The Reina Papers contain the professional papers of cultural anthropologist Ruben E. Reina (1924-2016). Reina is an emeritus professor of anthropology and curator of ethnology who taught at the University of Pennsylvania and worked at that institution's University Museum of Archeology and Anthropology from 1957-1990. Broadly interested in modern and historical cultures of Central America, South America, and Spain, he is most widely known for his contributions to the study of the culture and peoples of Guatemala. The collection contains Reina's correspondence, administrative records, teaching materials, research notes, subject files, and written works from his career. Of particular interest are the notes from his fieldwork in Guatemala, Argentina, Spain, and Puerto Rico. A further significant component of the papers is the records of the Hispanic-Latin American Research Project. Reina served as director of the long-term project (1967-1988), during which a team of scholars compiled thousands of pages of Spanish colonial materials from the Archivo General de Indias (AGI) in Seville, Spain and Archivos General de Centro America (AGCA) in Guatemala. The Reina Papers serve as a vital storehouse of this important historical material.

Alfred Irving ("Pete") Hallowell was an anthropologist best known for his studies of Ojibwa culture and world-view, and the innovative use of the Rorschach Test in his studies of the psychological interrelations of individuals and their culture. Early in his career, Hallowell worked as a social case worker for Family Service, and even after moving on to study anthropology in 1920 (M.A.), he carried with him an interest in ethnic and racial culture, developing additional interests in psychological testing. Except for the years 1944-1947, when he taught at Northwestern University, Hallowell spent his entire career at the University of Pennsylvania where he was professor of anthropology, professor of anthropological psychiatry in the Medical School, and curator of social anthropology at the University Museum. A cultural anthropologist, Hallowell's use of clinical psychological methods, especially Rorschach tests, was both innovative and controversial in his discipline. In his research, he concentrated on the Algonkian Indians, especially the Abenaki and Ojibwa Indians of Canada and Wisconsin (Berens River, Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin areas), and the Saulteaux of Berens River. The Alfred Irving Hallowell Papers (1892-1981) contain correspondence, subject files, manuscripts of published and unpublished works by Hallowell, papers by colleagues and students, research notes kept by Hallowell, with a special emphasis on social organization, personality, behavior, psychology, religion, and folklore. The collection of several hundred photographs provides rich graphic documentation of Hallowell's work among the Ojibwa and Abnaki Indians during the 1930s.

The Anthony F. C. Wallace Papers include correspondence to and from 20th century anthropologists, ethnologists, historians, linguists, and psychiatrists and provides a wealth of resources for the study of technological and social change, American Indians, culture and personality, revitalization movements, the anthropological study of religion, and the cultural and biological bases of behavior. In addition to Wallace's correspondence, research notes, and drafts, the collection includes Wallace family correspondence and photographs, as well as Wallace's writings from childhood through recent years.