Manuscritos dos trabalhos publicados no Handbook, bem como correspondências dos autores e documentos administrativos relativos à publicação, estão arquivados nos National Anthropological Archives (National Museu of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution). Este acervo é descrito no texto abaixo (que fornece, também, um breve histórico da publicação do Handbook), extraído do site dos NAA:
HANDBOOK OF SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS (1940-1947), Records
The Handbook of South American Indians grew from efforts of the National Research Council Division of Anthropology and Psychology. In 1932, when Robert H. Lowie was committee chairman, Baron Erland Nordenskiöld agreed to edit the work. Shortly afterwards, Nordenskiöld died. In 1934, an NRC conference was held to discuss the project again, and the Smithsonian Institution was urged to sponsor the work. Efforts to secure funding followed, but they were unsuccessful. In 1938, Congress began to consider legislation to promote United States-Latin American cooperation, and the Handbook was included in the plans. Although funds were not finally approved until 1940, during 1938-1929 the Smithsonian went ahead with a program. When funds were available, they came through the Department of State's Interdepartmental Committee.
In 1939, Julian H. Steward was designated editor of the Handbook of South American Indians. Initially he worked directly under the Bureau of American Ethnology, whose staff he had joined in 1938. In 1943, he became the director of the Institute for Social Anthropology, an autonomous unit of the BAE, and from that time the Handbook was under the Institute. During 1940, Lowie and Alfred Métraux came to Washington to help with the handbook; and, in 1941, Métraux joined the staff as assistant editor, continuing in that position until 1945. Gordon R. Willey also temporarily joined the staff. In addition, the project gained cooperation from around a hundred experts from the United States, Latin American countries, and Europe to prepare chapters and provide advice.
In 1946, although some parts of the six-volume Handbook (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143) were yet to appear, most work was completed. Steward felt free to leave for a position at Columbia University.
The material consists mainly of administrative and reference documents, correspondence, reports, proposals, and manuscripts of writings. Some manuscripts are in a form different from that published. Most illustrations have not been located.
Correspondents include Erwin H. Ackerknecht, John E. Anelim, Ada d'Aloja, Radames A. Altieri, Francisco de Aparicío, Herbert Baldus, Andrés Barbero, Homer G. Barnett, Ralph L. Beals, Howard W. Beers, Ivan Belaieff, Ruth F. Benedict, Wendell C. Bennett, Guillermo Tell Bertoni, Junius B. Bird, John J. Buoncristiani, Douglas S. Byers, Salvador Canals Frau, Eduardo Casanova, Oscar L. Chapman, Charles W. Collier, Donald Collier, John Collier, John M. Cooper, Fred R. Eggan, J.M.B. Farfán, Paul Fejos, George M. Foster, Jr., Joaquin Frenguelli, Manuel Gamio, Pedro García Valdés, J. Eugenio Garro, Enrique de Gaudía, Edward W. Gifford, Raymond M. Gilmore, John P. Gillin, Irving Goldman, James B. Griffin, Alfred I. Hallowell, Robert F. Heizer, Karl O. Henckel, Gregorio Hernández de Alba, Melville J. Herskovits, Ernesto Herzog, George Herzog, Sister M. Inez Hilger, Harry Hoijer, Donald Horton, Adolfo de Hostos, George D. Howard, José Imbelloni, Frederick Johnson, Paul Kirchhoff, Alfred L. Kroeber, George Kubler, R. Weston La Barre, Rafael Larco Hoyle, Edwin H. Lauriault, M.L. Leap, Henri Lehmann, John Leighly, Claude Lévi-Strauss, William Lipkind, Samuel K. Lothrop, Robert H. Lowie, Ernest E. Maes, Fernando Marques Miranda, J. Alden Mason, Theodore D. McCown, Philip Ainsworth Means, Betty J. Meggers, Alfred Métraux, Bernard Mishkin, Henry A. Moe, George P. Murdock, John V. Murra, Curt Nimuendajú, Lila M. O'Neale, Sergio E. Ortiz, Cornelius Osgood, Willard Z. Park, John H. Provinse, Robert Redfield, Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, Frederick Richardson, Paul Rivet, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Irving Rouse, John H. Rowe, Carl O. Sauer, Donald Scott, Leslie Spier, Elsie V. Steedman, Morris Steggerda, T. Dale Stewart, Matthew W. Stirling, Doris Stone, David B. Stout, William Duncan Strong, Julio C. Tello, Harry S. Tschopik, Jr., George C. Vaillant, Luis E. Valcárcel, Charles W. Wagley, Bella Weitzner, Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin, and Leslie A. White.
DATES: 1934-1947
QUANTITY: ca. 4.1 meters (ca. 13.75 linear feet)
ARRANGEMENT: (1) Administrative and reference file, 1934-1947; (2) correspondence, 1939-1947; (3) manuscripts of writings, early 1940s
FINDING AID: Draft inventory