Ray, Sidney Herbert

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0102 PP MS 3
Held at	: School of Oriental and African Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Archives/home.html ›
Full 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 & 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.

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated in March 1978.

Allied Materials

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).

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
15 May 2000