Henry Otley Beyer (July 13, 1883 – December 31, 1966) was an American
anthropologist, who spent most of his adult life in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
teaching Philippine indigenous culture.
A.V.H. Hartendorp called Beyer the "Dean of Philippine ethnology, archaeology, and prehistory".
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Biography
Beyer was born in Edgewood, Iowa
Edgewood is a city in Clayton and Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. Highway 3, which runs through the center of town, is the dividing line between the two counties. The Edgewood post office was established in 1852 on the Clayton side ...
, to a pioneer family of Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n origin and developed an interest in the Philippines when he visited the Philippine exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exhibition in St Louis, Missouri in 1904.
He graduated from University of Denver
The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...
for both his B.A. and a M.A. in Chemistry, after which he volunteered to teach in the Philippines. He pursued postgraduate anthropological studies at Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
as a Winthrop scholar.
His first years in the Philippines were spent as a teacher in the Cordillera Mountains on Luzon island, home of the Ifugao people
The Ifugao people are the ethnic group inhabiting Ifugao Province. They reside in the municipalities of Lagawe (capital of Ifugao), Aguinaldo, Alfonso Lista, Asipulo, Banaue, Hingyon, Hungduan, Kiangan, Lamut, Mayoyao, and Tinoc. The ...
. He later married Lingayu Gambuk, the daughter of an Ifugao village chief of Amganad, Banaue. Their son William, born in 1918, was their only child. Beyer remained a Protestant throughout his life even while living in a predominantly Catholic country.
He was appointed ethnologist
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...
in the Philippine Bureau of Science and part-time head of the Philippine Museum. He became sole instructor in anthropology at the University of the Philippines
The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 20 ...
in 1914. In 1925, he became the head of the university's department of anthropology and its first professor.
By that time, the anthropology department and its museum that Beyer himself built occupied the entire second floor of Rizal Hall, which housed the university's College of Liberal Arts until 1949. Beyer remained head of the department until his official retirement from the University of the Philippines in 1954 after 40 years of full-time teaching.
During the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, Beyer was initially allowed to continue his work at Rizal Hall, but he was later interned along with other Americans in the Philippines.
Before his death, the University of the Philippines, Silliman University
Silliman University (also referred to as Silliman or SU) is a private research university in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, the Philippines. Established in 1901 as Silliman Institute by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, it is ...
, and Ateneo de Manila
, mottoeng = Light in the Lord
, type = Private, research, non-profit, coeducational basic and higher education institution
, established = December 10, 1859
, religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic (Jesuits)
, academic_affi ...
awarded him with honorary doctorates. He also received a number of awards for his 60 years of scholarship in the Philippines. In 1965, the University of the Philippines held an H. Otley Beyer Symposium in his honor. The proceedings of the symposium were published two years later.
He died in 1966.
Legacy
The National Library of Australia acquired his papers and extensive library in 1972.
A species of Philippine lizard, '' Parvoscincus beyeri'', is named in his honor.
Beyer's work is mentioned in Walter Robb's essay Man Tracks On Luzon.
Quotes
"Archaeological work is like a fascinating mystery story, with the specimens and site data serving as vital clues - and everything is of most importance while both the specimens and your memory of how and where they were found is still quite fresh, and unconfused by later activities elsewhere."—In a letter to a colleague, March 1955.
Beyer described his work as "trying to serve the University f the Philippinesand to procure and conserve for the People of the Philippines the evidence of their abundant ancient culture."—In a letter to Carlos P. Romulo, then president of the University of the Philippines.
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beyer, Henry Otley
1883 births
1966 deaths
American expatriates in the Philippines
American Protestants
American people of German descent
University of Denver alumni
University of the Philippines faculty
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
20th-century American anthropologists