Includes vita.

A dissertation presented to the Department of Anthropology and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Ph.D. University of Oregon 1972.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-119).

"Each discipline needs a method. Ethnohistory has a problem in that it lacks an explicit statement of method. There is a distinct need for such a statement. The first duty of the scholar is to present his theories so that the reader understands the basis on which the scholar makes his statements and interpretations. I present my theories and definitions of ethnography, history, and ethnohistory so that there will be no confusion in the reader's mind when I use these, and related, terms. I present detailed information on the archival sources with which I worked and which provide the examples for the method of ethnohistorical research. The problems, range, and limitations of those sources are discussed as well as explicit details for extracting descriptions relevant to ethnographic problems by means of ethnohistorical method. The application of ethnohistorical method to archival sources cumulates in an ethnographic reconstruction. This dissertation concludes with statements on the value of such ethnographic reconstructions for Oceania anthropology and statements on further problems to be considered by anthropologists. The thesis is presented that ethnohistorical research is scientific"--Introduction.

TNU: The library's copy is a photocopy.