The American Anthropological Association is officially celebrating Anthropology Day on February 16. Anthropology Day is a day for anthropologists to celebrate and participate in their discipline with the public around them.

On Monday, February 20, the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University will host an event in celebration of Anthropology Day. Students from the University of Connecticut have been invited to New Haven for a visit to the Beinecke Library, lunch, a Yale campus tour, and a visit to HRAF. Matthew Longcore, Director of Membership and Outreach and adjunct faculty member at the UConn Stamford campus, will accompany officers from the UConn Stamford Anthropology Society along with Honors students from the Fall 2022 section of ANTH 1000 Peoples and Cultures of the World for HRAF’s Anthropology Day celebration.

The group will meet for coffee in downtown New Haven prior to a visit to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type, and John James Audubon’s Birds of America are on permanent public display on the mezzanine. On the ground floor, visitors can see the 1742 Library of Yale College and the first books in the original Yale library. A 1,250-year-old print of Buddhist prayers — the earliest known printed text — has joined Yale’s Gutenberg Bible on regular display at the Beinecke Library, offering a more complete depiction of humanity’s development of printing.

After visiting the Beinecke Library Exhibition Hall, the group will have lunch at Yorkside Pizza. New Haven, Connecticut is well-known for its legendary pizza restaurants. Yorkside Pizza, a family operation since 1969, has served generations of Yale students and earned a place of honor with a mention in The Official Preppy Handbook (1980).

Following lunch, the group will take a tour of the Yale University campus. Yale has a long and storied architectural history, including the iconic Collegiate Gothic buildings of architect James Gamble Rogers. These include the Harkness Memorial Quadrangle, now part of Branford and Saybrook colleges, which features Harkness Memorial Tower and Wrexham Tower modeled after buildings in England and Wales.

After the campus tour, the group will visit the HRAF offices at 755 Prospect Street. UConn students will present their project from ANTH 1000 Fall 2022 based on the eHRAF Workbook Ethnographic Fieldwork. Yale University postgraduate researchers will discuss the topic of vaccine hesitancy across cultures. The event will conclude with presentations from HRAF staff about HRAF’s history, cross-cultural research, and Explaining Human Culture.

Many thanks to the UConn students and Yale researchers for joining us at HRAF to celebrate Anthropology Day 2023. We will be posting updates and photos after the event.

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