National Anthropological Archives

Guide to the Michiko Takaki papers, 1921-2011 (bulk 1960s)

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.2016-23
Creators:
Takaki, Michiko, 1930-2014
Dates:
1921-2011
bulk 1960s
Languages:
Collection materials are in English; Japanese; Ilocano (Iloko); and various languages within the Kalinga-Ifugao language family of the Philippines, including Kalinga (Butbut) and Kalinga (Lubuagan).
Physical Description:
134.16 Linear feet
167 boxes, 7 rolls, and 7 map-folders
Repository:
The papers of Michiko Takaki, 1921-2011 (bulk 1960s), document her field work among the Kalinga people of the northern Philippines and her professional contributions as a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The papers consist primarily of economic and linguistic field data gathered between 1964 and 1968, used in the production of her doctoral dissertation ("Aspects of Exchange in a Kalinga Society, Northern Luzon," 1977) and throughout her anthropological career. The collection consists of field notes, maps, photographic prints, negatives, slides, sound recordings, recorded film, data and analysis, correspondence, working files and drafts, and publications.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The papers of Michiko Takaki, circa 1921-2011 (bulk 1960s), document her research into the Kalinga people of the northern Luzon region of the Philippines as both an economic and lingustic anthropologist. The collection consists of field notes; maps; photographic prints, negatives, and slides; sound recordings; recorded film; data and analysis; correspondence; working files and drafts; and publications.
The bulk of the collection consists of field-gathered data into the economics, culture, and language of the Kalinga people, created and compiled during Takaki's doctoral fieldwork in the Philippines between 1964 and 1968. This data was used in the production of her doctoral dissertation, "Aspects of Exchange in a Kalinga Society, Northern Luzon" (1977) and throughout the remainder of her career as a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. In addition to Takaki, this material was often created or edited by her Kalinga research assistants during the period of her fieldwork or by her graduate student assistants at UMass-Boston. The material can be divided into the analytical categories related to the two main threads of Takaki's research: economic and subsistence activities, and linguistics. Economic material in the collection includes tables and tabulations of data on property, rice cultivation, and livestock use, as well as climatic data and cultural stories about exchange systems and subsistence work. Also included is gathered research into the Kalinga response to the Chico River Dam development project of the northern Luzon, an electric power generation project from the 1980s. Language material in the collection includes word lists, vocabulary slips, and morphology and phonology analysis that document the Kalinga language family of the northern Luzon. Also included are working files related to Takaki's project to translate Morice Vanoverbergh's
Iloko Grammar
into Kalinga.
Maps, photographic images, sound, and film contained in this collection largely document Takaki's fieldwork and research interests into Kalinga society and culture. Field-gathered data has been separated out into its own series. These materials - field notes and field data, maps, photographs, and sound and film recordings - form the first five series of the collection (Series 1-5). Research and analysis, compiled and refined from field-gathered data on the topics of culture, economics, and language, are arranged into their own three topical series (Series 6-8).
The collection also contains correspondence, as well as material documenting Takaki's professional life as a graduate student and faculty member. It includes grant applications, graduate essays, course preparation materials, professional presentations and publications, a curriculum vitae and tenure dossier from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a copy of her master's thesis, "A Case Study of Cross-Cultural Communication: Some Aspects of the Psychological Warfare as Applied by the United States against Japan during the World War II" (1960).

Arrangement

Arrangement
The Michiko Takaki papers are divided into 10 series:
  • Series 1: Field data and field notes, 1935-1985 (bulk 1960s)
  • Series 2: Maps, circa 1950-2003, undated
  • Series 3: Photographs, circa 1964-2006
  • Series 4: Sound recordings, circa 1964-1995
  • Series 5: Films, circa 1964-1968
  • Series 6: Kalinga texts, circa 1960-2006, undated
  • Series 7: Economic and subsistence activities research and analysis, circa 1961-1997
  • Series 8: Lingustic research and analysis, 1921-1993
  • Series 9: Correspondence, 1960-2002
  • Series 10: Professional materials, circa 1958-2011

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Michiko "Michi" Takaki was born on September 11, 1930 to Noboru Takaki and Sumiko Kohaka in Tokyo, Japan.
As a GARIOA Scholar (Government Appropriation for Relief in Occupied Areas), Takaki earned an associate's degree from Stephen's College in Columbia, Missouri (1952) and a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri (1953). She also earned a second bachelor's degree from the Tokyo Women's Christian University (1954), returning to the US to earn a master's degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University (1960). In the fall of 1960, Takaki began graduate studies in anthropology under Prof. Harold C. Conklin at Columbia University. Conklin transferred to the Department of Anthropology at Yale University in 1962. Takaki followed, completing her dissertation and earning her PhD from Yale in 1977.
From 1964 to 1968, Takaki completed a 46-month period of ethnographic fieldwork in the Philippines. Her dissertation, published in 1977, was entitled "Aspects of Exchange in a Kalinga Society, Northern Luzon." After a brief stint as a curator of Pacific ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History (1970-1973), Takaki became a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. While teaching, Takaki continued her research into the Northern Luzon region of the Philippines. Her early research into economic and subsistence activities gave way, in later years, to lingustic anthropology centered on the Kalinga language family. Takaki was granted tenure in 1980, and she remained on the UMass-Boston faculty until her retirement in 2002.
Michiko Takaki died in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 5, 2014.
Chronology
1930 September 11
Born in Tokyo, Japan
1951-1953
GARIOA Scholar (Government Appropriation for Relief in Occupied Areas)
1952
A.A. Stephens College
1953
B.A. Lindenwood College
1954
B.A. Tokyo Women's Christan University
1960
M.A. Southern Illinois University (Journalism)
1960-1962
Graduate coursework, Columbia University Department of Anthropology
1962-1968
Graduate coursework, Yale University Department of Anthropology
1964-1968
Field work in the Philippines
1964-1965
Research Fellow, International Rice Research Institute
1970-1973
Curator, Pacific Ethnology, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History
1973-2002
Faculty, University of Massachusetts, Boston
1977
Ph.D. Yale University (Anthropology)
1980 November
Awarded tenure by the University of Massachusetts, Boston
2014 December 5
Died in Boston, Massachusetts

Administration

Author
Katherine Madison
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation.
Processing Information
This collection arrived at the National Anthropological Archives in boxes packed and labeled by Takaki's colleagues and former assistants. Their notations have guided the processing archivist in the labeling and categorization of the materials.
The current arrangement of this collection was imposed by the archivist, as the original order of the materials as created by Takaki was largely unclear and, where evident, deemed an impediment to researcher access. Takaki had separated out her correspondence and professional papers from the rest of her data and analytical material, and that distinction has been maintained here (see Series 9: Correspondence and Series 10: Professional materials). Takaki also stored her audiovisual material separately from her papers, so photographs, sound recordings, and film have been arranged into their own series (Series 3, 4, and 5, respectively). Series 1: Field data and field notes is distinguished from the remainder of Takaki's research and analysis due to Takaki's maintenance of the documents as a separate unit since its creation. The material in Series 1 was arranged by Takaki in the Philippines, and was transferred intact to the American Museum of Natural History, then to the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and on to her home office after her retirement. While material elsewhere in the collection (especially in Series 6, 7, and 8) is directly related to the material in Series 1, the archivist opted to maintain this singular grouping of material, and to separate out the remaining data and analysis thematically. To improve discoverability of material, the archivist has largely alphabatized the order of materials.
In 2002, Takaki had noted that her papers can thematically be divided up into the following subjects: economic data or subsistence activities, linguistic data, climatic data, field notebooks and journals, and maps. The processing archivist was unable to create a collection arrangement based on these themes due to the language barrier.
Folders with written text or Japanese characters were photocopied, then removed from the collection due to preservation concerns based on the cleanliness and acid content of the folders. The photocopies are marked and inserted in their respective locations in the collection. In select cases, the original folder or envelope remains in the collection.
Processed and encoded by Katherine Madison, 2017
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by R. Timothy Sieber, Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, in 2016.
Separated Materials
The eleven film reels in the collection have been transferred to the Human Studies Film Archives, accession number HSFA 2017-009, but are described in this finding aid in Series 5: Films.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Conditions Governing Access
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Digital media in the collection is restricted for preservation reasons.
Access to the Michiko Takaki papers requires an appointment.
Preferred Citation
Michiko Takaki papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

More Information

Selected Bibliography

Selected Bibliography
1984. "Regional Names in Kalinga: Certain Social Dimensions of Place Names." In
Naming Systems: 1980 Proceedings of The American Ethnological Society
, edited by Elizabeth Tooker, 55-77. Washington, D.C.: American Ethnological Society.
1981. Review of
Anatomy of a Peasant Economy: A Rice Village in the Philippines
by Y. Hayami et. al. and
Beyond Manila: Philippine Rural Problems in Perspective
by Gelia T. Castillo.
The Journal of Asian Studies
41(1): 201-203.
1977. "Aspects of Exchange in a Kalinga Society, Northern Luzon." Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University.
1969. Review of
Mountain Arbiters: The Changing Life of a Philippine Hill People
by Edward P. Dozier.
American Anthropologist
71: 515-518.
1960. "A case study of cross-cultural communication; some aspects of the psychological warfare as applied by the United States against Japan during the World War II." Master's thesis, Southern Illinois University.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Kalinga (Philippine people) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Economic anthropology Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ethnology -- Philippines Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Language and languages -- Documentation Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kalinga languages Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women anthropologists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Philippines Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Anthropological Archives
Museum Support Center
4210 Silver Hill Road
Suitland, Maryland 20746
naa@si.edu