Haddon, who was born in 1855, was appointed Professor of Zoology at the Royal College of Science in Dublin after obtaining a first in natural sciences at Cambridge. In 1889, he went to Torres Strait and became interested in recording native custom before it was affected by European contact. After his return to Britain, he accepted a part-time lectureship in physical anthropology at Cambridge, and in 1898 he organised the famous Cambridge University Expedition to Torres Strait, which brought him to Papua (then called British New Guinea). He became Reader in Ethnology at Cambridge in 1908 and remained there until his retirement in 1925. After his death, his numerous papers became part of Cambridge University Library.

These documents represent only a fraction of the Haddon collection. Their contents, and Cambridge University Library envelope numbers, are as follows:<BR><P>Reel 1:<BR>1005; Correspondence with J. Chalmers ('Tamate'), 1898, re Torres Strait Expedition<BR>1006; Correspondence of R. Bruce to Haddon, 1892-98 re Torres Strait Expedition<BR>1013; Rev. W.H. MacFarlane's notes on Torres Strait, 1919, 1925, 1927-29<BR>1029; Journal kept on Torres Strait Expedition, 1888-89<BR>1030; Java the Garden of the East, illustrated manuscript by Eliza R. Scidmore, 1898<BR>1039; Private journal of second Torres Strait Expedition, 1898<BR>1052; Correspondence with R. Bruce, J.S. Bruce, J. Chalmers, 1889-92, 1895, 1898, 1905, 1913 (not in chronological order)<BR>2011; Excerpts from the ethnographical and anthropological writings of various observers, including Rev. J.H. Holmes (masks and ceremonies) c. 1892-1925; F.E. Williams, 1923; A.R. Humphries (Man XXI No.165, 1931); G.H. Massy Baker, 1914-15; F.F.S. Baden-Powell (In Savage Isles and Settled Land 1892); J. Chalmers, 1887; and T.T. and D.C. Bevan, 1890<BR>2015; Holmes Ms Distribution history and migration of the Naman people and Ipi tribe.<BR>Reel 2:<BR>2015; Continued - notes on the Gulf district of Papua c.1883-1924, including notes by Haddon<BR>2021; Notes by Rev. Copland King, 1904, and Haddon on Massim area.<BR>2068; Correspondence (1902, 1903, 1906), principally from Holmes re his ethnographic studies; Holmes' notes and manuscript on Gulf of Papua (1903) with comments by Haddon<BR>3078; Two items of correspondence with the London Missionary Society, 1900, 1911<BR>4067; Literature on the teaching of anthropology to missionaries (1910-15), including The Study of Native Culture in Relation to Administration, read by Haddon in Sydney in 1914.<BR>