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School of Oriental and African Studies

Ray, Sidney Herbert


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0102 PP MS 3

Held at: School of Oriental and African Studies

Title: Ray, Sidney Herbert

Date(s): Created 1877-1937

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 18 boxes

Name of creator(s): Ray | Sidney Herbert | 1858-1939 | schoolmaster and linguist

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Sidney Herbert Ray was born in 1858. He became a schoolmaster in 1882. His interest in Oceanic languages began in about 1887 and he became a Fellow of the Anthropological Institute in 1888. He visited Torres Strait, New Guinea and Borneo 1898-1899 with the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition. In 1907 he received an Honorary M.A. from Cambridge. He became Vice-President of the Anthropological Institute in 1919 and Rivers Medallist at the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1928. He was occasional lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies from 1920s-1936. He died in 1939.

His publications include A Comparative Vocabulary of the Dialects of British New Guinea (1895); Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits (1907-1935); Languages of Borneo (1913); People and Language of Lifu (1918); Languages of Northern Papua (1919); Languages of Western Papua (1919); Comparative Study of the Melanesian Island Languages (1926); Languages of Central Papua (1929); Grammar of the Kiwai Language (1933); and Languages of South-Eastern Papua (1938).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1877-1937 and undated, of Sidney Herbert Ray, chiefly relating to the languages and ethnology of the Pacific Islands.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English and Oceanic languages

System of arrangement:

The material has been arranged by geographical area, and alphabetically by language within each area. The areas covered include: Guam, Fiji, Louisade Islands, Loyalty Islands, Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Hebrides, New Ireland and New Britain, Santa Cruz Islands, and Solomon Islands.

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated in March 1978.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

The School of Oriental and African Studies holds a catalogue of printed books and manuscripts relating to languages and the science of language, belonging to S. H. Ray (9 vols.) (Ref: MS 68121).

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Date(s) of descriptions: 15 May 2000


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Academic teaching personnel | Teachers | Educational personnel | Personnel | People by occupation | People
Oceanic cultures | National cultures
Austronesian and Oceanic languages
Ethnology
Linguistics

Personal names
Ray | Sidney Herbert | 1858-1939 | schoolmaster and linguist

Corporate names

Places
Fiji | Oceania
Guam | Oceania
Louisade Archipelago | Papua New Guinea | Oceania
Loyalty Islands | New Caledonia | Oceania
Micronesia | Oceania
New Britain | Papua New Guinea | Oceania
New Guinea | Asia and the Pacific
New Ireland | Papua New Guinea | Oceania
Santa Cruz Islands | Makira | Solomon Islands | Oceania
Vanuatu | Oceania
South Pacific x Oceania