Contains the incoming and outgoing manuscript and typescript letters, carbons, telegrams, and postcards generated by Hallowell and his colleagues, Native American field informants, students, and family. Professional correspondence includes a letter from Elsie Clews Parsons regarding the American Folklore Society and a letter from Franz Boas in reference to Kwakiutl bear ceremonialism. Native American correspondents include Chief William Berens and Henry L. Masta. Of interest is Hallowell's correspondence with his former student Nnamdi Azikiwe, who invited Hallowell to speak at his installation as Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria in 1961 (see also Series II, Nigeria; and Series III, "To Nigeria"). The series also includes personal correspondence with Dorothy Kern Hallowell, Hallowell's first wife and the mother of William H. Hallowell, during the time when their son was incarcerated at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Series I is arranged alphabetically by correspondent's name and then chronologically within each folder. When a correspondence file includes letters to a third party (i.e., not Hallowell), the name is indicated on the container list by using an indent under the folder title.

Unidentified correspondence has been filed as "Unidentified" and is arranged chronologically. Enclosed manuscripts have been removed from this series and placed in Series III or IV as appropriate. As with the reprints, a photocopy of the title page was filed with the original letter. Letters of reference are filed under the name of the person who is the subject of the letter.

Contains materials concerning Hallowell's involvement with professional societies, foundations, conferences, and committees; biographical and bibliographical materials; reviews of The Role of Conjuring in Saulteaux Society; and an interview of Hallowell by Anne Roe. Folders are arranged alphabetically by topic, and items within the files are arranged chronologically.

contains handwritten and typed notes and drafts of published and unpublished reviews, lectures, articles, and a handbook. This series is arranged alphabetically by title. The earliest work is Hallowell's master's thesis (1920), "The Problem of Fish Nets in North America." The latest is an unpublished lecture titled "Bear Ceremonialism in the Northern Hemisphere: Reexamined," which was given at Bryn Mawr College in 1968. Much of the material comprising this series represents Hallowell's later publications, e.g., "The Rorschach Technique in Personality and Culture Studies" (1956); "The Backwash of the Frontier (1957); "Rorschach Protocols of 151 Berens River Adults and Children and 155 Adults from Lac du Flambeau" (1957); and "Hominid Evolution, Cultural Adaptation, and Mental Dysfunctioning" (1965). For each work, the notes, drafts, and published versions are filed together.

contains notes and articles written by Hallowell's students and professional colleagues. The authors best represented are William A. Caudill, who studied the Ojibwa, and Blanche Green Watrous, who administered Rorschach Tests to Native American children in the Lac Du Flambeau and Berens River areas. This series is arranged alphabetically by author and then by title.

contains field and reading notes taken by Hallowell, his students, and colleagues; as well as some course materials. The bulk of the field notes include ethnological observations, folklore, Rorschach Tests, and drawings of the Ojibwa-speaking Native Americans in Canada (Berens Rivers Saulteaux) and Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin. Other major subjects of this series include the Abenaki, marriage and the family, nets and netting, bear cult, self and ego, and Rorschach methodology and materials. The earliest dates in this series refer to the dates of publications from which Hallowell made reading notes. These notes concern general aspects of the history and culture of Native North Americans, as well as clippings depicting them in Euro-American art and literature. This series is arranged alphabetically by subject, and the folder labels reflect Hallowell's original spelling and wording, e.g., terms such as "Indian" are retained. Materials filed under the same label in consecutive folders were kept in the original order in which they were received; thus, materials may not appear in order by date. Also included in this series are three card file boxes. Box 1 contains cards on Ojibwa families of Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin, which note the names of family members, their birth dates, and their tribal affiliations. Cards are arranged alphabetically by family surname, and each family member listed under the surname has been assigned a serial number. At the end of the alphabetical arrangement, individual family member cards are arranged numerically by serial number. Box 1 also contains reading notes on the history of Native Americans in Wisconsin, as well as a bibliography of Ojibwa myths and tales. Box 2 contains a Rorschach bibliography. Cards are arranged according to topics, e.g., "Children," "Aptitude and Talent," and "Special Studies." Box 3 contains a bibliography of literature concerning Native Americans. Cards are arranged first by topic, e.g., "Short Story," "Dime Novel," and "Captivity Stories." Authors of works under each topic are then filed alphabetically.

Contains photograph albums, loose prints and negatives taken by Hallowell or others, or given to him during the course of his career. This series also contains reproduction photographs and copy negatives (total 27 boxes) made for research purposes, along with photocopies of most of the reproduction photographs and log sheets. A description of each reproduced item is included in the appendix as well as a detailed narrative of the photograph conservation project.

Researchers seeking to view images from Subseries A-F are requested to use the reproduction photographs.

Organization of reproduction photographs to be used for research use:

The photographs and negatives that pertain to Hallowell's research on Native Americans in the United States and Canada were chosen for reproduction (Subseries A-F). Postcards were not reproduced. Each unique image in Subseries A-F has a research photograph and a copy negative. The research photographs have been reprinted from the original negative when possible.

The photographs have been organized to follow the order of the original photograph albums as closely as possible, with the exception of Subseries F. Basic arrangement for Subseries A-E is from left to right and/or top to bottom, depending on the photograph's original placement on the page. Subseries F, which consists of loose prints never included in an album, has been grouped by approximate geographic location or subject matter as described in the description of each reproduced item.

The reproduction photos are housed individually in polyethylene sleeves along with a stabilizing acid-free board. A label affixed to each board gives the unique number of the image, the tribe or group, location, names of people, dates, cross references to other similar images, and any other information that can be found on or with the photograph or supplied by outside researchers.

Hallowell's personal comments, sometimes written on the verso of prints or on envelopes containing images, are the primary source for identification. Comments provided by other sources are enclosed within brackets, and when available, the outside sources have been noted. The amount of information provided varies. For instance, in Subseries A, many times a group picture has only one person identified, and thus that name is the only one on the label. In contrast, most of the individuals in Subseries E are identified.

All the photographs are considered to be taken by Hallowell unless otherwise noted. Some photographs in Subseries A were taken by Steve Boggs. The photographs in Subseries D may have been given to Hallowell by Frank Gouldsmith Speck.

Native American Images Note : Over 1,500 black & white silver gelatin photographs of Ojibwa, Abenaki, and Mohegan tribes of Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. Taken by Hallowell from ca.1920-1940 to support his ethnological research, the images are primarily portraits of individuals located outside their respective dwelling or settlement wearing some cultural accessories. Organized in subseries lettered A-J, subseries E and F illustrate artifacts such as drums, canoes, baskets, papoose and utensils. Of note are many prints of dome and pointed wigwams. Subseries I and J contain over 150 black and white postcards of Aztec, Navajo, and Hopi pottery, dwellings, and sculpture. Oversize materials include pencil sketch maps of settlements by native consultants Kiwegwan, Adam Keeper, and Neapit and ink sketch designs for birch bark scrolls by John Keeper. Each photograph has been reproduced with companion copy negatives. An itemized appendix describes each image. Some photographs are published in Hallowell's The Ojibwa of Berens River, Manitoba (1992).

Contains photographs of individuals, settlements, scenery, ceremonies, and Hallowell's trip "en route". Prints are arranged into locales, such as Little Grand Rapids and Pauingessi. Many of the photographs showing a group of people have only one person identified by Hallowell, and in this case, the label only names the one person. Additional photographs from this area are in Subseries F.

Description of the reproduction photographs 7.5 boxes of photos & 1.5 boxes of negatives; 338 images.

Bound album containing photographs and postcards of individuals and buildings. 18 of the images (a selection of the photographic prints) were duplicated as reproduction photographs, which can be found within the reproduction boxes of the collection. Images in this album have not been individually catalogued.

Contains photographs of scenery, Ojibwa and Cree individuals, housing structures, and camps. Also includes images of Island Lake, Cross Lake, and Norway House (a Cree Settlement). Additional photographs from this area are in Subseries F.

Description of the reproduction photographs (2 boxes); 82 images.

Contains photographs of the Mohegan, Mashpee, Nipissing Nishnaabeg, and Innu communities. Subjects include buildings, scenery, and individuals. Additional photographs from this area are in Subseries F. This album was renamed in April 2019 from its former title, "Massachusetts, Lac St. Jean Album," to reflect this full range of content.

Description of the reproduction photographs (2.5 boxes); 120 images.

Contains photographs of individuals, some of whom are in native costume, scenery and buildings. Additional photographs from this area are in Subseries F.

Description of the reproduction photographs (4 boxes); 160 images.

Contains loose photographs originally grouped in envelopes. Some are duplicates of the images in the albums. Quality of the images vary greatly.

Description of the reproduction photographs (7.5 boxes); 353 images. Where applicable, these have been cross-referenced to the albums. Some images from susbseries G are also represented in this series. Listed below is a breakdown of the images into tribe or group or location:

Subseries G includes photographs removed from the following folders:

Contains postcards depicting ruins, statues, sculpture, and murals from Volterea, Florence, and Rome. Several pictures include manuscript notes taken from readings of Dennis. Not individually catalogued.

Mostly postcards and magazine clippings of Mayan ruins. Full contents: 18 postcards of Chichen Itza; 6 magazine cuttings of the nunnery quadrangle at Uxmal; a postcard from an unidentified correspondent in Mexico City to Hallowell, dated 1931-07-20; 4 magazine cuttings of ruins at Uxmal; 1 postcard of Xochicalco; 5 postcards of Mitla; and 19 postcards of Aztec statues and sculptures from Museo Nacional de Antropología.

Contains mostly postcards and some photographs of Native American people and culture. Some negatives for the photographs may be found in Subseries G.