Elsdon Best

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Elsdon Best
Location of the Ngāi Tūhoe area on the North Island of New Zealand

Elsdon Best (born June 30, 1856 in Tawa Flat , New Zealand ; † September 9, 1931 in Wellington ) was a New Zealand ethnographer and co-founder of the Polynesian Society in New Zealand in1892as well as its president from 1922 to 1924.

Early life

Elsdon Best was born on June 30, 1856 as the sixth child of the married couple William Best and Hannah Haynes Nibbs in a suburb of Wellington . He spent the first nine years of his life on his parents' farm. When his father got a job as a cashier in the New Zealand Colonial Treasury in 1865 , the family moved to Wellington . After 5½ years of schooling, he passed the public service exam and, at the age of 17, took on a job in the city's registry office.

Various professional activities

In the public service he could no longer stand the constraints of office work, resigned after a year and moved to Poverty Bay in 1874 , where he earned his living as a farm worker for three years.

In the 1870s he was unemployed for months and had to give up his plan to build a sawmill. Instead, he moved to Taranaki , where he helped with land surveys and the sale of Māori land . In November 1881 he took part in the armed police on a raid against Māori , to destruction of Parihaka -Siedlung and the arrest of Māori - Chiefs Te Whiti o Rongomai led and many of his supporters. Motivated by ethnologist Stephenson Percy Smith and linguist Edward Robert Tregear , Best began to study the culture and history of the Māori while continuing to work as a farm worker .

At the end of 1883, Best left New Zealand and went to the United States for three years on a Working Holiday Permit , first to Hawaii and then to California in the Sierra Nevada . With a new technology for sawmills in his luggage, he came back to New Zealand and opened a sawmill near Waikanae with his brother . After the prices for wood fell dramatically five years later, they had to close their plant again.

Career as an author and ethnographer

In 1891, Best received an invitation from Percy Smith to discuss the establishment of a society to deal with the culture and history of the Polynesians . He accepted the invitation and became a founding member of the Polynesian Society the following year .

Best got a job at the Lands and Survey Department and moved in 1895 in his capacity Officer in the new founded Urewera Country . There he realized that the Iwi (tribe) of the Ngāi Tūhoe had received more of their original culture than other Māori tribes in New Zealand during their life in the seclusion of the Urewera area . He began to record their ancestral knowledge, myths and history. It was through them that his interest in Māori culture as a whole developed.

Best 's writing career began with his first publication in the first issue of the Journal of the Polynesian Society , entitled " The Races of the Philippines ." Numerous articles and book publications followed (see below) in which he dealt with the history, culture, society and myths as well as the religious work of the Māori and thus made valuable and important contributions to the understanding of their culture.

In 1903 he moved to the Native Department and in 1905 was Inspector of Health and Hygiene for the Mataatua Māori Council District . In July 1920, Best moved to what was then the Dominion Museum in Wellington and took a position specially created for him for his ethnological work and research.

After Percy Smith's death in 1922, Best served as the presidency of the Polynesian Society for three years and in 1925 became the associate editor of the Journal of the Polynesian Society . In 1923 he took over the seat of the Māori Ethnological Research Board together with the Māori politician Apirana Ngata and the politician and anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa . Between 1912 and 1928 he published a total of ten bulletins ( Dominion Museum Monograph ) in his capacity as a researcher at the Dominion Museum .

family

On December 2, 1903, Elsdon Best married the teacher Mary Adelaide Wylie in Galatea , in his father-in-law's house. There were no children from their marriage.

Elsdon Best died on September 9, 1931 in Barnard Street, Wadestown , Wellington, and left behind his wife, 25 books and writings and over 50 papers from his studies on Māori culture.

Awards

In memory of Elsdon Best

Since 1970, the Polynesia Society has awarded the Elsdon Best Memorial Medal annually for outstanding scholarly work relating to New Zealand's Māori .

Works

Books

  • Elsdon Best : The Maori . Volume I . Victoria University of Wellington , Wellington 1924 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] 530 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : The Maori . Volume II . Wellington 1924 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] reissued by The Polynesian Society in 1941 , 637 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : The Māori as he was . Brief Account of Maori Life as it was in Pre-European Days. . Ed .: Dominion Museum . Wellington 1924 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] 2nd edition, 1934, 280 pages).

Dominion Museum Bulletins

  • Elsdon Best : The Stone Implements of the Maori . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 4 . Wellington 1912 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Reprint: AR Shearer, Government Printer , Wellington, 1974, 445 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : Maori Storehouses and Kindred Structures . Houses, Platforms, Racks, and Pits Used for Storing Food, Etc. . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 5 . Wellington 1916 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Edited after his death, reprinted by AR Shearer, Government Printer , Wellington, 1974, 116 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : The Pa Maori . An Account of the Fortified Villages of the Maori in the Pre-European and Modern Times; Illustrating Methods of Defense by Means of Ramparts, Fosses, Scarps and Stockades . No. 6 . Wellington 1927 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Reprint: 1975, 459 pages, and 1995 ISBN 0-909010-39-0 ).
  • Elsdon Best : The Maori Canoe . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 7 . Wellington 1925 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Reprint: AR Shearer, Government Printer , Wellington, 1976, 452 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : Games and Pastimes of the Maori . an account of various exercises, games and pastimes of the natives of New Zealand, as practiced in former times: including some information concerning their vocal and instrumental music . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 8 . Wellington 1925 (English, reprint: AR Shearer, Government Printer , Wellington, 1976, 334 pages, last reprint: Te Papa Press , 2005, ISBN 1877385026 ).
  • Elsdon Best : Maori Agriculture . The Cultivated Food Plants of the Natives of New Zealand, with some Account of Native Methods of Agriculture, its Ritual and Origin Myths . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 9 . Wellington 1925 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Reprint: AR Shearer, Government Printer , Wellington, 1976, 315 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : Maori Religion and Mythology Part 1 . An Account of the Cosmogony, Anthropogeny, Religious Beliefs and Rites, Magic and Folk Lore of the Maori Folk of New Zealand . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 10 . Wellington 1924 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Reprint: AR Shearer, Government Printer , Wellington, 1976, 424 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : Maori Religion and Mythology Part 2 . An Account of the Cosmogony, Anthropogeny, Religious Beliefs and Rites, Magic and Folk Lore of the Maori Folk of New Zealand . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 11 . Wellington 1924 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Manuscript edited by Anne French , published by AR Shearer, Government Printer , Wellington, 1982, 682 pages, ISBN 0-477-01093-8 ).
  • Elsdon Best : Fishing Methods and Devices of the Maori . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 12 . Wellington 1929 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Reprint: EC Keating, Government Printer , Wellington, 1977, 264 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : The Whare-kohanga (The "Nest House") and its Lore . Comprising Data Pertaining to Procreation, Baptism, and Infant Betrothal, & c .; Contributed by Members of the Ngati-Kahungunu Tribe of the North Island of New Zealand . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 13 . Wellington 1929 (English, reprint: EC Keating, Government Printer , Wellington, 1975, 93 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : Forest Lore of the Maori . With Methods of snaring, trapping, and Preserving Birds and Council Uses of Berries, roots, remote root, and Forest Products, with Mythological Notes on Origins, Karakia used etc. . In: Dominion Museum Bulletin . No. 14 . Wellington 1942 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Edited after his death, reprinted by EC Keating, Government Printer , Wellington, 1977, 264 pages, reissued by Te Papa Press , 2005, ISBN 978-1-877385- 01-8 ).

Dominion Museum Monographs

  • Elsdon Best : Some Aspects of Maori Myth and Religion . In: Dominion Museum Monograph . No. 1 . WAC Skinner, Government Printer , Wellington 1922 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] 189 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : Spiritual and Mental Concepts of the Maori . In: Dominion Museum Monograph . No. 2 . Wellington 1922 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] 43 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori Genuine and Empirical . In: Dominion Museum Monograph . No. 3 . WAC Skinner, Government Printer , Wellington 1922 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] 66 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : The Maori Division of Time . In: Dominion Museum Monograph . No. 4 . Wellington 1922 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] Reprint: RE Owen, Government Printer , Wellington, 1959, 52 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : Polynesian Voyages . The Maori as a Deep-sea Navigator, Explorer, and Colonizer . In: Dominion Museum Monograph . No. 5 . WAC Skinner, Government Printer , Wellington 1923 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] 54 pages).
  • Elsdon Best : The Maori School of Learning . In: Dominion Museum Monograph . No. 6 . Wellington 1923 (English).

Article in the Journal of the Polynesian Society

  • Elsdon Best : The Races of the Philippines . In: The Journal of the Polynesian Society . Volume 1 , No. 1 . Wellington 1892, p. 7-19 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017]).
  • Elsdon Best : Spiritual Concepts of the Maori Part I . In: The Journal of the Polynesian Society . Volume 9 , No. 4 (36) . Wellington 1900, p. 173-199 (English).
  • Elsdon Best : Spiritual Concepts of the Maori Part I . In: The Journal of the Polynesian Society . Volume 10 , No. 1 (37) . Wellington 1901, p. 1-20 (English).
  • Elsdon Best : Tuhoe , the children of the mist; . Being a sketch of the origin, history of the Tuhoe or Ure-Wera tribe of the Maoris of New Zealand, with some account of several of the original tribes of the Bay of Plenty District . In: The Journal of the Polynesian Society . Volume 22 , No. 3 (87) . Wellington 1913, p. 149–165 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] published in 1972 by AH & AW Reed for the Polynesian Society ).
  • Elsdon Best : The Land of Tara and they who settled it . The story of the occupation of Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara ( the great harbor of Tara ) or Port Nicholson by the Maori . In: The Journal of the Polynesian Society . Volume 26 , No. 4 (104) . Wellington 1917, p. 143–169 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017]).

Other journals

  • Elsdon Best : Māori nomenclature : notes on the consanguineous, affinitative, personal, tribal, topographical, floral and ornithological nomenclature of the Māori race of New Zealand . In: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (Ed.): Journal of the Anthropological Institute . Vol. XXXII, January-June . London 1902, p. 182-201 (English).
  • Elsdon Best : The Maori Game of Mu-Torere . In: New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology . Volume 8 , No. 3 . Wellington 1026, p. 189-191 (English).

Fonts

  • Elsdon Best : Waikare Moana , The Sea of Rippling Waters : . The Lake; The country; The Legends. with a Tramp through Tuhohe Land. . Ed .: The Hon. John McKenzie, Minister of Lands . Wellington 1897 (English, online [accessed July 10, 2017] 66 pages).

See also

literature

  • Austin Graham Bagnall : Best, Elsdon . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed July 9, 2017]).
  • The Late Elsdon Best, FNZ Inst. . In: The Journal of the Polynesian Society . Volume 41 , No. 161 . Wellington 1932, p. 1-49 (English, online [accessed July 9, 2017]).
  • Elsdon Best, FNZInst. . In: Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand . Volume 62, 1931-32 . Wellington 1932, p. 179 (English, online [accessed July 9, 2017]).
  • Guy Hardy Scholefield : Best, Elsdon . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Volume II . Wellington 1993 ( online [accessed July 9, 2017]).
  • Jeffrey Paparoa Holman : Best of both worlds: Elsdon Best and the metamorphosis of Māori spirituality . Ed .: University of Canterbury . Christchurch 2007 (English, online [PDF; 9.2 MB ; accessed on July 6, 2017] Dissertation to achieve the Doctor of Philosophy ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Late Elsdon Best, FNZ Inst. . In: The Journal of the Polynesian Society . 1932, p.  1-49 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Jeffrey Sissons : Best, Elsdon . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , 1993, accessed July 10, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b Elsdon Best, FNZInst. . In: Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand . 1932, p.  179 .
  4. ^ A b Austin Graham Bagnall : Best, Elsdon . In: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , 1966, accessed July 10, 2016 .
  5. ↑ The Urewera Country . In: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , 1966, accessed July 10, 2016 ( 1966 map of Urewera Country ).
  6. ^ Elsdon Best : The Races of the Philippines . In: Journal of the Polynesian Society . Volume 1 , No.  1 . Wellington 1892 (English, online [PDF; 8.1 MB ; accessed on July 6, 2017]).
  7. ↑ MPK Sorrenson : A short history of the Polynesian Society . The Polynesian Society , 2011, accessed July 10, 2016 .
  8. ↑ a b c The Published Works of Elsdon Best . In: New Zealand Electronic Text Collections . Victoria University of Wellington , accessed July 10, 2016 .
  9. ↑ a b Bulletins and Monographs - by Elsdon Best . In: New Zealand Electronic Text Collections . Victoria University of Wellington , accessed July 10, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Best, Elsdon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand anthropologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Tawa Flat , New Zealand
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1931
Place of death Wellington