An analysis of Franz Boas' achievements and work emphasis during the last five years of his life, based on documentation and interpretation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation file maintained on him from 1936 to 1950.

摘要

The FBI file on Franz Boas entered the historical record almost unnoticed, inconsequentially, with no more attention from some than a quick perusal of the data. At first, the file appears absurd, full of errors and simplicities. Viewed in light of recent analyses of internal abuses and inanities directed toward the FBI and its most well-known leader, J. Edgar Hoover, the entire subject of files compiled on suspected subversives, especially during the years leading up to and including World War II, emerges as one that may be overlooked in historical probing. However, this file serves as an impetus for another, closer examination of Boas' life--specifically, the final five years of his life. Indeed, Boas demonstrated atypical energy and stamina for an individual of advanced physical years as he pursued monumental and time-consuming tasks. Dedicated in great part to political and social causes, he produced more correspondence in his last five years than many people generate in a lifetime. The FBI's surveillance of him from 1937 until his death in 1942 parallels those voluminous efforts to causes that were targeted by the government for inspection.;Other anthropologists were inspected by the FBI during the war years. The content of files maintained on Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead, reviewed briefly here, helps to illuminate the preoccupations of FBI agents and leaders in the U.S. government at the time, while simultaneously putting the activities of Boas into historical and individual perspective. The files of Benedict and Mead are examined because of their association with Boas. One should bear in mind that most anthropologists who traveled extensively throughout the world, or who were open about cultural and ethnic differences among peoples, had files gathered on them, especially during the war years.;The entire subject of FBI surveillance of individuals at that time must be viewed with an understanding of the climate and mood of American government and its citizens during wartime; however, the file on Franz Boas, when compared to his own correspondence and the compilation of data on contemporary anthropologists of his time, points to the uniqueness, complexity, and well-deserved designation of Boas as perhaps the most influential anthropologist to have matured in the United States--and one who has left his complex legacy to later generations. This dissertation is an additional contribution to the library of efforts to analyze Franz Boas' work, focusing particularly on the end of his life. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)