Marshallese social
organization. He outlined the ideal system as Marshallese themselves de-
scribe it. They couch things in terms of a system of matrilineal clans and
lineages with the latter being the landholding corporations. As things work
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ALEXANDER SPOEHR
acicis:
307
out in reality, however, residential extended families tend to be bilateral
which reflects the system of land use rights. The children of males and
affinal relatives have use rights [of] the land of their fathers and spouses,
and thus matrilineality is not readily evident in the social units on the
ground. Spoehr clearly understood all of this and his description is very
clear. His description is of such quality that the reader can do an indepen-
dent evaluation of the generalizations and conclusions that Spoehr offers. I
don't know what else one could ask of the ethnographer. Spoehr did all of
this before David Schneider and Kathleen Gough produced their monu-
mental work on matrilineal kinship. The reader also gets a good feel for
what daily life on Majuro was like as with most atolls, boring.
About ATex's ethnographic studies in the Marianas, Kiste
[It is] "top drawer." Because of the long period of colonial rule in the
Marianas, Spoehr devoted about a fourth of his book on history. That was
necessary to account for the nature of Chamorro culture as he found it in
the late 1940s. I don't think anyone has subsequently written a better his-
torical account. He also provides a good description and understanding of
the Carolinian community on Saipan, and his outline of the ethnic rela-
tions between the Chamorros and Carolinians is also quite good. As with
the Majuro book, we have good clear description, and one comes away
from the work with the feeling [of having] a solid understanding of the
place. I think [it] is a crucial work in that it would be very difficult to
understand Saipan if we did not have this piece of work as a point of
reference. Both works [of Majuro and Saipan] represent solid well rounded
ethnography, the holistic approach at its best.
The specialist consulted! about ATex's archeological re-
searches in the Marianas is Ross Portly, who has concluctec!
numerous archeological studies throughout Micronesia (and
Hawaii):
Alexander Spoehr's 1949-50 work in the Marianas primarily on Saipan
and Tinian included identification of a number of village sites, and im-
portant excavation work. These were the first modern archaeological exca-
vations in Micronesia. His excavations contain careful description of soil
layers in which artifacts were found and document features (post-holes,
firepits, burial pits, etc.) within the layers. His findings were revolutionary
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B I O G RA P H I C A L
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for Micronesian research at the time. His excavations uncovered deep de-
posits, and he hypothesized two chronological phases of culture based on
pottery types and on the presence/absence of stone house pillars (latte).
More surprising, his radiocarbon dates the first samples processed for
Micronesia placed initial occupation cat 1500 B.C., a time depth far greater
than any researcher had anticipated for the islands of Micronesia. These
initial findings were roughly concurrent with the spread of .... linguists'
findings, which also postulated a long time depth for Micronesia. Indeed,
Spoehr's findings [together with] the linguists' molded many of our present
ideas on the origins of Micronesian cultures. Today, the details of Marianas
prehistory differ somewhat from those proposed by Spoehr, but few would
disagree that the basic underpinnings of today's models owe much to Spoehr's
initial work.
The most important publications to come from ATex's
researches in the Philippines are Protein from the Sea (1980)
en c! Zamboanga and Sutu (1973~. An evaluation of the former
was proviclec! for this memoir by social anthropologist Rich-
arc! Lieban (emeritus professor at the University of Hawaii,
Manoa), who has carrier! out much fieldwork in en c! has
written prolifically about the Philippines:
As Spoehr observed when he wrote this monograph, anthropological inter-
est in fishing and fishing communities in the Philippines and other parts of
S.E. Asia had been slow to develop, and with regard to these areas there
was a major disparity between anthropological knowledge of the use of
land as opposed to the use of the sea. Spoehr's monograph helped to
redress the balance.
The monograph is a description and analysis of the technology and
economic organization of the capture fishing industry in the Central Phil-
ippines. The fundamental problem addressed is technological change and
its economic impact. A historical perspective is maintained throughout the
monograph. Documentation of continuity and change in fishing equip
ment and procedures is a basic concern of the author, and his diligent and
perceptive search for evidence in this regard is one of the strengths of the
work.
Five of the eight chapters of the monograph are devoted to fishing
technology, which is described lucidly and comprehensively. In these chap-
ters the author discusses small, middle and large scale enterprises. He finds
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ALEXANDER SPOEHR
309
that small scale fishermen have shown receptivity and ingenuity in adapt-
ing to change. In examining the dynamics of technological change in middle
and large scale fishing endeavors, Spoehr is attentive to the relative impor-
tance of technical specialists (boat builders and master fishermen) and
ner~t~r.~ of f;.~hin~ enternri.~.~ in the Or..
~ r ~ A ~ ~ - _ A ~ - _ _ _ A ~ A A A A A t, ~ A A ~ ~ A r A A ~ ~ ~ A A A MA A ~ r A - _ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Al th o u g h th e m al n
emphasis of this monograph is on fishing techniques and its economic
ramifications, a substantive chapter is devoted to fish markets in the urban
centers. Sociocultural as well as economic dimensions of the exchange
system receive attention in an informative description of how the markets
work.... He originally planned a study of technological change in a
simple Filipino fishing community. However, he soon realized that knowl-
edge of a larger network of production and marketing was necessary to
place a community study in appropriate perspective. The monograph . . . is
a work of considerable scope that contributes significantly to knowledge of
both local and broader aspects of a set of marine activities that are of
fundamental importance in an archipelagic society.
For an assessment of Spoehr's archeological researches
in the Philippines, I turned to another Philippines special-
ist in the anthropology department of the University of Ha-
waii, Manoa Bion Griffin:
Zamboanga and Sulu has had a bigger impact [than Protein from the Sea], as
has the related archaeological excavations Spoehr undertook. He influ-
enced a generation (no huge crowd, to be sure) of Filipino archaeologists
at the National Museum of the Philippines. He encouraged the young
scholars to take their studies seriously, to get into the field and dig, and to
undertake serious research topics. He also was decidedly influential in his
choice of Mindanao and Sulu as excavation locations. These places were
considered real backwaters by Manila people; the awareness of archeologi-
cal materials there led to further work in the south by the National Mu-
seum. In addition, [his] inquiry into historic/Muslim archeology was unique.
Spoehr really complimented the influence of Robert Fox, who was the
teacher and leader of all the Filipino archeologists, . . . [who was] largely
untrained in archaeology . . . [and] who never wrote up anything. Spoehr
provided a different model. I really see this as his Philippines legacy.
For a sampling of Alex's shorter but nevertheless signifi-
cant writings, the reacler is referrer! to the Selectec! Bibliog
OCR for page 310
310
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
raphy, which will also provide an impression of the wide
interests en c! talents of this remarkable man.
WISH TO AC~OWLEDGE, gratefully, information from the following
individuals used in compiling this memoir: Steve Boggs, Ross Cordy,
Barbara Dunn, Roland Force, Bion Griffin, Alan Howard, Marion
Kelly, Yosihiko Sinoto, Robert Kiste, Richard Lieban, Roger Rose,
Richard Scaglion, Alexander Harding Spoehr, William Sturtevant,
and Stephen Williams.
OCR for page 311
ALEXANDER SPOEHR
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1941
311
Camp, Clan, and Kin Among the Cow Creek Seminole of Florida. Field
Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Series, vol. 33, no.
1, pp. 1-28.
1942
Kinship System of the Seminole. Field Museum of Natural History, An-
thropological Series, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 29-114.
1944
Florida Seminole Camp. Field Museum of Natural History, Anthropo-
logical Series, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 115-50.
1947
Changing Kinship Systems: A Study in the Acculturation of the Creeks,
Cherokee, and Choctaw. Field Museum of Natural History, Anthro-
pological Series, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 151-235.
1949
Majuro: A Village in the Marshall Islands. Fieldiana: Anthropology,
vol. 39.
The generation type kinship system in the Marshall and Gilbert
islands. Southwest. I. Anthropology 5:107-16.
1950
Observations on the study of kinship. Am. Anthropol. 52:1-15.
1951
With G. I. Quimby. Acculturation and Material Culture I. Fieldiana:
Anthropology, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 107-47.
Time perspective in Micronesia and Polynesia. Southwest. I. Anthro-
pology 8:457-65.
1952
With T. D. Stewart. Evidence on the paleopathology of yaws. Bull.
Hist. Med. 26:538-53.
OCR for page 312
312
B I O G RA P H I C A L
1954
EMOIRS
Saipan: The Ethnology of a War-Devastated Island. Fieldiana: Anthro-
pology, vol. 41.
1956
Cultural differences in the interpretation of natural resources. In
Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth, ed. W. Thomas, pp.
93-102. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
1957
Marianas Prehistory: Survey and Excavations on Saipan, Tinian, and
Rota. Fieldiana: Anthropology, vol. 48.
1960
Port town and hinterland in the Pacific Islands. Am. Anthropol. 62:586-
92.
1966
The part and the whole: reflections on the study of a region. Am.
Anthropol. 68:629-40.
1967
A commentary on the study of contemporary Polynesia. In Polynesian
Culture History: Essays in Honor of Kenneth P. Emory, ed. G. E. High-
land et al., pp. 241-53. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.
1968
Technical innovation and economic development: Basnig fishing
boats of Zamboanga. Philipp. f. Sci. 97:77-92.
1973
Zamboanga and Sulu: An Archaeological Approach to Ethnic Diversity.
Ethnology Monographs No. 1. Department of Anthropology, Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.
1976
With N. A. Cuyos. The fish supply of Cebu City: a study of two
wholesale markets. Philipp. Q. Culture Soc. 4:160-98.
OCR for page 313
ALEXANDER SPOEHR
1978
313
Conquest culture and colonial culture in the Marianas during the
Spanish period. In The Changing Pacific: Essays in Honour of Harry
E. Maude, ed. W. N. Gunson, pp. 247-60. Melbourne: Oxford
University Press.
1980
Protein from the Sea: Technological Change in Philippine Capture Fisher-
ies. Ethnology Monographs No. 3, Department of Anthropology,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.
1981
Lewis Henry Morgan and his Pacific collaborators: a nineteenth
century chapter in the history of anthropological research. Proc.
Am. Philos. Soc. 125:449-59.
1983
With H. Goto and K. Sinoto. Craft history and the merging of tool
traditions: carpenters of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii. Hawaii. f.
Hist. 17:156-84.
1984
Change in Philippine capture fisheries: an historical overview. Philipp.
7. Culture Soc. 12: 25-56.
1986
Fur traders in Hawaii: the Hudson's Bay Company in Honolulu,
1829-1861. Hawaii. f. Hist. 20:27-66.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
bishop museum
