Edward Adamson Hoebel (1906-1993) was an anthropologist and educator best known for his studies of the legal systems of pre-literate societies. Hoebel was born 16 November 1906 in Madison, Wisconsin. His father, Edward Charles Gilbert Hoebel, was vice president of Madison Saddlery Company; his mother, Kathryn Arnold, served as the Civil Service Commissioner for the state of Wisconsin. Hoebel received his undergraduate education in sociology and economics at the University of Wisconsin in 1928. After studying for a year as an American Exchange Fellow at the Universität Köln, Hoebel earned his master's degree at the New York University in 1930. His thesis was titled "Home Conditions and Delinquency Among Adolescent Boys."

Hoebel began his ground-breaking work in primitive law as a doctoral student at Columbia University, originally under the direction of Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict. However, when Hoebel expressed an interest in doing dissertation research on the legal systems of the Plains Indians, he noted that his advisors' reactions were typical of the anthropological views of primitive law at that time: "Franz Boas could tell me...that aboriginal American Indian tribes had no law. Ruth Benedict could simply say, 'I know nothing about it.'" (Ser. III, The American Behavioral Scientist--Preface, Nov. 1981) Boas put Hoebel in contact with Karl N. Llewellyn, Betts Professor of Law at Columbia. Llewellyn, a legal realist who believed that the heart of law is in how a society actually handles disputes rather than in written legal codes per se, was interested in Hoebel's ideas and agreed to serve as his advisor. Hoebel did field research on Comanche legal systems at the Santa Fe Laboratory of Anthropology (Ralph Linton, director), and his dissertation findings were published in an article titled "The Political Organization and Law-ways of the Comanche Indians." In 1934, Hoebel received his PhD degree in anthropology.

After graduation from Columbia, Hoebel and Llewellyn continued their fruitful collaboration, a relationship that established a model for interdisciplinary studies in law and anthropology. Together they developed the trouble-case method for investigating the legal systems of non-literate societies, which they presented in The Cheyenne Way: Conflict and Case Law in Primitive Jurisprudence (1941). Central to this method was the concept of law-jobs, which operate regardless of whether a legal system is considered primitive or advanced. To Hoebel, as well as to many legal scholars, the ideas presented in The Cheyenne Way suggested applications to the legal systems of contemporary literate societies. Hoebel pursued such a line of research in his studies of Pakistan's legal systems and through his involvement in activities such as the World Law Project, a pilot study that sought to compare legal systems throughout the world.

In addition to his field research, Hoebel contributed to anthropology as an educator, both as a teacher and as a writer. From 1929 until 1948 Hoebel taught sociology and anthropology at New York University, where he attained the rank of assistant professor. For the next six years he was professor and head of the anthropology department at the University of Utah. Hoebel served as Dean of Arts and Sciences during his last year at Utah (1953-1954), his only venture into university administration. While at the University of Utah, Hoebel published his first undergraduate textbook, Man in the Primitive World: An Introduction to Anthropology (1949). This highly successful and widely used text was translated into seven languages and updated in subsequent editions.

From 1954 until 1968, Hoebel chaired the anthropology department at the University of Minnesota, during which time he added ten new faculty members to the department. In keeping with his strong commitment to undergraduate education, Hoebel instituted a departmental policy requiring all professors to teach introductory sections to ensure that the student's first encounter with anthropology was a good one. In 1966, Hoebel published his second major introductory textbook, Anthropology: The Study of Man. That same year, the University of Minnesota honored him with the title of Regents Professor, the highest award given to faculty members. Hoebel remained actively involved at the University of Minnesota until 1972, after which time he continued as emeritus and adjunct professor of law.

Hoebel's academic career included several visiting professorships at the universities of Harvard, Chicago, Nijmegen, Arizona, and Lehigh. Concurrent with his academic work, Hoebel participated in several projects that applied anthropological theories and methods to contemporary problems. During the summer of 1944, Hoebel served as community analyst for the War Relocation Authority at the Granada Relocation Center in Amache, Colorado. In that capacity, he facilitated the reassimilation of evacuees into American life. Between 1943 and 1949, Hoebel worked with Llewellyn to study the law-ways of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Through these studies, Hoebel and Llewellyn were able to assist the Pueblo Indians in framing their legal codes in a way that would be understandable and acceptable in federal and state courts. Hoebel's other nonacademic service included consulting as a special officer of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1969-1973), as well as participating in the development of specialized research and training programs of the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Social Science Research Council.

Hoebel received wide recognition for his many contributions to the field of anthropology. His papers include letters of appreciation from his students, many of whom continued to correspond with him throughout their careers. Hoebel's professional colleagues elected him president of the American Ethnological Society from 1946-1947 and of the American Anthropological Association from 1956-1957. In 1963, he became a member of the American Philosophical Society. Hoebel died in 1993, survived by his wife Irene and his son, Bartley Gore Hoebel, a psychology professor at Princeton University.

The E. Adamson Hoebel Papers (1925-1993) contain correspondence, subject files, manuscripts of published and unpublished works by Hoebel, papers by colleagues and students, research notes by Hoebel, course material, and photographs, which document Hoebel's career as an anthropologist.

The papers (26 boxes; 14 linear feet) are divided into seven series:

Provenance

The Hoebel Papers were donated to the APS Library by E. Adamson Hoebel in 1985 (Accession 1985-924ms) and in 1987 (Accession 1987-1563ms). After his death, additions were made to the collection through the estate of E. Adamson Hoebel in 1993 (Accession 1993-1749ms), 1994 (Accession 1994-771ms), and 1995 (Accession 1995-960ms and Accession 1995-1180ms).

Addition of Sept. 16, 1994: Approximately 1 linear foot of correspondence with business associates and fellow anthropologists (1920s-1990s; bulk:1928-1945). Also included are notes Hoebel used for his doctoral dissertation on the Comanche Indians (1930s) and materials regarding the planning of the first summer training institute of the Social Science Research Council, which was held at the Harvard School of Law (1955). One linear foot of textbooks and articles written by Hoebel were donated with the manuscript materials, which have been transferred to the Printed Materials Department.

Addition of November 1995: Included correspondence, information on the Handbook of North American Indians, works by Hoebel, and works by others. ca. 30 items (1960s-1990s).

Preferred citation

Cite as: E. Adamson Hoebel Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Catalogued by Jan Ballard and Miriam Spectre, November 1995.

Bibliography

• American Anthropological Association
• Science Museum of Minnesota.
• United States. War Relocation Authority

• Field notes.
• Gelatin silver prints
• Interviews
• Lectures
• Manuscripts (for publication)
• Nitrate negatives
• Photoprints
• Slides.

• Fort Hall Indian Reservation (Idaho)

• Adams, Richard E. W., 1931-2015
• Beals, Ralph L. (Ralph Leon), 1901-1985
• Benedict, Ruth, 1887-1948
• Blumer, Herbert, 1900-1987
• Boas, Franz, 1858-1942
• Chiba, Masaji
• Du Bois, Cora Alice, 1903-1991
• Eggan, Fred, 1906-1991
• Fenton, William N. (William Nelson), 1908-2005
• Frost, Everett
• Gluckman , Max, 1911-1975
• Goldfrank, Esther Schiff
• Gravel, Pierre Bettez
• Hoebel, E. Adamson (Edward Ada
• Hsu, Francis L. K., 1909-
• Llewellyn, Karl N. (Karl Nicke
• Mead, Margaret, 1901-1978
• Nicholson, Maggi E.R.
• Oliver, Douglas L.
• Opler, Morris Edward, 1907-1996
• Paddock, John
• Petersen, Karen Daniels
• Visscher, Maurice B., 1901-1983
• Wallis, Ruth Sawtell, 1895-197
• van den Steenhoven, Geert

• Arms control
• Cheyenne Indians
• Comanche Indians
• Disarmament.
• Indians of North America -- Idaho
• Indians of North America -- Wyoming
• Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
• Law, Primitive
• Plains Indians
• Pueblos -- New Mexico
• Shoshoni Indians
• Sun-dance